Betty Birney’s Blog

The second week flew by. On rainy Monday, we chose the British Museum, about a block from our hotel. I’m there with the Elgin Marbles – amazing the amount of treasures moved there … and well, should they give them back or not?

The rest of the week: I adored Westminster Abbey even more than I expected and got very sentimental at all the writers memorialized in Poet’s Corner. Frank was looking for a plaque memorializing his fifth-great-uncle George Walsh. We asked at the information desk and the docent looked it up, but no, it wasn’ t in the book. The docent apparently took a dim view of us Americans claiming to have a relative there, but she grudgingly said we could go to the library and research it there. (Frank remembered seeing the plaque years and years and years ago.) We were walking through the Cloisters on our way to the library when Frank looked up and it was there, larger than life, huge and very legible - dear old Great Uncle George. We also found Magdalena Walsh, said to be a relative, but I’m not sure how. Hey, I just married into the family. I did name my son “Walshe” – using the family spelling with the “e” which was supposedly added after Uncle George gave his life for his country as a kind of honor – or? A family castle would have been nice but the “e” is distinctive. By the way, we went back to tell the docent we found the plaque but I’m not sure she believed us. I hope she took a walk over there later – you could hardly miss it. (By the way a couple of years when Walshe was visiting there, he asked about the plaque and was told they’d show him – for a substantial fee. He didn’t take up the offer.)

We ALMOST got into Parliament but at the last minute, they had too many invited guests. So we took a long walk up past Downing Street – there was some kind of activity going on at #10 but hard to see. because of the amazing security, which I understand. And just steps away, we happened to arrive at exact moment of the Changing of the Horse Guards (this is different than the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace) – beautiful horses and they knew just what to do.

We spent a very windy and blustery few hours at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pomp and circumstance is a funny contrast to us human rabble gaping on the sidewalk and the horseriding Bobby and her white horse both thoroughly entertained us – she, with her dry wit and the horse, with his subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ability to get people to move.

Wind howling, we made our way across Hyde Park to a pub recommended by our neighbors, Don and Mary, from when they lived nearby.  I hesitate to tell anyone about it because it could be ruined by tourists and it’s small and cozy and we sat and chatted with the proprietress, Cynthia, and ate an absolutely delicious lunch and lingered. There were people from Cape Cod there … one woman whose daughter goes to my son’s alma mater, Boston College … a cute dog … a roaring fire. There’s even a ghost. It’s supposedly in that book, 1001 Places You Should See Before You Die … at least I’ve hit one of them.

Okay, I’ll give you a link. http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=193 From there we trekked to Harrods for shopping and viewing the food court and picked up nibblies to take home for dinner.

Our last day was just fabulous. We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which most people either remember as being built by Sir Christopher Wren and/or where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married. From there we went to Sir John Soanes’ Museum – the very quirky home of a very quirky collector, highly recommended by my sister and everyone I asked in London and now, by me. From there, we walked to Covent Garden and were glad we did – great shops and restaurants and the best “buskers” ever. Amazing performers. We hated to leave but we had theater tickets! We walked down Charing Cross in the drizzle to the old Garrick Theater and saw Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular, starring Jane Horrocks (we loved her as Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous and as the Academy Award nominated star of Little Voice) and other familiar faces from BBC and Masterpiece Theater. Wonderful performance, very funny, Jane Horrocks was everything we could have expected. We were struck by the casualness of the somewhat shabby but historic theater. People with trays selling sweets and ice cream – sort of like in Shakespeare’s day. And people took crisps, bar drinks and candy to their seats and ate. Which is fine in a movie theater in the U.S. but never in the “legit” theater.

A wonderful end to a visit we didn’t want to end at all.

There so much I didn’t get to see but I will return. And the trick of enjoying the week was concentrating on seeing what we could see without obsessing over what we couldn’t fit in this time.

Our home away from home

No cars to pick us up, no helpful handlers … Frank and I were on our own for the second week in London and managed to survive. The first free day, Saturday, I was laid low by digestive problems (nothing new for me, especially when traveling), so we enjoyed our very nice room and then took a walk in the drizzly weather to a very nice Waterstone’s Bookstore where I signed some stock and we stocked up on books. We also investigated our neighborhood more closely. We were in the Bloomsbury section of London (where many noted writers, such as Virginia Woolf, lived). And just a block or two from the Fitzrovia section, once a hangout for artsy “Bohemians.” Just about every townhouse has a plaque saying someone famous lived there. Directly across the street from us was the University of London (the College of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases) but RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) was there as well – one of their buildings – we passed another one elsewhere. We were a short block to Tottenham Court Road, which turns into Charing Cross and took us almost everywhere on foot. But on Saturday, we rested.

Sunday I felt great and we headed off to Charing Cross Station, across the Thames to Kent, where we were met by a devoted UK fan, Anna, and her very generous parents, Julie and Robert, who had extended an invitation to visit. They were kind and patient (even when we foolishly missed our stop at Orpington and they had to drive to Seven Oaks to pick us up. Seven Oaks – wasn’t that Scarlett O’Hara’s plantation? Now I know where that came from). We headed off to Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s beautiful home. The weather was alternately drizzle and sunshine but there were daffodils blooming!

With our new UK friends at Chartwell

Anna in front of the Chartwell playhouse - how I wanted one of those when I was growing up!

We had tea at Chartwell, then Robert gave us a tour of the area around where they live: charming villages, beautiful countryside, we got a glimpse of Hever Castle, which was Anne Boleyn’s family home … Biggin Hill, an RAF airfield important in World Wars I and II … and the Wilberforce Oak, on the estate of William Wilberforce whose antislave trade campaign was memorialized in the recent film, Amazing Grace.

While we were tempted by the offer of a cream tea, I wasn’t sure my system was ready for an onslaught of sweets, so instead we opted for good, solid British fare at The Little Brown Jug, a delightful family place and excellent food.

I want to go back to the Little Brown Jug!

Such a lovely train ride back, across the Thames at night with Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye (that’s the big wheel) all lit up.

Many thanks to Anna, Julie and Robert.

  It all sounds just fabulous – right?

But it wouldn’t have happened without

a) the generosity of the entire Faber family (especially managing director Stephen Page and my editor, Julia Wells)  and …

b) Helena Zedig

Helena is publicity manager at Faber. I’m sure both she and I were hoping for the best when we began this journey, because Helena was the person we spent the most time with – a total stranger who was taking us to Bath and spending the whole weekend with us … taking us to St. Albans as well … and getting me to the Guardian and back. She was the key. And it worked so well.

I can’t speak for Helena but I can speak for Frank and me – she was fabulous. We were well taken care of every step of the way but even better, we enjoyed her company thoroughly. She’s a woman of many interests and facets. 

So this is my thank you to Helena, who along with Rebecca and Emily, got us in and out of cars, in and out of trains, made sure we ate and slept and had the right equipment every step of the way.

Why am I sooooo appreciative? Because I was a publicist once myself.

 Jolly good show!

Marcus Chown, a pirate and me!

The official World Book Day was March 6 . After meetings and signing stock at Faber, Rebecca accompanied author Marcus Chown and me to Stratford Circus, a performing arts venue in east London.  Marcus is a well-known science writer and broadcaster whose first children’s book, FELICITY FROBISHER AND THE THREE-HEADED ALDEBARAN DUST DEVIL, is about to be released by Faber. Marcus also was formerly a radio astronomer at Caltech in Pasadena, so we talked a lot about L.A. while he pointed out interesting sights – he’s very knowledgeable about London’s history and layout.

Several schools were brought in to the theater and some of the kids were dressed up for World Book Day.  Marcus and I spoke and signed books and had a great time. It was probably the only time the lead-in to my presentation including vomit in outer space but let’s just say the audience was paying attention!

On Friday, Frank and I took the train to Basildon in Essex with Emily, who was another perfect handler. We were at the Basildon Towngate Theatre … in the Mirren Studio  – yep, named for that Mirren.One of the school groups didn’t make it due to – well, I’m not sure if it was a bus problem or illness. But the remaining children in the audience more than made up for a few empty seats with their enthusiasm and unending stream of questions!

With Malcolm Burgess at the Towngate Theatre, Basildon, Essex

With Emily at Faber

And … whoa – that was it! No more drivers or helpful publicists to ease the way. We were on our own in London … but the fun was far from over

I had casually mentioned to Faber’s publicity manager, Helena, that Frank had done archaeology at St. Albans when he was in college. The international dig, at the site of the Roman City of Verulanium, was conducted under the supervision of famed archaeologist Sheppard Frere and the University of London. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verulamium.

I never expected that she would plan a visit there, but it  happened on March 5. After a short train ride, we arrived at the Abbey School, which is connected with the magnificent Cathedral and Abbey. http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/. We were warmly greeted by Vanessa – our contact there, and Brenda, who provided the books for the day. Once Frank’s mission was known, Brenda whisked him off on a walk to the site while I set up my presentation.

[Note: Some of the events where I spoke this week had professional tech people, who tried very hard, but in every case, there was a glitch. At the Abbey School, two students, Louis and William, had volunteered to help me and I was set up in - are you ready? - four minutes!]

Signing at the Abbey School

Tech guys, Louis and William

With Vanessa and Brenda

The students at the Abbey School were polite and very responsive and it was a FUN-FUN-FUN time.

Frank returned while I was signing and recounted his visit to the site, which he didn’t recognize at first. Brenda had pointed him in the direction of the museum, where he met the resident archaeologist and his staff. Amazingly, they went to the archives and found photos from that dig that showed Frank, which he kindly gave to him. As Frank was leaving, he slowly began to recognize things – the house, the pub and environs.

When Frank talked about his summer in St. Albans, he always mentioned the friendliness of the people there and that’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the years. The generosity of Vanessa, Brenda and Sue at the school was so heartfelt, I only wish we’d had more time in the beautiful village. After I finished signing books, Vanessa walked us across the school grounds towards the Abbey, where Brenda gave Frank, Helena and me a tour before kindly driving us to the train station.

Frank is head down, digging in the middle

Back in London, I finally – FINALLY – got to the offices of my publisher, Faber and Faber, for lunch with my UK editor, Julia Wells. And what a welcome! The lobby of the Faber was lined with displaysof Humphrey books. At Faber, I did a live web chat for the Blue Peter show – a popular kids’ TV show in the UK which is – are you ready – 50 years old! I was on the phone and the person on the other end was madly typing in my answers. They had hundreds of questions submitted but we covered what we could in a half-hour.

Then it was off the boardroom, where Managing Director Stephen Page gathered the forces together for a champagne toast to Humphrey (oh, wouldn’t he LOVE-LOVE-LOVE that?) and I got to meet more of the Faber team. We ate yummy antipasti, heard tales of famed poet T.S. Eliot (an editor at Faber – and a native of St. Louis, MO, like me), and just generally TALK!

Frank and I wandered back to our hotel in a happy haze and collapsed!