The Joys of the iPad

I don't know why I ever hesitated before getting an iPad; I suppose it was its superficial resemblance to my iPhone. But a friend showed me the iBook reader on hers at - appropriately enough - the Antiquarian Book Fair, surrounded by illuminated manuscripts - and I could immediately see that it was a completely different experience from even a very clever and versatile mobile phone.

I love reading books and magazines on it (my son suggested Popular Science, which is brilliant); and I read The Big Short by Michael Lewis on the plane to Japan and it was a joy. What's more the battery barely blinked. My only disappointment at the moment is the selection of books in the iBooks store. Mostly new stuff. And even then I tried to find the Life of Isaiah Berlin by Michael Ignatieff, but it's nowhere to be seen. I had better luck with the Kindle for iPad as it grabs stuff from Amazon. And there are a number of amazing free apps that give you access to hundreds of old classic books, so there are compensations - and anyway the publishing world will soon catch up.

Actually, the thing that I didn't anticipate is the sense of ease and freedom that come from not having to muck around with a mouse and keyboard. The keyboard on the iPad is pretty good, and as I'm such a poor typist the auto-correct function actually makes it faster for me to type on it than on a laptop. And no mouse - well it's like using keyboard shortcuts, only with added functions that are completely intuitive.

The Advantages of the iPad

1. You can read it on summer evenings without turning on the lights
2. The absence of a mouse and the ability to touch and manipulate the screen gives the iPad greater freedom and flexibility than a laptop. It's also easy to type fast as the auto-correct is so efficient.
3. The Apple case makes it much easier to use; held like a book, or propped up for easier typing.
4. You can chuck it onto the sofa when you have finished using it for someone else to pick up. It's far easier than lugging your laptop around.
5. You can stay with people: you don't have to go to your desk except for heavy-duty stuff like uploading photos or writing long screeds.
6. Its huge battery life means that you don't have to charge it up all the time.
7. Not only is it fantastic for book and newspapers, but with TV Catchup, you can watch live TV anywhere - even out in the garden in the evening.
8. No one know what you're reading or watching. If you want to watch Zombies v. Cannibals Part III you can. Everything can be done privately - as with a mobile phone.
9. It's perfect for looking at photos from Flickr and the other photo sites, though the absence of Flash means that you can't view a slideshow
10. It would be great for marketing visits - showing people catalogues, videos, photos and other stuff.
11. The 3G version would be best for 'out and about' work as wi-fi can't then be guaranteed, but it's a one-off cost and not that expensive.

Using the iPad in Marketing (Japan)
The Japan Times reports that the iPad has taken off far faster than the iPhone did (which is logical anyway) but that it's being snapped up by businesses who give it to favoured customers loaded with their website, catalogues, links and videos (I guess they would set up an app linking everything they wanted the customer to see of theirs - or send him an e-mail with the necessary links in - as of course the customer would have to set the thing up on his own via iTunes - or maybe they go round and help with the set up and just put in the appropriate links). Salespeople carry one around with catalogues, videos and links in to use in sales.

Shops are buying them to leave around (there's no risk of theft in Japan) so that people can find out more about their wares through eg a video or a FAQ - and of course just to look cool. Hotels and businesses are leaving them in reception for the same purpose - letting people pick up their web-based e-mail - and read their newsletter, or browse newspapers and magazines (having paid for access where necessary of course). No need to order lots of hard copies each day. Lawyers can pre-load all the relevant papers for use when clients come in for meetings (I would use something like iDisc or Box.net for this). Likewise execs are using them in meetings loaded with agendas and minutes and all sorts of company info. They are of course far easier to use and less obtrusive than laptops.

Norman Buckingham 1918 - 2010

Capt George Brodrick taking a high pheasant with his keeper Norman Buckingham in a superb photo (Country Life)

Norman Buckingham, one of the country's greatest gamekeepers, died in Hampshire on 30th May 2010 aged 92.

He was for many years keeper to Capt George Brodrick of Eastwell in Kent. Capt Brodrick moved to the Dunley estate in Hampshire 1979, and Norman moved there with him, managing the shooting (which had been established by my step-grandfather, Sir Alfred Herbert) and helping to look after Mrs Brodrick after Capt Brodrick died.
















Norman Buckingham at home at Dunley in 2009

He was a legendary keeper and a great character with a fund of amazing stories. And he himself was a great shot. In the 1930's, he once shot 26 snipe with 26 cartridges and his father, who was also a gamekeeper, told him that nobody would ever perform that remarkable feat of marksmanship again.

Norman's obituary, written mainly by his widow Rita, gives a good picture of his very full life:
Norman died in Basingstoke and North Hants Hospital on 30th May 2010. He was born in Winterbourne Monkton, a small village near Swindon. The youngest of seven, he enjoyed a country childhood with complete freedom to roam and explore the glorious Wiltshire downland, which sadly few children have today. His father was a head gamekeeper, so he was well versed in gamekeeping, shooting, training gun dogs etc. However the pay did not satisfy the young Norman and in 1939 he applied to join the police force. As he was also in the territorials he was immediately called up when World War II started. The young gentleman farmer who was employing him at the time was eager to join up himself, so he pulled a few strings and got Norman out of the army, much to his disgust, to run the farm. That was not to be the end of his involvement in military matters.

Although officially a member of his local home guard unit, he was trained in the art of guerilla war for Churchill's secret army. These were fit young men in reserved occupations, and in the event of an invasion, would have been faced with fighting to the death (it was estimated that their life expectancy would have been about two weeks). Many years later a personal letter from George VI was found by his wife and framed before it was lost forever.

After the war, Norman decided to be a herdsman specialising in Guernsey cattle. He moved to Ham, Berks, where he met Ellie who was to become his first wife. They later moved to Twyford where their son David was born. Norman spent many years working and exhibiting Guernseys for wealthy landowners. He used to rrelate with relish the hialrious exploits he and his fellow herdsmen got on to at the shows!

He started at Eastwell Park, Kent, in 1958 for Capt George Brodrick. They were to form a friendship lasting the rest of their lives. Eastwell was a large estate of 7000 acres and in 1979 Capt Brodrick retired and asked Norman and his wife to move to Dunley Manor, where they both enjoyed shooting and fishing to the full. Norman also looked after the grounds and was a general factotum.

Sadly Ellie died in 1983 and Norman spent five years on his own. His little fox terrier Julie was a great comfort to him at this time. Rita and Reg Constable had been great friends with Ellie and Norman for many years in Kent. Reg died in 1984. The friends had always kept in touch and after some years Norman and Rita decided to enter into a relationship and later married. They were to spend twenty happy years together and went on many memorable holidays, including two cruises, which Norman enjoyed immensely.

Although he had several serious health problems in his mid 80s, he was as tough as old boots and led a fully active life until the last few months.

He has left a huge gap in the lives of all who knew him with his inexhaustible store of jokes and songs. He was a man who many people were drawn to and loved and will be sadly missed but never forgotten.

From Hill & Valley, the parish magazine for Hurstbourne Priors, Longparish and St Mary Bourne and Woodcott. July 2010

The Hospital of St Cross

The Church of St Cross. Click the heading for more photos of the church.

The Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, is the oldest charitable institution in Britain, founded in 1133 by Henri de Blois, King William's grandson. It has been home to the Master and Brethren of St Cross since medieval times.

The Hospital* is also England's oldest continuing almshouse and is a group of medieval and Tudor buildings, including a medieval hall and tower, Tudor cloister, the Norman church and gardens. For over 850 years St Cross has provided food and shelter to people in need and visitors can still receive the Wayfarer's Dole (a small beaker of beer and a morsel of bread) on request. In times past in the Hundred Mens' Hall up to a hundred poor men received a daily ration of food.

My father Patrick was first married here to Catherine Stephenson in 1940.

Visiting on a rainy day in May, I came across the Society for Creative Anachronism holding a fair and engaged in a pilgrimage to nearby Winchester Cathedral. Click here for some photos.

[*The term "hospital", in this context, has the same origin as "hospitality"]

Chelsea Flower Show 2010

The Chelsea Flower Show 2010. Click the heading for more photos.

The Chelsea Flower Show this year fell in a glorious sunny week, the temperature on the first day topping 90F, but the gardens remained spectacular and those with strong water features unsurprisingly attracted the judges the most. The Best in Show garden was so crowded that I was unable to get close enough for a decent photo and had to be content to shoot over the heads of the BBC cameramen. But I liked his concept of the diverging paths and the huge wall, at the beginning so opaque, opening gradually to reveal that all paths lead to the same end.



My favourite designer, Ishihara Kazuyuki, again produced a stunning moss-covered room lit by his signature glass waterfall and surrounded by rich and unusual planting, but this year he only received a silver - having previously won two golds - possibly on the judges' perception that this garden was somewhat less original.


The small gardens were as always a delight, my favourite being a garden at the edge of a moor, complete with music stand on which rested the music for Die Schone Mullerin.



Click here for the Chelsea Flower Show 2008
Click here for the Chelsea Flower Show 2007

Scenes From a Hampshire Childhood

Herry and Danny at Stocks, Hampshire in 1953

'Scenes From A Hampshire Childhood' by Gerald Ponting is a small masterpiece, capturing beautifully the era of the 1940s and 50s spent in a peaceful village in the Hampshire countryside. Village life, grazing milking cattle on the village green (in that case Breamore marsh), his father's milk round, toys, dogs, household and kitchen equipment such as the 'copper', the arrival of television, flowers of the hedgerows, the village fete and the village school are all beautifully evoked from a background of the writer's simple and settled home life. The photographs are particularly astonishing, as Mr Ponting took up photography as a child and he has captured scenes rarely seen in such contemporaneity. Click the heading for more details about the book from the author's website

Favourite Places

Wandsworth Common; not the most romantically named place on earth, but a huge and beautiful city park nevertheless. Click the heading for a walk across the Common to the river and back

Old Wykehamist Reception at Lincoln's Inn

The Old Wykehamist Sports Reception was held in the Old Hall, Lincoln's Inn on 13th May 2010. The Warden, David Clementi, introduced the presentation of Winchester's sporting achievement by the likes of Douglas Jardine, the Nawab of Pataudi(who managed to play test cricket with only one eye), Hubert Doggart (who was a Cambridge Blue in five different sports and captain in four) and Howard Angus by David Fellowes, the Director of the Winchester College Society. About 100 people attended and all were amazed at the depth of talent that was exhibited, most of which proved the old truth that a healthy mind produces a healthy body, in that the sporting 'greats' were mostly also highly gifted academically as well.

Tate Modern's 10th Anniversary

Part of the Tate Modern's attraction is the approach to it from St Paul's over the Millennium Bridge


A favourite Bacon triptych. Click the heading for a selection of other works.

I was interviewed about the Tate Modern by the BBC. Fortunately I didn't see the news programme on which it was shown, but I've had people contact me from as far as Australia to say that they saw it!

Henri Matisse

Matisse - The Red Studio at the Museum of Modern Art

A superb series on the modern artists by Alastair Sooke opens one's eyes to Matisse's originality. His work has influenced artists such as Rothko and many designers including Tricia Guild and Paul Smith. See some of Matisse's paintings in the Musee Matisse by clicking the heading, although much of his best work is in the Hermitage, as well as in New York and Paris.

A Child From Everywhere

On 6th May 2010 Caroline Irby held an exhibition at the V&A Bethnal Green (The Museum of Childhood) of her 'A Child From Everywhere' project in which she photographed children from 185 different countries currently living in the UK.

Also at the exhibition was Alanna Clear, who's own project (with her husband) travelling 20,000 miles by motorcycle and sidecar from Alaska to the tip of Patagonia and interviewing people on the way about the secrets of long-lasting love looks to be even more interesting. It's called 'Going the Distance' and will be edited and published later this year.