The Potter Formula

 

Well, at last the Harry Potter franchise of books and movies that seemed to have dominated the lives of so many young people  in the last decade has come to an end.

I have always complained that the Harry Potter stories by J.K. Rowling were poorly written, predictable, formulaic, repetitive and full of plot holes.  Well, I am a big enough squirrel to admit that 50% of that is what I believe but the other 50% is a case of sour grapes on my part.  Why?  Cause she became  a billionaire from writing this teen fodder. ……….I wish I had done that!

Anyway, I watched the final film installment of the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II)”.  It was probably one of the best in the series and I have to admit that she managed to tie all the loose ends up rather well, even though the concept of the Hallows themselves seemed a little contrived and if examined under the electron microscope, certain plot flaws may be seen.  Anyway, that is my way of grudgingly acknowledging her writing.

Still, one wonders why it was such a mega-hit.  What can we learn so that we can churn out the next mega-hit for this decade and become billionaires ourselves.  Well, the big mega-hit of my generation was Star Wars (although I lost interest after the fourth movie in the series).

After spending my entire nut reserve on research, I can reveal to you that there is a certain formula followed by both Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker.

Originally seen at RandomPics.net.

And, there’s one more thing.  Do you remember that classic line in Star Wars;

Darth Vader: “Luke, I AM your father.”

Well the equivalent in the Potter series is not actually said but it was implied;

Severus Snape: “Harry, I LOVED your mother.”

So once again, the Lone Grey Squirrel has unselfishly shared with all of you the formula to fame and fortune.  If you do make it big, remember me ……..I would be happy with 15%.  Thank you

Odd Balls of Fire

Following on from the last post on “possessed foods”, comes more discussion about the strange and wonderful.  I have always had an interest in the weird, the odd, the unusual and the paranormal.  I was fated to be a fan of the X-files as I was of Kolchak -the Night Stalker, which was its predecessor and according to X-file creator, Chris Carter, an inspiration for the series.

I haven’t abandoned my scientific sensibilities and try to look at each of these reported phenomena objectively.  At the same time, I don’t dismiss all paranormal phenomena as bogus hocus pocus and hoaxes, believing instead that where there is smoke, there is fire.  I don’t believe in aliens creating crop circles, for example, as it can easily be done by pranksters.  However, other phenomena may appear strange but may be scientifically verified and explained when properly scrutinised.

To my great satisfaction, two of my favorite strange phenomena from my youth have now been more or less been properly documented and there are now plausible scientific theories to explain them.  These are the phenomena of “spontaneous human combustion“  and “ball lightning”.

Spontaneous human combustion refers to cases where humans are believed to burst into flames such that the bodies are discovered burnt to ashes with the exception of parts of the hands or legs.  However, there maybe minimal damage to the surroundings such as the bed or chair.   An interesting literary  side-note is that Charles Dickens killed off one of his characters, Krook, in Bleak House by this means.

The “wick” theory seems to adequately explain all the different aspects of the phenomena and has been successfully demonstrated using pig carcasses. The theory  basically says that a low grade fire caused by, for example, a cigarette lighting a blanket,  can be fueled by melting body fat.  The blanket may take up the oil and the oil may burn but the blanket would only char just as in a lit candle where the wick does not burn.  In this way, the body is consumed with little damage to the surrounding and the parts of the body with least fat, i.e. hands and legs, are not consumed.

Then there is ball lightning.  Ball lightning have been reported for hundreds of years.  They are basically charged luminous spheres which can move around for short periods.  In some cases, they appear capable of going through surfaces like walls but in other cases they explode on contact. They can kill people in the same way normal lightning can.  One of the earliest well documented case involved a 2.4 m diameter ball of fire that entered a church in Devon, England in 1638 which killed 4 people.

For many centuries, science tended to ignore ball lightning as an unreliably reported phenomena.  There was no theory then that could explain electricity or lightning behaving in this strange manner.  However, many scientists today accept ball lightning as a rare but naturally occurring phenomena and while it is still unclear what really happens in nature, similar glowing spheres have been successfully created in laboratory experiments.

These luminous spheres can be created by discharging a high voltage capacitor in a tank of water; or by using microwaves on certain compounds and objects; or by the oxidising of silicon vapours.  The microwave experiments produce “plasma balls” which adequately demonstrates all the know properties and behavior of ball lightning.

Strangely, one of the things that seems to produce plasma in a microwave is a cut grape (as seen in the video below).  I wonder how that was discovered.  Probably some bored scientist putting everything he/she could find in the kitchen into the microwave for entertainment.  Anyway, don’t try this at home.  Apparently the fumes produce are toxic and the gases can get so heated up that it can shatter glass.  You have been warned.

Anyway, this post is meant to whet your appetite for the strange and unusual cause next week I will share with you one strange X-file that this humble squirrel was indirectly involved in.  Till then. Too doo, too doo, too doo too doo……. (theme from Twilight Zone).

Playing the Scot in Windermere

Windermere lake with Bowness-on-Windermere to the right. Aerial photo by Simon Ledingham.

I know it seems strange but I have actually been asked on two separate occasions as to whether I was Scottish.  Now regular readers will know that under all this grey fur hides a slightly paunchy middle-aged Chinese Malaysian.  So you might be wondering if these two persons were escapees from the mad house or were inebriated by a few wee drams of Scotland’s best Scotch Whiskey.  But no.  The reason for their puzzled faces and curious question is that at one time I spoke as if  “Ah was born a wee bairn oan th’ windswept scottish highlands“.  “Still dornt kin? Ah cannae make it clearer than thes……Ah spick loch scottie th’ wee engineer frae Star Trek”.  Okay before I go overboard …… let’s go on with my tale.

There is a reason for this strange phenomena …….. when one enters the “Dark Hole of Bowness-on-Windermere”, one does not come out of it unaffected.  But more about this at the end of the post.

I spent 5 years in United Kingdom leading up to my completion of my degree in Biochemistry.  Before going there, I was your typical country bumpkin who had never even been out of the country before …… not even to neighboring Singapore.  I did get some pre-conceptions about life in UK from reading books and novels.  From those readings, the things that stuck in my mind most was the bleak and windswept  Yorkshire Moors of  Wuthering Heights; the gentle hills and lakes of the Lake District which was home to Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit and the remote Scottish coast near the Isle of Skye which was the location of Camusfearna from the book “Ring of Bright Water“.

So during my second summer there, when looking for some work to help pay the bills, I suddenly had the idea of combining my work quest with my hopes of visiting one of these iconic places.  Together with my friend, James, also from Malaysia, we got a job as housekeeping staff at a guest house in the Lake District.

In those days, there were no super highways reaching that part of England and many went there by train, arriving at Windermere station which is still quite a distance from Windermere Lake.  The town is actually Bowness-on- Windermere (Windermere  is actually the name of the lake).  We walked the entire distance down to the  lake and then followed the lakeside trail out of town and past the line of cars waiting to catch the small ferry across the lake and a few minutes later, we arrived at a wonderfully quaint guest house which was called Meadowcroft.  There is still a guest house in Windermere by that name but I do not believe that it is the same one.

The place was really an old farmer’s home which had been converted into the guest house with about 8 rooms.  It was run by a young couple who had a 5 year old son.  Apart from ourselves, who were basically the summer reinforcements, the only other person was this middle-aged Scottish woman named Agnes.

Our typical day consisted of waking up at about 6.30 in the morning so that we could assist in getting the breakfast ready as well as packed lunches for guests that had requested it.  Breakfast was served between 7.30 and 9.30 am and then we helped clean up in the eating area and also cleaning the common areas.  Later in the morning, we would either help clean the rooms and make the beds or do the washing of plates and cutlery.  The place was also a working farm although it was small scale and so we would also then help on the farm.  If we were lucky, some days, the boss would let us off by about 2.30 pm after lunch and we would not be required back until 5.30 pm and so we would cram in as much hiking and sightseeing that we could.   We were also given a day off once a week which was so precious and highly anticipated.  Work resumed at night with the evening meal and washing up and then the nightcap of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and then washing up.  We’d finally crawl into bed all tired out at about 11pm.

Having to walk everywhere meant that we did not get to go very far from Meadowcroft but we could follow the lakeside to the south, we could climb the Fell immediately behind and to the east, we managed to take the ferry across the lake and tramp around Beatrix Potter’s house in Far Sawrey, we even managed to catch a bus to quaint town of Keswick on Derwentwater Lake.  It’s strange that I have few vivid images of all these places in my head but my memory is instead, more of  a feeling of  general and complete wellness and of being alive.

But, I do have vivid memories of the “Dark Hole of Bowness-on-Windermere”!   One of the least popular of all the chores was doing the washing up.  The dirty dishes were brought in and the organic wastes had to be separated form the rest (for food for farm animals).  Next, they were rinsed and then placed into a large scale dishwasher.  We then had to run the dishwasher which sprayed the plates and cutlery with hot soapy water and then rinse it with hot clean water.  Both times, steam fills this tiny room and the place gets really uncomfortably hot and incredibly humid.  We then had to  dry the dishes and cutlery in that hot humid environment.   It was inhumane conditions which brought to mind the story of the Dark Hole of Calcutta when in 1756, the Nawab of Bengal had British prisoners (including women and children) placed into a tiny prison with only a couple of small barred windows for ventilation.  It is believed that 146 prisoners was placed into a cell intended for just 4-5 people and as a result of the heat, humidity and lack of air, 123 were dead by the next day.

Okay, there were usually only two of us but it was still quite unpleasant.  Eventually, James took to dodging dishwashing duty by volunteering to do almost anything else which resulted in myself and Agnes being incarcerated repeatedly in our Bowness torture chamber.  Yet, it was in those times of enforced confinement and mutual suffering that Agnes and I had some really wonderful and open conversations about ourselves, our hopes and our beliefs.   I don’t remember much of what we shared but I have a strong almost physical memory of the heat, the humidity, the smell of soapy water and a sense of a rare and wonderful connection with a fellow human being.

Now Agnes had a very, very broad and infectious Scottish accent and so with the repeated subjection together to the Dark Hole of Bowness, I finally emerged not only with dishpan hands, a soap induced itch and possibly ringworm but I was speaking Scottish to boot.

Squirrel’s Sense of Rain

“Smilla’s Sense of Snow” is a best selling novel by Danish writer Peter Hoeg which was made into a movie in 1997.  Julia Ormond played the lead character, Smilla, who grew up in Greenland.  The premise is that Eskimos have about a couple of hundred words to describe the different types of snow and Smilla uses her knowledge of the different types of snow to solve  the mystery of the death of a young boy.   A couple of hundred words for snow.  Probably not true but what an interesting thought nonetheless.

It’s raining here today.  A slow but steady drizzle that started the previous night so that we woke up this morning to a wet and overcast world.  Typically, this steady and long rainfall always causes the traffic to slow to a crawl and as I waited in the gridlock, my mind drifted towards contemplating the different types of rain that I have experienced in my life.

When the rain falls gently but steadily in a light shower, I like to go out for long walks.  I’d put on a raincoat with a hood an just lose myself in the rain.  I enjoy the sound of the rain striking the raincoat and watching the water dripping off the edge of the hood.  I like the occasional refreshing gentle spray of water on my face or running down my fingers.  I do a lot of good thinking in this rain.  I often start my walk while in a funk but by the end of the walk my mood would have been lifted as if my worries were washed away.  I guess I could call this type of rain, “therapeutic rain”.

There is another sort of liquid precipitation that is common in only certain parts of the world.  I refer to “thick pea soup fog”.  This is when the temperature is on the cold side but the air is almost fully saturated with moisture.  Water hangs in the air in the form of tiny droplets which readily settle on all surfaces.  I became very familiar with this type of precipitation when I went to visit a friend in Hastings, England.  Hastings has some spectacular cliffs and I made four attempts over a two year period to see these cliffs.  However, each time I went along the cliff top, everything was hidden behind this wall of white moisture.  I guess for me, it will always be known as the Hastings Horror Rain.

Hastings in the Fog

I once did a silly thing when I went fell walking in the English Lake District without first checking out the weather forecast.  As a result, I was caught on the exposed hill tops to fiercely icy driving rain which soon penetrated through the layers of my water resistant gear and drenched me and waterlogged my clothes in freezing cold water.  So this sort of rain should rightly be called “Fool’s rain” because only fools go walking in this rain and the cold and wet soon made me hypothermic and made me behave even more like a fool.  I actually ended up sitting by the side of a lake as a thunder and lightning storm broke above me, smiling and clapping at the light and sound display.  Only when my brain warmed up later that I realised how stupid I was to be twiddling my toes in the lake water during a lightning storm.

One of my favorites is the first rains of the monsoon.  This seasonal rain of the tropics can be awe inspiring.  If you have a good vantage point, you can actually see the dark clouds and the rain advance across the landscape like a heavy curtain; a distinct wall of water falling down on to the earth.  You could be standing in sunshine and yet a tremendous wall of water could be just ten meters away and advancing rapidly.  You could not outrun this water curtain and once it caught you, there was no way to keep dry.  The sheer volume of water coming down, pooling at your feet and splashing back upwards make umbrellas and most measures totally ineffectual.  It is the closest to being in water as you can get while walking on land.  This  “Monsoon Curtain Rain” would soon cause the playing fields to be covered with a layer of water and you would soon hear the sound of laughter as children take the opportunity to play soccer in the water and mud.  I have fond memories of Monsoon Curtain Rain.

What types of rain do you like or dislike?

Carolina Squirrel & the Holy Grail

There is a small, quaint and ancient cathedral hidden in the twisting alleyways of the Spanish town of Valencia.  The building itself is a strange oddity reflecting a variety of architectural styles ranging from early Romanesque, subtle Renaissance, heavy Baroque and the more restrained Neoclassical.

The intrepid Carolina Squirrel (Squirreldom’s equivalent of Indiana Jones; a dashingly handsome and rugged archaeologist/adventurer squirrel) followed the clues laid out by an ancient manuscript that he had decoded which is known as  “Lonely Planet – Valencia” and found himself outside this unique cathedral.

Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia (Now that's a mouthful!)

Upon entering, Carolina Squirrel found a strange religious ceremony taking place in which two people carry out a public sacrifice of their freedom and swinging singlehood in a ritual known as a “marriage”.  While, Carolina Squirrel was mildly entertained by the local natives dressed up in their ceremonial robes, he was not deterred from his search.  With his squinty eyes, he scanned the dark recesses and elaborate carved decorations of the cathedral.  Then suddenly, he saw it!

Wedding Party

The Holy Grail!  The holy relic said to be a cup used by Christ at the last supper was here.  Dan Brown and his Da Vinci Code placed the grail as buried under the small pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.  Pffft!  He got it wrong!

The grail has been in Valencia since the 11th Century.  Tradition holds that Saint Peter brought it to Rome in the first century and then it was brought to Spain by Saint Lawrence in the third century.  Archaeologists have determined that the artifact is a Middle Eastern stone vessel which does in fact date back to the first century.  It now sits on top of an Medieval era ornate stem and base of  alabaster, gold and gemstones.   The cup was the official papal chalice of many popes and was most recently used by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. 

The Quest Has Ended.......it's the Holy Grail

Having triumphantly solved this mystery, the intrepid Carolina Squirrel is off to find Aladdin’s magic lamp.

*(The grey squirrel is known scientifically as Sciurus carolinensis.  Hence the choice of Carolina Squirrel in place of Indiana Jones.  “Carolina Squirrel and Aladdin’s Lamp” coming soon to a cinema near you ….as soon as I can get some %@*# backers with vision to fund its filming!)

All pictures by LGS

Castaway’s Choices

Hi guys and gals. I am just about ready to reveal my castaway’s booty but first, I must thank you all for your interesting Desert Island Discs selections so far. As I said in the last post, you can chose 8 pieces of music (records or CDs), one book and one luxury item to take with you into exile on a desert island.

Mark and Jo have a strong preference for classical music to help them while their time on their tropical prison. Squirrelmama liked both classical as well as opera singing by the likes of Andre Bocelli. Geewits was the most eclectic and probably most similar to my own choices; but I also was introduced to a couple of musicians that I hadn’t known, Leon Russel (Mark’s choice) and Gato Barbeiri (Squirrelmama’s choice).

Amongst the luxury items, the ladies opted for various skin care products and lip balm. Mark, always the rascal and pushing the limits of the rules, chose a yacht which is a very liberating luxury indeed.

Coming now to books, I liked all the choices. Moby Dick (Mark) and The Count of Monte Cristo (Geewits) seem like most appropriate choices given the circumstances but Jo’s “Complete works of Somerset Maugham” hits close to home as some of his stories are based in and around Malaysia. Mago, on the other hand, wants to take eight books instead of eight pieces of music.

Okay, here goes. Drum roll please. Here’s Lone Grey Squirrel’s all alone on an island choices;

Music
1. & 2. Classical music cause it is so uplifting and for watching the sunrise or sunset. One
would have to be the entire suite of the Planets by Holst and the other a compilation
of the other great composers like Mozart, Beethoven etc.
3. Songs of Worship to praise God and to feed the spirit.
4. Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits cause I love the Piano-man.
5. I need my jazz and I choose the uncomparable Ella Fitzgerald.
6. Showtunes and musicals. Either a compilation or the very first love, West Side Story.
7. When the stars come out and I need to party…..Black Eyed Peas.
8. I need the Celtic Touch. I choose The Chieftains.

Book
Once I spent a lot of time alone at a forest research centre and it had one book. I remember that it kept me company for many nights with not one tale but with many; reading one a night like a modern story of Arabian Nights. So I choose this well tested and proven companion; the complete Short Stories of O Henry.

Luxury
Why, it has to be a computer with internet excess so that I can continue to visit your blogs. What else could it be?

Castaway’s Junk

Our friend, Cedarflame, has been forced to be a refugee of sorts when her apartment was water damaged. She had to move her stuff into another apartment and live elsewhere while they repaired her damaged apartment. In the post, she discusses a little about all the stuff that she has collected over the years.

I got to wondering about the things that we collect, do they help define us? Are they physical representations of our inner selves? Yes, squirrels can be come pensive and philosophical sometimes when the winter drags too %@#$ long.

Anyway, this brought to mind a BBC radio program called “Desert Island Discs”. This radio program is still on but was first broadcast in 1942 and is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running musical program in the history of radio. The premise behind Desert Island Discs was to interview a famous guest and to have them imagine that they were about to be castaway and exiled on a desert island. They were told that they could bring 8 pieces of music (originally gramaphone records), one book (other than the bible and the complete works of Shakesphere which were already provided on the island) and one luxury item.

Some episodes of this program are now available as podcasts.

So what might your answer be. Let’s play Desert Island Discs. 8 musical pieces or songs, one book and one luxury item. Perhaps we could modernise this to 8 CDs, that would still be desert island discs.

I have to give this one a thought myself and will give my answers in the next post.

A Book, A Movie, A Song

Thank you all for your wonderfully diverse but helpful comments and advice to the previous post. Like in that post, the squirrel remains in a pensive and philosophical mood and the wanderings of my mind led me to this discovery.

A number of times, I have come across bloggers who do a meme on the books that they have read. They would share about the latest books they have read, favorite author etc. and very often, which have been the books that have influenced their lives most.

I have always not participated cause, when it comes to books that have influenced my life, my brain usually draws a blank. One because I am not a prolific reader, two because I am not a serious reader (i.e. I do not like to read heavy intellectual tomes) and three, my reading list is a little embarrassing.

So, as I said, I was surprised to make a discovery of what may be the book that has been most influential in my life (apart from the bible) during my recent mental wanderings. The book is “Ring of Bright Water” by Gavin Maxwell.

Well, it is actually a series of books including “The Rocks Remain” and “Raven Seek Thy Brother”. For those of you who are unfamiliar about Gavin Maxwell and his books, I have posted on it before. Follow this link. It is essentially an autobiography of a journalist, author and naturalist who purchases a small piece of land in a remote part of Scotland; his own personal bit of heaven which he named Camusfeàrna. The books also detail his relationship with a whole menagerie of otters; his first love, Mijbil; his long time companion, Edal; Teko who brought fresh hope; and the next generation including Mossy and Monday.

How has this book (or series of books) been influential in my life? Well, I first read “Ring of Bright Water” when I was about 13 or 14 years of age and I think it was the first book that taught me to love animals and especially animals in the wild. My current career in nature conservation some 3 decades later stems from this love that was first planted as a seed then. That makes it a major influence indeed.

The books were also a very brutally honest record of the difficulties, both personal and financial, that Maxwell faced in trying to make his little piece of heaven work. There were also the disasters and tragedies that struck. At that young age, this was my first time reading about a very human icon. He may be author and naturalist extraordinaire but he was far from faultless and far from knowing all the right answers. He made me appreciate that heroes are humans too and the real heroes are the ones that get up after being knocked down and start re-building again.

Maxwell could probably have continued his successful career or even entered into the diplomatic service but he gave it all up for a simpler life amongst his otters and outdoor pursuits in his tiny remote corner of Scotland. My dreams have been affected by his. Success is not as the world measures but by your own sense of happiness in doing what you love. I still seek a little piece of heaven on earth even now.

As I prepared for this post, I came across the old theme song for the movie based on the book. I had actually forgotten how wonderfully poignant and inspiring these words were to my younger self. They are wonderful. The song was sung by Val Doonican and here are the lyrics, followed by the song itself.

Where sun and wind play on a ring of bright water
That’s where my heartland will be
The deer on the hill in the first snow of winter
the gull in the sky winging free

I wandered away from the dark crowded city,
Leaving my old life behind,
And came to a place where a ring of bright water,
Dazzled the care from my mind.
So I live with the wonder of the sky and the sea
And I’ll always remember who revealed them to me

But now you are gone with your whirlpools of laughter
Racing me down to the sea
But I always smile when a ring of bright water
Echoes your laughter to me.

(key change)

But now you are gone with your whirlpools of laughter
Racing me down to the sea
But I always smile when a ring of bright water
Echoes your laughter to me.
Echoes your laughter to me

Music for a Funk

I am feeling a little down. My wife is away, traveling and I miss her. I got the flu. Work is piling up and so are the bills. And, there is conflict at work. I don’t do conflict well. I guess you can say that I am in a funk. I had no idea what to post tonight but I went over The Walking Man’s blog and something happened as I read his poem, TIRED OF BEING WET AND COLD?

The poem somehow reminded me of the lyrics of a song that was a particular favorite of mine when I went through my depression period. This 1969 song was sung by the singularly talented Peggy Lee and was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song was inspired by the story “Disillusionment” by Thomas Mann, written in 1896. You know that you are depressed when even the greatest joys, greatest excitements and the greatest loss leaves you with nothing but a numb, empty feeling.

So in line with my current gloomy mood and my philosophy of “why should I suffer alone?”, I would like to share this dark song which is ideal for stewing in a funk. For those of you who mistakenly thought that I was going to play funky music, you can leave now. It’s music for a funk and not funky music.

Here Lies Peter Rabbit And His Friends

Note: If the title of this post intrigued you, I’m afraid you will have to read through this long post as I only refer to it at the end. Of course, you could scroll to the end, there-by bypassing all the tripe at the front but that would be cheating and just “not cricket” as the British would say.

One of my unusual hobbies is to visit and photograph cemeteries. Since I started blogging, I have met a few kindred spirits who share in this particular interest.

Of late, I have had very little opportunity to visit interesting graveyards or cemeteries. So during my recent visit to London last month, I was straining at the bit for an opportunity to visit the famous Highgate Cemetery in north London. Unfortunately, I was thwarted by the unholy combination of foul (wet, cold and miserable) weather, inconvenient public transport routes and schedules, and an unwillingness of the guides (which you need to follow if you want to visit the more interesting part of the cemetery) to brave the winter winds except on weekends.

It’s a pity. Did you know that you can visit Karl Marx’s grave at Highgate Cemetery? But then, some people dismiss it as just another “communist plot”. “Communist plot”, did you get it? I made a small joke.

Anyway, instead of Highgate Cemetery, I placed my sights on Brompton Cemetery which was just round the corner from where I was staying.

Entrance to Brompton Cemetery (LGS)

Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl’s Court in West Brompton which is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It was part of the Magnificent 7 which were a series of private cemeteries which were commissioned through Parliamentary Bill in 1832 to address the fact that the inner city church graveyards in London were overflowing as result of the big population boom in London in the early part of the 19th Century.

Architecturally, it is interesting as it tried to follow an European layout and the design of its small chapel was meant to mimic St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

View of the Graves and Gravestones (LGS)

Today, the cemetery is managed by the Royal Parks and is open to the public to use as a park although funerals and burials still do occur. It is believed that there is in excess of 50,000 monuments and graves of every imaginable type. Below is a picture of a rather unusual and ornate copper clad coffin.

Ornate Copper Resting Place (LGS)

I particularly like monuments that rather imaginatively record the passing of entire families, like this one below.

The Cross Rises from the Family Plot (LGS)

The Chapel (LGS)

The Spirit Highway (LGS)

This cemetery is quite atmospheric and a real gem right in the middle of modern busy London. It is not surprising therefore that this has been used as a filming location for a number of movies including the films, “The Wisdom of Crocodiles“, “Johnny English” and the newly released movie “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law.

The Wilder Side of the Tracks (LGS)

There is a whole list of important and famous people who are buried here. For those of you who may be a dead celebrity watcher or a paparazzi who prefer a stationary target, you can follow this LINK for a list of the famous.

I was interested to learn that the Sioux Chief, Long Wolf, was buried here in 1892. He took part in a tour of the Europe as part of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show but died of pneumonia. He was buried with a 17 month old Indian girl named Star Ghost Dog who is believed to have fallen from her mother’s arms while on horseback. He was finally re-interned on tribal land in South Dakota in 1997 after spending 105 years in England’s wet and green lands.

The other notable thing about this place is that it is the resting place of many childhood favorites. It seems that the famous author, Beatrix Potter, lived nearby at 2 Bolton Gardens and was a frequent visitor to Brompton Cemetery. For years there were rumours that she derived some inspiration from what she saw there. In 2001, James Mackay, a member of the Friends of Brompton Cemetery decided to investigate using recently computerised cemetery records and found a startling number of Ms. Potter’s story characters were interned there. There is, for example, Peter Rabbett as well as headstones for Mr. Nutkin (which of course inspired the creation of Squirrel Nutkin), Mr. McGregor (whose walled garden is believed to be modeled on the colonnades in Brompton Cemetery), Jeremiah Fisher, Tommy Brock and even a Tod (as opposed to the more commonly used “Todd”).

The Nutkin Family (Photo by Rehan Qayoom)

That’s me bravely investigating the spookier side of the cemetery. (LGS)