ident and interlude

Via the always captivating Nag on the Lake (a lot more to discover there), we are referred to the motion graphics archive (see also) of the BBC as maintained by the Ravensbourne media centre of the University of London with specimens from across the network’s programming of open titles, promotional trailers and various interstitial pieces. There’s quite a number of iconic shorted animated sequences to resonate with almost every viewer.

iron lady

Triggered by the resignation of her deputy prime minister over her firm stance against European integration, open borders and a common currency that prompted a challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party by pro-trade member Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Margaret Thatcher (*1925 – †2013) failed to win the re-nomination outright during the first ballot two days earlier and was persuaded to withdraw from the second vote and announced her intention to resign her position as Prime Minister on this day in 1990, ending a reign of eleven years. The cabinet recognising that the stewardship of Baron Heseltine would further divide the party, they threw their support behind the candidacy of John Major, who ultimately won the contest on 27 November.

bundeskanzlerin

First entering politics in the Revolutions of 1989 as deputy spokesperson for the first and only (independent) democratically elected East German government of Lothar de Maizière, then elected following reunification as a Bundestag representative for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with several ministerial appointments under Helmut Kohl, Angela Merkel was elevated to General Secretary of her political party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) in 1998, succeeding Gerhard Schröder in 2005 after the outcome of federal elections installed a collation among the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as Chancellor of Germany on this day. Elected to an unprecedented four terms in high office—considered by many the de facto leader of the European Union and since America’s dereliction in 2016 of the free world, Merkel announced she would stand down in October 2018 and not seek a fifth term in 2021.

emgann ballon

Appointed by Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious to pacify rebellion on the far frontiers of the Frankish territories during a general assembly held at the court of Ingelheim in May of 831, Nominoë (Nevenoe) the Breton (see previously) was created first Duke of Brittany—solidifying his power and reputation, emerging victorious from the Battle of Ballon, fought on this day in 845, and halting incursions along the border by King of West Francia, Charles the Bald (Karl Voal/Karl der Kahle/Charles II dit le Chauve). A peace was brokered and the unified Breton people had carved out an identity and land of their own, with independence negotiated in 851 by Nominoë’s son Erispoe after the larger, more decisive Battle of Jengland, near Rennes, compelled Charles to sign the Treaty of Angers.

alfabeti shqip

With the conclusion of the Congress of Manastir—now called Bitola, on this day in 1908 academicians from around the country met and achieved their goal of standardising the national language and script for the native population and the diaspora aboard and in neighbouring Kosovo and North Macedonia—who commemorate this Dita e Alfabetit—whereas prior to the democratic, deliberative and well-considered process the language was expressed in no fewer than six distinct scripts that drew from Greek, Cyrillic, Ottoman and Arabic. There was great potential for confusion between rho and pi, aitch and kha. The outcome was a variant of the Latin alphabet (see also) with thirty-six letters to best represent the phonology of Albanian with diagraphs including dh, gj and nj.

⛩️

Reminiscent of this earlier modular feline environment, we are quite enjoying these cardboard shrines for cats in the Shinto style for the further deification of one’s worshipful beloved. With a variety of configurations possible, one can easily adapt the housing in a number of ways for the safekeeping of the sacred. Learn more at Spoon & Tamago at the link above.

la chamber d’écoute

Born this day in 1898 (†1967) and pictured here posing with his painting The Pilgrim, René François Ghislain Magritte, son of a haberdasher and milliner, would go on to become an influential surrealist artist, informing pop, minimalist and conception art through a long and prolific career. Classically trained at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Magritte found instruction in traditional impressionism to be uninteresting and quickly thereafter discovered cubism and futurism as a point of departure, his signature style cemented once exposed to the metaphysical, juxtaposition of Le chant d’amour (1914) by artist Giorgio de Chirico.

After a failed first exhibition in the capital in the early 1920s, Magritte relocated to Paris where his work was better received and shown in galleries alongside Salvador Dalí (previously), Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy and Joan Miró (see also). During the war and living in Nazi-occupied Belgium, Magritte went through a painterly transition, called his “Renoir Period,” an interlude that expressed his feelings of abandonment and besiegement, though would later renounce that darker spell and committed with fellow artists to use surrealism to promote peace and reconciliation immediately after fighting ceased. Provisionally, Magritte supported himself and his family through forging Picassos and counterfeiting bank notes (he appeared on the genuine five-hundred-franc bill until it was replaced by the euro) until the arts sector was able to get back on its feet and by 1948 was returning to his pre-war style with Golconda (the raining men in bowler hats), The Lost Jockey, The Son of Man (a pop culture homage), The Balcony, The Empire of Light series, and The Listening Room (colossal green apple taking up a whole room).