Fifty-one years ago...August 1969; British Council, London

Fifty-one years ago, in August 1969, I started working for The British Council, at 11 Portland Place (opposite the BBC). I was amused to find the old programmes below. N.B., I didn't write the promotional blurb! These were voluntary evening stints at the Overseas Students Centre, not part of the job description at the English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI). I worked at Portland Place for one year, then went for further TV production training at C.E.T.O,  Nuffield Lodge, Regent's Park.

(above, the old bookplate logo)

RIBA photo of Students Centre:

https://www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/british-council-students-centre-and-flats-later-ambika-house-911-portland-place-marylebone-london/posterid/RIBA104974.html

11 Portland Place, photos (architecture.com):

At C.E.T.O.
(below)

C.E.T.O., Nuffield Lodge, Regent's Park, 1970

After that, I followed the example of Arthur Rimbaud

and disappeared into distant parts,

first of all to Ethiopia...

Rimbaud's House (?), Harar:

From Cadences, Cyprus

Looking for Rimbaud in Har(r)ar:

"Je reviendrai, avec des membres de fer, la peau sombre, l'œil furieux "

Une Saison en enfer

French Mission:

Filming in Addis:

Lake Langano, Ethiopia

...then to Kenya

Farewell to our house martins?

Last night our three young house martins (stone martins) were waiting on the stone slabs beneath their nest.

They didn't move at all. They'd done their test flights and were ready to leave. This morning the remains of their nest lay broken up on the floor. No going back! Their parents had seen to that.

Maybe they're among the birds sitting on the telephone wires above the house.

Update 13th August

They're back again, getting ready to sleep on the stone slabs.

Perhaps the nest collapsed under their weight?

Vitsa after the thunderstorms. Zagori, Epirus.

After four days of torrential rain and thunderstorms - is it going to rain again today?

6pm, after more thunder:

Greek National Gallery, Corfu Annex, Kato Korakiana

Always a pleasure to visit the gallery. This time there were no other visitors, but we wore our masks.


http://iivw.di.ionio.gr/korakiana-national-gallery/


Video:

http://iivw.di.ionio.gr/korakiana-national-gallery/#PromoVideo


This time I paid special attention to three works by Ghika (Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas).

Apologies for the poor quality of the photographs. My spectacles and camera lens were getting steamed up, because of the masks, heat and humidity!

See also, Charalambos Pachis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptanese_School_(painting)

Poor colour reproduction from internet: