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Pezenas in South West France |
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Plaque commemorating Lord Clive and his pie (image 2802-244) |
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This weekly photo feature returns from holiday with a set about Pezenas, a small but historic town in the South of France. Pezenas is in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, about 30 miles from the coast and on a hill that has been used as a fortress for more than 2,500 years. Julius Caesar had a base here and the Chateau was home to the Kings of Languedoc in the 12th and 13th centuries. Unfortunately the castle was demolished in the 1600's by Cardinal Richelieu, the dark eminence of French history and very much the Peter Mandelson of his day. But Pezenas still has fine old streets, grand stone buildings and lots of extremely ancient doors. An interesting English connection is that Lord Clive (he of India) came here in 1768 and is said to have introduced the locals to a little pie of Indian origin that has since become known as "le petit pate de Pezenas". We couldn't try one when we there, sadly. France being France, at least in the provinces, all the shops were closed for a three-hour lunch ! |
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Wheels |
| The last photo feature was about wheels, mostly but not all of the transport variety. Inventing the wheel is said to have been one of the most important steps in our evolution from the cave to the multi-storey car park, from tearing wild animals apart with our bare hands to pushing a trolley around Tesco. A world without wheels is almost as inconceivable as finding a Member of Parliament who hasn't been fiddling his or her expenses. "The wheels on the bus go round and round" we sing to our children. The best news recently is that the wheels on the Westminster gravy train look like they've fallen off at long last. |
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Minis. Austins and, North Laine shops have been recent photo subjects |
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The previous subject was Minis. The car that defined the 1960s, it was the most stylish success story of the British motor industry in the past half century. As is the way with British industry, however, the Mini was actually designed by Alec Issigonis, who was born in Greece, and is now owned by BMW, which is German. Not that it matters, of course, when the Mini is so inextricably associated with the Greatest Living Englishman, Michael Caine. "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off !" The Italian job could never have been done in Fiats. The feature before that looked at Austin cars. These quintessentially English automobiles were made by the Austin Motor Company, founded near Birmingham by Herbert Austin in 1905 and a healthy independent manufacturer until its merger in 1952 with the ill-fated British Motor Corporation (BMC). The famous Mini, originally branded as an Austin, was launched in 1959 by BMC, but the business lost its way in later years and was broken up in 1989, by which time it had been renamed Austin Rover. The classic Austin cars come from the 1920s to the 1950s and include the mass-market Austin 7, the more expensive Austin 6 and, from 1954, the delightful Baby Austin (A30). There were also sports and racing cars under the Austin-Healey name. Fast or slow, all Austin cars share a certain friendly charm. Some makes of car are just more likeable than others and, symbiotically, this relates to their owners as well. Dogs, of course, are the same. Dangerous dogs generally belong to dangerous people and the ugly swagger of most 4x4 vehicles is usually more than matched by their drivers. The owners of Austins, by contrast, are as nice as their cars. There are Austin rallies on Brighton seafront - the most recent this April - and they are charming events. Everybody wears old-fashioned clothes and many cups of tea are drunk. Austins may come from a vanished world, but it was a much nicer one. The shops of Brighton's North Laine were the subject of the preceding set. The pictures were taken in April and give a taste of how varied, colourful and quirky are the retail outlets in this ever-popular part of town. Mostly small and independently owned, these shops face the same problems in the current recession as all other retailers across the country - rising costs, restricted credit and customers who are hanging on to their money. But so far at least, it looks like the North Laine is not suffering as badly as elsewhere. Some shops have closed, but new tenants seem to be taking over quite quickly. The crowds in the streets, especially at weekends, are as large as ever. The recession will inevitably hurt the North Laine and there will be casualties. But hopefully this much-loved part of Brighton with its excellent shops will survive intact. |
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The library offers over 50,000 photos |
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The picture library offers more than 50000 photos and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include Pezenas. wheels, Mini and Austin cars, independent shops, trees, protest placards, mothers & children and window boxes. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places. There is also a useful search guide and information page. A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals over 3500 photos. Each week brings a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions. |
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Michael Jackson remembered by this poster outside a Brighton shop in June 2009 (image 2803-12) |
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