A U G U S T 2 0 1 2PeNN PALThe

For me, for me, these old retreatsAmid the world of London streets!My eye is pleased with all it meets

In Bloomsbury.I know how prim is Bedford Park,At Highgate oft I’ve heard the lark,Not these can lure me from my arc

In Bloomsbury.I know how green is Peckham Rye,And Sydenham, flashing in the sky,But did I dwell there I should sigh

For Bloomsbury.I know where Maida Vale receivesThe night dew on her summer leaves,Not less my settled spirit cleaves

To Bloomsbury.Some love the Chelsea river gales,And the slow barges’ ruddy sales,And these I’ll woo when glamour fails

In Bloomsbury.Enough for me in yonder squareTo see the perky sparrows pair,Or long laburnum gild the air

In Bloomsbury.Enough for me in midnight skiesTo see the moons of London rise,and weave their silent fantasies

In Bloomsbury.Oh, mine in snows and summer heats,These good old Tory brick-built streets!My eye is pleased with all it meets

In Bloomsbury.

B L O O M S B U R Y

Our most recent members’ event, on 5 July, was awonderful talk by Mary Shakeshaft on Shakespearethe Invisible Man. It served as an appetiser for theexhibition Shakespeare: staging the world, whichopened at the British Museum later in the month andruns to 25 November.The next event will be the Club’s Annual GeneralMeeting at 6.30pm on 18 September. This is alwaysan enjoyable evening, because the official business isfairly short and is followed by drinks and canapés. It isan opportunity to put questions to the Club Chairmanand then to mingle with fellow members, old and new.Members who cannot attend in person are urged toreturn their voting papers by post.Ann Lett’s next programme of cultural events will be on20-22 November. The programme will comprise the StCecilia Festival Service at St Paul’s Cathedral on 21November and the Penn Club Dinner in the evening ofthe same day, as well as a theatre outing and anexhibition. The Club Dinner is also open as a singleevent for members and guests, subject to space in theDining Room. Further details of the programme andthe dinner will be supplied in due course to memberswho are already on Ann’s list or who wish to register aninterest by contacting the Club Secretary (whosecontact details are on page 4).

C L U B N O T E S

By Anon. (1893)One of the poems in London: A History in Verse, amagisterial anthology edited by Mark Ford (2012).We are pleased to have a copy of the book in theClub Library. See page 4 for other Library news.

photog

raphy:

Tamás

Szabó

P A G E 2 P E N N P A L A U G U S T 2 0 1 2

A traveller from second-century Rome would not feel outof place if he suddenly landed in Trafalgar Square in2012, especially if he arrived in the early morning beforethe traffic and the tourists.The villa publica in Roman style (the National Gallery), theclassical temple (St Martin-in-the-Fields) and the forumwith its fountains, statues and bronze lions would allmake a familiar impression. On closer inspection, two ofthe statues would look like emperors in Roman dress(James II and William IV). The equestrian statue on thesouthern edge of the forum would echo Marcus Aureliuson the Campidoglio. And the central feature would beimmediately recognisable: a grand column in Corinthianstyle supporting a heroic colossus (Nelson).Passing through the triumphal arch (Admiralty Arch) andinto the processional way (the Mall), the visitor would seeanother commemorative column (the Duke of York’sColumn), this one in the Tuscan order.Walking back to Trafalgar Square and into St Martin’sLane, he would salute the Coliseum (the home of English

National Opera) andstudy the billboards. Alittle further on, hewould read the time on asundial column (atSeven Dials) and returnto the Coliseum for theopening of the box officeto buy a ticket forHandel’s Julius Caesar:the date is KAL OCTMMXII (1 October 2012)and it’s the first night ofa new production of theopera.Elsewhere in London,the visitor wouldrecognise the Roman

influence in the Doric column commemorating a terriblefire (the Monument), the great domed temple on a hill (StPaul’s Cathedral) and, nearby, a column in the centre ofanother forum (Paternoster Square). Down on theEmbankment, our Roman would not be surprised to seean Egyptian obelisk (Cleopatra’s Needle) because it wouldremind him of several such monuments in his home city,including one similarly brought from Heliopolis.

London’s commemorative columns would put the visitorin mind of the Roman prototype, Trajan’s Column, but hemight be surprised to see an exact full-size replica ofthat column in two halves in the Victoria and AlbertMuseum in South Kensington. The Roman would findmuch to detain him in the V&A, as there is for us. Butthen he remembers that he has to return to theColiseum to pay tribute to Caesar.www.vam.ac.uk

The Monument to the Great Fire ofLondon. Designed by Sir ChristopherWren and completed in 1677. Theview from the top is well worth theclimb up the 311 spiral steps.

A C O L U M N O N C O L U M N S

Paternoster Square Column, erected in 2002.

The cast of Trajan's Column in the Cast Courts, theVictoria & Albert Museum ©

P E N N P A L A U G U S T 2 0 1 2 P A G E 3

A 'hot tip' from the Club Secretary should always be followed: and don't, as I did this time, delay! At the top of MaletStreet you keep going north, through iron gates, into Malet Place. The inconspicuous Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology is on the left. An even more inconspicuous notice states: “Despite its small facility, the Petrie ranks withthe British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum New York and the Neues MuseumBerlin as one of the top specialist collections of Egyptian artefacts in the world”. Itdoes not exaggerate.This is an 'afternoon' place: open only Tuesday to Saturday 1.00-5.00pm. It is aconcentrated, manageable little gem. Its 'only' two rooms, plus a staircase gallery,offer an amazing overview of Nile archaeology from the Palaeolithic to the arrivaland rise of Islam. It houses some 80,000 artefacts. Its helpful staff and relativepeace and quiet (compared to the BM hordes) add to the pleasure of a visit.The dry air of Egypt clearly did William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) noharm: he was still excavating well into his 80s and died just before 90. He wasstill a bit of a legend when I got interested in archaeology in the late 50s: both forthe (relative) scientific rigour and advanced excavation techniques he used; andalso for his cordial relations of equality with, and high regard (unusual at the time)for, his local collaborators. Among the cavern of delights, you will see one of theoldest 'shirts' in the world (c.2800 BC); beautiful faience tile-fragments from thetime of Akhenaten (c 1350 BC), and from the Graeco-Roman period (c 2ndcentury AD) the beautiful Mummy portrait panels from Hawara. You will know your scarab from your shabti. It is agem, small in size only: quite splendid.Richard McAllister www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

Painted wooden stela of thenoblewoman Neskhons facing the godOsiris, from Thebes, c 1000BC.© The Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology, University College London

A N E G Y P T I A N G E M I N B L O O M S B U R Y

Club members venturing out for a meal are sometimes heard to ask, “Where can we find a good pizza?” The pizzahas spread from Italy to America and now to most cities in the world, and there is no shortage of restaurants offeringthe doughy disc in London. The best pizzas are delicious, whereas those of mediocre quality are better avoided.Fortunately, there are a few excellent options for the pizza aficionado within a short walk from the Club.

One company has set the standard for pizza-making in Britain formany years, and that company is Pizza Express, founded in 1965 byPeter Boizot. While its lacklustre competitors have bitten the dust,Pizza Express has survived and prospered. A meal in one of itsrestaurants is a reliable experience in pleasant surroundings andgood value for money, and there are two in this part of Bloomsbury.The Pizza Express restaurant in Coptic Street, near the BritishMuseum, occupies an old diary and still has the original tiled walls;the other one, in a modern interior, is in Southampton Row.Our favourite Pizza Express pizza is the Veneziana, made with redonions, capers, olives, sultanas and pine kernels. Peter Boizotdecided in the company’s early days that a percentage of the priceof every Veneziana would be donated to the Venice in Peril Fund, aninitiative which continues and has so far raised £2 million for thatcause.Much though we like Pizza Express, we have another two places torecommend. One is Olivelli’s in Store Street, off Gower Street, oneof three stylish restaurants run by a family firm established in 1934.The pizza to try there is the Margherita, based on the classic recipeinvented by the baker Raffaelo Esposito in honour of...

D I N I N G O U T

Specially drawn for the Penn Club by John Creed

continues on page 4

Editor: Kenneth Robbie The Penn Club 21-23 Bedford Place London WC1B 5JJ Tel 020 7636 4718clubsecretary@pennclub.co.uk www.pennclub.co.uk

P A G E 4 P E N N P A L A U G U S T 2 0 1 2

John Ward, ever inventive, has come up with a quiz on Roman Britain. Entries should be submitted by postcard or bye-mail to the Club Secretary, to arrive by 15 September. The winner of the first winning entry drawn on the next daywill receive a free night’s accommodation in the Club (subject to availability).Here are the questions:1. What happened on 25 August 55 BC?2. What farm ‘of 323 acres including the most perfect Roman Station on Hadrian’s Wall’ was sold in 1929?3. Who was the wife of Prasutagus?4. What do the Roman names of Winchester, Caerwent and Caistor by Norwich have in common?5. Which ‘creature’ made its way through Water Newton and Lincoln?6. What was the function of the building at Dover estimated originally to stand to a height of 24 metres?7. Which animal was the symbol of the 20th Legion based at Chester?8. Why is this palindromic square found at Cirencester evidence of early Christianity?

R O T A SO P E R AT E N E TA R E P OS A T O R

9. Which Roman Emperor died in Britain?10. Why was Dolaucothi of interest to the Romans?The answers to the May Quiz questions are as follows: 1 Alexanders; 2 Yellow Archangel; 3 Dog’s Mercury; 4 Lords &Ladies; 5 Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna); 6 Feverfew; 7 Dock; 8 Old Man’s Beard / Traveller’s Joy; 9 Lady’sBedstraw; 10 Scarlet Pimpernel. Congratulations to the winner of the May Quiz, Jennifer Pearson of Suffolk.

P E N N P A L Q U I Z

CLUB LIBRARY The Penn Club Library includes an interesting collection of Quaker books,Gisela Creed writes. We have more than two-thirds of all the Swarthmore lectures sincethe first one was delivered and published in 1908 by Rufus M Jones.The Swarthmore lectureship was founded with a two-fold purpose: to interpret further theQuaker message and mission for the members of the Society of Friends; and to bring thespirit and the aims and fundamental principles of Friends to a wider public.We would like to complete this collection and would be grateful for donations of issuesfrom the following years: 1908-16, 1918, 1923-25, 1930, 1932, 1943-46, 1948, 1952-53, 1968, 1970, 1974-79, 1984 and 1993.

DINING OUT - continued from page 3...Margherita, Queen consort of Italy, when she and King Umberto visited Naples in 1889. The queen olives atOlivelli’s are also excellent – and the largest we have seen.The Ecco Express Coffee Company in Drury Lane, a few yards from the junction with High Holborn, looks like anordinary café but turns out a pizza that deserves a prize: the Pizza Neptune, made with anchovies, olives and herbs.It makes a perfect lunch; or in the evening you could enjoy dinner there with friends and yourown bottle of wine (the café doesn’t have a licence to sell alcohol but you may take your ownbottle if you wish). The coffee, too, is first class.When visiting Pizza Express in Southampton Row (only this branch), Club members may claima 20% discount on their food bill (not including wine) on production of their Club membershipcard. The discount is available any day of the week for lunch or dinner.