Uncandid Camera Part I

Well I'm back with a vengance now and so it's time to get on with the blog. This little collection includes photos I have never, ever seen before (officer) so if they're new to you as well - cheer with me. : )



Ok, this photo was taken in 1854 by none other than the simply wonderful Roger Fenton, he of Crimean fame. Well I have actually seen this photo before, but never this clearly or the whole thing. Well, I know the Queen looks very grumpy (either that or hypnotised by Sir John Russel and a harpsichord) but it's quite a nice photo, despite the really creased sheet in the background (you'd have thought they'd be able to afford an iron, I mean honestly, O tempora, o mores* as Cicero would put it.) Yes, well, on to the actual never seen before ones.




Yes, now this one -eeeekkkk!!!!! I got so excited about this because not only had I never seen it before or even known of its existence, but also it's a companion to none other than the infamous White Top Hat Photo of earlier. Sorry it's so small, but I couldn't find a bigger version on tinternet, sozzles. Anyhoo, I think Victoria looks very young here, don't you? Mind you, as it's still 1854, she was only 35, but NO MATTER, my point still stands. Er...yes, well, I think I know what I'm talking about (hah!) so let's whizz forwards a bit to the next picccccy.



Yes, well this one's evidently from the set a couple of pictures ago, as that sheet's still not been ironed (even a Corby trouser press would do it... I live near Corby actually...oooh...) yes, well, this one's entitled: "Where's all the furniture gone?" as Albert does look rather scared (maybe the plants on the right are triffids and ate all the other furniture??) but I digress. This is 1854 AGAIN and also by Roger Fenton. I think the photographer may have taken this while running away from the triffids, which may explain the glare. Mind you, I thought that Albert looked a little less glarey in this photo than most of the others. Ach weeelll, on to one which made me chuckle.



I think he's just noticed the triffids. Not to mention the UNIRONED SHEET OF A DIFFERENT HUE!! That won't fool the professionals. Yes, well it's STILL 1854 (snore, bump, ouch) and Roger Fenton's still hanging around the place. A rather pointless comment is look at the ring. See it? Well done, have a Smartie. Well, in the truly amazing series Edward VII (Edward the King in America I think) Robert Hardy (who I always get muddled up with Thomas Hardy - yes, I am indeed a few sandwhiches short of a picnic basket, alas) plays Prince Albert and wears a ring just like that on his little finger. Yes, well, sorry to have wasted all your precious seconds of reading time, but it's something I thought the Nation should be aware of y'know. Yes, well, onwards mad dogs and Englishmen (and anyone else, provided it's not midday.)




Ok, I admit that I have seen this one before as well (I'm really not very good at this am I?) but I thought I'd put it up here, as some people have been led to believe that the lady on the far right is the Duchess of Kent. She's not. She is, in fact, Mary the Duchess of Gloucester and (at the time of this photo) the last living daughter (and possibly child) of George III. Well, from left to right, we have Bertie looking supremely bored; the Queen wearing a lampshade on her head; Alice doing her favourite pose with her hand on her chin (I've tried it myself...I just look like I'm trying to fix my head back on) and Mary, who looks just as bored as Bertie to be honest. On we go then.




Now I genuinely had never seen this photo before, except for once and that was in a newspaper, but it was stuck to a notice board with some woman standing in front of it, so I couldn't see it properly. It was about an exhibition of photographs, just like this one, which has started, but is IN ABERDEENN!!!! As that's about a million miles away from me, I was distraught that this photo was taunting me almost from behind the Woman, but then I stumbled across it on the Nation Portrait Gallery website and was joyful. I rather like this photo (ok, so I've never hated a photo yet, but you get my meaning) though she does look very, very scared about something (another clan of triffids perhaps?) and at least these curtains look in better shape than the sheets from earlier. It's not a particularly flattering photo (go to the aforementioned website to zoom in and you'll see what I mean) but that's one grooovy carpet. Oh yes, it's from 1860 by the way, as is the above one (I think - it could be 1859, but I'm not sure.) Yep, well, onto one that EVERYONE knows about.




So, here we are in about 1863 (I know John Brown didn't come south until 1864, but this looks suspiciously like bonnie porridge land to me) and I know it looks just like the one that everyone's seen before, but it's not. Observe (I love that word - it makes me feel so clever) the fact that Victoria's looking almost directly at the camera, whereas in the other one she's looking...somewhere else...yeah...I'm good at this. Well anyway, here it be and there it be and on we go.




Yes, it's one of the many, many, MANY photos taken of Victoria with Noble the collie (or this one could be Sharp actually...) but either way, it's a dog and about 1868. Ish. It could be a bit earlier come to think of it, but oh welldey well. Methinks le dog whose name I can't decide has spotted some more triffids and is about to Get Out Of There. Yes, well I'm pretty sure now that this dog is Sharp, as the next photo will show.




Yay! It's Noble the collie!! Yes, well, he was Queen Victoria's favourite collie and his fluffiness (ooh! It's a word!) does imply that the dog above isn't him, but Sharp, who looked very similar I think, but had a shorter coat. I thought I'd pop him in here, just because he's rather nice and even got his own inscription on his tombstone from the queen (when he died...obviously...) Yes, well, let's just go.




Getty Images says that this is from 1872, which is why the date of the one with Sharp is so late. I'm trying to work out whether that's the same dress in both pictures - I think it is, but the hem's changed a bit. Now I've got that bit out of the way, it's time to analyse. Yes, well there isn't really that much to say here, except that they've finally got round to ironing the curtains and er...it's inside? Yes, well I haven't got a vast amount to say off the top of my head, so let's toddle off to something a little less taxing on "Ma little grey cells."




"Gladstone slips on a real banana skin as his political enemies celebrate by performing the Can-can in mufti." That's the caption for this cartoon from Uncyclopedia, which is actually t'riffic if you have the time to take a gander, but it's still funny even if you don't. This is, of course, William Gladstone, our Prime Minister (or First Lord of the Treasury if you want to be really picky - technically the first 'Prime Minister' to be addressed thus was Stanley Baldwin in 1937, before that they were known as 'the First Lord of the Treasury' formally and Prime Minister was originally a name of insult) for simply AAAGES during the 19th century. So there you have it, all that pointless information crammed into one tiny head (and I do actually have a remarkably small head) now released upon the world.

So goodbye, take care and always carry a lightbulb. Adios, until the next time. : )


*"Oh these times! O this conduct!", In Catilinam I. Yay.

New Look Vikipedia - OOOOOooooooh!!

Yes, well, in case you hadn't already noticed, there's been a little revamp of this particular blog, inspired by Whyte Fairy's one, which was actually so fab that I had to find out where her background came from and...yes, well, I spent three hours yesterday selecting pictures to go along the edges and my cunning plot is to reach the bottom. Mwa ha haaaaa. Anyway, here's the link to the place where I got the header and a lot of the icons: http://http://blo64rt.blogspot.com (ok, I know it's not a link, but copy and paste it, as links and pasting them have some sort of vendetta against me - them and tarantulas, but that's something completely different...)

Go and look peoples, 'tis wunderbar. :)

Oh yes, and just as a taster of things to come, here's the promised photo of Queen Victoria in her specs:



Personally, I'd have gone for some Eric Morecambe style ones, but I don't suppose they were around back then...this is about 1899 I reckon, but I'm literally just using my insanely fast 5-second analysis, so if you know better, pray do tell and I'll correct it. Yes, well the dress post may have to go on hold for a while, as I've discovered a vast cache of UNSEEN photographs (well, unseen by me at least) that I'm desperate to share with the nation as a whole. Oh yes, and I'm off up Lunnun way tomorrow to go and see the exhibition at Buckingham Palace, hence the near delirious excitement in my voice...well, typing. :DDD

Have a nice day and I'll see you...oh er...this isn't an email is it? Ah well, HAVE A NICE LIFE PEOPLE READING THIS!! Please do. Anyhoo, I'm orf now to sort through me photos, so ta ta and I'll be back soon. :)

"You SHALL go to the ball Cinders!" Er...what?

Hello again everyone and Wilkommen to the next bit. Pray do ignore the title, as I was typing under the influence of sherbert. Anyhoo, here are the promised dress photos.



This is the earliest surviving dress of Queen Victoria's and she wore it when she was about twelve, so that would've been around 1831. The mannequin does look a bit creepy, but it's quite a pretty dress and very...lacy. Well I think that that's aboot it, so on to he next one.



This is, I have to say, incredibibbly funky, mais oui? Tartan, tartan, tartan even before the Balmoral days. Well I'm guessing again here, but I'd say Victoria was about fifteen or sixteen when she wore this, as it goes down to the floor and just generally looks more mature. I can't quite get over the amazing tartannesss, so while I recover, here's one from a lot of years later.



10th February 1840. There's a date to put in your diary (if you're reading this in the past that is) as it's the day that Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. Ok, just ignore the mannequin, who looks like a corpse, and just concentrate on le dress. Pretty non? Thanks to Victoria, now pretty much everyone wears a white dress at their wedding, as all the girls getting married back then wanted to copy her style (man) and you can see why...from the helpful piccy by my fave Winterhalter, back again to give us this lurverly painting.



Next we toddle off to a particularly bad photo of a particularly nice dress and tiara-ra-ra. Now personally I think that the person who took these photos was either very tall or on stilts, as they're all at a really unflattering angle aren't they? The small child with the bob could be Bertie or Affie, but I have no idea which (probably Bertie, as he went to the partay in the mahoosive greenhouse.) Again, there's a Winterhalter to add gravitas and a better impression of what it looked like on and with all the jazzy jeweeeeelllsssssss, etc. This portrait, called 'The First of May' in 1851, depicts the Duke of Wellington (who was actually Irish by the way), Prince Albert being distracted by some pottery triffids while presenting his wife with the bill for all their bus expeditions in the posing of photos, Prince Arthur holding some premature mistletoe (I know it's not, but y'know) and the Queen wondering what on earth they were going to do with yet ANOTHER casket.





Please excuse me for a second. WWWWRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! Thank you. Now, the reason for that little outburst was because I've actually SEEN this dress with my own eyes (as opposed to anybody else's...) in Lunnun at the triffic exhibition there. I love, love, LOVE this dress and desperately want one of my own (a bit longer though, I think I'm a bit tall to pull that particular one off) to wear around the house, around the world and in general. Well, I'll stop gabbling now and let you just absorb the wonder that is that dress. :)))



Ok, I've decided to leaf it there for a bit, as I need to go and make some lunch, but stay tuuuned for more. Oh yes, and expect some links to several stories I've written involving all my favourite (and some of my least favourite) royals to appear razzer qvickly. Adios amigos. :)