British Studies Lost Land Journal: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory

Monday, July 9 London Alive: British Museum

When I went on my first London Alive excursion, I made sure to visit the area of the British Museum that contained Celtic and early artifacts from the British Isles since that area of the museum was significant to The Dark is Rising Sequence. In Greenwitch, the third book in the sequence, the story begins with the Drew children standing before an empty display case in the British Museum reading a newspaper article about several aritifacts that had recently been stolen from the museum. The children know immediately who is responsible for the theft of a very important item that is needed to give The Light an advantage in its age-long struggle with The Dark. Even though the story is fictional, it was interesting to stroll through that section of the museum and picture everything just as Susan Cooper described in the book.

We took an early boat from Savoy Pier to get to the National Maritime Museum and then went on to the Royal Observatory. Tonya Kirk greeted us at the Caird Library in the National Maritime Museum and gave us a little background before passing us on to the next speakers. The main library is open only to those who are sixteen or older, but any age can do research at E-Library on the computers. The library offers weekend story times to children and there are also some children's books in the E-Library area. When I looked through the collection, I was thrilled to find a copy of Susan Cooper's Victory, a fantasy that steps back in time and features a young man who served with Admiral Lord Nelson on the Victory. It made me wonder if Susan Cooper had actually visited the National Maritime Museum when doing research for Victory.

We got to see several interesting items including an Atlas owned by British pirate Basil Ringrose, Royal Naval Ship The Pearl's log which recounts the capture of Blackbeard, and the merchant log from a slaving vessel whose captain, John Newton, had a religious experience and became anti-slavery and ended up writing the hymn "Amazing Grace." We saw letters signed by Charles II and written by Samuel Pepys, as well as letters from Admiral Lord Nelson to his wife and to his mistress, and quite a few items about the Titanic.

Our afternoon visit to The Royal Observatory was equally impressive, but the thing that I liked most about the whole day was finding a copy of Louise Borden's Sea Clocks in the gift shop at the National Maritime Museum. Louise Borden is a terrific author of children' books who does lots of research and travel to gather primary source materials when she gets an idea for a book. She lives in Terrace Park, (Cincinnati) Ohio and does wonderful presentations for school children. The discovery of her visit to the National Maritime Museum was just as exciting for me as seeing the marker for the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory.

British Studies Lost Land Journal

Antony Gormley's website

Event Horizon by Antony Gormley

Event Horizon

Angel of the North by Antony Gormley

Event Horizon Up Close and Personal

Queen Mary's Dollhouse at Windsor Castle

Shakespeare's Grave at Holy Trinity

The garden at New Place

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Monday, July 9 London Alive: British Museum

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007 National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory

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