07/11/2009 by admin.

We’re delighted to report that the British heavyweight boxer David Haye has enjoyed an incredible ‘against the odds’ truimph over the 7ft plus Russian giant, Nikolai Valuev.  The Londoner was 11 inches shorter and 7 stone lighter than his opponent. The bout went the full 12 rounds with David winning on points. He becomes the first British heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.  The victorious boxer described his victory as a ‘dream come true’.

We see this as a message of hope in the run up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen. Why? As mentioned in an earlier posting, the boxer is nicknamed The Hayemaker!  Well our story records how the black boxer Bill Richmond, the unofficial world champion from the 18th century, participated in the Blakesware Set and was dubbed ‘The Haymaker’ by the Duke of Wellington.  Bill had a symbolic role in the direction of the Blakesware Set - take a look at the rear of our journal extract. http://www.thehaymakerssurvey.com/Journal.php  proclaiming ‘Now is the time for action, set Mother Nature free’. 

World leaders at COP 15 take note - this is Haymaker magic! As William Wordsworth says in the video, “Don’t throw away this chance” - search for the specific video  http://www.youtube.com/cop15 

Posted in Q80a Do you keep a diary?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

31/10/2009 by admin.

Spider webs encassed in amber discovered in East Sussex by fossil hunters have been confirmed by scientists as being the oldest on record. They date back 140 million years to the Cretaceous period.  Professor Brazier said “the fossil is very rare and is right at the base of the Cretaceous layer.” His studies revealed that the web was created by a spider similar to the modern day orb or web spider.

So, we have a second example in just a few days of a major discovery relating to a web - as if to reaffirm our view that Mother Nature is warning us of the need to preserve the ‘web of life’ in the run up to Copenhagen.  The web of life features distinctly in our novel.

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

11/10/2009 by admin.

Last night on the BBC’s AutumnWatch the presenters, Kate Humble, Chris Packham and Simon King discussed the millions of Painted Lady butterflies that invaded Britain in the Spring.  Painted Ladies are a regular summer visitor to Britain and conservationalists believe the number of Painted Lady butterflies this year was the largest seen here since the 1960s.   

Kate, Chris and Simon were curious as to what happened to them all - they seemed to have just disappeared - they’ve asked for viewers to give their views or offer clues and help solve the mystery.  Chris suggested the butterflies might be flying back to Africa at higher altitude, but he liked the fact that we don’t know for it shows we have lots to learn about Nature.

One solution might be that the butterflies arrived in such numbers to guide us to take note of another painted lady - Lucy Ebbs in the Haymakers painting by George Stubbs.  Our story reveals that she is Mother Nature personified. The butterflies mysterious departure maybe another hint that we risk letting everything precious in our natural world fade away! Malachi seems to alert us too - on page 35 he says, “the flame of a butterfly before it settles”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7W44Ljn5FA

Whatever, the arrival of the Painted Ladies are a spectacular phenomenon. Here’s a link of interest…

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

28/09/2009 by admin.

During a performance of A Steady Rain on Broadway, Hollywood tough-guy actors Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig were called into action to respond to a member of the audience who had left his mobile phone on.  At first the X-men and 007 stars kept in character but as the ringing continued they lost patience and told the person to respond, “Do you want to get that?” The audience erupts in cheers but the ringing persists so Jackman pleads, “C’mon just turn it off.”

Our Sarah liked this very much. It reminded her of Charles Lamb’s report in his journal (The Ball of Blue in a Sea of Black -pages 429-436) of how they used Sarah’s mobile to issue a warning to humanity to try to prevent a globally warmed Earth.  She believes its a test because of the X-factor question in our opening material. Do we have what it takes to respond to the call? Don’t close your eyes - this is your life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPl4040-Dgo

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q59 Do you like surprises?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

14/09/2009 by admin.

A Red Panda has escaped from London Zoo to hide up a tree in Regent’s Park. The rare animal was spotted at 03:00am by a local cameraman Martin Ellerbeck.  Zoo-keepers were unable to coax the creature down so resorted to using a tranquilizer.  An inquiry will be held into how the animal escaped.

Our take on this is simple: RED ALERT for action to preserve Mother Nature! Where’s our evidence? Its another example of an escaped animal to feature on our Watch; the creature was first seen at three - a number key to our project; and he escaped to Regent’s Park - our novel includes several mentions of the antics of the Prince Regent. To cap everything, the Panda’s name was Peter - in our novel we have a cameo appearance from Sir Peter Scott - founder of the WWF and designer of the orginal WWF panda logo. Do the panda’s antics amount to a life imitating art moment?

The Red Panda is also known as a FireFox so here’s a suitable emergency response…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDq1aXRwls&feature=related

Posted in Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

13/09/2009 by admin.

On page 86 of our novel, Malachi, says, “What is it with humans - this obsession with keeping things clean and tidy?”  

How charming then that Sir David Attenborough, the famed wildlife ambassador, presenter and naturalist appeared at the Last Night of the Proms playing a FLOOR POLISHER as a musical instrument as part of a comic music piece, ‘A Grand, Grand Overture by Sir Malcom Arnold. Sir David was joined at the Royal Albert Hall by pianist Stephen Hough.

Did Sir David unwittingly endorse Malachi’s words? Might we substitute our obsession for cleaning and tidying with caring for the environment?

Another curiosity with Sir David’s appearance is that the Last Night is traditionally connected with British Patriotism because our discussion under Star Question (page 499) explores why The Haymakers Survey was shared with the world in Britain.  We identifed many reasons why here and now. Let’s celebrate with Jerusalem with its reference to those ‘Dark Satanic Mills’ mentioned by Charles Lamb at the start of his journal (page 233).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bggV_Dbj87w

Posted in Star Question - what happened to the blue ribbon?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q22 Do you love our Earth? | No Comments »

05/09/2009 by admin.

At Hartland Quay in Devon, a man miraculously survived a 200ft plunge in his car over a cliff.  Steve Jones, Watch Manager at Swansea Coastguard, said, “It beggars belief how he managed to survive.” The man was airlifted to safety and taken to a local hospital.

We’ve chosen to include this miraculous escape in our Watch because Hartland Quay sounds like Heartland Key -  and our readers know all about the three hearts in our story, illustrating Love, Art and Nature - and how we learn that faith is the key to solving the ecological crisis; trusting the forecasts and expected implications of climate chaos and responding quickly and sensibly to the challenges ahead.

Miracles happen…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4bFtJB4CLo&feature=related

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q22 Do you love our Earth? | No Comments »

02/09/2009 by admin.

In a visit at the weekend to the Climate Camp at Blackheath, Ben and Julia were amused to see bales of hay everywhere.  At the entrance to the camp the participants had stacked them in a semi-circle to form a mini auditorium. Elsewhere the bales of hay provided makeshift tables and seating.  As a non-commercial venture, here’s a selection of images we’ve selected courtesy of the Climate Camp for Action Website:

We’re excited about the presence of so much hay helping to inspire the participants. All very curious given the name of our project and the key role of George Stubbs’ Haymakers painting. We’re especially intrigued because Ben was inspired in our novel to proclaim ‘Action Now’ on climate change whilst stood on top of a haystack (see our free extract) and Charles Lamb’s journal revealed how William Blake saw something mystical and inspiring amongst haymakers!

The climate campers may have packed away their belongs but the magic continues…

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason? | No Comments »

26/08/2009 by admin.

Today Climate Camp 2009 was revealed as Blackheath, a whisker away from Greenwich, London. The venue was chosen as the organisers wanted to camp in clear sight of the London City Skyline. Around 1,000 have set up camp for a peaceful week to help educate, raise awareness, challenge current strategies and explore solutions to the unfolding climate chaos.

Aside from the symbolism, we’re most curious about the chosen venue - Blackheath! One popular but incorrect theory is that the heath’s name derives from its use as a burial ground for the London based victims of the Black Death plague.  It was also associated with the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.  The Greenwich Prime Meridian - the home of time - runs along the west side of Blackheath! Our readers will be aware that these 3 themes (potential climate change induced disease, a peoples uprising and the Greenwich Meridian) are all features of our novel.

But the creme-de-le-creme is that Caroline Brunswick, married to the Prince Regent, was banished in 1799 to a private residence in Blackheath.  As our novel reveals, the banished queen appeared before Ben Whittenbury and Charles Lamb as part of an extraordinary brief encounter that suggested a royal command from Mother Nature, “Forget me Not!”  Don’t just take our word for it - read the novel and see the truth for yourself!

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

06/08/2009 by admin.

From time to time we speculate on possible explanations for the curious coincidences between our project and events on our Watch. In one of his crazy outbursts the ever sceptical Bill Darvill joked that, “Maybe its aliens trying to warn us. Hell look at the strange things happening in space - on Venus, Mars and Jupiter - could they have done it? Do they know how much we’re at risk?”  He spoke in jest of course but look at this from ‘Look North’ (to the Polar region perhaps?).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8186289.stm

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »