The Manmade Black 'Death' is the 'Life' of Laura

Some men may call her The Black Death...although she's only a woman. But for some it would be a metaphor. She traverses dark woods and lonely places, perhaps the shadows of man's misogynistic past. Maybe to him still a Witch, but I see no broom, spells or potions. Perhaps you've always been afraid to come under her spell, a mystique that you helped her create. And her long gown of black silk, an adornment of allure that you dressed her with, only to conveniently dismiss when it suits you. When really you hate to admit, you made it to conceal her heart of Gold. Which you hate to accept because you do not want your lives to be so perfect. So now she has become your lifetimes curse, one that you Invoked in the first place.

Which brings me to the liberation of Laura...Laura Knight, who was one of the leading painters of her generation, a figurative artist who embraced English impressionism. 

She worked in oils, watercolours, etching, engraving and drypoint. A painter in the figurative, realist tradition where her most popular paintings reflected the backstage world of performance – circus, ballet and theatre – capturing performers in fleeting, intimate moments. 

She became the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy in 1936, the first in nearly two centuries since its foundation in 1768! And her large retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1965 was also the first for a woman. She was also selected as a War Artist, famously documenting the Nuremburg Trials in World War Two.

Her success in the male-dominated British art establishment paved the way for greater status and recognition for women artists.

So don't hate women...you played your part in the hate. You just need to understand that avoiding your own emotional potential and deflecting it by putting it on women, has made her a Queen...and you not equally rightful King, but an emotional pauper :((

Ballet Profusion! From Laura's backstage kind to taking center stage and embracing your freeer and vulnerable side. Adopt a swan pose, spread your wings, imagine your own swan lake, where you are the only one graceful and beautiful.

Which leads me to Gillian Lynne, a former ballerina, and Bafta and Olivier winning choreographer and director, of musicals and films. Known for her choreography of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals Cats (one of the longest running theatre productions across the world), Phantom Of The Opera and Aspects of Love, and loads more. On what makes a good dancer she stated:

"You have to understand the element of movement in the core of your being, but you could do that without being a fantastic dancer, I think. You have to understand that movement and thought are wedded together. You can't just go and dance without a thought in your head. You need to know why you are doing the movements, what they mean to you and what they may mean to others."

[Below is Gillian in rehearsals with John Cranko, a South African ballet choreographer for a show at Hammersmith, London].

What is Woke virtue signaling?

It refers to the act of expressing opinions or taking actions that are intended to showcase one's social awareness or progressive beliefs, particularly in relation to social justice, equality, and political correctness. The term "woke" originates from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and denotes a heightened awareness of social injustices, particularly those affecting marginalized communities.

Critics of "woke virtue signaling" argue that some individuals or organizations may publicly endorse progressive causes not out of genuine commitment to these issues, but rather as a way to earn social approval or enhance their reputation. This can involve posting about social justice on social media, supporting certain movements, or adopting inclusive language, all while failing to take substantive action that aligns with those expressed values.

Supporters of social justice and "woke" movements, on the other hand, argue that raising awareness and demonstrating solidarity is important for promoting change and fostering an inclusive society.

The term often has a negative connotation and is used pejoratively to suggest inauthenticity or self-serving motives.

English Chess Heritage

England has produced a lot of great players in its past and chess openings too. We host regular tournaments on the chess circuit, including Hastings, where many reigning world champions have played, and the London Chess Classic, an Invitational even that always features many of the strongest grandmasters and players. 

Below is just a few of the players England has produced. It's not a statistical resume, if you're not a chess fan it will mean little to you, if you are then you know about these guys already. They can be found at Chessgames, an anchor study site for players and well informed commenters. Even Grandmasters Englishman Nigel Short and Hungarian Susan Polgar have commented there.

John Nunn ~ A three-time chess problem solving world champion and author of best selling books on openings and endgames.

Thomas Wilson Barnes ~The Barnes Opening was named after him as was the Barnes Defence. He has the best ever record against American genius Paul Morphy (winning 8 and losing 19) in his visit to England in 1858.

Howard Staunton (find him on 'Did You Know ?'..it will make you explore my site a while ;)

Amos Burn ~Yorkshireman from Hull, a very strong player, won notable events, and Invented the 'Burn variation' of the French Defence.

Joseph Henry Blackburne ~Nicknamed 'The Black Death' because of his success with the black pieces, he was a winner of many notable tournaments. 

John Owen ~A Vicar! Owen's Defence is named after him. Another strong player. He won a game against the great Paul Murphy when he came here in 1858 when he toured Europe. In 1862 he came 3rd in a prestigious tournament in London, the world's first round-robin (players all played each other) match, ahead of future world champion Austrian born Jew, Wilhelm Steinitz, who came 6th. Notably Thomas Wilson Barnes came 7th, Jospeph Henry Blackburne 9th out of 14 players.

Henry Bird ~ Known for the famous Bird's Opening, still played today, he was 'recoginzed as an amateur of master strength'. He beat nearly all the best players of his era and wrote many notable chess books.

Anthony Miles - England's first Grandmaster, a true great. He inspired a generation of English talent to defeat Russian opponents and challenge the Soviet Union for world supremacy. In a team event Miles beat the world champion Russian Anatoly Karpov, thus giving England a credible draw:

"The game, along with England's 4-4 draw in the match, created a sensation and was a defining moment in England's acceptance as a top chess country."

Michael Adams, nicknamed "The Spider" due to his playing style. He won the British Championship in 1989 at the age of 17, and has since won a host of major events in his career. He has also won the Howard Staunton Memorial event, in honour of the English Great Howard Staunton. His most Important games was having a shot at the FIDE World Championship. His result placings were:

World Championship runner-up 1997

World Championship semi-finalist 1999

World Championship semi-finalist 2000

World Championship runner-up 2004

Nigel Short ~The worlds youngest International master at 14 and worlds youngest grandmaster at 19 years of age, has won many events, which eventually led him to a world championship match with  arguably the greatest chess player ever in Garry Kasparov. a match he lost 12½ to 7½. The score reflecting 1 win for Short, 13 draws and 6 wins for Kasparov. All 20 games here. Short has written chess columns and book reviews for a lot of the major tabloids. He was also awarded the MBE.

England vs America

From 1896 to 1911 the Anglo-American Cable Match was a highlight on the chess calendars of Great Britain and the United States, attracting some of the best players from both nations. Thirteen matches in all were played, and to say the results were even is an understatement: each side won 6 matches (with one match drawn) and each side scored exactly 64 points in the 13 matches. This was a competitive and hard-fought series all the way, with very few short draws or quick victories. When Great Britain accomplished this feat in 1909-1911, the series ended. 

[I call it England vs America as all are born in England, with the exception of Harry H. Holmes who was born in New Hampshire, America, but to English Immigrants, and George Alan Thomas who was born in Turkey. His mother was Edith Thomas was also a chess player, and who won the Ladies Hastings International Chess Tournament in 1895 in conjunction to the men's event that year. The first Hastings world chess tournament held there. She was the daughter of Morgan Hugh Foster. She was also Lady Thomas of the Manor of Marston in Bedfordshire in England. George was also Sir George, the 6th Baronet of Yapton, Sussex in England.]

A Royal Duchess's Yorkshire Paternal and Durham Maternal Heritage

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born on January 9th, 1982 to Michael and Carole Middleton in Reading, Berkshire.

Better known as Kate Middleton, she became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William in 2011 and became a member of the Royal Family. She is today the mother of three children, two sons and one daughter.

Prince William’s younger brother Harry had married the American actress Meghan Markle in 2018. However, the rift between the two brothers and their families has grown wider since that time.

Kate, the eldest of three children, grew up in Bucklebury, Berkshire. She was educated at private schools – St. Andrew’s School and Marlborough College – before enrolling at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland to study art history. That was where she met Prince William in 2001.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022, William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales, next in line to the throne after King Charles. Kate consequently received more public attention and scrutiny.

The operation she had at the London Clinic in January 2024 and her consequent withdrawal from public life caused much speculation on social media. That speculation turned into shock when she revealed that cancer had been detected. However, thankfully the cancer after treatment now appears to be in remission.

What Class?

Royalty would marry royalty, or at least the aristocracy. That was how it used to be, even perhaps at the time that Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

But by the time that his son Prince William got married thirty years later in 2011, it was deemed OK for someone who in former times might be described as a “commoner” to marry into the Royal Family Of course there were still some upper-class contemporaries of theirs who would sneer at Kate Middleton’s supposedly middle-class roots.

But what class then was Kate Middleton?

Kate’s Maternal Line. Her mother’s family were descended from coal miners and thus could be categorized as working-class. The female line here started with Jane Harrison nee Liddle, the wife of a coal miner, who was born in Durham in 1838.

Later, Kate’s maternal grandparents Dorothy Harrison from Durham (1935-2006) and Ronald Goldsmith (1931-2003) were married in 1953 in Southall, London. Ronald was a builder, later a painter and decorator, and Dorothy worked in a jewelry shop. Their daughter Carole, Kate’s mother, was born in 1955, followed by a son Gary. They lived in a council house in west London.

Carole had intended to be a teacher, but her parents couldn’t afford to put her through college. Instead, she started working as a secretary for British Airways. She eventually became a flight attendant, which was how she met her husband Michael Middleton.

Carole’s younger brother Gary prospered in IT business and bought a pad in Ibiza. Married four times, he and his daughter Tallulah attended the Westminster Abbey marriage of his niece Kate.

Kate’s Paternal Line. Kate’s father’s side on the other hand was described by Robert Lacey, the biographer of royalty, as having an aristocratic ancestry; and, based on their Yorkshire history, they might well have come across as upper middle-class.

The Yorkshire Firm of Middleton & Sons

The Middleton family established themselves as civic figures in the West Riding of Yorkshire when William Middleton, a gentleman farmer at the Hawkills estate, founded the law firm of Messrs Middleton & Sons in Leeds in 1834.

The firm existed for 150 years, closing in 1985. Many of William’s descendants were solicitors in the firm, including his son John William and his grandsons Richard Noel and Henry Dubs, as well as various other Middleton relatives.

Middletons and Luptons. Noel and his elder brother William both wed their fiancées – from the upper-class Lupton and Kitson families – at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds just before the First World War.

It had been Frank Lupton, born in 1813, who had started the Lupton textile business that had made his Yorkshire family rich. They lived at Beechwood, a sprawling Victorian mansion in the village of Roundhay, seven miles north of Leeds. Frank’s son Francis took over the business on Frank’s death in 1884. He and his wife Harriet had three sons – Francis, Maurice and Lionel – who all tragically lost their lives at different times during the Great War.

The Lupton-Middleton connection remained strong as their sister Olive, married to Noel Middleton, became the principal Lupton heiress. Noel and Olive’s eldest son Christopher in fact preferred being a Lupton and would change his last name from Middleton to Lupton.

Noel meanwhile became a director of William Lupton & Co, the textile manufacturing firm Olive had inherited on the death of her father in 1921. When Olive died in 1936, she left a sizeable trust fund for her children.

Later Middletons. Their sons Anthony and Peter married the Glassborow twins Mary and Valerie after the Second World War. Captain Peter Middleton had seen fighter service with the RAF during the war and continued afterwards as a commercial pilot. His wife Valerie had served as a VAD nurse during the war.

Peter’s son Michael met his future wife Carole when they were working as ground crew for British Airways. In 1987 Carole started Party Pieces, a company making party bags. The business, later managed by both Michael and Carole, flourished for a long time.

They moved with their family to Bucklebury in Berkshire in 1995 and purchased Bucklebury Manor in 2012.
Kate Middleton’s Family LineLeeds
William Middleton (1807-1884) m. Mary Ward (1811-1859) in Leeds in 1838
– John Middleton (1839-1887)
– Anne Middleton (1843-1933) m. John Asquith
– Arthur Middleton (1846-1907) m. Jessie Dubs
– Robert Middleton (1848-1912) m. Marian Howe
– Charles Middleton (1849-1916)John William Middleton m. Mary Asquith (1839-1889) in Leeds in 1863
– Gilbert Middleton (1865-1921) m. Alice Joy
– Olive Middleton (1870-1961)
– Ellen Middleton (1872-1949)
– William Middleton (1874-1940) m. Agnes Talbot
– Gertrude Middleton (1876-1942), twin
– Caroline Middleton (1876-1961), twin
– Richard Noel Middleton (1878-1951)Francis (Frank) Lupton (1848-1921) m. Harriet Davis (1850-1892) in Leeds in 1880
– Olive Lupton (1881-1936), married Richard Noel Middleton
– Major Francis Lupton (1886-1917), died in the Great War
– Captain Maurice Lupton (1887-1915), died in the Great War
– Anne (Annie) Lupton (1888-1967)
– Lieut. Lionel Lupton (1892-1916), died in the Great WarRichard Noel Middleton m. Olive Lupton in Leeds in 1914
– Christopher Middleton (b. 1915), became Christopher Lupton, m. Dorothy Martin
– Anthony Middleton (1917-2010) m. Mary Glassborow
– Peter Middleton (1920-2010)Captain Peter Middleton m. Valerie Glassborow (1924-2006) in Leeds in 1946
– Richard Middleton (b. 1947)
– Michael Middleton (b. 1949)
– Simon Middleton (b. 1953)
– Nicholas Middleton (b. 1956)London
Ronald Goldsmith (1931-2003) m. Dorothy Harrison from Durham (1935-2006) in Southall, London in 1953
– Carole Goldsmith (b. 1955) m. Michael Middleton
– Gary Goldsmith (b. 1965), married four times (to Miranda Foote, Luan Bettany, Julia Leake and Ju;lie-Ann Brown)Buckinghamshire
Michael Francis Middleton m. Carole Goldsmith in Buckinghamshire in 1980
– Catherine (Kate) Middleton (b. 1982)
– Philippa (Pippa) Middleton (b. 1983), m. James Matthews in 2017
– James Middleton (b. 1987), m. Alizee Thevenet in 2021Windsor
Catherine (Kate) Middleton m. Prince William (b. 1982) in Westminster Abbey in 2011
– Prince George (b. 2013)
– Princess Charlotte (b. 2015)

- Prince Louis (b. 2018)

[By Colin Shelley of selectsurnames.com]