30th December 2021 - With the Maxwells

Thought for the day :"Took my partner to an orchard to look at the trees for half an hour. Seems it was not the Apple Watch they were expecting"

Strange high temperatures in Wales and across the UK. Normal temperatures should be about 8 degrees but up at about 18 degrees (C) today - though very wet and miserable with it.

Took the dogs to the field and we all got very muddy, but nothing else done outside.
Drove down to the Army Surplus shop to get an air bed for the spare room which was a better idea than going to Carmarthen though more costly than a Tesco cheapy!

Picked up the guitar again after many months without doing any playing and started learning "The Dutchman" which is my current favourite song - and getting out the old song books so should be able to start practicing again for the New Year.

Leave this here for reference and ease of finding ..

Certainly out of practise as my little finger hurts a lot !!

Covid cases hit 190,000 today and as a result they decide to reduce the quarantine period from 10 days down to 7 - so glad that Science is directing the decision making process not politics and economics 

In other news, Ghislaine Maxwell is found Guilt of procuring under age girls for sexual activities, and a zoom meeting last night with my sister confirmed some memories of (perhaps) 1963 when my father was invited to the Maxwell house by Robert Maxwell, the Newspaper Magnate, and as a family we went to the Maxwell Mansion for Christmas Party at the height of his wealth and Success.

It was interesting which memories we each retained - bearing in mind that we were about 9 and 11 at the time. 
I recall the large opulent office that Robert Maxwell had with his pride and joy of the time - a moving light show wall behind the desk which he proudly proclaimed would never duplicate the image in 50 years  - an early show of the technology that would soon be in night clubs and music venues across the country when they turned it into a projector light show system.

The dinner was very high level fancy with special crackers for everyone - which as children was special as the toy in the cracker was a "real" toy - I do not recall exactly but think it was a die cast car - Chrissie things she may have had some wedgewood.

It was all very formal and the "children were all seated in our own child sized tables and chairs in a side room away from - but within sight of the main hall. I remember a huge staircase and a 30 ft Christmas Tree in the stairwell.

Chrissie remembers visiting the horses with some of the Maxwell siblings - I recall making dens in tree houses in the very expansive grounds...  I think Ghislane would have been too small to have been in either group - she is 60 now - 7 years younger than me...

I remember being fascinated that a family would have so many children, hearing the story that the oldest son had been in a coma for 5 years !!!  But I found them all friendly. 

And that is my recall of the Maxwells. Pergamon Press was the publishing company as I recall ...  

Ian Robert Maxwell MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a British media proprietor, former member of Parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.  Originally from Czechoslovakia, Maxwell rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire. After his death, huge discrepancies in his companies' finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund

Early in his life, Maxwell, then an Orthodox Jew, escaped from Nazi occupation, joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile during World War II and was decorated after active service in the British Army. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major publishing house. After six years as a Labour MP during the 1960s, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation, Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Publishers, among other publishing companies.

Maxwell had a flamboyant lifestyle, living in Headington Hill Hall in Oxford, from which he often flew in his helicopter, or his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. He was litigious and often embroiled in controversy. In 1989, Maxwell had to sell successful businesses, including Pergamon Press, to cover some of his debts. In 1991, his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean, having apparently fallen overboard from his yacht. He was buried in Jerusalem.
Maxwell's death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly attempted to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that the elder Maxwell had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies' pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992.

Robert Maxwell (back row, centre) pictured with his wife Betty (sat with youngest daughter Ghislaine on her knee) and seven of their eight children at home in Headington Hill Hall, Oxford. When this photo was taken Ian (5) was 11 years old and attending preparatory school, while Isabel, then 17 (4) was at grammar school with their sister Christine (3), and youngest son Kevin, 8, (6) was at preparatory school. Second oldest son Philip, (1), had entered his second undergraduate yer at Balliol College, Oxford, while Anne (2) was also studying at the university, but at St Hugh's College.

Some say it may be too soon - but... I chuckled

In other news - Susie has been painting again ...

Cheers