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The Afternoon Tea Times welcomes correspondence. Contact Afternoon Tea online, or by mail to: Afternoon Tea Times, MPT, 11767 Owings Mills Blvd., Owings Mills, MD 21117-1499. You may also reach MPT Afternoon Tea by telephone at (443) 394-1634.
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Editor's Note
Apples, pumpkins, children in costumes - yes, it's fall! What a truly wonderful time of year. Break out the sweaters, kick some leaves with your feet, and enjoy your favorite cup of tea when there is a little nip in the air.
October brings us a re-run of Ken Burns': National Parks: America's Best Idea. The last two episodes air and then we rerun the entire series over the first weekend of this month.
We know you love Dawn French so we bring you an article about her this month.
Have you ever wondered about the first woman Beefeater? Well, wonder no longer! We share information about this as well.
Also included is an article about the art of the tea sandwich. This might just come in handy as you start to think about holiday entertaining.
We thought a recipe that makes you feel comfy is in order so we include Apple-Gingerbread Cobbler. This sounds like something that will just make your day!
Enjoy your Halloween. Don't let the ghoulies and ghosties get you!
The Tea Times Newsletter Staff
1
They Say It's Your Birthday!
Do you share a birthday with any of these people?
October 5, 1923
Glynis Johns – actress, played in Mary Poppins
October 14, 1927
Roger Moore – actor, played James Bond
October 22, 1917
Joan Fontaine – actress
October 27, 1914
Dylan Thomas –poet
2
Dawn French
Everyone's favorite Vicar
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, writer and comedienne. In her career, she has been nominated for six BAFTA Awards and also won a Fellowship BAFTA along with Jennifer Saunders. She is best-known for starring in and writing her comedy sketch show, French and Saunders, alongside her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and for playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley.
Background
French was born in Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales to parents Denys Vernon French and Felicity "Roma" O'Brien. She was educated at the independent St. Dunstan's Abbey School (now absorbed by Plymouth College) boarding school on North Road West in Plymouth, Devon, England. She has a brother, Gary French, who was born in 1955. Her father, Denys (5 August 1932 - 11 September 1977) was a member of the Royal Air Force being stationed at RAF Valley. The RAF partly funded her private education. When her father was stationed at the former RAF Faldingworth, she attended Caistor Grammar School in Lincolnshire, boarding in the school's Lindsey house. She later won a debating scholarship that brought her to study at the Spence School in New York. It was after returning from New York that she broke up with her fiancé, David White, a former Royal Navy Officer.
French's confidence and self-belief stems from her father who told her how beautiful she was each day. She stated, "He taught me to value myself. He told me that I was beautiful and the most precious thing in his life." He had a history of severe depression and attempted suicides but managed to conceal his illness from Dawn and her brother. He committed suicide in 1977 when French was nineteen and he was forty-five, having left the RAF.
She then went on to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1977, where she met her future comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders. Both came from RAF backgrounds. They had grown up on the same base, even having had the same best friend, although never meeting. At first, as far as Saunders was concerned, French was a "cocky little upstart". The hatred was mutual: French considered Saunders snooty and aloof. The comic duo originally did not like each other as French actually wanted to become a drama teacher whereas Saunders loathed the idea and thus disliked French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.
French and Saunders
French and Saunders shared a flat whilst at college, and were influenced to do comedy by their flatmates as part of their projects for college. After talking in depth for the first time, they came to be friends. During her time at the college, French also worked as a chambermaid to earn money. After they graduated, they formed a double-act called The Menopause Sisters. The manager of the club where they performed recalled, "They didn't seem to give a d(arn). There was no star quality about them at all." French and Saunders would eventually come to public attention as members of The Comic Strip, part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.
French has also written a best-selling autobiography, entitled Dear Fatty. Released in 2008, French was paid a £1.5 million advancement for the book. The book is in the form of letters. On an appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show on 6 October 2008, French said that "Fatty" is her nickname for Jennifer Saunders, as a joke about her own size. Dawn also said that she became great friends with Jennifer well before they started working together, which was "over 30 years ago". The book is compiled of letters to the different people who have been in her life.
Television
French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called "Five Go Mad in Dorset" in 1982. Each episode presented a self-contained story distinct from other episodes, and showcased Comic Strip performers Peter Richardson, Rik Mayall, and Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson, in addition to French and Saunders. She acted in twenty-seven of the thirty-seven episodes, and wrote two of them. One week featured a parody of spaghetti westerns, and another, a black and white film about a hopelessly goofy boy. Some of French's first exposure to a wider audience occurred when comedy producer Martin Lewis recorded a Comic Strip record album in spring 1981, which featured skits by French & Saunders. The album was released on Springtime!/Island Records in September 1981 and presented Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders to an audience outside London. In 1985, French starred with Saunders, Tracey Ullman and Ruby Wax in Girls on Top, which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.
French has co-written and starred in her own successful comedy series French & Saunders with Jennifer Saunders, which debuted in 1987 and still airs sporadically to this day. On their show, the duo have spoofed many celebrities such as Madonna, Cher, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the Spice Girls and they have also parodied films in the series such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After twenty years of them being on television together, their last sketch series, A Bucket o' French & Saunders, began airing on September 8, 2007.
French and Saunders have also followed separate careers. During French's time starring in Murder Most Horrid from 1991 to 1999, she played a different character each week, whether it was the murderer, victim or even both. In 2002, French appeared in the comedy/drama mini-series Ted and Alice. The series was set in the Lake District where French played a tourist-information officer who incidentally falls in love with an alien. She has also appeared in the BBC sitcom Wild West along with Catherine Tate, in which she played a woman living in Cornwall who is a lesbian more through lack of choice than any specific natural urge. This series was not met with as much success as her earlier role, ending after two years in 2004.
French's biggest solo television role to date has been as the title figure in the long running and popular BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley, created by Richard Curtis. She starred as Geraldine Granger, a vicar of a small village called Dibley. An audience of 12.3 million watched the final full-length episode to see her character's marriage ceremony. Her last appearance on The Vicar of Dibley was with Sting and Trudie Styler in a special mini episode made for Comic Relief in 2007. She was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in the last episode of The Vicar of Dibley. Repeats of the show on BBC One still attract millions of viewers.
More recently, French has played a major role in Jam & Jerusalem as a woman called Rosie who had an alter ego. She co-starred alongside Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. She also made a guest appearance in Little Britain as Vicky Pollard's mother, Shelly Pollard, who was seen defending her daughter in the dock in Thailand as she was charged with drug smuggling, and was sentenced to twenty years, ten more than her daughter. French also appeared in a special version of Little Britain Live which featured several celebrity guests and was shown by the BBC as part of Comic Relief. She played the part of a lesbian barmaid in a sketch with Daffyd Thomas. In 2006, French played a role in the television series Marple in the episode "Sleeping Murder". She also appeared as Caroline Arless in the BBC television drama Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008. Talking about her role, she has stated, "I'm quite a vibrant character. She's quite extreme, in that she drinks too much, laughs too much and sings too much. But she loves her family very much, it's just that she goes over the top sometimes." French also said, "I didn't want to appear in a series which was all about just a few main characters. It gives me the chance to observe, to learn things from other actors." This is also reflected in her latest role as Joy Aston in comedy thriller Psychoville.
On television, French has kissed (in some cases, for charity) Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Richard Armitage, and Gordon Ramsay. French also raised money for charity by kissing Hugh Grant.
Film and theatre
In films, French has played The Fat Lady in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, replacing the late Elizabeth Spriggs, who played the character in the first film of the series. French's husband, Lenny Henry, provided the voice of the Shrunken Head in the same film, though they shared no screen time. In 2005 French provided the voice for the character Mrs. Beaver in Disney and Walden Media's film adaptation of C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
She has also taken to roles in the theatre. French has previously appeared in plays such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, My Brilliant Divorce and Smaller, which is about a schoolteacher caring for her disabled mother. January 2007 saw French performing as the Duchesse de Crackentorp in an opera in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. The opera production was The Daughter of the Regiment (La fille du régiment) by Gaetano Donizetti, which depicted the life of a baby adopted by an army regiment. French soprano Natalie Dessay and the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez took the roles that required singing.
Advertising
French is known for her larger figure and for her efforts to promote the notion that "big" can be beautiful. As a result, she has her own line of clothes, Sixteen47, taking its name from the statistic that 47% of the British female population are at least a size 16. The line aims to produce clothes designed to look flattering on larger women.
Due to her admitted chocoholism, she was chosen as the face of Terry's Chocolate Orange, using the slogan "It's not Terry's, it's mine", which was replaced with "Don't tap it, whack it!" As of August 29, 2007, French has been dropped as the face of Terry's Chocolate Orange, causing speculation that Terry's regarded her as an unsuitable role model because of her size. The company stated "After such a long partnership we feel that the campaign has run its course and we are in the process of developing different work."
Her voice can be heard advertising the Tesco's "Every Little Helps" promotion.
Personal life
French met her husband Lenny Henry on the alternative comedy circuit. The couple married on 20 October 1984 in Westminster, London. They have an adopted daughter, Billie. French has stated that Billie has always known that she was adopted, but once took out an injunction when a biographer came close to revealing the identity of Billie's biological mother. When faced with a question about how she and Lenny Henry would feel if Billie wanted to find out about her birth mother, French commented, "Whatever she wants to do when she's 18, we'll support her. What I do worry about is anyone else making the decision for her."
The couple had a home in Shinfield, near Reading, in Berkshire which they recently sold to buy a property in Cornwall, where French intends to spend the rest of her life. It was once misinterpreted by the press that she was going there specifically to die because of an alleged belief that she would die prematurely. She quashed these rumours while appearing on Parkinson in November 2007 stating that she likes "being in one place" and simply hopes that this will be her last move. Both her grandmothers have lived to be well over the age of ninety. The £2.3 million mansion with 40 rooms overlooks a smugglers' cove in the Daphne du Maurier country. The grade II-listed building dates back to the 19th century. In the French & Saunders: Still Alive farewell tour, French commented that after the tour was over, she was "going to Cornwall to die, apparently", poking fun at the misinterpretation.
Awards and recognition
In 2001, French was offered an OBE. However, both she and Saunders declined the offer. French and Saunders also won the honorary Golden Rose of Montreux award in 2002 and in 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2006 poll consisting of 4,000 people, French was named as the most admired female celebrity amongst women in Britain. She has also won and been nominated for several notable awards.
www.wikipedia.org
3
Tea News Bits
Afternoon Tea is moving
Beginning in October, Afternoon Tea will move back to its previous 1:30 pm start time. It will still be there for your viewing enjoyment, just a little bit later in the afternoon.
October Programming
We hope you are enjoying Ken Burns' National Parks: America's Best Idea. Be certain to watch the final two evenings on Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 from 8 p.m.to 10:30 p.m.
If you missed any episodes, or just want to see them again, tune in on Saturday, October 3 at 1:30 p.m. to watch episodes 1 through 6. Come back on Sunday, October 4 at 2 p.m. to watch the final 6 episodes. We're sure you'll be spellbound by this programming again.
Have you watched New Tricks yet? This is one of our newer offerings and follows the antics of three retired police officers who reinvestigate unsolved crimes. We offer New Tricks on Thursday, October 1 at 10 pm. This is followed by Alaska: Silence & Solitude at 11 p.m.
On Wednesday, October 14 at 8 p.m. join us for American Masters: Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound. It will be wonderful to hear that melodic voice of hers again.
Wednesday, Oct 21 brings us Ask The Governor Special Edition of Direct Connection at 7:30 p.m. Join us in listening to Governor O'Malley respond to viewers questions. Later that evening, at 10 p.m., we rebroadcast the MPT production of Transformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely.
Last but not least, on Wednesday, October 28 at 8 p.m., join us for the very impressive Botany of Desire. This program comes from the book of the same name written by Michael Pollan. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan speaks to the intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species, the apple, tulip, potato and marijuana, Pollan illustrates how they evolved to satisfy human-kinds' most basic yearnings - and by doing so made themselves indispensable. For, just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes so brilliantly, have done well by us. The sweetness of apples, for example, induced the early Americans to spread the species, giving the tree a whole new continent in which to blossom. So who is really domesticating whom?
Last of the Summer Wine - The Moonbather
Roy Clarke's famous characters are together again for this world premiere stage adaption of the longest running television sitcom in the world.
The overgrown boys, with Harry Dickman as Compo, Timothy Kightley as Clegg and John Pennington as Foggy, lean on each other roughly and comically as they become seriously embroiled in the catching of the village streaker. Their three-sided conversations are as inane and ridiculous as fans of the show would expect.
Ruth Madoc as Meg understands these idiotic old fools and pretends to have no time for their farcical behaviour or the romantic notions of her kindly but clueless friend Samantha, played by Gillian Axtell. Both ladies are keenly watchable and entertaining, with a flair for timing.
Tony Adams plays the hooded, hungry streaker with a skin complaint and shapely legs shown right up to the hips. He spends much time being dragged around the house, hiding under small tables and with Compo, gets wet and cold trailing through the onstage river.
Steven Pinder on his bicycle is impressive as the policeman with the noisy bugle, a liking for alcohol and a fixation about catching the streaker.
The sets are excellent, with amazing trees and clever use of small spaces. The interior of Clegg's house is fun and caught in a fifties time warp, complete with sunray door, starburst mirror, little wall lights and ducks flying across the wallpaper.
Much care and attention to detail has been directed upon this production and it should tour well.
www.thestage.co.uk
Scientists Discover New Species of Giant Rat in Extinct Volcano
A BBC film crew recording a program in an extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea has discovered a new species of giant woolly rat, a frog with fangs and around 40 other exotic creatures unknown to science.
Dr. George McGavin and his team of biologists were stunned to spot a new species of frog within a minute of setting foot from their helicopter on the rim of the crater of Mount Bosavi.
The woolly rat, which measures nearly 3 feet in length and weighs more than 3 pounds, was captured on film in an infrared camera trap set up on the densely wooded slopes.
Provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat, it is thought to live only in the crater and nowhere else in the world. It has no fear of humans.
McGavin said the vegetarian rat was incredibly tame: "It just sat next to me nibbling on a piece of leaf. It won't have seen a human before. The crater of Bosavi really is the lost world.
The Times of London
What do you want to know more about?
If you have a topic that you would like to know more about, please drop us a line at tealady@mpt.org. We'll explore the opportunities to bring you the information you have interest in.
4
Hands Across the Sea
Our own Heather is interviewed for across the pond enjoyment.
 This article is courtesy
of British Heritage magazine. |
There might be a whole ocean between Cambridge, Maryland and Cambridge, Cambridgeshire - but on weekday afternoons, Maryland Public Television endeavors to make the distance seem not quite so far.
Afternoon Tea, MPT's weekday schedule of British programming, features a rotating variety of comedies (Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served?) and series (Ballykissangel, All Creatures Great and Small); all tied together with commentary from MPT's Tea Lady, Heather Sanderson.
Sanderson's relationship with public broadcasting in America began almost the moment she arrived. Having studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, she fell in love with the West Coast while vacationing with friends in Palo Alto, Calif. - and announced to her father that at the ripe old age of 22, she was moving to California.
With one suitcase, $150 and a one-way ticket, Sanderson headed for San Francisco in the autumn of 1981. "Prince Charles had been taken that summer," she quips, so there was little to lose. "I didn't come back to England for five years."
She waitressed at a teahouse called, originally enough, London Tea House, and did some acting in the San Francisco area. And "I watched PBS right from the get-go. KTEH in San Jose was the only station I watched."
Her life changed - although not immediately - when she auditioned for a play in Sonora. "The artistic director didn't cast me; I didn't get the part," she remembers. Be he didn't forget her - three years later he was heading up fundraising at KTEH and when the station needed someone to host its evening of British-themed programming, he remembered the young British actress who had auditioned for him and mentioned her for the job. The station's staff traced her through local theater groups, and she came in to audition ("I'm good at reading from a TelePromTer," she says) and got the job.
Soon she was also writing her own scripts to fill in the time between shows. "I subscribed to British women's magazines; I gave them all this gossip" about the actors and programs - and Britain. "It was very, very successful. Then when I went to England for the summer, I sent back video postcards."
She continued hosting on British night until she gave birth to her first child - which was announced on the air. The dad? That director who passed on her for the play in Sonora, Sanderson's husband Rick Lore.
Fundraising for PBS stations took the family to Ohio and New Hampshire before they landed in Alexandria, Va., where Lore was director of on-air fundraising for PBS. A friend who was involved with both WETA in Washington, D.C., and Maryland Public Broadcasting forged the connection between Sanderson and MPT's Afternoon Tea.
For years, both MPT and WETA have featured British programming on Saturday nights. At MPT, "they recognized it was their most popular programming block," Sanderson says. So when the programmers wanted to do something different from the usual lineup of children's programs and cooking shows in the afternoon, content chief Eric Eggleton decided to do a whole British theme - and Afternoon Tea was born.
As she did in California, Sanderson provides tidbits of background information on the programs. She was occasionally taken viewers on video field trips to places like the Folger Shakespeare Library, Gadsby's Tavern Museum and a garden party at the British ambassador's house to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
There's a Tea Time Trivia contest every week with questions drawn from the programs, and Britcom fans can register free for an online newsletter, the Tea Times.
And there are lots of Britcom fanatics. Why? "I asked that very question when I met with an editor of comedy programming at BBC," Sanderson reports. "He said, it's like taking a warm bath - the make you feel good."
"It's familiar; it's real without being too real. The humor is intellectually stimulating; it's good family programming. Viewers feel a deep connection with the characters. They feel like family."
Sanderson said actress Patricia Routledge, who portrays persnickety Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances, addressed a PBS friendship tour Sanderson and her husband accompanied to London shortly after the September 11 attacks. One of their number told Routledge that Hyacinth "is just like my mother."
"Everybody says that, " Routledge replied.
Though British television has won indisputable popularity in the States, "what's really funny is when I go to England, the TV is not that good," Sanderson observes. "What you're getting here on PBS is the best of the best of British programming."
So does have a favorite? "I do love Vicar of Dibley," Sanderson confesses. I'm now on the vestry at my church and sometimes I have to laugh - I do see the humor in the vestry meetings."
The Tea Lady and vestry member also is founder of StagePlay, a children's theater group in Alexandria, Va., where she teaches kids about drama and introduces them to Shakespeare. StagePlay started several years ago, when friends asked Sanderson to help them fill their children's summer afternoons.
"I taught them four lines of Shakespeare," she says. "They wanted more - they wanted more drama and Shakespeare."
This year marks eight StagePlay summer camps. The students have performed both in the Washington area and on two trips to England - including a "Bard Day's Night" production in which they added 38 snippets of Beatles tunes to Twelfth Night, performed at Liverpool's storied Cavern Club.
What's next for the Tea Lady?
"I would like to act again," Sanderson admits, but after years of doing Shakespeare for children, "I want to direct the 'bawdy' Shakespeare for adults."
Just her cup of tea.
Tamela Baker | British Heritage | September 2009
5
The Art of Tea Sandwiches
Tea sandwiches are small. Regular-sized sandwiches are cut into 4 squares or triangles, or about 3 fingers. They can also be cut into decorative shapes with cookie cutters. Open face sandwiches are another option. Always remove the crusts before cutting to size.
A very sharp knife is a must in making neat edges; sandwiches can be assembled and then trimmed, this creates a sharp edge. Use thin-sliced bread. Many types are offered today or you can purchase a square-topped loaf and have the bakery slice it thinly for you. It can be done at home with some practice with a sharp knife or electric carving knife.
A 2 lb. loaf of bread yields at least 20 slices, 10 uncut sandwiches, 40 tea sandwiches. Wheat, white, sourdough, pumpernickel or rye, the choice of bread is yours. To create a checkerboard effect, use 1 white slice and 1 wheat slice per sandwich.
Flavor is the key. Tea sandwich recipes are savory fare, often prepared with scallions, garlic, spicy mustard, pepper or hot sauce.
To prevent soggy sandwiches, each tea sandwich is spread with soft butter or cream cheese or something similar. Peanut butter, with banana slices or jelly, is just right for a child's tea party.
10 sandwiches, which yield 40 quarter sandwiches, require about ½ to ¾ cup of soft butter or cream cheese spread, 1 ½ cups of spreadable filling (2 cups if it is a composite of spread and meat, seafood, cheese or nuts, etc.) and ¾ pound of sliced meat.
Try interspersing assorted sandwiches arranged beautifully on one tray or feature a single type. Garnish with fresh herbs and fruits: watercress, parsley, mint, chive blossoms, grape tomatoes, fresh flowers, rosettes of lemon or tomato.
Sandwich Butters
To one stick of sweet butter, add any of the following:
- Mustard - 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard and 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- Tarragon - 3 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon or 1 ½ teaspoon dried
- Garlic - 1 clove of garlic, put through a garlic press
- Shallot - 3 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
- Shrimp - 5 or 6 finely chopped shrimp with a touch of salt and pepper
- Dill - 1 teaspoon finely chopped dill with a touch of salt
- Caper - 1 tablespoon chopped capers
- Chutney - 1 ½ tablespoons chopped chutney
- Pecan - tablespoons finely chopped pecans
- Spiced - 1 teaspoon brown sugar and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- Cinnamon - ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- Fruit - ¼ cup fruit preserves: strawberry, raspberry, orange marmalade
Buttering the bread is recommended in most tea sandwich recipes. Seasoned butter adds flavor as well as prevents the filing from dampening the bread.
An Entertaining Cookbook | The Historical Society of Harford County Cookbook Committee
6
Becoming Jane Austen
The True Love Story That Inspired
the Classic Novels
by John Spence
Part of a continuing series.
When they returned home at Christmas 1786, Steventon must have seemed almost empty to Jane and Cassandra. Henry and Charles were the only two boys still at home. Frank had left in April to attend the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth. The sturdy and enterprising twelve year old was preparing to become a sailor. He was expected home for a short visit during the Christmas holidays. James and Edward had both gone abroad, though James's travels were less extensive and on a much more modest scale than his brother's.
Jane Austen
|
The Knights had decided a Grand Tour would be more in keeping with Edward's talents and expectations than a stint at a university. During this time he had his portrait painted in Rome. What we see in the picture is a slightly foppish and disdainful young milord. Edward was now a potentially rich young man, heir to Godmersham Park. But the painter depicted the stereo type of his position in life, not Edward himself.
Edward spent the month of August 1786 in Switzerland, and kept a journal of his impressions and adventures, a small volume bound in cardboard with the title written on the spine and the cover in the author's hand. It does not read like a journal you write for yourself - it is much more like a letter, written with a recipient in mind. He probably sent it back to England for the amusement of his family and the Knights. Perhaps Jane read it when she got home from the Abbey School. Edward is the first of her brothers whose voice we hear, and in it ring distinctly characteristic notes of Jane's famous style. After Jane, Edward was the most talented writer in the family, based on the evidence we have, and she must have appreciated his skill and learned from him.
7
Tea Advisor
Aspects of Tea Production
Elephants were essential for travel in the dense, tiger-infested jungle. They were also extremely useful in clearing plantation land of heavy timber. The East India Company refused to lend Bruce the elephants he had used while in their employ, and it was difficult to purchase them elsewhere. The Assam Company therefore had to build stockades to capture and train wild elephants. Later they used elephants to move made tea from outstations - six chests at a time, strapped to special bowdabs. Finally, the company developed an elephant cart, with four great wheels, which could carry fifty-four chests, over 5,000 lbs. of tea. Elephants were also a useful sideline for some of the European staff, who brought in wild elephants, trained them surreptitiously (not difficult many miles away from headquarters), and sold them to the company as having been bought tame.
Existing cultivated tracts of tea, which had been taken over from the East India Company, were maintained and improved. The Assam Company also acquired new leases on patches of jungle where there was tea, and brought this into production. There was a ten- or twenty-year grace period before any rent would have to be paid to the government. By the end of 1840, 2,638 acres were being cultivated (an acre is about 70 yards square; half the size of a large football pitch) and 10,202 lbs. of tea had been exported. Everyone was delighted and the Annual Report predicted production would rise to 320,000 lbs. by 1845.
Production the next year, however, did not meet expectations and expenses had soared. An agent of the company, J.M. Mackie, was sent to Assam to investigate. Meanwhile, White and Bruce entered into acrimonious correspondence with the company in Calcutta, and then resigned. Mackie reached Nazira in October 1843. What qualifications he had for the task in hand, other than being a 'gentleman of high standing and character' was unclear, and when the company had received no report from him by June 1844 he was dismissed. To add to all these problems, the account books were ten months in arrears.
Tea | By Roy Moxham
8
Mystery of the Month
What Is Your Guess?
Case One
Maria takes small, painstaking steps every night, often using a stick to help her along. Strangers watch her, but no one ever offers to help. The threat of Maria stumbling causes some people to shield their eyes.
The Mystery
What is Maria's livelihood and where can she be found?
-
Clues
- Maria isn't sick or old.
- Flashy outfits make up most of her wardrobe.
- Her job requires a fine-tuned physique.
- She really looks down on her audience.
- Her whole family is in on the act.
Case Two
Dr. Griffith is a successful surgeon. One day, a car hits his son, badly injuring him. Dr. Griffith rushes him to the emergency room, but upon seeing the attending surgeon, Dr. Griffith realizes it's impossible for the surgeon to operate on his son.
The Mystery
What is the name of the attending surgeon and why couldn't the surgeon operate?
-
Clues
- Dr. Griffith knows the attending surgeon well.
- The attending surgeon is very skilled.
- The attending surgeon had not been drinking and was in no way incapacitated.
- No one would expect the surgeon to operate under these conditions.
- The attending surgeon knows Dr. Griffith's son intimately.
Be sure to check the November 2009 edition of the Tea Times for the answers
Answers to September Mysteries:
Case One: The son is Dumbo, an elephant born with enormous ears. The ears give him the ability to fly.
Case Two: The son is Peter Rabbit and he steals Mr. McGregor's vegetables.
9
England's Calendar of Events | October
Fawlty Towers - The Dining Experience
The Lowry
September 21-October 14
The Lowry brings one of Britain's best-loved comedies - Fawlty Towers - to its restaurant. The two-hour performance revolves around a three-course meal, with Basil, Manuel and Cybil running around the diners and causing much mayhem. Watch out for Manuel's pet rat!
www.whatsonwhen.com
Cheltenham Festival of Literature
Cheltenham
October 9-18, 2009
Cheltenham's huge annual literary festival features talks and workshops with some of the biggest names in the business, creative writing courses, literary walks, performers and special themed events.
More than 400 novelists, storytellers, poets, politicians, artists and filmmakers visit the picturesque Gloucestershire town every year for the Cheltenham Festival of Literature - past visitors have included Gordon Brown, Tony Benn, Phillip Pullman, Kate Adie, Julian Barnes, Harold Pinter, Alexei Sayle and Douglas Hurd.
www.whatsonwhen.com
Trafalgar Day Parade - The Sea Cadet Corps
Trafalgar Square
October 25, 2009
Every year the Sea Cadet Corps lead the Trafalgar Day Parade through Trafalgar Square to celebrate the famous British victory of Lord Nelson vanquishing the French and Spanish fleets at Cape Trafalgar. Wreaths are also laid to commemorate the dead.
The battle of Trafalgar is seen as a turning point in the fight against Napoleon's attempt to make Europe his personal empire. The Sea Cadets, a youth movement based on the customs and traditions of the Royal Navy, fly the flag for the Navy. Stick around for the evening theatrical event for up to 10,000 people in Trafalgar Square.
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10
Apple-Gingerbread Cobbler
Ingredients
- 1 (14-ounce) package gingerbread mix, divided
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup butter, divided
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling
- Vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°.
Stir together 2 cups gingerbread mix and ¾ cup water until smooth; set mixture aside.
Stir together remaining gingerbread mix and brown sugar; cut in ¼ cup butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in pecans; set aside.
Combine apple pie filling and remaining ¼ cup butter in a large saucepan, and cook, stirring often, 5 minutes over medium heat or until thoroughly heated.
Spoon hot apple mixture evenly into a lightly greased 11x7-inch baking dish. Spoon gingerbread mixture evenly over hot apple mixture; sprinkle with pecan mixture.
Bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Serve cobbler with vanilla ice cream.
Yield
Makes 8 servings
Southern Living
11
Afternoon Teaisms
Rhymes and Wits
"It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most;
it's making a great deal out of the little ones."
Jean Webster, Daddy Long-Legs
Real Simple | August 2009
LITANY FOR HALLOWEEN
Anonymous
From ghoulies and ghosties,
Long-leggety beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us.
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HALLOWEEN
Richard Anderson © 1998
A gentle breeze rustling the dry cornstalks.
A sound is heard, a goblin walks.
A harvest moon suffers a black cat's cry.
Oh' do the witches fly!
Bonfire catches a pumpkins gleem.
Rejoice, it's Halloween!
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