Sikh protests in Birmingham of the controversial play Behzti were the result of a breakdown of meetings between the theatre and Sikh leaders. “The theatre did not plan to close the play even after a section of the 400-strong crowd of Sikh demonstrators attempted to storm the theatre on December 18, and death threats were made against the writer. The decision was only taken after a meeting with police and community leaders.”
Tag: 12.29.04
Claim: Ruskin’s Turner Bonfire Never Happened
John Ruskin famously said he had made a bonfire of a pile of JMW Turner’s paintings. But a researchers now says it never happened. “It looks as if the notoriously prudish Ruskin, who worshipped Turner to the point of idolatry, could not bring himself to destroy his work. Instead he buried them in paper, interring them in a tortuous numbering system he devised himself, or in the case of some detailed anatomical details of women’s genitals, folding over the page to conceal them, undoubtedly with a shudder of revulsion.”
UK Museums’ Popularity Due To Free Admissions, Lottery
Visits to UK museums were up again last year, and the government attributes increases to its policy of making museums free to the public. “Curiously, visits to museums that used to charge went up by only 1.7% while visits to those that had never charged shot up by 11.4%. Among the successes of the “always free” museums is the National Gallery in London, which increased visitors (after a couple of poor years) by 14% last year to 4.96m. It has moved ahead of the British Museum (4.8m) to become Britain’s most popular museum.”