I didn’t have a strong sense of what I wanted to write this morning, so I looked up October 17 to see what important events happened on this day, and I learned that October 17, 1814, was the day of the London Beer Flood. I could not just let that go by, because I understand that schools today rarely teach about the Beer Flood, and wonder if its omission is one of the reasons that none of us truly understand what the hell is going on. Perhaps, it is.
It was on the 17th of October in 1814 that eight Londoners (half of whom were children) were killed, five of them at a wake for a two year old who had died, when a 22 foot high wooden cask of porter broke open, and the power of the resulting surge destroyed other vats in the Horse Shoe Brewery, resulting in, perhaps, 300,000 gallons of beer breaking down the back wall of the brewery and spreading into a neighborhood known as St. Giles Rookery. Yes, eight people were killed that night, but a few more died of alcohol poisoning, as the flowing beer was scooped up by neighborhood residents and enjoyed to an extreme. There was an inquest, and the inquest jurors visited the scene and interviewed witnesses, determining that there was no liability, and that the tragedy was the result of an unfortunate accident.
This is the Dominon Theatre in London. Its address is on Tottenham Road in the West End, and it seats over 2,000. It is selling tickets to The Devil Wears Prada through September 2027. If you go to the theater’s website, one of the first things that you read is: “Built on the former site of the Horse Shoe Brewery…..”
The Smithsonian Magazine had a featured article about the London Beer Flood in their August 4, 2017 issue. Perhaps you remember that article? If not, it obviously is not too late to read it. Just go to your pile of Smithsonian Magazines that you have put aside to read later, and count down to August 4, 2017. I know it’s a bit of trouble, moving all those magazines, but you won’t regret doing it. Just make sure when you put the pile back, that everything stays in order.
The article quotes as American visitor in London at the time of the flood: “All at once, I found myself borne onward with great velocity by a torrent which burst upon me so suddenly as almost to deprive me of breath.”
There had apparently been a sort of competition in London as to which brewery could build the largest wooden vats to hold their fermenting beer. Horse Shoe was not, by the way, the winner, but the calamity changed brewery practices and wooden vats were replaced by concrete vats by breweries all over the city. Perhaps the concrete (cement?) facade of the Dominion Theatre pays homage to the new form of brewery vat construction.
Changing topics, I also want to point out that my phone has a sense of humor. What proof can I give? Last night, I wanted to check the weather for the upcoming week. I opened my weather app, and looked. I was a little disappointed, because it was clear that this was going to be a chilly wet weak. The first four days were listed as rainy, with temperatures in the 50s, and the next three days were going to be even colder, with a strong possibility of snow! “Whoa”, I could have said (but didn’t), snow in October in Washington? But then I saw that my phone was playing a trick on me. For whatever reason, it opened the weather report for Juneau, Alaska. Ha, ha! You got me, phone.
Yes, it is expected to snow Tuesday and Wednesday in Juneau. Further north and inland, in Fairbanks, no snow is expected next week, but for several days the high temperature will be in the upper 20s (yes, that is Fahrenheit), so bring a jacket.
Why am I going off on such unnecessary topics? Mainly because the important ones – such as the settler violence in the West Bank which seems to be being supported by the IDF and Netanyahu himself – are so disgusting to think about. It was Barack Obama who said a day or two ago that Israel (I am paraphrasing) has squandered its moral advantage. Boy, has it! And – as I have said before – where are those Jewish (Israelite, Judean) prophets who are exalted in the Bible for publicly condemning the authorities for their sinful actions?
Obama is getting criticized heavily by much of the Jewish community for claiming that the Jews/Israelis are taking land from the Palestinians. He wasn’t talking about Israel proper, but about the West Bank and Gaza. And isn’t this exactly what is happening? It is movement of right wing Israelis (leaders and followers) to claim all the land from the river to the sea. If appropriate leadership does not show up on both sides (in Israel, the election is Oct 27) to change course, suffering and fighting will continue until everyone is either dead or exhausted.
And this is why I wrote about weather in Alaska and the London Beer Flood. By the way, Wikipedia lists an enormous number of people who were born on this day. Let’s pick a couple to honor.
First, Irene di Spilimbergo, an Italian Renaissance poet and artist, born near Venice in 1538. She died at age 21, having written over 300 short poems (published after her death) and painted (her teacher was Titian), but whose paintings have all been apparently lost. But the National Gallery here has a painting not by her, but of her.
And then let’s honor Andrei Nikiforovich Voronkhin, 1759-1814, born a serf in Russia, but liberated at the age of about 26. He became a painter and architect, known for his work on St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral. I found a portrait of him (not by him) as well.
It is too bad that Irene and Andrei never met. They would have made a fine couple.
Until tomorrow.
