This special day of events honours Dame Myra Hess who initiated, directed and performed in a series of legendary concerts at the National Gallery during the Second World War, providing a cultural oasis for thousands of Londoners. This year, lunchtime and evening concerts will take place in the Barry Rooms (Room 36), the location where the original wartime concerts were held. There will also be a free afternoon talk discussing the heritage of the concerts.

This year’s Dame Myra Hess concerts acknowledge two important anniversaries: the 90th anniversary year of Remembrance Day and the centenary of the birth of the composer/pianist Howard Ferguson, the ‘power behind the throne’ of the wartime Gallery concerts.

The National Gallery has also commissioned Nigel Hess, Dame Myra’s great nephew, to compose a work in her memory, which pianist Piers Lane will perform. It is based on the theme by Bach made famous by Myra Hess – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.

The wartime programmes were all devised under the guidance of Irish-born Howard Ferguson. To perform one of Ferguson’s finest works, the Partita for Two Pianos, Op. 5b, we welcome Richard and John Contiguglia from New York. The twin brothers were students of Dame Myra Hess, who taught them the Schubert piece they will also include in their programme.

In recognition of the 90th anniversary of Remembrance Day, Tasmin Little and Piers Lane will in the evening perform violin and piano sonatas by Elgar and Poulenc, composed towards the end of the First World War and the Second World War respectively.

The National Gallery remained a vital part of London life despite being hit nine times by enemy bombs during the Blitz. Although the Old Master paintings were not on show – temporarily relocated to a secret location in Wales – Londoners were drawn to the Hess concerts and to a bustling canteen run by Lady Irene Gaiter. Dame Myra organised daily concerts at the Gallery for six and a half years, from 10 October 1939 until 10 April 1946. By the time the final performance came to a close, 1,698 concerts had been attended by a total of 824,152 people and more than £16,000 had been given to the Musician’s Benevolent Fund.

For Myra Hess these concerts offered a wonderful opportunity ‘to give spiritual solace to those who are giving all to combat the evil’. Kenneth Clarke, Director of the National Gallery during the war years, described the people who attended the concerts thus: ‘All sorts. Young and old, smart and shabby, Tommies in uniform with their tin hats strapped on, old ladies with ear trumpets, musical students, civil servants, office boys, busy public men, all sorts had come.’

There will also be a free afternoon talk in the Sainsbury Wing Theatre on the day. John Amis, Diana McVeagh and Hugh Cobbe will discuss their memories of the wartime concerts and explore letters from Dame Myra in Hugh Cobbe’s collection.

A new book and DVD, The National Gallery in Wartime, will be published to coincide with the concerts, featuring previously unpublished photographs and footage of the Gallery during the war and the Hess concerts. Together, The National Gallery in Wartime and Dame Myra Hess Day offer the perfect opportunity to commemorate this fascinating piece of British history.

BOOK

This book reveals the exciting story of the secret storage of the paintings and gives an uplifting account of the activities of the Gallery during wartime. Beautifully illustrated, it includes previously unseen documents and photographs from the National Gallery’s archive. £12.95



DVD

This unique film includes archive footage of the paintings’ removal to Wales; their return to London in 1945; Myra Hess’s legendary wartime concerts; and first-hand accounts of these dramatic events. £15

 

Available this autumn from the Gallery shops, online at www.nationalgallery.co.uk or call 020 7747 2870

A high-profile event this October will bring together Britain’s most distinguished authors, publishers, critics, journalists and producers as they celebrate the art of the biographer.

Run by the Biographers’ Club, the invitation-only event on the 21 October takes place at London’s spectacular Home House private members’ club, where Robin Sheppard, Director of Home House, will be talking to the Biographers’ Club about his personal experiences in the self-publishing of his bestselling A Solitary Confinement.

The Biographers’ Club was established eleven years ago by literary agent, Andrew Lownie.

The club is planning a full autumn schedule, with biographers as diverse as Ffion Hague, Robin Sheppard, and Frances Osborne.

Each autumn, the Biographers’ Club awards an Annual Prize sponsored by The Daily Mail which offers a flying start for one of the country’s most promising and up-and-coming biographers.

The £2,000 prize is highly coveted, and a mark of respect by the UK’s top biography club for an as yet uncommissioned proposal for a biography.

The Biographers’ Club Chair, Alan Brooke, says: “We all owe a debt of gratitude to biographers for the perspective they provide on the lives of the rich, the famous, the fascinating and the previously obscure. This event is an encouragement to all who work in the field and the Club Prize is our way of helping bring forward the next generation of writers.”

Home House’s own, Robin Sheppard, who earlier this year published a personal account of his battle with the rare and paralysing Guillan-Barre Syndrome, will be the club’s October speaker.

The club’s champagne brunch is also the first major literary event to be held at Home House since its extension into number 21, Portland Square.

Robin commented: “Biographies make an immeasurable contribution to the world of literature, our history and our understanding of people and the world. Having made my first foray into writing with my book, A Solitary Confinement, I am doubly thrilled that Home House was chosen as the venue for this event.”

The redevelopment includes a substantial increase in the clubs’ spa facilities, a stunning contemporary bar in a neo-classical setting designed by Zaha Hadid the celebrated architect, more members’ bedroom accommodation plus significant additional parlour rooms and private hire areas.

Robin continued: “There are real parallels between the venue for this event and the Biographers’ Club. Our members take a fresh and vibrant look at their subjects and that’s just what Home House has done with its extension in this historic building. The fact that I have recently put my own life under the lens has to be serendipity.”

For more information on Home House visit www.homehouseclub.com and for more information on the Biographers’ Club visit www.biographersclub.co.uk or contact Susan Ronald, Membership Secretary & Treasurer at susan@susanronald.com.

''The Impossible Takes a Little Longer'', an astonishing story of one man''s 40,000-mile journey from London to Australia and back, is now available from Lulu.com. And this is no ordinary traveller''s tale - the book is being published to mark the 50th anniversary of the Edis Expedition across three continents by land rover, and his struggle for survival in deserts, snowdrifts, swamps and war-zones - long before adventure travel became a packaged experience.

Eric Edis, described as a real life Indiana Jones, set out from London on October 28 in 1957 with a team of 10 men and five women to attempt the overland journey across the world and back. Only one woman and one vehicle made it with him as far as Australia, as the harshness of the expedition took its toll. On the road for 18 months and five days, Edis finally arrived back on home ground 0n March 21, 1959, having endured and achieved more than the most intrepid Rider Haggard hero.

From the jungles of Thailand and Burma to the arid Australian desert and the frozen wastelands of Afghanistan, Edis faced a series of setbacks straight out of an adventure movie: cannibals, crooked officials, minefields and blood-sucking leeches. Crossing gruelling, often uncharted territory, he was helped on his way by an unlikely collection of characters including armed Mujahadeen fighters, a Naga head hunting tribe, the captain of an oil tanker bound for Australia and even an elephant, which pulled his Land Rover out of a swamp it had been stuck in for two days.

A quintessential world explorer, Edis employed a mix of determination, recklessness and ingenuity to complete his journey. To this day, he lays claim to being the only person who has successfully traversed Burma''s famous Ledo/Stilwell Road - closed to outsiders since the end of World War II - in both directions, a route which has frustrated expeditions ever since. A legendary sign on the Ledo road, erected by the British army, was recovered by Edis and now stands in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Eric Edis says: "It may be 50 years ago, but every moment of the expedition is etched in my memory - whether it was diverting embassy officials to steal visa stamps, sucking out scorpion poison or being dragged over borders by an old British Bren-Gun carrier.

"And, on the occasions when we found ourselves with what seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle, a cry would go up to ''put the kettle on''. A cup of tea would help us think clearly and come up with an answer to whatever problem the journey had thrown at us. Writing this book has been the final frontier of my epic adventure - once again helped along the way by many a cup of tea!"

The book relays Edis''s extraordinary expedition with great enthusiasm and humour. Eminently readable, it is available www.lulu.com and retails at £13.99 GBP. There is a colour version available too.