iain's New Writeups

The Full Monty (idea)

2001-08-22T14:39:22Z

Not just confined to stripping, this is a British English phrase which generically means 'everything', 'the whole hog', 'the works' etc.

To 'do the Full Monty' is to 'go all the way', whether you're removing your clothing, eating a large breakfast or any other act that can be performed to varying degrees of success.

Johann Fichte (person)

2001-08-22T14:24:14Z

Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the German philosopher, was born at Rammenau, Saxony in 1762. He studied theology and then philosophy at Jena where he became an ardent disciple of Kant.

On becoming professor of philosophy at Jena in 1794 he modified the Kantian system by substituting for the "thing-in-itself" as the absolute reality, the more subjective Ego, the primitive act of consciousness. In 1805 he became professor at Erlangen where he published the more popular versions of his philosophy.

His historical importance is as the author of Reden an die deutsche Nation (1807-8, Addreses to the German Nation), in which he invoked a metaphysical German nationalism to resistance against Napoleon. In 1810 the University of Berlin was opened and Fichte, who had drawn up its constitution, became its first rector. He died in Berlin in 1814.

City of London (place)

2001-02-22T10:15:33Z

Most visitors -- and even some residents -- are not aware that modern London is actually composed of two cities, as well as 31 regional boroughs. The two cities are those of Westminster, which contains many familiar tourist destinations such as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, as well as consumer heavens such as Soho, Oxford Street and Covent Garden.

The City of London -- more commonly referred to simply as "the City" -- is a different beast altogether. This is the powerhouse of the British economy and the financial centre of Europe: only Wall Street is more important in world economic terms. The City comprises pretty much the area that was once surrounded by the old Roman and Medieval city walls which is a comparatively small geographic area, a fact indicated by its other nickname "The Square Mile".

But what a square mile. The main streets still…

Paul Hardcastle (person)

2001-02-20T09:26:23Z

Although he was worked in the music business for 20 years, and hit the number 1 spot in the charts in 13 different countries, Paul Hardcastle is still generally unknown. Born and brought up in East London, his musical career started after he began playing around with a synthesiser back in 1981 -- the very early days of electronic music.

Sticking to a soulful style of music he put out a couple of records which did moderately well but never set the world alight. Then in 1984, deciding to return to the electronic sounds he'd experimented with earlier, he formed his own record label and produced "Rainforest", a melodic, haunting track which was a massive club success. Not just a success in Britain and Europe, "Rainforest" became a massive hit in the USA, even knocking Madonna's "Like A Virgin" from the number one position in the 12" charts. Very much ahead of its time, Rainforest was pretty much what today would be called a trance style of music:…

Tomaso Albinoni (person)

2001-02-18T21:30:13Z

A Venetian composer, born in 1671 and a contemporary and friend of Vivaldi. Highly prolific in his time, Abinoni wrote nearly 50 operas, most of which were performed during his lifetime, but his real ability lay in producing instrumental pieces. Much of his work is hardly ever performed or listened to today, but his concertos for oboe are still very much listened to. Perhaps his most famous piece is his Adagio in G Minor which was almost completely lost until a small fragment surfaced in the early 20th Century, from which the rest of the work was resurrected.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (thing)

2001-02-09T21:43:43Z

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is the one book written by Robert Tressell. Part novel, part socialist propaganda and part biography, Tressell never lived to see the book published.

It tells the story of a group of builders and labourers in Mugsborough, a fictional town on the south coast of England which was obviously a thinly-disguised Hastings, where Tressell used to live. Tressell's manuscript of The RTP was completed in 1910 but the first edition didn't appear until 1914, nearly four years after the author's death. It started to sell well but then the outbreak of World War I put a quick halt to it.

After the war another edition was put out, at a much reduced price. The timing was perfect: a wave of revolutionary and left-wing ideas were sweeping across Europe as soldiers returning to civilian life started to wonder exactly what and who they'd been fighting for. Because it was written in an easy-to-read style, in the language of…