Every New Beginning

 

Every New Beginning ….…… 

                                                  ........ comes from some other beginning’s end.   Seneca

Seneca; Stoic, philosophet, statesman, dramatist
c 4 B.C.-65 A.D.

Mark Twain; novelist, essayist, journalist, humourist   
1835-1910.

I have chosen this theme simply because on Saturday, [14^th March 2026] I shall meet Maeve for the first time. Her birth has certainly initiated a huge and delightful beginning to Tom and Flora’s new life as a trio and marked the end of being a couple, a Maeve-less duo!  For me privately, of course, it is an exciting thought to acknowledge that I am now old enough to have a great granddaughter with possibly

Idealised representation of great grandma and new baby!

the beginnings of that attendant wisdom that word implies! One of my favourite sayings since I first heard it has always been Mark Twain’s, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started!” And Twain’s two most famous novels, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” are ones  which I read to many teenage classes as a young teacher, and which introduced characters and situations which were always loved and enjoyed by us all. Those two books seemed to capture the spirit of the Mississippi River and the then contemporary American life with wit, satire and authentic colloquial language so entertaining to hear.  Little did I realise when I first heard of Tom Sawyer’s entertaining adventures that these were the words of an influential and foundational figure in American literature. Twain has long been celebrated as a master humourist, able to tackle serious issues like slavery and imperialism through relatable characters and amusing, sometimes frightening, encounters.

Shape of things to come.

But back to the important present! Last weekend, observing my eldest grandson and his wife, I marvelled at the huge amount of involvement Tom had with the care of his baby daughter. All taken for granted these days, of course, but secretly admired by me. One can’t help but compare it with the slight amount of nappy-changing, bottom-wiping by Dads of previous generations. The birth of a baby is a profound, life-changing event that marks the beginning of a fresh chapter, bringing immense joy and a re-defined sense of purpose to the parents. Tom and Flora have all the delight in their new daughter, while happily managing on much less sleep as she seems to hoard her wakefulness and its active expression, to their night hours. It is impressive, though socially assumed to be normal, when new parents immediately transform their priorities from the absorption of self-care to the protection and nurturing of this tiny, dependent human. The tumult of the birth and the joy following, shifts their focus from the past to the future as they instinctively look forward to guiding their baby on an unknown but beautiful journey ahead.

Niamh and Maeve:
one aunt with the V.I.M.
both with Celtic names.

Cait and Maeve:
a great aunt takes her turn with the
Very Important Maeve.

It was amusing to watch the assembled family at my son’s home, almost queuing to hold Maeve, talk to Maeve, cuddle Maeve, who was not, yet, quite at the stage of giving a grateful smile for all the cuddly interaction she was enjoying. Think the smiles of recognition for her parents are almost due and will be bountifully bestowed shortly. I would also guess that the totally thrilled Mum and Dad are also able to recognize, in the strength of their wonderment with their new daughter, how special they, in their earlier turn, had been, and still are, to their own parents. 

Proud parents enjoying their new beginning

Lao-Tzu b 604 B.C.
Philosopher, founder of T(D)aoism, poet.

       

                 Lao-Tzu   "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Beryl Cook

 

  

Self-portrait of the artist leading her usual quiet life, feeding her tortoise
in the garden, watched by her cat.

Oops,  Beryl  being a little naughty.

There is a new exhibition of the works of artist, Beryl  Cook, almost one hundred years after her birth, which argues for a radical re-assessment of her work and legacy. Her art, ubiquitously displayed on greetings cards, prints, calendars, drinks coasters, tea towels, mugs, boxes of chocolates and tins of biscuits, always jolly, kitsch and bawdy, has long been loved by the British people. Her characters were 

even turned into a BBC cartoon Bosom Pals. Her models were ordinary working class folk, often female, ample of flesh and instantly recognisable! They are always having fun, in pubs, cafes, on the beach, in the bingo hall, perhaps at karaoke sessions. Her art proved irresistible to the general public and gave her a wide commercial success but the art establishment never took her work seriously and dismissed her efforts as popular but unserious; not really art at all! The late art critic, Brian Sewell, said of Cook's work, "It has a kind of vulgar streak which has nothing to do with art" while Nicholas Serota, the former Director of The Tate,  reportedly declared, "There will be no Beryl Cooks in the Tate Modern." The Tate still does not own any of her work, though two of her paintings featured in the 2010 Rude Britannia exhibition in Tate Britain. This current landmark exhibition is intended to change critical perceptions of Cook and cement her status as not just a hugely popular artist but as an incredibly important one also. 

A joyful occasion celebrated with the
carefully- displayed
Senior Railcard.

Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy, at The Box, Plymouth, (Cook's hometown) is the biggest retrospective of her work, featuring more than 80 paintings, rarely-seen sculptures and textiles plus her personal archive of thousands of photographs and sketches. "It's not only a celebration of Cook but also a chance to examine her catalogue in a deeper way.  It's about time for a big re-assessment of her works and their impact on people, artists and institutions," said Terah Walkup, the exhibition's curator told the BBC.

Lockyer Street Tavern 1976, the Sunday Times cover.

Born in Surrey in 1925, Beryl's early life involved working in pubs, clubs and, rather daringly, as a chorus girl in WW2.  After marrying her childhood sweetheart, a naval officer, and  having a son, she and her little family lived in Zimbabwe [then Southern Rhodesia] before returning to settle in south-west England, first in Looe, Cornwall and later in Plymouth, Devon where they ran a guest house. Hers was not a typical preparation for a later artistic life and her first painting was produced in an effort to encourage her son to pick up a brush, but Cook soon got a taste for painting, creating works to fill the walls of the family's cottage and later the guest house – but never with the ambition of becoming a professional artist. Her breakthrough came when a guest spotted her talent and introduced her to the owner of a Plymouth gallery. Her own first exhibition when she was 49 followed, but in 1976 The Sunday Times magazine used one of her paintings, The Lockyer Tavern, on its cover. Her success snowballed from there and by the time she died in 2008 when she was 81, she had created over 500 works and achieved  a place as one of Britain's most popular artists. 

Getting ready!

Cook largely painted the people she encountered in Plymouth: sailors and shoppers, plumbers and sex workers, drinkers and drag queens, women dressed up to the nines or baring their flesh in the pool. Her characters dance, drink, eat and laugh. There are smiles on their faces and glints in their eyes, joy emanating from every scene. "She loved painting people living life out loud," says Walkup. "She was a really keen observer. She painted people living their true, flamboyant selves." Cook's paintings are often described as comic, but there is no mockery present. "She truly paints her subjects with love and care and compassion and interest. She's fascinated by the world around her." When Cook was finding success in the 1970s and '80s, the contemporary world was experiencing enormous social, political and economic change, which is subtly reflected in her work. "I love her paintings of women in pubs around Plymouth, unabashedly occupying space, unapologetically and confidently smoking and drinking, maybe making eyes at somebody they find attractive, and just having this ownership of their body," says Walkup. "She's painting these at a time when there were still pubs that would refuse to serve pints to women".

On the look-out.

Perhaps even more progressive were her paintings of Plymouth's secret gay bars, including the back room of the Lockyer Tavern. "Its back bar was, for decades, known as a safe space, particularly for gay men to gather and socialise," says Walkup. "Beryl had many friends there. This isn't a world that would have been photographed, so the fact that she's able to capture what life was like for local queer communities then is extraordinary." Cook's paintbrush ignored the bleaker side of life, choosing instead to capture moments of celebration and connection. The viewer always experiences a warm familiarity with Beryl's characters.

John and Beryl do the tango.
This may be a self-portrait with hubby.
Note the racy flower behind the ear!

 A Guardian review of a 2007 exhibition called her characters "strictly one-dimensional," taking issue with her propensity for pleasure. "Cook won't even paint someone who looks as though they are suffering a mild headache... there is no pain in her world," wrote a critic. Beryl was the first to admit this. In a BBC interview, she said: "If I saw something sad I wouldn't dream of painting that… I love it when I see people enjoying themselves."  But, as Walkup suggests,  "What if her depiction of joy was radical – a celebration of those overlooked or othered by society, living life to its fullest? She's painting older women, she's painting curvy women, she's painting queer communities, working-class communities and working-class spaces, So she's painting all sorts of people and places that were subject to injustice in society. This had such a positive and  significant impact on her audiences."

Bar and Barbara,
heading into the Algonquin Hotel, New York City.

Beryl Cook fan and British owner of New York gallery, A Hug from The Art World, Adam Cohen described her as 'avant garde' when he put on the first exhibition of Cook's work in America in 2022. " It was surprising to me that Beryl had never shown in the US," he says. "Mine was her first overseas exhibition." Cohen says Cook has always been part of popular British culture. "Before I ever saw one of Beryl's paintings I encountered her in the commercial world. You'd go down the shopping aisle and there'd be Beryl Cook jigsaws, mugs and tea towels." In this respect, Cohen thinks Cook was quietly ahead of her time, explaining that while the art world used to sneer at commercialism, it now embraces it. "Look at an artist like [Yayoi] Kusama. She's on bags, she's on scarves, she's on posters. Beryl did this before anyone." 

The Vicar's Tea Party

Preparing for breakfast

Cook travelled to the U.S. in the 1980s and captured her time there in several paintings including Bar and Barbara which depicts two women in fur coats heading into New York City's Algonquin Hotel. She might be considered quintessentially British but Cohen had no doubt that Americans  would embrace her work. The New York Times commented that Cook's "vinegary wit translates naturally to New York." though I would question the adjective, 'vinegary'. No! Her wit was much more joyful, warmly ridiculous, hugely affectionate and proudly featuring mainly women who, frankly, didn't give a damn and enjoyed doing exactly that!

Everyday life in the caff up the road.
The owner, Elvira, appreciates the view.

Twins!

 

Beryl: a quiet and private person
with a splendid sense of humour.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

 

Recent photo of Andrew 
Mountbatten-Windsor;
entitled and indulged.

 Because of the continuing and influential publicity over the Epstein files, I had decided to write a blog on the former Prince Andrew and, bang on target, came this morning’s news [19/02/26] that he had just been arrested by Thames Valley Police! Whatever his level of stupidity, duplicity or wrongdoing, it is certainly reassuring to know that in Britain, a member of the Royal Family, albeit one already in some public ‘trouble’, can be arrested when events call for that. It is the first senior Royal arrest since 1647.

David Rowland; Andrew M-W; Jeffrey Epstein

And so to Andrew. Emails published in the Daily Telegraph, [a Royal supporter surely?] suggest that in 2010 the then Prince Andrew asked for information from Treasury officials on banking problems in Iceland. In fact, he asked for, “an update note on the latest position between the UK and Iceland on the matter of the deposits and the deposit guarantee scheme,” This was at a time when Iceland’s banking sector faced problems after three large banks there had experienced severe difficulties, following the 2008 financial crisis, and had had to be nationalised. The briefing he received, was shared with Jonathan Rowland, a business connection of Andrew’s, whose father, David Rowland, subsequently took over part of a failing Icelandic bank. The Epstein files reveal the closeness of Andrew to David Rowland with the former prince calling him his “trusted money man”, inviting him to his, Andrew’s, birthday party and to the wedding of his daughter, Princess Eugenie. Rowland’s son, Jonathan, also appeared to have a close relationship with Mountbatten-Windsor, joining him on trips as an official trade envoy, to places such as China and the former Soviet states.

Andrew was allowed to keep his Falklands'
medals when other honours were removed
by the King last year. Andrew was a 
helicopter pilot and instructor during 
the Falklands war.

During this period, when Andrew was serving as the UK’s trade envoy, his behaviour constituted a misuse of his public role by giving official, i.e. privileged, information to a private associate. It means that the Thames Valley Police’s most recent position in which they have been assessing whether to launch an investigation into possible criminal misconduct in public office, has been resolved with Andrew’s arrest today. Emails from the Epstein files suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor had also forwarded official documents to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile and financier, such as reports from overseas trade trips to southeast Asia and a briefing by UK officials on investment in Afghanistan described by the former prince as “confidential.”

In one of the Epstein emails, Mountbatten-Windsor wrote that “he [David Rowland] is actively seeking high net worth individuals for his Private Bank. Perhaps this is an avenue for your undecided Chinese?”. The Private bank referred to was Rowland’s Banque Havilland. Epstein replied, “His bank just might be the place… I guess I should learn more.”  The emails released by the US Department of Justice also suggest that Rowland’s bank had made loans to Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who had also faced

Sarah Ferguson, Andrew's former wife, with him in January 2026

debt problems.  Banque Havilland has experienced problems with regulators in the UK and Europe and lost its banking license in 2024, a decision against which the bank is appealing. 

The media is swift to print salacious
news about a Royal Person in
public trouble. Andrew is clearly
younger, here.

Andrew over the inert body of a young woman whose face
has been obscured.

The Observer suggests that the British Royal family could easily face an existential threat from the Andrew debacle, clearly understood by the King with his swift response to todays’ arrest of Andrew, pledging his “full and whole-hearted support and co-operation for the authorities. The law must take its course”.  The Royal Family has worked hard to present itself as a family, facing upheavals like the 1936 abdication crisis, and the divorce and death of Princess Diana, increasingly as openly as possible. Queen Elizabeth’s long and dutiful reign, embellished by her obvious decency and popularity, ensured the monarchy long remained as a broadly accepted and widely admired institution, committed to public

Queen Elizabeth 11

service, with an array of Royals appearing regularly and happily with her on the Balcony, ready to launch ships, open housing estates and grace theatrical and musical events. But Andrew’s firm friendship with Epstein, in full swing by 1999, meant that after his divorce, and the loss of his palatial home, he happily accepted Epstein’s tempting offers of lucrative contacts, an array of women and sexual opportunities, with more than one allegation that Epstein ‘sent over’ a young woman for sex with Andrew. Furthermore, there was money to pay his ex-wife’s seemingly endless debts, for Andrew and Sarah, post-divorce, remained firm friends. It has also been alleged that Jeffrey Epstein plotted to secure £1m in cash for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as part of a lucrative business deal with an American investment giant.

A younger Andrew with 17 year old Virginia Giuffre and
Ghislaine Maxwell in attendance.
The small photo shows Andrew esconced across the laps
of several anonymous young women.

Today, 20/02/26, Andrew has been released after 11 hours in custody, while further investigations continue; apparently the first Royal to be arrested since 1647 when Charles 1 was sent to the Tower and began his two year journey to the scaffold. Certainly today, the detention of the King's brother is about "as critical an event as the institution could have to face"

 Perhaps surprisingly, given Epstein's conviction for paedophilia, the present investigations do not appear to include enquiries into sex with underage girls, despite earlier accusations by Virginia Giuffre that she had been trafficked to London specifically for Andrew with whom she had had sex three times when she was 17. Giuffre was awarded reputedly £12 million after her legal pursuit of Andrew for underage sex and it is understood that the money, far beyond Andrew's financial capacity, was privately funded by Queen Elizabeth. She also, significantly, chose to walk with Andrew when she attended the remembrance service for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey in 2022 when his reputation was already in tatters. These examples tend to give credence to rumours that Andrew was always the Queen's favourite child who may have indulged his behaviour. 

Mountbatten-Windsor driven away after being in police
custody for 11 hours.

There is much publicity today featuring a paparazzi shot of Andrew being driven away looking exhausted, dazed and bewildered in the back seat of a police car.[20/02/2026] It is possibly the face of a man unused to facing up to the consequences of his own errant behaviour. Media discussion currently features the Royal line of succession and Buckingham Palace has indicated it will not oppose plans to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the Royal line of succession where he remains eighth in line to succeed the King, despite having been stripped of all his Royal titles and relieved of any official duties. Royal sources indicated on Saturday, Feb 21st, that King Charles specifically would not stand in the way of Parliament if it wanted to ensure the former prince could never be in line, however remote the chance, to ascend the throne.

  

The Harvard Study of Adult Development.

JFK soon after Harvard

So, to the Harvard Study which was initiated when scientists began tracking the health of 268 Harvard students in their late teens, in 1938 during the terrible years of the Great Depression. Interestingly, among the original batch of wealthy young men studied were the eventual President, John F. Kennedy, and the later longtime Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee. There were no young women in the study as Harvard was still all male. In addition, scientists eventually expanded their study to include the original group’s offspring, who now

JFK as President

 number 1,300 and are in their 50s and 60s; the purpose was to find out how early life experiences affect health and ageing over time. Some participants went on to become successful businessmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians, even Presidents, while others ended up as schizophrenics or alcoholics though none appeared to be on intable tracks to their eventual destinies.  

A reference to this study done almost a hundred years ago, caught my eye recently in u3amatters [u3a.org.uk] and I thought it might well have information useful to me as I approach what can only be described as the completion of my adult development. There is always the sneaking thought of “How am I doing?” with the hope that some advice might well be revealed to my benefit. Though, truth to tell, I am not searching for a life extension much beyond the present waystation of 91, but I am interested in keeping myself as healthy as possible, both this year and beyond.

The present Director of the study, the fourth since 1938, is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital who is also a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Robert Waldinger, and he observes, “Taking care of your body is important but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation. The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in those relationships have a powerful influence on our health.”

Close relationships more than wealth or fame are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study showed. Those relational ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, I.Q. or even genes. That finding proved true across the board among both the Harvard men and the inner-city participants, numbering a total of 824, who were later included in the study. And those relationships aren't built through grand gestures, but through what psychologists call ''micro-moments' of connection. Several studies have found that people’s level of satisfaction with their relationships at age 50 was a better predictor of physical health in old age than their state of health in mid-life. When the scientists gathered the data together, they learned a lot about the participants at age 50, “it wasn’t their middle-age cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old,” said Waldinger in a Ted Talk: “It was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied with their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. The loners often died earlier. loneliness kills. It’s as powerfully destructive as smoking or alcoholism.”

According to the study, those who lived longer and enjoyed sound health had also always avoided smoking and alcohol in excess. Researchers found that those with strong social support experienced less mental deterioration as they aged and in a recent study researchers found that women who felt strongly attached to their partners were less depressed and happier in all their relationships two and-a-half years after the study, and with better memory functions than those with frequent marital conflict.          

In a book called ‘Aging Well’ Professor George Vaillant, psychoanalyst and Director of Research for the Dept. of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, wrote that six factors predicted healthy ageing for the Harvard men: physical activity; absence of alcohol abuse and smoking; having mature mechanisms and relationships to cope with life’s ups and downs; a healthy weight and a stable marriage. For the inner-city men, education was an additional factor. “The more education the inner-city men obtained, the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly and use alcohol in moderation,” wrote Vaillant.

Post Script

Emotional Intelligence was not specifically mentioned above but, of course, it is hugely integral to, and important in, our lives. I found a short model to define E.Q. by Waldinger and Schultz in The Good Life [2023]

  1.Altruism, contributing to others’ wellbeing.                                    . 2 Anticipation, imagining constructive outcomes; optimism.                                                                     3. Suppression, choosing to delay action or impulse.                                                                                   4. Sublimation, channelling emotions into growth and creativity.                                                               5. Humour, maintaining perspective and resilience.

There is a growing body of evidence showing that emotional intelligence increases with age and can be strengthened at any stage of life. Between the ages 50 and 70, for instance, participants were four times more likely to use these emotionally intelligent strategies than immature ones. Increased emotional intelligence is undoubtedly one, perhaps the, critical contributor to a long and happy life.

Post Script

There is overlap between this blog and one published on June 26th, 2025 entitled Ikigai, the Japanese concept of 'seeking joy in little things.'

Southern Mexico: Discovery of 1400 year old tomb in Oaxaca.

Carving of an owl, signfying both death and night.
On the lintel above the entrance to the tomb.

Entrance to the Zapotec tomb in San Pablo Huitzo.
Oaxaca, southern Mexico

 News broke last week that archaeologists in southern Mexico have made the ‘discovery of the decade’ after unearthing an ancient burial chamber dating back an incredible 1,400 years. It is a Zapotec tomb located in San Pablo Huitzo in the central valleys of Oaxaca, constructed in stone during the era of the Zapotec civilization whose people were known as the Be’ena’a, or Cloud People because they believed that their ancestors had descended from the clouds where their souls would return after death, as spirits; the Zapotecs dominated the region during the pre-Hispanic era. Dating from approximately 600 CE, the tomb has remained hidden for over a millennium and astonishingly, retains a remarkable level of preservation. The Zapotecs were a foundational indigenous society which flourished in the valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica, now southern Mexico, from 500 BC, mainly dying out around

Tomb 104 at Monte Alban, 200-500 AD. Example of early
Zapotec funeral art with sculptures and murals.

1521 AD after the arrival of the Spanish. They are recognized as having developed early writing systems, a 260-day calendar and a highly centralized state with a capital at Monte Alban which dominated the region for centuries. They created a socially stratified society with Kings at the apex followed in descending order by priests, soldiers, artisans and commoners below. The Zapotecs were economically competitive and formed successful trading relationships with other Mesoamerican cultures like the Olmecs and the Mayans. The Zapotec civilisation declined noticeably around 900 A.D. but did not completely disappear as the culture persists today when around 400,000 people remain in central Mexico. But it did experience a centuries-long, gradual decline which culminated in the 16th century, after flourishing from around 700BCE, brought to an end by the Spanish Conquest in the early 15th century. One source quotes the critical end years to 1521-1527.

A sculpture of a man's head with the face of a Zapotec lord
inside the head of the giant owl.

The site is home to multi-coloured murals featuring symbols associated with power and death. At the threshold to the burial chamber there are carvings of two human figures holding various artefacts in their hands, considered by archaeologists to have been the guardians of the tomb. Among the many well-preserved details is a sculpture of a giant owl, signifying both death and night, which sits above the entrance to the burial chamber. A sculpture of a man’s head with the face of a Zapotec lord, can be seen inside the owl’s beak, possibly representing the individual who was buried there or perhaps, a revered ancestor. The doorway is framed by a stone threshold and lintel above which is a frieze of engraved slabs of ancient calendrical names. Inside the burial chamber itself is an extraordinary mural in white, green, red and blue, showing a procession of people walking in the direction of the tomb entrance, carrying bags of copal, a tree resin burned as incense during the ceremonies.  .

Zapotec tomb carving

Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, underlined the message from the President, Claudia Scheinbaum who highlighted the importance of the discovery. De Icaza said how the tomb is an
‘exceptional discovery due to its level of conservation and for what it tells us about Zapotec culture and its social organization, funeral rituals and belief system, all preserved by the architecture and the murals. It is a compelling example of Mexico's ancient grandeur which is now being researched, protected and shared with society."

 A multi-disciplinary team from the Institute of Anthropology and History [INAH] is now working to protect the site and conduct further research. Their most urgent work includes stabilizing the murals which, despite their miraculous preservation, are nonetheless, in a fragile state due to the impact of 1400 years of withstanding tree roots, insects and increasingly rapid changes in environmental conditions.

 

  

Sample of Zapotec tomb mural art.