PUBERTY HERE WE COME! THE FLOWERING OF YOUTH!

I WAS SEVEN AT THE END OF THE WAR.  I HAD SEEN MORE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION BY THAT TENDER AGE THAN ANYONE SHOULD SEE IN A LIFETIME. BECAUSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES, THERE WERE NO OTHER KIDS AROUND. 

MY MOTHER RAN THE FAMILY BUSINESS AND HAD NOT MUCH TIME FOR ME. MOST OF MY BRINGING UP THROUGH THIS TIME WAS BY AN

ELDERLY SPINSTER AUNT WHO DIDN’T LIKE ME, AND I DIDN’T LIKE HER RIGHT BACK. THE BOMBING OF LONDON TOOK THE LIVES OF THIRTY-THREE THOUSAND WITH A HUGE NUMBER OF CASUALTIES ON TOP. I ONLY RECEIVED GASHES ON MY LEFT ARM AND LEFT THIGH FROM FLYING GLASS. SURROUNDED BY ONLY ADULTS, I BECAME A PRECOCIOUS MINIATURE ADULT AND STARTED MY FIRST BUSINESS AT AGE SEVEN. MY PARENTS REALIZED THAT I HAD MY STREET SMARTS AND NEVER PUT A DAMPER ON ANYTHING I HAD IN MIND.  THAT EARLY TRUST AND FREEDOM BUILT AN INNER STRENGTH INTO WHATEVER DIRECTION. IT WAS ALL TOTALLY POSITIVE.  HOW OFTEN DOES ONE SEE THE SPIRIT OF YOUNG LIFE BECOME GRADUALLY EXTINGUISHED BY NEGATIVE PARENTING.

1940   THE FAMILY. ME AT AROUND 12 MONTHS BEING HELD BY MY FATHER

AT EIGHT, I STARTED TO VISIT MUSEUMS, ALL WERE FREE, EASILY  ACCESSIBLE FROM MY HOME BY BUS AND OFFERED A WEALTH OF INTERESTING THINGS TO  LOOK AT, AND INTO. THE FIRST WAS THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM, PRIMARILY AN ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTION WHERE I FIRST BECAME AWARE OF THE DIVERSITY OF HUMAN CULTURES.  THE FIRST POTS I REMEMBER SEEING AND BEING STRUCK BY WERE THOSE FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST. MY NEXT MUSEUM WAS THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM THAT HAD ALL MANNER OF INTERESTING AND DISGUSTING THINGS THAT PEOPLE USED FOR KILLING EACH OTHER. A SECURITY GUARD THERE SUGGESTED THAT I VISIT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT AND BRITISH MUSEUMS WHERE THERE WERE OLD THINGS FOR KILLING EACH OTHER AND THEY WERE VERY BEAUTIFUL. SO, OFF I WENT AND FOUND MAGNIFICENT SWORDS, ARMOUR, FIREARMS, KNIVES AND MILITARY HARDWARE FROM CULTURES WORLDWIDE.  AND THEN THERE WERE POTS IN THEIR THOUSANDS.  LONDON’S MAIN MUSEUM DISTRICT IS IN SOUTH KENSINGTON, THERE YOU WILL FIND MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY, DECORATIVE ARTS, GEOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND OTHERS, ALL WITHIN A COUPLE OF BLOCKS. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE PLAYGROUND FOR A CHILD 

WITH A RECEPTIVE MIND AND THE POSSIBLE DREAMS OF AN ARTIST.

ACOMA OLLA, 19^TH CENTURY

I HAD NO FRIENDS BECAUSE OF THE LONELINESS INFLICTED BY THE WAR PERIOD AND HAD LEARNED TO BECOME VERY SELF-SUFFICIENT AS A SURVIVOR OF INTENSE NEGATIVITY.  THERE WAS NOBODY TO DISTRACT ME FROM MY THIRST FOR LEARNING.

FROM THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM I LEARNED MUCH ABOUT ANIMALS, REPTILES AND BIRDS, BUT THEY WERE STUFFED TAXIDERMISTS RECREATIONS WITH NO VOICE. FINDING THE LONDON ZOO IN REGENT’S PARK  THERE I FOUND THEM IN FULL VIGOR, COMPLETE WITH VOICE AND PROFOUND PRESENCE.  THIS WAS MY KIND OF STUFF!!

 BY THE TIME I WAS 12, I HAD DECIDED THAT I WANTED TO GO INTO ZOOLOGY, EITHER AS A PRIMATOLOGIST OR ORNITHOLOGIST. I STARTED TO LEARN URDU AND SWAHILI, LANGUAGES FROM CENTRAL AFRICA, HOME TO MANY OF THE SPECIES THAT I WAS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN.

ME AT  12 YEARS OF AGE.

I REALLY DISLIKED MOST SPORTS, STILL DO!  I WAS A CHUBBY KID AND NOT PARTICULARLY FAST ON MY FEET. SO IN SOCCER THEY PUT ME BETWEEN THE GOAL POSTS AND KICKED THINGS AT ME.  IN CRICKET, THEY PUT ME BEHIND THE WICKET AND THREW NASTY, HARD LEATHER BALLS AT ME.

I REBELLED AT THIS STUFF AND HAVE DISLIKED ALL AGGRESSIVE TEAM SPORTS EVER SINCE.  I VIEW THEM AS MILITARY TRAINING EXERCISES, THE WAY THAT MANY CULTURES KEPT THEIR ARMIES FIT BY AGGRESSIVE TRAINING. TO ME, THIS IS WHERE  GLOBAL  OBSESSION WITH VIOLENCE AND HATE STARTS TO TAKE ROOT.

 

MAYAN VASE:  SOLDIERS OFF TO DO BATTLE ON THE BALL COURT.  PENALTY FOR LOSING THE GAME -  DEATH