Holland Park Beyond Jean and Lionel

Thursday Travel

After seeing Jean and Lionel meet in Holland Park on the British Comedy "As Time Goes By," I knew I had to go there.  But one visit wasn't enough, and I wondered what life in England might be life beyond the more pleasant summer months.  So it was that we booked a week in a hotel in that area of London after the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.  Our first stop?  Where else but the Dutch Gardens of Holland Park, where Lionel asked Jean out to a party held by his publisher Alistair Deacon.  

The sun sat so low in the sky that it either blinded you or left you in shadow.  Unlike our last visit, gardeners were everywhere, cleaning up fallen leaves, and preparing flower beds for winter flowers.  Aside from a few rose bushes, the garden offered little more than greens and browns, the browns being the trunks of trees and the tilled soil.  Still, it was neat to be there, even if it was too cold to sit down, and the gardeners were serenading us with their blowers and vacuums.

And just like the musicians hired by Alastair to serenade Jean during his brief attempt to court her, their voices rang out in pleasant chorus.

"What are you doing for the rest of my life,

the east and west and north and south of my life,

I have only one request of your life,

that you spend it all with me…" *

Alas, as with Alastair, our hearts already belonged to another.

Holland Park is a beautiful place, even without a plethora of flowers. There's lots of history there, including the old Holland House, and some great architecture to appreciate.

If you want long, quiet walks, there's plenty of areas for that too.  At least, during the week.

Lord Holland wants you to come and enjoy his park, if only to scare away the birds that adore him so.

I'm glad I visited Holland Park in November.  I just wish I could pop into my TARDIS and go see the flowers they planted during our visit.

Dragon Dave

* Song presumably written by the great Bob Larbey, who wrote every single episode of "As Time Goes By."

Related Dragon Cache entries
"As Time Goes By" in Holland Park: Part 3

Stephen King’s Dilemma

In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King wrestled with the fact that, of all the novels he had written, the overwhelming favorite was The Stand.  While he was glad his readers liked the post-apocalyptic tale, this was his second published novel.  He believed he had grown immensely as an author since he had crafted that early work, and by the time he wrote On Writing, had published an astounding number of novels.  He had invested all his stories with imagination, creativity, and passion, and believed some of his later novels represented his best efforts as a writer. Yet by an overwhelming majority, readers loved The Stand more than any of his later stories.

Over the last few months, a few of my posts have attracted more page views than the norm.  In my Pages section, you can find a link to my current Top Ten posts.  The first four, all about authors working today, have garnered an astounding number of page views.  Fans of those popular authors evidently liked what I had to say and recommended them to their friends.  Four of my seven-part series on Ritz Cinema also got a large number of hits.  I attribute the popularity of those posts less to the James Herriot connection (or my particularly beautiful prose), and more to the fact that Ritz Cinema is a very special place, and therefore, like Steven Brust, Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, and David Malki, has a passionate following.  My original intention for my blog, to write about particular works of fiction, is represented by only one entry: “Envying Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber.”  I’m not sure if this is because people like what I had to say, or if they were searching for images of Luke’s lightsaber.  

Blogger has its foibles, some of which I’ve discovered since I started using the Pages function.  One inconsistency I noticed long ago, however, was that the number of page views listed in my Posts section was often different than the numbers represented in the Statistics section.  In many cases, the number of page views is higher on the Posts list than it is in the Statistics section.  One entry in particular, “As Time Goes By in Holland Park: Part 1,” has enough page views on the Posts list that it should reside in number eight on my Statistics section’s Top Ten page.  Yet it doesn’t appear there.  I suppose it doesn’t really belong in my Top Ten anyway, as parts Two and Three only have half as many page views, and “As Time Goes By Jean’s House” frequently appears under search terms that drew people to my site.  This may also explain the popularity of “Catching a Glimpse of Norman Clegg’s House.”  The latter post, which initially attracted average interest, has steadily risen in popularity in the months since I wrote it.  In reading it, I can see why fans of the TV show “Last of the Summer Wine” would like it.  But “Norman Clegg’s House” also shows up regularly under Searches that led people to my blog. 

I apologize to all you “As Time Goes By” fans: I don’t know the address the TV crew used for the exterior of Jean’s House.  (Nor do I know the exact address of Norman Clegg’s house, but I believe the second location the production used was a cottage behind The White Horse Inn, if that’s helpful).  Part one of my three-part entry is about exploring the residential and commercial area of London known as Holland Park, and parts two and three cover the actual park.  The Dutch Garden within the park was an important place for us to visit, as it is there that Lionel first pursues Jean, and realizes that he wants to get to know her better.  (Even if you’re not a fan of the TV show, it’s a beautiful garden, and the entire park is worth a visit).  At least I know that I’m not the only one who still loves a show that started twenty years ago, and aired its last reunion show seven years ago.

One entry that I particularly love, but hasn’t gotten many page views, is my entry “Leaning on Steven Brust.”  While it’s somewhat derivative of “Steven Brust: My Ultimate Weapon,” it not only relates to my struggles as an author, but to Grand Master Robert Silverberg’s own struggles during the 1970s.  I wrote it later in April for those who enjoyed "Ultimate Weapon."  Yet, as Stephen King found with his published novels, what resonates with readers often astonishes the writer.  I know my affection for Jupiter Project, If the Stars are Gods, and The Stars in Shroud surprised Gregory Benford.  His favorites tend to be novels like Timescape and Artifact, SF stories about working physicists such as himself. 

From a business side of things, it makes sense for an author to look backward, study what books have sold the most, and attempt to cater to those tastes.  From an artistic standpoint, it makes sense that a writer should ignore past successes, and follow his muse wherever it leads him.  I hope I never find myself in a place where publishers will only buy one particular type of story from me.  Stephen King’s dilemma (and every popular writer’s dilemma), is that the type of books he longs to write may not resonate with his readers as much as some of his other types of stories.  This phenomenon should not be ignored or discounted.  As readers, we should sympathize with those writers who can only sell one type of story.  But at the end of the day, it’s an author’s job to serve his or her readers, whatever stories they’ve come to love, and for whatever reason they treasure them most.  At this point, the fact that anyone out there loves anything I've written brings me joy.  It’ll be my job to remember that, should I win a publisher’s attention, and see my novels published.  

Dragon Dave

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The Penultimate Stop on our Dalek Adventure

The Prince Albert Memorial

I’ve been so caught up in all the great fiction that I’ve been reading and watching lately that I haven’t blogged about England in nearly two months.  Yet our trip there last year (our first international excursion together) afforded us some special memories, and I thought I’d share another of them with you.  It comes from our last day in London, after we had left Holland Park behind.  It was our visit to one of the most impressive monuments a person could ever visit.

Under a steel-gray sky, we arrived at the Prince Albert Memorial.  This monument, built by Queen Victoria after her husband died of typhoid, offers so much to take in that one could spend hours appreciating all the artistry that went into its design.  Yet it also serves as a gathering place and recreation area for tourists and locals alike.  As we walked around it, a father nervously watched his two young children as they sought to master their inline skates.  In a little hut just behind it, vendors sold all manner of refreshments, including ice cream, which people bought and enjoyed, despite the cool, breezy conditions and the threatening rain.  High school and college kids chatted on the steps as they waited for their friends, read books, or listened to music from their MP3 Players.  

A squirrel came out of the gardens to say, "Hello."

As an American, I know little about Queen Victoria’s reign, or her relationship with her husband.  In his travelogue “Europe Through the Back Door,” host Rick Steves suggests that the two were very much in love.  Not only did the Queen build the monument, and the nearby concert hall to honor Prince Albert, but she also ordered that all the wrought iron fences in London be painted black after he died, and she mourned him for the remaining fifty years of her life.  As the prince seems to have promoted the cultivation of arts and sciences in England, the monument commemorates his leadership in these areas.  The statues set at each corner represent different areas in the world, suggesting that the prince’s influence extended beyond the small country he ruled.  And in “Black Adder: A Christmas Carol,” Prince Albert is portrayed as a kind man who praised generosity in his populace.  Not a bad way to be remembered or celebrated in fiction.

A small sign advertised guided tours once a month.  On another visit, we’d love to walk past the fencing, up the inner steps, and learn more about this historic landmark.  For not only does it showcase great artistry, but Londoners work hard to preserve its beauty.  That afternoon, we watched as workmen painted the intricate fencing.  Whether they were applying a new coat of gold leaf, or merely painting it with more gold paint, I don’t know.  I should have asked.

One amazing fence.

What I do know is that the production team behind the Doctor Who story “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” had to get up in the early hours of the morning to film such public places without lots of passers-by getting in the way.  Their efforts proved well worth it: the story proved immensely popular.  As the first story of the second season, and the second story involving Daleks, it helped feed English viewers’ fascination with this alien race.  Soon there were Dalek costumes and masks, games and puzzles, coloring books and annuals, plates and bowls and cups, candy, clothing, and of course Dalek toys for children to buy (or beg their parents for).  In those days when shows were rarely (if ever) repeated, this story was remade for the cinema in “Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD,” with Peter Cushing (who later played Grand Moff Tarkin in “Star Wars”) starring as Doctor Who.

As I lingered there, I wondered what it must have meant to the children of London nearly fifty years ago, to see on their TV sets the Daleks surrounding an area they visited and played beside.  It seems a strange juxtaposition, for the pitiless Daleks to survey a city they’ve destroyed from beside this monument.  For while the Daleks enslaved those they did not kill, turning some of them into mindless Robomen, Prince Albert promoted education and the abolition of slavery.  While the Daleks ravaged England, Prince Albert was a kind man who sought the betterment of his country through championing the application of science and art to the growing manufacturing processes of his time.

A statue celebrating Albert's love for
his favorite energy drink,
Red Bull.

Terry Nation’s most remembered creation, the Daleks, serve as a metaphor for individuals who use others without regard for their feelings or wellbeing.  Such people, whether human or alien, could learn much from Prince Albert.

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As Time Goes By in Holland Park: Part 3

Related Internet Links

Prince Albert in “Black Adder”

“Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 AD”

Albert Memorial Guided Tours

“As Time Goes By” in Holland Park: Part 3

The busier our lives become, and the more artificial the environments we inhabit, the more we crave a return to nature.  Gardens delight the eyes, enliven the senses, and inspire us.  Provided they don’t disturb the sinuses, a lunchtime garden-visit can relax one better than a nap in an upholstered office chair.  London, a hive of activity, doesn’t skimp on green spaces.  From numerous gardens and parks along the Victoria Embankment, to its many parks, residents and workers find ample opportunity to ease the stress of modern life via a return to nature.  Whether Holland Park can do this better than other London parks is not mine to decide.  But we found our visit to Holland Park memorable, meaningful, and rejuvenating.  For, in addition to providing all the benefits listed above, we ate lunch in the garden where Jean and Lionel resumed their relationship in Episode Two of the British sitcom “As Time Goes By.”  And we did so in a very “Jean and Lionel” way.  We picnicked.

In the series, Jean, her adult daughter Judith, and her secretary Sandy often lunch on packaged sandwiches.  Once Lionel shows up at Jean’s office, Type For You, intent upon buying her lunch.  Jean produces packaged sandwiches.  Lionel says “I was going to take you out for a proper lunch.”  Jean, who built up her secretarial agency from nothing, sees such grab-and-go fare as a proper lunch.  Indeed, until Jean retires in Season Six, it’s not unusual for her and Lionel to lunch on sandwiches in one of London’s many parks.  

As we enjoyed our picnic lunch, it struck me how different this was from my experience.  Back home, whenever I didn’t bring my lunch to the office, I often visited a fast food restaurant.  Inside, after waiting in line, I sat in a crowded, indoor dining area eating my hamburger and fries, enjoying the air conditioning and listening to the piped-in music.  In London, fast food chains are less common than in U. S. cities I’ve visited.  Restaurants charge more for food consumed on the premises, and most places that fit the fast food demographic burgeoned with people, which raised the noise level and made the air hot and humid.  So we, like so many, had opted for the three-dollar (Oops!  I meant pound) special at the convenience store, and chosen from a wide selection of packaged sandwiches, bags of chips (sorry: crisps), and cans of soda.  Here, in Holland Park, we could enjoy our food in quiet reflection.  We could talk without effort, and hear each other’s words.  The air was refreshing and easy to breathe.  We could watch the insects busily pollinating the flowers.  On the opposite side of the garden, a man stretched out on a bench to nap in the shade.  Mothers and nannies parked their strollers, sat down, and soaked in the sun.  People slowly wandered between the beds, enjoying gardener Ian Fleming’s arrangements. 

Yet one thing nagged me.  As with Hercule Poirot’s house, something looked different.  Then it struck me: when Lionel found Jean here in Episode Two, her bench was situated opposite ours.  Had the production crew moved the bench and reversed its orientation for better lighting?  Had they wanted to film Jean and Lionel’s conversation with the garden behind them, rather than a tree-lined brick wall?  Only after reviewing the episode did I realize they did it for those reasons and another: to expand the time and space in which the scene unfolds.  

While walking past other formal gardens on the way here, one fountain had looked familiar, but I hadn't known why.  Now I do. By moving and reversing the bench, Jean and Lionel seem to sit amid a much larger garden.  As they recall their initial meeting here thirty-eight years ago, Jean points out a young couple to Lionel.  The two look ahead, and through a brick wall that does not exist for the camera.  Just as they met here before Lionel shipped off to Korea, a young army officer and a nurse walk arm-in-arm around a fountain.  Thus history becomes present, and the Dutch Garden is magically expanded.  As Jean and Lionel recall what they said to each other on that occasion, hope blossoms inside our hearts.  Despite all their past heartaches, we want them to recapture the emotions, attraction, and yearning of that first meeting. 

Picture the bench resting at the top of the steps.
Sitting with their backs to the garden, 
Jean and Lionel ignore me as I eat my lunch.
They use their X-ray vision to see through the brick wall,
and thus observe a young couple circling a fountain.

Our heels dragged as we left Holland Park.  From the dedications on the benches, the inscriptions on the walls, the planning that gardener Ian Fleming put into his arrangements, and the recently added statue, I understand why the production crew chose to film this pivotal scene here.  So much love has been (and continues to be) lavished upon the Dutch Garden. Thus, it serves as the perfect place for Jean and Lionel to resume their former relationship.  I feel honored to have visited a place that brings such joy to so many lives.  By picnicking here, I’ve gained more insight into the practicalities of life in London.  When next I return to this bustling metropolis, I’d like to visit other gardens, and explore such pockets of serenity cherished by those working and living nearby.  But I’d also love to return to Holland Park.  If I do, one thing is certain.  As I carry my sandwich, bag of chips (sorry: crisps), and can of soda through the area of formal gardens, I’ll not only return to the Dutch Garden.  I’ll also be looking for a familiar-looking fountain.  

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Birds of a feather frolic together in Holland Park

At twenty-two hectares, or fifty-plus acres, Holland Park dwarfs most of the parks of my experience.  Each area caters to a different age group or activity.  Feel like a morning jog or an afternoon ramble?  Numerous walks lead you along enormous lawns, several ponds, an arboretum, and an oak enclosure.  Some areas hum with activity, while others seem natural and untended, as if within the heart of London, one could still wander through an uncharted forest.  Local residents bring their dogs to romp in the dog exercise area, supervise their children on the sports fields, or enjoy a lunchtime game in the tennis courts.  Mothers push strollers, or pick up their children from the preschool.  Those without sack lunches line up for a table in at the café.  Yet none of these places were for us.  

We searched for the garden where Jean and Lionel met in the second episode of the British TV sitcom “As Time Goes By,” written by Bob Larbey.

Jean runs a secretarial agency in London.  Lionel, back in England after operating a coffee bean plantation in Kenya for over three decades, has secured a publication contract.  The only problem?  He’s not a naturally gifted writer.  By chance, he seeks help from Jean’s firm.  When the secretary she sends him proves unsuitable, he eventually meets Jean.  The two recognize each other, and we learn that thirty-eight years ago, the two were deeply in love.  She was a nurse, he an army officer, and when he went off to fight in Korea, the letter he wrote never reached her.  While she assumed he never wrote, he assumed that she had decided her romance with him was just a lark.  Both were too proud to take further action.  Jean went on to marry another and is now a widow.  Lionel married one of the few English-speaking women in Kenya, but as he embraced the relationship to avert loneliness, it soon crumbled apart.  Jean’s grown-up daughter, Judith, believes her mother and Lionel can pick up where they left off.  Jean and Lionel, meanwhile, are intimidated by such a prospect.  Life has taught both of them how cruel it can be; each has learned to live with heartache and disappointment.  The next morning, when a replacement secretary returns to the office to report that Lionel has checked out of the hotel, Jean is not surprised.

Fate draws them together again.  Forced by his publisher to meet his deadline, Lionel checks back into his hotel, and goes on bended knee to Jean’s office.  But she is not there: she has gone to the park.  He journeys after her, and eventually finds her sitting on a bench in Holland Park, surrounded by a dazzling array of flowers in lovingly tended beds.  He goes to her, tries to bluff his way out of explaining, but finally admits that he was intimidated by her daughter’s belief that they could resume their relationship.  Jean admits that her daughter is a romantic.  Lionel says, “That’s absurd, she’s been married twice!”  Jean replies coolly, “You have to be a romantic to marry twice.”  Both agree that too much time has passed; neither resembles the person the other fell in love with in their youth.  With a handshake, they depart.  Jean promises to send a secretary tomorrow, and Lionel promises he will be in the hotel.  They depart, if not as lovers, then at least as like-minded friends.  

In the next scene, Jean is walking down a quiet residential street when she realizes that Lionel is chasing her.  Before the episode is through, the two end up at a party together.  Despite all that separated them, we felt a quiet contentment as Jean and Lionel left the party.  We begin to hope that a resumption of their romance was possible. 

Although they met first in the hotel lobby, there they faced each other as combatants.  Protected within their emotional walls of justification, their exchange consisted of information hurled against each other’s defenses, covering what each had done during the intervening decades.  Understandably, this first encounter, waged in the lobby of Lionel’s hotel, left each uncomfortable about seeing the other again.  But in a garden in Holland Park, in such a pastoral setting, each let their guard down a little.  This second time, each was willing to be a little more honest about where they stood emotionally.  As a result, this second meeting prompted them toward a third union, this time at a party held by Lionel’s publisher.  This garden encounter, during the second episode, was where Jean and Lionel restart their relationship.

A list of plants, selected for your approval, by the gardener.
His name?  Fleming.  A Mr. Ian Fleming.

In searching for this particular garden, one representative of the formality English gardens are regarded for, we consulted a map, and noticed an area of the Park subdivided into a number of gardens.  We walked past an Orangery.  We didn’t stop to sample the aromatic and colorful delights of the Rose Garden.  We saw a familiar-looking fountain, but soldiered on.  Unless Jean and Lionel’s garden had been torn apart and redeveloped, we would find it. 

Fifteen minutes after we entered Holland Park, we arrived in Jean and Lionel’s garden.  A sign identified it as the Dutch Garden.  People sat on the benches, ate their lunches, and gazed in quiet contentment at the carefully tended beds bursting with color.  Immediately, we felt at home here.  We had reached a place that will forever reside in our hearts.  We sat on an unoccupied bench, set out our simple lunch, and feasted on the familiar surroundings we had previously inhabited in our imaginations.

"At last, we've arrived!"

This entry will conclude with “As Time Goes By” Holland Park: Part 3.

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"As Time Goes By" in Holland Park: Part 1

A pub where Lionel might pop out for a "quick half."

All stories need characters.  We view the world through their eyes, and as we follow their attempts to overcome their dilemmas, we invest our hopes in them: we yearn for them to succeed.  Those characters who demonstrate the ability to break free of their single-story existence, who somehow seem more vital after following a few episodes in their lives, we invest more of ourselves in: our emotions, our own struggles, and sometimes even our dreams.

After visiting Hercule Poirot’s house, and touring the Museum of London, we headed off to our next destination.  Holland Park is a residential district in London, as well as the name of a large park.  As we had poured over our maps the previous evening, we realized that while London boasted numerous parks of great beauty and historical importance, only two held personal significance for us.  While entry into the park opposite Poirot’s Whitehaven Mansions had been denied us, we hoped for better fortunes with our second choice.

The entry to an old, stone church.

Like Poirot’s house, Holland Park dwells not just in London, but also within our hearts.  Two decades ago, we fell in love with Jean and Lionel, two characters created by Bob Larbey for his British TV sitcom “As Time Goes By.”  Had the series merely lasted one or two seasons of six episodes each, this might not have proved the case.  But Jean and Lionel’s fictional lives, as well as their struggles to overcome the dilemmas they faced, proved compelling to viewers worldwide.  Each successive series offered a few more precious episodes, until finally in 2002, after nine seasons, the stars, Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, decided it was time for them, as actors, to move on.  

Still, viewers refused to give them up, and thankfully, two reunion episodes were made in 2005.  Perhaps Dench and Palmer were right to end the series when they did.  By this time, Jean and Lionel had overcome the major obstacles that life and fate had thrown in their way.  Still, it’s always painful when an ongoing story, involving characters you love, comes to an end.  (I can only imagine how it affected Bob Larbey, who shared his consciousness with Jean and Lionel for so long, to realize that he would no longer get to write down more of their life journey and see Dench and Palmer bring them to life).  At least, with the DVDs, we could relive those portions of their lives that we had shared with them.  But today, on our final day in London, we had the opportunity (Who can say?  Perhaps our only one?) to visit the place where they first met: Holland Park.

Others eat their lunch in Holland Park

After leaving the Underground station, we walked along a busy street.  Then we decided: if we wished to see Holland Park, we might as well walk past some of the beautiful Victorian row houses depicted in the series.  We might not pass the one where Jean and Lionel supposedly lived*, but we could catch a glimpse of what life might be like for those who lived in this district.  Unlike the street our characters lived on, these houses were not all white, but painted a variety of colors.  We passed a pub that Lionel might pop out to for a “quick half.”  We passed an old, immaculately maintained, stone church.  Then the street ended, and we were forced to backtrack until we reached the busy street once more.  But that was okay, as we could imagine Jean’s secretarial agency, Type For You, might operate out of one of the small businesses, or she and Lionel might opt for a “cheap and cheerful” (inexpensive) dinner of fish-and-chips or Indian curry at one of the little restaurants we passed.  We picked up lunch in a local market, and journeyed onward.

Our journey will continue in “As Time Goes By” in Holland Park: Part 2.

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For images of Jean & Lionel's house in "As Time Goes By," check out my January 30, 2014 entry
Jean & Lionel's House in "As Time Goes By"