CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

William Gilbert was an English doctor, physicist, writer and natural philosopher who was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1544 to a wealthy family. He went to Cambridge University at the age of just 14 and became a doctor. He was extremely famous in his lifetime and served Elizabeth I as her private physician in the last few years of her reign.

WHAT DID I DO? Gilbert wrote many books but is best-known for his six volume work published in 1600 called De Magnete (full title: On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on the Great Magnet the Earth), which quickly became the most important work in Europe on electrical and magnetic phenomena. In this book he describes the experiments he conducted with magnets, where he realised that the earth was magnetic and that this was the reason compasses point north. He was the first to see that the centre of the Earth was formed of iron. The book was published during a time when Europeans were making long sea voyages and the magnetic compass was one of the few instruments available at the time to stop sailors getting hopelessly (and usually fatally) lost. Through his experiments and research Gilbert helped sailors understand more about magnets, saving hundreds and thousands of lives. His ideas were radical at a time when most people believed that the earth was at the centre of the universe. Galileo looked at Gilberts experiments with magnets and eventually came up with the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. Gilbert is also known as the originator of the term "electricity" and he invented the first electrical measuring instrument, the electroscope, which looked like a pivoted needle. Gilbert was a pioneer in the work of magnets and electricity and became famous throughout the world in his own lifetime and had a great influence on future scientists.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? Ideas about electricity may be put back a good twenty or thirty years. That means if Gilbert hadn’t developed his ideas when he did, we probably wouldn’t yet have the internet or Xbox!

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  A man who understands magnetics, electricity and compasses deserves a place in the balloon!

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gilbert_william.shtml; http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics/electric-charge-and-current-short-history; http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/gilbert.html http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www%2Dspof.gsfc.nasa.gov/earthmag/demagint.htm;

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

William Charles Kernot was born on 16 June 1845 at Rochford, Essex. He was an engineer and educationist.

Kernot studied engineering at the University of Melbourne. In 1866 he became the first qualified engineer produced by the university. He advocated that engineering should be studied at universities and also tried to help working men into education.

WHAT DID I DO? Charles’ family emigrated to Australia where he became a professor of engineering, the first, at the University of Melbourne. Travelling around the country, studying the construction of railway bridges, he took part in an inquiry into the idea of placing telephone and telegraph wires underground. He published numerous scientific papers. In 1889 he became chairman of the council of the Working Men's College and ploughed a great deal of his personal money into developing courses for engineers and scholarships for working class men. He may have saved many lives when, in the late 1880s, he launched a campaign to force the railways to admit to weaknesses in the Moorabool viaduct. He also investigated flood control on the Yarra and Barwon rivers in Australia. Kernot was a member of the Australian Antarctic Committee which played a vital role in the exploration of the Antarctic continent.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

He was passionate in his campaign to have engineering recognized as something worthy of study. It was only because of his pressure that courses in mining engineering (1901) and mechanical engineering (1907) were introduced.

Many have called him 'the first Australian engineer', without whom engineering would not be so respected today.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!) Charles William Kernot was a great ballooning enthusiast! He knew everything about balloons. Combined with his engineering expertise he’d be invaluable in this balloon!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  E. Scott, A History of the University of Melbourne (Melb, 1936)  G. Blainey, A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne (Melb, 1957)  Kernot papers (State Library of Victoria)  wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Charles_Kernot

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

George Warwick Deeping was a prolific English novelist and short story writer who was born in Southend on Sea in 1877. He lived in Prospect House, which once stood opposite the Royal Hotel in Southend High Street. Later he moved to nearby Royal Terrace, overlooking the Thames Estuary. His father was a doctor and George followed in his footsteps, studying medicine at Cambridge University but after completing his training and working as a doctor for a year, he gave it up to become a full time writer.

WHAT DID I DO? During world War I George Warwick Deeping joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and saw active service in Gallipoli, Egypt and France. His first really successful novel was called Sorrell and Son (1925) about a father who devotes his life to making his son’s a success. The novel is based on Deeping's experiences during the First World War. The book was so popular it was made into a silent movie in 1927, which was remade in 1934 as a sound film and then in 1984 Sorrell and Son was turned into a TV mini-series. His work was not always well received by literary critics, who disliked his melodramatic plots. He wrote a huge number of historical romances and despite wide spread criticism he became one of the bestselling authors of the 1920s and 1930s. A number of his novels, particularly The Dark House and Mr Gurney and Mr Slade are set in the fictional town of Southfleet, which sounded a lot like Southend at the time. Deeping also published fiction in several US magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Adventure. He published over 200 original short stories and essays in various British fiction magazines, which were eventually put together into the multi-volume "Lost Story" collection. Three silent films were made, based on Deeping's novels: Unrest in 1920, Fox Farm in 1922, and Doomsday in 1928. Kitty (1929), directed by Victor Saville, was the first British talkie ever, which was based on one of Deeping’s books. Deeping published over sixty books in his lifetime, an enormous achievement for this former doctor from Southend. He died on 20th April 1950 and is buried in St John’s Church Gardens in Southend near the Royals.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

The world needs writers! Southend should be proud of having produced a 1920s version of Dan Brown!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://jmb.sagepub.com/content/16/2/103.extract  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Deeping  http://www.southendtimeline.com/warwickdeeping.htm

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Vivienne Price was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, Vivienne was raised in Epsom by her mother, after her father, Eric, died. She attended Rosebery school and won an exhibition to the Royal College of Music aged 16, where she learned the violin. Vivienne trained the junior orchestra at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, qualifying as a teacher in 1952. She was the founder of the National Children’s Orchestra (NCO) and a music teacher who influenced the lives of thousands of children.

WHAT DID I DO? Vivienne Price was always dedicated to helping children learn. Even when she was a student, she taught children at her home. Later she ran a Saturday morning school for children aged up to 12. All instruments were taught, with the help of visiting teachers, and many participants went on to junior colleges of music.

Vivienne trained the junior orchestra at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, qualifying as a teacher in 1952. The first home of the National Children’s’ Orchestra the Surrey house that Vivienne bought with her husband, Tony Carter, in 1978. After they divorced in the mid-1980s, the operation moved to Ashtead, where the Orchestra had its office above her bungalow. The Queen Elizabeth Hall, on the South Bank in London, was the main concert venue. A training orchestra was started to cope with increasing demand and insufficient places.

Today there are five national and six regional orchestras, and other satellite groups to complement the core orchestral training. Vivienne was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Music Teacher awards for excellence 2014. She was made MBE in 1997 and died in November 2014.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 Music speaks across language barriers. It can be a unifying and transformative entity.  Vivienne has inspired and transformed the lives of countless individuals and instilled a lasting love of music in so many people

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Vivienne could entertain everyone in the balloon with musical recitals.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://www.nco.org.uk/about/news/in-loving-memory-of-vivienne-price-mbe/  http://www.classicfm.com/artists/national-childrens-orchestra-great-britain/pictures/nco-anniversary-archive- pictures/vivienne-price-nco-founder/

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO ARE WE?

Roland and Francis Prout were brother s from Canvey, Essex. They were born in March 1920 and July 1921.

Their father was Geoffrey Prout who wrote books for children and was a keen yachtsmen and who had a boat building business which launched in 1935.

WHAT DID WE DO?

Brought up in a keen yachting family the Prout brothers were no strangers to the water. They experiemented with different kinds of boats and in 1949 they lashed two canoes together and effectively made the worlds first catamaran. It was super fast Experimenting further they developed a serious catamaran, which when built was called "Shearwater". This catamaran, which was eventually known as "Shearwater 1", was raced locally and won every race it entered. She was also entered in the 'D' Class handicap in the Burnham-on-Crouch annual regatta week in 1954 and won this outright. They converted the boat factory so it could produce the first modern production catamaran which were sold internationally.

The Prouts were nautical pioneers and became Olympians in the 1952. Some would say that the Prout brothers made Canvey famous world wide.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 We’d be decades behind in our nautical development. Think about all the nautical Olympians we have had. Would any of them have succeeded without the inventions made by the Prouts?

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvey_Island

 http://www.canveyisland.org/page_id__808_path__0p2p28p70p.aspx

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was born on 21 September 1929 in Valkyrie Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

He was a brilliant scholar and an English moral philosopher, described by The Times as the "most brilliant and most important British moral philosopher of his time.’

WHAT DID I DO?

Bernard Arthur Owen Williams graduated from Oxford University in 1951 with a first-class honours degree, before spending his year-long national service in the Royal Air Force flying Spitfires in Canada. He was appointed Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge in 1967. In 1988 he left England to become Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California Berkeley.

In 1955 he married Shirley Brittain Caitlin, the daughter of Vera Brittain, who became Shirley Williams. They later divorced and he remarried.

Bernard Arthur Owen Williams received many honours in his lifetime. He was knighted in 1999 and he became a fellow of the British Academy and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as being awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Harvard University in 2002. He died a year after in 2003. He wrote a number of books including In Morality: An Introduction to Ethics (1972) where he stated: "most moral philosophy at most times has been empty and boring ... contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at all."

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

Sir Arthur Bernard Owen Williams moved ideas of philosophy away from asking ‘What is my duty?’ back to the issue that mattered to the Greeks: ‘How should we live?’ A question most people are still trying to answer today!

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Obscenity_and_Film_Censorship;

 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5595.Problems_of_the_Self

 http://isbrt.ruc.edu.cn/pol04/news/p_news/abroad/200407/26.html;

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Peggy Mount was born in 1916 in Leigh-on-Sea.

She was an actress who started out from an impoverished background but made it onto stages in the West End. She had a prolific career and worked extensively in TV and film until her death in 2001.

WHAT DID I DO? Peggy’s disabled father died when she was ten years old, leaving her alone with her sister and mother. They lived in great poverty and at the age of fourteen Peggy stopped school and started working as a secretary. Secretly she dreamed of becoming an actress. When she was a child she took acting classes with the dramatic society of the Wesleyan Chapel in Leigh and even when she was working continued to take lessons. She started working in amateur theatre productions in Southend and was given the nickname of the Amateur Queen of Southend.

She spent a lot of time hanging around the Palace Theatre and got her first proper acting job with the Harry Hanson’s Players, who she met when they were there in Westcliff for a season. She stayed with the company for three years before taking her first major role as battle-axe Emma Hornett, in Sailor Beware. The play ran for three years in the west End at the Strand Theatre and was later made into a film. It make Peggy a star. From 1960 onwards she played classic parts on stage, including the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she continued to work both on the stage and in television series, most notably the comedy series The Larkins, where she played the role Ada, for which she became known as ‘televisions favourite battleaxe’ with her ample figure, loud booming voice and hair tied up in a scarf but she was much more than this.. Despite her fame Peggy remained very loyal to her hometown and enjoyed sailing on the estuary with friends.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!) Peggy Mount was an actress of great talent and diversity, who overcame a difficult background to have a really successful and varied career. She has been an inspiration to many working-class actors.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Mount  http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=20333  http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/nov/14/guardianobituaries.filmnews  http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/peggy_mount.htm

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com) WHO AM I?

Muriel Lester was born in Leytonstone, when it was part of Essex. She grew up in Loughton and became a pacifist. In 1934 Lester toured with Mahatma Gandhi.

Muriel lived in a wooden cottage she called Rachel Cottage. In 1914 Muriel and her sister, Doris, founded Kingsley Hall in London.

WHAT DID I DO?

Muriel was concerned about the life of poor children and turned her house, Rachel Cottage, into a holiday home for poor children from the East End of London. Along with her sister, Doris, she bought and converted a disused chapel and named it Kingsley Hall. During the General Strike of 1926, it became a shelter and soup kitchen for workers.  Mahatma Gandhi stayed in Kingsley Hall in 1931 and the building now houses the Gandhi Foundation, an organisation that campaigns against war and promotes tolerance. In 1935, hunger marchers on the Jarrow March stayed at the Hall and were fed and cared for by the workers there. A sister children's house also sprang up with a school, classes, health club, parents' association, holiday outings and a nursery school.

In 1934 Muriel became Ambassador-At-Large and afterwards became part of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, a society that was founded in response to the horrors of the First World War. Wherever she went she urged people to find peaceful solutions to conflict.

Muriel was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was recognized as one of the world's leading pacifists. The Muriel Lester Cooperative House at the University of Michigan is named after her.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!) Muriel was a great advocate for helping the poor and trying to make peace not war. She has been called ‘The Mother of World Peace.’

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!) Muriel would sort out any arguments in the balloon!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  www.muriellester.uk  wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Lester

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Margaret Cavendish was born at St John's Abbey, Essex, probably around 1623. She was the youngest child of Thomas and Elizabeth Lucas. Margaret was one of the first European female authors. She was also a poet, scientist, philosopher and playwright. She died on 15 December 1673, the Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

WHAT DID I DO? Margaret was privately tutored at home. But in 1642 she was sent to live with her sister in Oxford, where the royal court was residing. Margaret became a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, and in 1644, accompanied her mistress into exile in Paris.

Margaret was a colourful character, who created her own fashion, and didn’t limit herself to the normal expectations that women of the age had. She wrote poetry, philosophical tracts, prose romances, essays and plays, and did something that no other women were doing at the time: she wrote under her own name.

Her writing was varied and looked at a lot of different issues from the plight of women, their lack of power, to manners, scientific methodology and philosophy.

Margaret published over a dozen works. She has been championed as a unique and ground-breaking woman writer. She was also one of the earliest opponents of animal testing.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 Margaret Cavendish was one of the first women to dare to enter the intellectual world of men.  Her work was important to the development of philosophy and understanding of the human condition.  She was one of the first people to suggest that science went beyond religion and was a different subject.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/margaret-cavendish/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Cavendish,_Duchess_of_Newcastle-upon-Tyne  http://www.epigenesys.eu/en/science-and-you/women-in-science/651-lady-margaret-cavendish

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com) WHO AM I?

Lionel Lukin was born at Dunmow, Essex, on 18 May 1742, the youngest son of William Lukin, of Blatches, Little Dunmow. His father belonged to an old Essex family. On his mother's side he was descended from a Lionel Lane, one of Blake's admirals.

Lionel was a coach builder and had a taste for science, which propelled to invent a very important vehicle indeed.

WHAT DID I DO?

After leaving Essex Lionel became a fashionable London coach builder in Long Acre, Covent Garden. He became a member of the Coachmakers' Company in 1767. He was also favoured with patronage by the prince regent and the secretary of state for war and the colonies. This gave him the opportunity to bring some of the ideas he has been tinkering with to public notice. One of these ideas was for an ‘unsubmergible’ boat. He began by making certain alterations to a Norwegian yawl boat which he purchased in 1784. Lukin tested it in the River Thames and obtained a patent in 1785 for his invention. He, in fact, managed to develop a boat which wouldn’t capsize in violent gales or sudden bursts of wind. Nor would it, according to Lukin, ‘sink if by any accident filled with water’. He made sure that the inside of the boat was filled with airtight and watertight compartments or with cork or other light material that would repel water so that it was lighter than the water it was in. He had successfully built the world’s first unsinkable lifeboat!

Not content with that, Lukin also invented a raft for rescuing persons from under ice and a rain gauge, and kept a daily record of meteorological observations for many years until his sight failed in 1824. He died on 16 February 1834 at Hythe, Kent. The headstone, marking his grave in the parish churchyard, described him as the ‘inventor of the lifeboat principle.’ WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)  Think of how many lives have been saved by Lukin’s lifeboat.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Who would eject the man with the lifeboat from the balloon? What if you’re sailing over choppy seas?

FURTHER RESOURCES:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Lukin  http://todayinsci.com/L/Lukin_Lionel

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Lady Gwendolen Guinness was born in 1881. She grew up in London, in a family committed to public service. When she was just a child she became her father’s secretary when he was the governor-general of New Zealand. She was 22 years old when she moved to Southend and married the brewer Rupert Guinness from the Anglo-Irish Guinness brewing dynasty. Her husband was a Conservative MP for Southend. She helped him through nine election campaigns and herself became the first woman MP for the town in 1927.

WHAT DID I DO? In 1925 she became the chairwoman of the Conservative Party's women's advisory committee. Gwendolen held the role until 1933 and also became chairwoman of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations in 1930. When her husband, Rupert Guinness, stood down as an MP after inheriting the Guinness empire, Gwendolen stepped up to enter politics. This was extremely rare for a woman at the time. Standing for election in 927 she won, taking 55% of the votes. In 1931 she reached 85%; the following year she was granted the freedom of Southend and spent the rest of her working life supporting the town of Southend.

She was the 4th female MP to ever take a seat in the House of Commons and her election led the way for women in society to become increasingly more involved in politics. In 1928, women were finally given the vote on the same terms as men via The Equal Franchise Act in. Even though she had previously described herself as anti-feminist, when the right for women to vote was under attack from the Daily Mail and some right-wing Tories she changed her stance and strongly defended the policy. She was an extremely glamorous woman and MPs were said to crowd into the chamber for to see her fashionable outfits.

Gwendolen also organised relief efforts for prisoners of war in the First World War and, along with her husband, helped to set up training schools to help men develop skills to emigrate to Canada. She was awarded a CBE in 1920 for her work. An influential figure Guinness used her wealth and place in society to good use. She died in 1966

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 She was the 4th ever female MP and also did a lot of charity work.  Gwendoline was a role model pioneering politics and inspiring other women to enter male-dominated realms.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Guinness,_2nd_Earl_of_Iveagh;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_family;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolen_Guinness,_Countess_of_Iveagh;  http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=33602&back=

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Ken Campbell was born on 10 December 1941 in Ilford, Essex. Ken was an English experimental writer, actor, director and comedian probably best known for his work in experimental theatre.

He was once called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre” as well as “the strangest man in Britain.”

WHAT DID I DO? Ken Campbell was highly skilled at producing complex shows with very little money. He became the director of the Liverpool Everyman theatre in 1980, junior director at the Royal Court London and also held a professorship at Rada in ventriloquism. Campbell became well known in the 1970s for the Ken Campell Roadshow. Well-known actors Bob Hoskins and Sylvester McCoy acted with him in his surreal shows, which included bizarre acts like stuffing ferrets down their trousers and banging nails up their noses! He produced lengthy plays, including his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy Illuminatus! and his 22-hour staging of Neil Oram's play cycle The Warp, which was listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the longest play in the world.

He appeared in many films and TV shows, including A Fish Called Wanda, Fawlty Towers and even Derek Jarman’s The Tempest. His interests were as bizarre as his personality, they including trepanning, teleportation and synchronicity. In the 1980s he discussed these in theatrical monologues on stage. These surreal, experimental one-man shows won him a devoted following.

The Independent called him ‘a grand old man of the fringe, though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible." The Times said Campbell was ‘a one-man whirlwind of comic and surreal performance’ and The Guardian said he was "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in the British theatre of the past half-century. A genius at producing shows on a shoestring and honing the improvisational capabilities of the actors who were brave enough to work with him." Ken Campbell died in 2008.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 A bit less colourful and a lot more boring!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Campbell  http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campbell  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Joseph Lister was born in Upton, West Ham (when it was still part of Essex) on April 5, 1827. He was the son of a son of Joseph Jackson Lister, who was a pioneer of achromatic object lenses (see fellow Essex boy Chester Moor Hall) for the microscope.

Joseph Lister was the surgeon who introduced the idea of cleanliness to hospitals. On the centenary of his death, in 2012, Lister was considered in medical fields as "the father of modern surgery". Listerine mouthwash is named after him! And the Discovery Expedition of 1901–04 named the highest point in the Royal Society Range in Antarctica, Mount Lister after him.

WHAT DID I DO? While he was working as a surgeon, Lister noticed that nearly half of his patients were dying from blood poisoning. In 1865 he read Louis Pasteur's theory that microorganisms cause infection. This got him thinking. Using something called ‘phenol’ as an antiseptic, he made sure he cleaned surgical instruments and also cleaned wounds. This was actually ground-breaking! It reduced the death rate in his ward from 50% to 15%. Lister’s discovery was greatly praised and spread all over the hospitals of the UK, reducing the national death rate. In 1883 he was created a Baronet.

Following his death, a memorial fund led to the founding of the Lister Medal, which is still seen as the most prestigious prize awarded to a surgeon.

In 1903, the British Institute of Preventative Medicine was renamed The Lister Institute in honour of him. The building forms what is now the Lister Hospital in Chelsea, which opened in 1985. Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, is also named in his honour.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

How many more people would have died if Joseph Lister had not made his observations and instructed surgeons to wear clean gloves and wash their hands before and after operations and to use antiseptic?

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  This is a man you want in a balloon if anyone becomes ill!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/joseph-lister-508.php  www.biography.com/people/joseph-lister-37032

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com) WHO AM I?

John Ray was born in 1627 in the Essex village of Black Notley, Essex, south of Braintree. The son of the village blacksmith but gained a scholarship to Cambridge University aged only 16, due to his passion for natural history. Ray became a committed and high achieving student who quickly rose to tutor. He also became a parson-naturalist. In 1667 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, an important figure in the history of British botany and zoology.

WHAT DID I DO? John Ray is named by the writer Patrick Armstrong as the man with whom ‘the adventure of modern science begins’. Known also as ‘the Father of English Natural History’ Ray overturned Aristotle’s premise that all birds hibernated during the winter, commenting, ‘it seems more probable that they fly away into hot countries’. He was right! In addition to this Ray developed Dendrochronology, explaining how to find the age of trees from the rings in their trunks. Ray’s real impact, however, comes from the fact that he studied nature closely and grouped different types of plants and animals together. At the time this was ground breaking. Ray was the first person to use the word ‘species’ in relation to this. ‘One species,’ he argued, ‘never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa,’ sowing the seed of ideas that would lead, eventually, to Darwin’s seminal work on evolution, The Origin of Species. In 1844 the Ray Society was founded, named after John Ray. It still publishes scientific and natural history books. Cambridge University also has the John Ray Society. It organises a programme of events to interest and inspire science students. WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

John Ray’s work on species directly influenced the Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus, two hundred years later. Linnaeus’ work in turn was to inform Charles Darwin. If Ray was to be thrown from the Balloon early, we would miss out on 200 years of knowledge and development. Without that, it could be argued that Darwin would not yet have developed his theory of evolution. How different would the world be then?

None of the societies founded in remembrance of John Ray would exist. Some of them have directly inspired ground- breaking scientists today.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Ray would be useful on board the Balloon – he would be able to identify dangerous birds and steer clear.  Think about what the world would look like if Darwin had not yet published his ‘Origin of Species’. Research what scientists and most people believed before Darwin wrote his controversial study.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  John Rays book - The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (First edition, 1691)  John Ray, by Professor Sam Berry  John Ray Biography (UCMP Berkeley)

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com) WHO AM I?

John Edgell Rickword was born in Colchester, Essex in 1898. His father, George Rickword, was the borough librarian. He attended Colchester Royal Grammar School.

He served in the British Army in World War 1 and became a War poet whose work exposed the horror of life in the trenches.

WHAT DID I DO? At the outbreak of the First World War Rickword was only 16 years old. He had to wait until September 1916 before he could join the Artists' Rifles.

In October 1918 he volunteered to swim across the Haute Deule Canal in order to provide reconnaissance on German positions. This information enabled his regiment to take three villages in the area, Malmaison, Leforest and Cordela, and was part of the advance that forced Germany to retreat. For this he was awarded the Military Cross.

He was a published war poet, and collected his early verse in Behind the Eyes (1921). He was also a committed communist, co-founding The Left Review, which published many well known writers and led the fight against Fascism.

He then took up literary work in London. He reviewed for the Times Literary Supplement, which led to his celebrated review of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Later he became Editor of Our Time and published many other writers including Doris Lessing.

John Edgell Rickword died on 15th March, 1982.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

Rickword had an upbeat view at the time on the possibilities of popular culture and radical politics which broadened the public's scope. He also gave voice to the horrors of the First World War.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Rickword was courageous in his opinions and his actions. He wouldn’t hesitate to tell you if he thought things were going wrong and would work to fix them.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://spartacus-educational.com/SPrickword.htm  http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/edgell-rickword

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Hannah Lake from Benfleet, set sail for America with her mother and sister, around 1635, fifteen years after the first Puritan pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts on the Mayflower.

Together with her family, husband and children they helped found a new colony in America.

WHAT DID I DO?

Hannah Lake first set foot in, what was then, the small town of Boston at the age of fifteen. She married and raised a family. At this time, in the New World, settlers were still at war with the native Americans and it was a very uncertain and violent place. Hannah stuck it out, undeterred by the raids on her land and through her fortitude acquired a great deal more, along with subsequent land grants from the colony.

Hannah’s grandchildren and great grandchildren continued this tradition of determination and perseverance, fighting in the War of Independence and the American Civil War. She established a huge family whose descendants include two presidents, George Bush Senior and George W Bush.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

 Without Hannah’s contribution to the nascent colony of Massachusetts, the native Americans may still occupy that place today and George Bush may never have been president.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  She would have to have been strong and tenacious woman.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 Essex Girls by Karen Bowman

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Grace Chappelow was born in 1884 in Hatfield Peveril, near Chelmsford. In 1911 Grace was among 200 women arrested in London during rioting. Her crime was breaking windows. Her motivation was the struggle to win the vote for women. She was sent to prison and, like many suffragettes, starved herself to continue her protest. Jailed campaigners were sometimes forcibly fed, often through a tube, but she avoided this during her time behind bars.

WHAT DID I DO? The suffragette movement had flourished towards the end of the 19th Century. By 1905 the media had largely lost interest in the struggle for women’s rights. To gain attention for the cause, some suffragettes, like Grace, decided to stage publicity stunts. Grace was sent to prison in 1911 for breaking windows after protesting for women’s right to vote.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!) What would the world look like without women being able to vote?

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)

 She led the way for equality for women. How much further behind would women be in the workplace, in politics, in life without women like Grace?

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/postcards-grace-chappelow,-suffragette-a-sil-235-c-r45k7wyim3  womanandhersphere.com/tag/christabel-pankhurst

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Everard Richard Calthrop was an engineer and inventor. He was responsible for the building of light railways across India and Britain. In later life he secured several patents for his parachutes, just in time for the First World War. When he died in Loughton, Essex, in 1927 his obituary read that he was “a pioneer and an authority in the construction of light railways and the invention of life-saving appliances for aircraft”. He also invented the parachute and the ejector seat!

WHAT DID I DO? Calthrop’s greatest feat of engineering was, perhaps, the Barsi light railway in India, however, after witnessing his friend Charles Rolls (of Rolls Royce) die in a plane crash, he set his mind to other tasks. His first design for the parachute was patented in 1913.

The Royal Flying Corps, during the First World War, was reluctant to take up the idea of parachutes in case they ‘impaired the fighting spirit’ of pilots, although the air forces of most other countries did, including the Germans, who copied his design.

In 1916 he also patented a design for the ejector seat which used compressed air!

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

Many parts of India and the UK would be without railways and all the benefits they brought. Many pilots wouldn’t be alive today if not for his designs. James Bond’s Aston Martin would have no ejector seat!

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  If the balloon gets into trouble he can probably invent a means to save you, might even have a parachute or two.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 Grace’s Guide: British Industrial History

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Ethel Haslam was a suffragette and branch Secretary of the Ilford Women’s Social and Political Union from its formation in 1909 until its dissolution in 1918.

he WSPU was the most militant suffragette group which was led by Emmeline Pankhurst, with the aim of securing women’s right to vote. Ilford Branch WSPU was active and worked closely with the Forest Gate and Wanstead WSPU branches.

WHAT DID I DO?

Whilst the leading lights of the Suffragette movement remain household names a century later, like any successful campaign for social change its work was done by thousands of unsung heroes active in their communities.

Ilford, like so many localities, had an active branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union. Their Secretary was the prodigious activist Ethel Haslam. Ms. Haslam fought tirelessly for women’s right to vote and was imprisoned twice for using militant tactics. She took part in and organised numerous protests and was arrested on several occasions between 1909 and 1913 for crimes ranging from flyposting to smashing the windows of her local MP’s home.. She also participated in hunger strikes while imprisoned.

As the Great War broke out, suffragettes suspended their campaign and joined the war effort with their leader, Mrs. Pankhurst declaring “it was now not a question of Votes for Women, but of having any country left to vote in”. During WWI, Ethel Haslam served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing sister at Ilford Emergency Hospital and later at Valentines Mansion. The war indeed helped to achieve the issue as the People’s Act 1918 enabled women over the age of 30 to vote and later in 1928 the franchise was expanded to all women over the age of 21.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

Without Ethel and many others like her, at the helm of the many local branches of the WSPU, the success of women’s campaign for the vote – and women’s ongoing search for equality may have taken far longer.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Her organisational skills and capacity to lead may well come in useful to keep the balloon on course and maintain order and equality on board.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

 http://purplewhiteandgreen.com/life-of-ethel-haslam/

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Edward Whymper lived at 4 Cliff Town Parade in Southend. His father was a wood engraver and his family ran the Anchor pub in Hullbridge for many years. He was an English mountaineer, a talented artist and an explorer.

He married his housekeeper’s niece, Edith Lewin, and had a daughter Ethel, who lived in Leigh and also became a mountaineer like her father.

WHAT DID I DO? In 1860 Edward Whymper went to Switzerland to make sketches of the Alps and also began his mountaineering career, exploring the landscape, climbing higher and higher to find the best view. Edward became obsessed with climbing the Matterhorn and with the physicist John Tyndall they raced to see who could reach the top first. He had eight unsuccessful attempts before finally becoming the first person ever to reach the summit on July 14th 1865. On the descent one member of his climbing party slipped, pulling down the other three tied to him, all four men died. Whymper had a lucky escape, the rope snapped and he was saved. A brave explorer he made expeditions to Greenland, a place that had barely been visited before by Europeans, and whilst there he made important advances in Arctic exploration studying the effects of reduced pressure on the human body. He wrote his findings up in a book. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him the Patron's medal for his ground-breaking work on altitude sickness. He was a brave, adventurous, brilliant Essex man, as well as a skilled artist. His expeditions paved the way for many others and his pioneering work on altitude sickness has saved thousands of future mountaineers from death.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!) Whymper wouldn’t have ascended the Matterhorn or explored the Arctic, so we would know less about altitude sickness.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  With his knowledge of exploration and altitude sickness Whymper would certainly be handy to have in the balloon.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Whymper;  http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/edward-whymper-blue-plaque  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/643069/Edward-Whymper  http://www.leighsociety.com/pdf/16%20Leighway%20Winter%202005.pdf

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Edward Bawden CBE RA was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture He was was born on 10 March 1903, at Braintree, Essex.

WHAT DID I DO? Edward Bawden spent much of his youth drawing or wandering around Essex with a butterfly-net and microscope. At the age of seven he was enrolled at Braintree High School. Later his parents paid for him to attend the Friends' School at Saffron Walden, and there, when he was fifteen, the headmaster recommended him to study for one day a week at Cambridge School of Art. On leaving school in 1919 he attended Cambridge School of Art and then in 1922 by a scholarship to the Royal College of Art School of Design in London, where he took a diploma in illustration. During the Second World War, Edward Bawden served as official war artist, first with the British army in France, and then, following the army's evacuation from there, in the Middle East. Already in France before World War II was declared, Bawden recorded defences being prepared at Halluin, then witnessed the bombing of Armentières and the evacuation from Dunkirk. Bawden's work can be seen in many major collections and is shown regularly. Notable surviving public works include a tile depicting a foot ferry on the River Lea, commissioned by London Underground and located on the Victoria line platform at Tottenham Hale station. Bawden also produced the cameo-like silhouette of Queen Victoria located at Victoria underground station.

One of his most familiar designs was the 'Puzzled Lion and Startled Unicorn' Observer masthead, which was created around 1939 and remained in use by the national newspaper until 1989.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)  The world would be missing an impressive designer and painter who exposed many to the horrors of war.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  He could draw the balloon so if you’d at least go down in history too.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bawden  http://www.fryartgallery.org/the-collection/search-results/artist/6/Edward-Bawden-CBE-RA

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Dudley Moore was a proper Essex boy, born in Dagenham 1935 to working class parents, Ada Francis (Hughes), an English secretary, and John Havlin Moore, a Scottish railway electrician (originally from Glasgow). Moore was a TV comedian and an Oscar nominated Hollywood movie star. He was awarded a CBE in 2001 when he was already very ill with progressive supra-nuclear palsy. He died in 2002 aged 66.

WHAT DID I DO?

Basically Dudley Moore made people happy. Dudley Moore’s career both with Peter Cook and alone helped shaped future generations of comedians and made the world a much funnier place to be.

Moore's film career took off with the success of "10" (1979) in which he co-starred with Bo Derek. "Arthur" (1981), co- starring Liza Minnelli, came next and was his most successful film, earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He was frequently referred to in the media as "Cuddly Dudley" or "The Sex Thimble", a reference to both his short stature and his reputation as a "ladies' man".

Moore also found time for his first and greatest passion of music. He composed scores to films such as "Bedazzled" (1967) and "Inadmissible Evidence" (1968). During the 1990s, he performed at several Carnegie Hall Benefits for the charitable organization, Music For All Seasons, and toured with his long time musical partner and friend, Rena Fruchter. Moore also shared his passion for music in other ways. He served as the founding Advisory Board President of Music For All Seasons, an organization that strives to provide music to those who, for health, economic or other reasons, are unable to attend concerts.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)  No Pete and Dud, no Derek and Clive, no Arthur, no 10…..  Well, it just wouldn’t be as funny would it? Also Duds was a working class boy made good and that’s always a good example for future generations

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  There would never be a dull moment with Cuddly Dudley in the balloon and think of those stories he could tell you.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://www.dudleymoore.com/about/bio.htm  http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/15/dudley-moore-jazz-pianist-tribute-neil-cowley

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Chester Moor Hall was born on the 9th December 1703 in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. He became a lawyer, a mathematician and inventor. In 1729 or 1733 (accounts differ) he invented the first achromatic lens that led directly to the first modern telescope!

An Essex lad through and through, Chester Moor Hall moved to New Hall, Sutton (outside of Rochford) and died in 17 March 1771. There is still a memorial to him in the church there.

WHAT DID I DO? Hall studied the human eye and became convinced that a lens could be developed that wouldn’t distort colour. Nobody had managed to come up with one that worked. He experimented with different kinds of glass combining something called crown glass and flint glass. Then in 1733 he built several telescopes with the lens which worked! Eureka! The lens was called an achromatic lens and it was crucial to the development of the first refracting telescope. Before this telescopes had ‘coloured fringes’ which blurred outlines. Even the great Isaac Newton could not produce lenses free from these rainbow effects. But where Newton failed, Hall succeeded.

So highly regarded was Hall by the Royal Astronomical Society that a document bearing his signature was framed and hung in its council chamber at Burlington House. A very clever Essex boy indeed!

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

How long would it have taken someone to develop an achromatic lens if Chester Moor Hall hadn’t spent all those years experimenting? Even if the discovery came 40 years later, at this point in time, man would not yet have landed on the moon.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Having someone in the balloon with a good telescope might help you navigate to safety.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  www.college-optometrists.org/en/college/museyeum/online_exhibitions/observatory/telescope  www.southendtimeline.com/chestermoorhall  www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/252621/Chester-Moor-Hall

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Anne Knight was the daughter of William Knight, a grocer. She grew up a Quaker in Chelmsford. She was born in Chelmsford on the 2nd of November, 1786 and died in France on the 4th of November in 1862 at the age of 76. She was a human rights campaigner, a social reformer and a pioneer of feminism.

WHAT DID I DO? Anne Knight founded a branch of the Women's Anti-Slavery Society and campaigned hard against slavery. She organised petitions, distributed literature and arranged public meetings. In 1834 Anne Knight toured France where she gave lectures and rallied support against slavery, arguing for its immediate abolition. When the World Anti-Slavery Convention met in London in 1840, women who had helped organised it, were not allowed to take part. In fact they were forced to sit at the back of the gallery and forbidden from speaking. Anne Knight was outraged and this is what led to her campaigning for women's rights. In 1847 Knight produced what is considered to be the first ever leaflet for women's suffrage (the right to vote). In 1850 Knight established the first association for women's suffrage. Their first meeting was held in Sheffield in February, 1851. Anne Knight’s contribution to the anti-slavery campaign was recognised when a village for Jamaican freed slaves was named after her - Knightsville. What a feisty Essex Girl!

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)  The world would have lost a loud voice calling for the end of slavery. Would this have meant slavery would not have been abolished as soon?  Anne Knight’s leaflet on women’s right to vote was published in 1847 but the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was not established until 57 years later. Women (over the age of 21) were only given the right to vote in 1928. If Anne Knight was thrown from the balloon before she could write that leaflet we could well be 57 years behind in gender equality. Women would not have been able to vote until 1985! We would not have had Margaret Thatcher as a prime minister. The Sex Discrimination Act would not yet have been passed.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Anne Knight is a strong woman who’d keep her head in a balloon!

FURTHER RESOURCES:  www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action  spartacus-educational.com/Wknight.htm  wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Knight

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Anne and Jane Taylor were the daughters of a nonconformist minister and engraver from Loughton. They wrote and published two books of poetry, Original Poems for Infant Minds in 1805 and Rhymes for the Nursery in 1806 which contained the poem The Star, containing the four immortal lines "Twinkle, twinkle little star/How I wonder what you are/Up above the world so high/Like a diamond in the sky". The book went through at least 50 editions and has entertained children for two centuries.

WHAT DID I DO?

The sisters were born in London (so not Essex girls) but Jane lived in Colchester (1796-1810) and it is widely believed that The Star was written in Colchester, although Ongar also makes a claim. They are both in Essex so for our purposes, either is fine!

Alongside the two works of poetry that the sisters published jointly, Jane also published novels including Display and Correspondence Between a Mother and Her Daughter at School. Before her untimely death in 1824, Jane continued to write novels, stories, poems, plays and an autobiography, much of which was collected by her brother Isaac (also a writer and inventor of the beer tap) and published as The Writings of Jane Taylor, In Five Volumes (1832). Jane Taylor died of breast cancer at the age of 40, her mind still "teeming with unfulfilled projects" and is buried in Ongar churchyard.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)

Although much of their work has been largely forgotten and even the authorship of those immortal lines often goes unattributed. What would the world be like without them? It would have less twinkling stars...boo.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  With their intricate knowledge of the heavens they could navigate by the stars (perhaps).

FURTHER RESOURCES:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Taylor_(poet)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Taylor_(poet)

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Eileen Philippa Rose Fowler (1906-2000) was an early advocate of health and keeping fit for the ordinary working person. Born in Edmonton, she lived and worked in Thurrock for many years.

Many Thurrock ladies still remember her fitness classes at Bata, East Tilbury, Queen's Hotel, Grays and at Thames Board Mills, West Thurrock.

WHAT DID I DO? From early childhood, Eileen Fowler had enjoyed dancing, swimming, riding, sailing - "anything that would make me move," she said. Later she went into the world of the performing arts - musical theatre being her profession. During those years she owned up that she "ate the wrong food" and that late nights and parties tired her out.

So in the mid-1930s she left the stage and focused on keeping fit and a healthy life style. She believed exercise was a key to energy and suppleness. Seeing exercise as a natural tonic which brought a special sense of well being, Eileen examined ways to sell her notions to the public at large, and before and throughout the Second World War set up the Industrial Keep Fit organisation, with flourishing classes for the company workers of Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex, where huge displays and demonstrations were given by teams from her different groups. She was able to bring her unique presentation skills to that task. Her classes featured smiling girls with EF on their shirts. Eileen Fowler's ladylike but demanding routines were a feature of radio and television between 1954 and 1961. She was a founder member of the Keep Fit Association in 1956. She also produced fitness programmes, including Stay Young Forever, on LP records and was awarded MBE in 1975. On the 1st April she broadcast the BBC's first ever radio show dedicated to fitness.

Beryl-Giggins said: "I belonged to a Health and Beauty class in the early 1950s, run by Eileen Fowler, at Thames Board Mills sports centre. It was quite a new concept at the time to exercise to music, sometimes with props, and I have to say that Eileen Fowler was the epitome of 'health and beauty' - just a darling of a teacher. It must have been at the beginning of her career, but I never witnessed her TV shows as I had emigrated by that time."

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? (you can think of your own reasons too!)  She was one of the first people to challenge the notion that exercise was confined to the military and a chore  She made exercise fun and tried to change the mindset so that people realised it was good for them to be fit and that this would lead to good health.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  We need more Eileen Fowlers around today.  She would be essential in a balloon to help the general morale of the company.

FURTHER RESOURCES:  http://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/mar/11/guardianobituaries  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009n81d

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Sylvia Pankhurst was a political activist and remains a feminist icon to this day. She lived in Woodford, which was part of Essex, from 1924 until 1956 and is famous for being imprisoned more times than any other Suffragette. She was the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, the founder of the Women’s Social & Political Union known as the Suffragettes.

WHAT DID I DO? Sylvia is an important historical figure who played a vital part in the campaign for women’s right to vote. She was also a talented painter and graphic designer who trained at the Royal College of Art. During this time, she discovered that most of the scholarships were only offered to men. She was commissioned to decorate Pankhurst Hall in Salford, erected by the Independent Labour Party and named after her father, only to find later to her disgust that women were not allowed into the building. It was this discovery of Sylvia’s that spurred her mother Emmeline into founding the WSPU.

She moved to Essex after meeting Italian revolutionary Silvio Corio. They fell in love and lived together in Red Cottage in Woodford from 1924 until Silvio’s death in 1954. Their son Richard was born in 1927. They never married, which was extremely unusual for that time. During her time in Woodford, Sylvia was at her most active as a champion of human rights. Red Cottage was pulled down in 1939 to make way for new houses. All that remains to mark where the cottage stood is a small Grade-II listed stone sculpture erected by Sylvia Pankhurst in 1935 dedicated to anti-aircraft bombing after Mussolini’s air attack on Ethiopia in 1932. For the rest of her life she remained constantly active, campaigning against political oppression and promoting worldwide human rights. She moved to Ethiopia in 1956 and spent her time improving conditions for mothers and babies, and campaigned to open a specialist women’s hospital. On her death, she was given an Ethiopian state funeral, and was buried in a place reserved for Ethiopian heroes.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? If Sylvia had not inspired her mother and campaigned for the Suffragette movement, the UK would be a very different place! The Suffragettes gained lots of rights for women, including the ability to become doctors and vote in the UK elections.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Not only did Sylvia help to transform the lives of British women, she also worked tirelessly to improve the lives of families in Ethiopia, Africa!  Sylvia was a talented artist, creating brilliant paintings and decorative art. She used her artistic skills to create memorable designs for the Suffragette movement.

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://www.sylviapankhurst.com

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I? Ruth Pitter was born in Ilford, Essex, in 1897. By the age of 23, she had already published her first book of poetry. As her career continued, Ruth became an extremely successful poet and was appointed a CBE along with many important literary awards.

WHAT DID I DO? Ruth started writing poetry as a child, encouraged by her parents who were both primary schoolteachers. In 1920, she published her first book of poetry but couldn’t afford to live off her poetry so she worked in the day in a factory. She still managed to spend a few hours, every evening, writing poetry. Ruth flourished as a poet and become very successful. She was the first woman to receive the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1955, and was appointed a CBE in 1979 to honour her many contributions to English literature.

From 1946 to 1972 she was often a guest on BBC radio programs, and from 1956 to 1960 she appeared regularly on the BBC’s The Brains Trust, one of the first television talk shows. Her thoughtful comments on a wide range of issues made her a real favourite among viewers. In 1974, she was named a "Companion of Literature", the highest honour given by the Royal Society of Literature. A Trophy of Arms (1936) won the Hawthornden Prize for Poetry in 1937, and in 1954 she was awarded the William E. Heinemann Award for The Ermine (1953). Most of her work was highly praised by critics. She received the Hawthornden Prize in 1937 for A Trophy of Arms, published the previous year. In 1954 she won the William E. Heinemann Award for her book The Ermine (Cresset Press, 1953). Pitter was highly regarded by other important poets and writers, including Philip Larkin, C. S. Lewis and W. B. Yeats. Her poetry is still included in many important poetry anthologies being published today.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? Ruth Pitter’s poetry has inspired poets of all ages to explore the world through writing. Along with her friend C.S. Lewis, the author of Alice in Wonderland, Ruth wrote groundbreaking pieces which are still being printed today.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Ruth published an impressive seventeen volumes of poetry over her lifetime.

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://allpoetry.com/Ruth-Pitter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Pitter

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I?

Gertrude Mouillot was an actress, playright and theatre owner. She was born in 1867 and lived to the age of 94. Gertrude owned the Palace Theatre in Westcliff, which she gave to the people of Southend in 1942, before spending the final years of her life in Colchester.

WHAT DID I DO? Gertrude was a beautiful, intelligent and forward thinking Edwardian who worked as a playwright and actress before eventually becoming a theatre owner. She appeared in leading theatre roles and performed onstage with very famous actresses of that era. When Gertrude was 24 years old she married the actor and comedian Frederick Charles Arthur Mouillot, who became a successful hotel and theatre owner. Gertrude was obviously much more than just a rich man’s wealthy wife. She was a political animal, bright and engaged with the feminist politics of the time, offering her plays and performances to Suffragette campaigns.

In 1911 her husband Fredrick died suddenly, leaving her a fortune. Gertrude became the owner of over fifteen theatres as well as a theatrical management business. She bought The Palace Theater in Westcliff in 1920. In 1942 she gave The Palace to the people of Southend. The Southend Council of 1942 met and stated that ‘Mrs Getrude Mouillot has addressed a letter to the Town Clerk expressing her desire to make a gift of the theater to the Borough, as an expression of her interest and goodwill to the town. The property is to be held by the Council for any purpose which they may decide for the social benefit of the borough, but the property is not to be sold.’ Gertrude Mouillot died at the age of 94 in 1961 in a nursing home in Colchester. In The Southend Standard, 10th March 1965, there is an article entitled She Gave Southend a Theatre: The actress who gave Southend its Palace Theatre, music hall artiste Gertrude Mouillot…was a very charming woman and had quite a good business head, particularly for those days.’

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? Every year, hundreds of performances take place at the Palace Theatre. This may not be the case today if Gertrude had not given it to the people of Southend all those years ago. The Palace Theatre continues to present musicians, actors, dancers and many more, bringing celebrities and artists from all over to our corner of Essex!

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Have you ever seen a pantomime or play at the Palace Theatre? Without Gertrude, that may not have been possible.

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://teaup.me.uk/history/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palace-Theatre-1912-2012-Rachel-Lichtenstein/dp/0957407505

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I? Alice Diehl was born in Aveley, Essex, in 1844. After training as a pianist, Alice had a successful career as a musician who performed across Europe for many famous public figures of that time. Alice was also a talented writer, completing a book of poems at just 8 years old. She wrote novels, poems and non fictions throughout her life and eventually published her fascinating autobiography, ‘The True Story Of My Life’, which reflected on her musical career and life in Aveley.

WHAT DID I DO? Alice Diehl was born Alice Mangold in her grandfather's house in Aveley. Throughout her childhood Alice regularly spent long summer holidays at Aveley and her memories of these happy carefree days fill many pages of her autobiography, 'The True Story of My Life' which she published in 1908, aged 64. Alice lived an extraordinary life full of drama and incident, as detailed in her literature. Her autobiography includes numerous anecdotes about the people she had met, many of them famous musicians and public figures. Alice's autobiography gives great insight into the Victorian musical scene, a topic which she explored further in her book 'Musical Memories'. In 'The True Story' there are interesting personal reflections on nationally significant events such as the death of Prince Albert in 1861, plus lots of Thurrock references which are very interesting to today’s’ locals. The family's link with Aveley began in 1804 when Alice's grandfather, Charles Vidal (born in Jamaica in 1782 and an interesting character in his own right) set up his medical practice in Aveley village.

Alice originally trained as a pianist in order to support the family financially. She took lessons in Germany with an eccentric pianist and composer - it was a long way to go for piano lessons! Alice's own performing career launched in Paris, 1861. The concert was attended by the great French composer Hector Berlioz, who wrote about it in glowing terms. His seal of approval was a tremendous boost to her reputation as a pianist. A successful London debut followed and Alice became well-established on the English music scene through London recitals, tours, and appearances at grand occasions. Through this career, she met her future husband, violinist and song composer Louis Diehl.

As time passed, Alice performed less and turned to teaching in 1875. It was about this time too that she began to develop her literary career with short stories and novels. As well as early poems and non-fiction pieces, Alice Diehl wrote 41 novels during her lifetime, continually writing up until her death in 1912.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? ‘Musical Memories’ is regarded by musicologists as an important source of information about performers and performances in the second half of the nineteenth century. Without Alice’s experiences and writing, we would not know as much about the Victorian musical scene today.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Alice’s records let us learn about life in Aveley almost 200 years ago, as well as the life of musicians. FURTHER RESOURCES: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrocks-musical-history/alice-diehl-musician-and-novelist http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/alice.htm

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I? The Courtauld family found fame through their silk company, which was established by George Courtauld in 1799. This was transformed into Courtauld & Taylor by George’s son Samuel Courtauld, along with his cousin Peter, in 1817. Their first company base is still visible in Braintree today on South Street. Samuel’s brothers joined the family business and developed crape material, a kind of crimped silk gauze, which the company became famous for. It was even encouraged by Queen Victoria. The firm expanded quickly and became very successful, during which time it was often referred to as Samuel Courtauld & Co.

WHAT DID I DO? Courtauld & Co began as a silk throwing business in 1799, with George Courtauld. George’s son Samuel Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor turned the firm into one of the greatest industrial stories of that era. Courtauld & Taylor was founded in Pound End Mill, Braintree. As the demand for Courtauld & Taylor grew, another mill was bought in Halstead and the family began to make a fortune from crape. The company was one of the UK’s largest textile businesses, revolutionizing man-made textiles, fashion and laundry! Crape was popular for mourning dress, often worn by Victorian widows. The Courtaulds treated their employees well, building houses and funding a nursery for working mothers. Samuel Courtauld was a non-conformist and he supported the community in many ways. The family made a fortune through their silk business, which they used to fund hospitals, schools, parks and gardens through Braintree and Essex during the 19th and 20th century. This included the Braintree Town Hall, William Julien Courtauld Hospital and Manor Street School.

Since the 1800’s, the Courtauld family business has changed hands several times. Textiles was eventually sold in 2006 to a company in Hong Kong called PD Enterprise, who creates over 120 million garments every single year.

Samuel Courtauld was a true art lover. He used his fortune to became one of the founding fathers of The Courtauld Institute of Art, which was aimed to improve the understanding of visual arts in the UK. Over time, more people began to be interested in the arts and the Courtauld Institute grew, offering education to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It moved to the famous Somerset House in the 1980s, where you can visit world famous Courtauld Gallery today!

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? The Courtauld Institute of Art is now the world’s leading centre for the study of art history, conservation and curating. Samuel Courtauld’s business funded this phenomenal resource for artists all over the world!

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  By pioneering the production of man-made fabrics, the Courtauld family paved the way for new fashion in the Victorian era. On top of that, washing clothes at home became much easier!  Braintree became a better place to live thanks to the generosity and communal spirit of the Courtauld family.

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://www.braintreemuseum.co.uk/home/collections/courtauld-co/ http://www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/courtaulds/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtaulds http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Courtaulds http://courtauld.ac.uk/about/history

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I? Joseph Conrad was a world-renowned novelist who came to live in Stanford-le-Hope in 1896. One of his best known works, Heart of Darkness, was written during his time in Essex. In 2014, this novel featured in number 32 in The Guardian’s list of ‘100 best novels’. Another well known novel by Conrad is Almayers Folly, which he wrote at sea during his years as a marine.

WHAT DID I DO? Joseph Conrad lived near the Essex marshes, in Stanford-le-Hope. He is now known to be one of Essex’s most famous adopted authors of the 20th century. Born in Poland in 1857, Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was lucky to have a father who translated Shakespeare into Polish for him. He became a British Subject in 1886 after working as a marine, where he spent many years at sea. Here, he began to write his first novel Almayers Folly, which was published in 1895. During this year, he returned to the shore permanently and began his lifelong career as an author.

Joseph and his wife bought their first house in Stanford-le-Hope, near the railway station. Unfortunately, Joseph did not like this house and described it as a ‘damned Jerry-built rabbit hutch’, meaning a small, cheap house. The couple moved to an old timber framed medieval farm house on the outskirts of Stanford-le-Hope, in Billet Lane. The building was demolished in the 50s, and a brick built house now stands in its place. Today, there is a plaque in Stanford-le-Hope which commemorates the original site of Conrad’s house.

Joseph Conrad went on to complete many of his famous novels in his Essex home. His book The Mirror of the Sea, written in 1906, contains a detailed description of the area as seen from the River Thames. It is also described in the first pages of his better known novel, Heart of Darkness, where he describes the launching of ships from the shores of the Thames.

“the tranquil waterway leading from the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky – seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness”

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? Thanks to Joseph Conrad’s novels, lots more brilliant authors have been inspired to write their own stories. Both English and American artists were inspired by Heart of Darkness, including George Orwell and TS Eliot.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Not only did Conrad inspire authors, he also fueled the imagination of film directors! The film Apocalypse Now, directed by Frances Ford Coppola, took inspiration from Conrad’s work. Many of these novels were written during his time in Stanford-le-Hope.

FURTHER RESOURCES: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrock-historical-figures/joseph-conrad-at-stanford-le-hope http://www.josephconradsociety.org/student_resources.htm http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-conrad-9255343

CLEVER ESSEX BALLOON DEBATE PART OF A SCHOOL’S EDUCATION PACK – PRODUCED BY (www.cleveressex.com)

WHO AM I? Alfred Hugh Harman was born in Peckham, London in 1841. He discovered his fame and fortune through photography. Alfred founded the company Ilford Limited in 1879. Whilst Ilford is now a part of London, it was a part of Essex in Alfred’s day. He set up his company here, which became extremely successful within the world of photography. To this day, professional and amateur photographers everywhere capture their images using Ilford cameras, photographic film and equipment.

WHAT DID I DO? Many photographers may never have heard of Alfred Hugh Harman, but they will have undoubtedly heard of the company Ilford, which he was responsible for creating. Alfred created his own photography business in the basement of his home, at the young age of 22. By 1879 he had founded a company called Britannia Works, which was eventually renamed as Ilford, where thousands of people were soon employed to help produce Alfred’s groundbreaking photography equipment.

Before digital cameras were available, images were captured using photographic film which had to be manually developed. Alfred Hugh Harman introduced trademarks to his film and came up with the idea of producing enlarged photographs with artistic finishes, making them more beautiful than standard images. He specialized in producing black and white photographs which are extremely popular to this day.

As technology advanced, so did the products from Ilford Limited. Alfred died over 100 years ago, yet his photographic equipment is still used today.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD LOOK LIKE IF I WAS EJECTED FROM THE BALLOON BEFORE I ACHIEVED? Thanks to Alfred’s photographic inventions and progress, millions of beautiful and brilliant images have been captured. Many of the world’s most famous and important images have been captured in black and white and lots of those photographs would have been taken using Ilford photographic film.

EXTRA ARGUMENTS: (you can think of your own extra arguments too!)  Lots of digital photographic equipment will have been inspired by Ilford products, including effects on smartphone cameras and black and white Instagram filters!  If Ilford had not been around to produce affordable photographic film, your ancestors may not have been able to take their family photos all those years ago.

FURTHER RESOURCES: http://www.darkestroom.com/history/biographies/alfred-hugh-harman/ http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Chronology.html http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Ilford