Holy Titanic Tomato Batman!

Okay there are lots of Titanic cliches out there to choose from recently. Thetomato usual political and business comparisons to Titanic and even a former Spice Girl doing a pose on a yacht with her boyfriend reminding everyone of the scene from the famous movie (she looks great, by the way). Spain though takes the prize with one heck of a tomato fight called La Tomatina. According to Yumsugar this annual event “….is an all-out escapade that involves more than 100 tons of overripe tomatoes, draws over 40,000 visitors from around the world, and spares absolutely no one.”

The whole event is  part of a week long festival of music, food, and dancing including the hour long tomato fight. It apparently started back in the 1940’s either as a spat between merchants or disgruntled citizens throwing tomatos at politicians (one ought to remember that General Franco was in power at the time so a food fight might be the most benign way to show displeasure at Hitler’s good friend).

New Book: The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger

This seems to be the year of Stanley Lord as we have another book CaptainStanleyLordexamining his culpability that tragic night in 1912. The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger written by Paul Lee is now out in an expanded paperback edition. According to the press release, the book is a 440 page detailed anaylsis that follows the controversy from its roots all the way through the books published for and against Stanley Lord, and the internal deliberations of the British government.

“The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger” is a 440 page detailed analysis of the case, chronologically following the controversy from initial press reports of the mysterious ship seen from the Titanic’s bows, to the pronouncements made in later years by authors keen to promote their books and opinions over their rivals. Assisting in Dr. Lee’s conclusions is the first printing of the internal deliberations of the UK Government as the campaigns to clear Captain Lord’s name in 1965, 1968 and the early 1990s were ignited by Lord’s friends. The bequeathed papers of Captain Lord’s foe and namesake Walter Lord, and the Captain’s ardent supporter Leslie Harrison have been scoured and provide a rich source of information on the tactics employed on both sides of the argument – culminating in a legal bid to suppress a book critical of the Californian and its crew.

A review by Paul Rogers on the electronic edition at Encyclopedia Titanica gives it high marks. “Lee’s book is, quite simply, the most comprehensive presentation of evidence in relation to Captain Lord and his infamous ship that I have read to date. Rather than relying on footnotes and references, Lee presents, within the text itself, the full transcripts from the American and British Inquiries that relate to the Californian and the other ships implicated in the Titanic disaster. There is no bias whatsoever that I could perceive and Lee treats all those involved with scrupulous fairness.”

I have no doubt that both sides of the debate (the Lordites and Anti-Lordites) will be making their own appraisals known of Lee’s work in the near future (if they have not all ready done so by now).

Signed copies of the book are available from the author’s site at http://www.paullee.com/book_details.php or you can buy it at amazon.co.uk.

Titanic Cafe Closed For Health Violation

According to thisisleicestershire.co.uk, the Titanic Cafe in Belgrave Gate, gencaut1Leicester was closed (temporarily) on 13 Aug due to live rodents and mouse droppings found on the premises.

Officials from Leicester City Council’s food safety team found droppings and urine throughout the kitchen and serving area of the Titanic Cafe, in Belgrave Gate, Leicester. Cafe owner Nuri Bay appeared before city magistrates yesterday and was ordered to pay £866.62 costs after they upheld the council’s decision to issue an emergency hygiene notice to prevent the building from being used on August 13. The cafe has now reopened after inspectors revisited the premises prior to yesterday’s hearing.

Yuck.

Recent Titanic News

The following news headlines have been posted at titanicnewschannel.com.

1. Surviving the Titanic: The Saga of Davit Vartanian (10 Aug 09, Armenian Weekly)

2. Titanic Exhibition Attracts Crowds To Dockside Museum (9 Aug 09, Yorkshire Post)

3. Shipwreck Declared National Historic Site (7 Aug 09, Canada.com)

4. Nomadic Refloats Titanic’s Tale (6 Aug 09, Belfast Telegraph)

5. Titanic Explorer Ballard To Speak At Wichita Museum (4 Aug 09, Kansas.com)

6. 100000 Visitors to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Science Museum of Minnesota (4 Aug 09, PR Newswire-press release)

7. In Sinking Economy, Titanic Exhibit Floats (2 Aug 09, LocalNews8.com-Idaho Falls, ID, USA)

8. Titanic Memorial In DC (30 Jul 09, Examiner.com)

9. Titanic Exhibit Was A Fascinating Look At Human Nature (30 Jul 09, Georgina Advocate-Canada)

10. Titanic Exhibit Coming To Louisville (30 Jul 09, Louisville Courier-Journal-USA)