Contents:
If you were born into the upper classes, you're likely to remain there - even if you lose your fortune. The penniless aristocrat who can't afford to heat his castle is no less aristocratic than the wealthy one. Even now, in an arguably more socially mobile era, class origins stick more than elsewhere. Mick Jagger remains for many a faintly disreputable rock'n'roll rebel despite a knighthood that made him Sir Mick.
And for all his millions, David Beckham's working class accent is as much a part of his persona as his looks and soccer prowess. As for Middleton, she is not a member of nobility or the aristocracy, which makes her an unusual bride for the man who will likely be king one day. William's mother Princess Diana was the daughter of an earl, and Prince Andrew 's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson also has aristocratic ancestors - her great-grandfather was a duke.
Middleton's maternal ancestors were manual laborers and coal miners, a fact trumpeted in tabloid headlines like "From pit to palace. But Kate is not exactly working class. Middleton's paternal ancestors have been affluently middle-class for more than a century: Kate's parents Carol and Michael Middleton are millionaires who run their own party-planning business. Before that they worked in the airline industry - Carol as a flight attendant, Michael as a flight dispatcher.
Middleton's Marlborough education helped give her an ease around the upper classes and - on the evidence of her one television interview - polished manners and a genteel accent to match those of her royal fiance. I liked the idea of doing something about brands in a medium that William Morris cherished as a type of bastion of down-to-earth craftsmanship.
There is this sort of tension between the subject matter and the medium. At 15 metres long, it is a very significant work to have in the collection. Yes, and I think that is a good thing.
I forgot my password. Grayson Perry, winner of the Turner Prize in , is one of Britain's best-known contemporary artists. I did try in the mid-nineties. Yes, and I think that is a good thing. In its year history, the institution has built up a world-class I wore out my shoes delivering the newspapers and the Avon catalogues, and running up and down the Greggs shop floor between the bread slicer and the trays of doughnuts for sugaring and bagging.
I always encourage students never to be afraid of being who they are, when they are and where they are—of being specific and local. None of the great artists in the past worried about being 'global'. Why should artists now?
I like Chinese art because it is Chinese, not because it is a version of what I enjoy over in Britain. I am one of those people always fascinated by what is in front of me. I am not one of those people who goes off to exotic locations to dance with nature. I am always interested in what is right in front of me, at my front door. I have always been fascinated by class, and the main component of taste is class. Anyone who says there is no class system in society is lying because all societies have a status system of some sort or other.
In Britain it is particularly pronounced and historically interesting, so it was a way of exploring a sort of nuanced status and unconsciousness. It is incredibly unconscious. When people say they like something, they never unpick the reason they might like something.
People may think they are autonomous, but none of us is autonomous. We are completely conditioned by our upbringing and by our peers and by society and by advertising and so I was fascinated to unpick that.
I have a very good handle on the British class system. I think there are some poignant things—with the working class in particular. It takes generations to change. The emotional structures are there, but the industries are not. They have found other ways to replicate rituals, and play roles related to heavy industry—like men going to the gym: They tend to spend a lot of money on their clothes and their appearance and their car, as opposed to a middle class person who might put more money into their house and their food as a way of showing their status.
Each class has a different way of dealing with material culture that they use to show their place in society. Class in Britain is pretty much stalled in a way. I was already toying with the idea and it was sort of the perfect little story that went with it. I was thinking about drawing and trying to make a sort of quilt. My Grandmother got into the habit, during the war, of rescuing little scraps of wool and knitting them into little squares and sewing them into a blanket, and my other female relatives did the same thing.
I saw the Queen as a grandmother figure, sort of knitting the blanket of the nation: It also echoes a kind of giant bank note—a kind of token of Britishness.
UPWARD MOBILITY: HOW THE BRITISH OBSESSION WITH CLASS WAS REFLECTED IN THE CARS THEY PRODUCED - Kindle edition by Michael Frewston. UPWARD MOBILITY: HOW THE BRITISH OBSESSION WITH CLASS WAS REFLECTED IN THE CARS THEY PRODUCED eBook: Michael Frewston.
You know we moan about Britain, but the reason people come here is because it is still a very safe place compared to a lot of places in the world—a very stable place. Revolution is inherently violent and chaotic. I get seduced when I am working on Photoshop by the little colour options. When I start a tapestry I always think, 'Right this time, I am going to use muted tones, or even make it monochrome'—but then I get seduced.
Also there is a kind of tendency in contemporary art [not to use a lot of colour] and the drive for 'tasteful objects'. It is part of the seriousness of male interiors. Colour has this sort of association with frivolity. Well the thing is any big show of mine is going to be a survey show because I take so long to make work. I could only inhabit one room at the MCA, if I was to put my work from one year in there. So any big show is always going to involve a majority of works from the past. I am hoping it will be a good selection of work from right across my career involving all media: My Ocula Sign Up.
Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? This is a slightly satirical look, yet with a serious foundation, at the how the British obsession with class and social standing was reflected in the cars that were made in Britain. Whether you bought a Ford or a Rolls-Royce, your car said everything about you. For those who remember how the British car industry used to cater to, and actually reinforce the existence of, every level of the entrenched class structure that used to exist in earlier times - and for those who were born in later years, but who would like to learn something about the extraordinary range and diversity of British cars in what might be termed their golden age - this is an entertaining read.
This book describes the extraordinary numbers of British car makers that existed over the last years, and how each tried to target a segment of the British 'class' system, from the aristocracy to the lowest of the mass market makers.
Those times no longer exist, and neither do the makers, as British society changed over the years. Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser.
Product details File Size: July 12, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review.
Showing of 2 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now.