h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Bedlam - The Hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem - A2428238
Author: Mina - please help us choose!! F1770359?thread=395453 - U290

My latest London entry.

It's come out quite long, so if I've put in too much information about other bits of London (I vaguely suspect I have) I'll whip them out again.

An intriguing and informative entry, Mina. Very nice indeed.

One of those Guidely topics where everyone knows just a little bit, but has to look up all the associated detail.

And I can't even find any errors. Damn.

Well, I found a very small one: 'Abraham ward' should be either 'Abraham Ward' or '"Abraham" ward', depending on your precise meaning.

It might also be worth mentioning that digitalis is commonly known as the foxglove.

B

I saw one - royallty, I think it was

It could be a very long and time-consuming road to go down, but might it be worth mentioning famous Bedlam 'residents'? I can't think of his name right now, but I know there was one painter in particular who spent most of his life there. If it's any help, I think he had a long first name and a short second one...

Subscribes and waits for Mina to "whip them out"

I took 'ward' out, as I don't think it's normally capitalised, and I'd said it once already, and I've changed that typing error.

There is a huge amount of artwork in the museum that was done by inmates, I didn't recognise any of them as 'famous'. I will go back and add some in the bottom section later.

I tried to find some famous visitors as well, but I only came across one - Dr Johnson.

I might not get this done today, btw, but I'll get to it asap.

If I remember well, Pepys visited Bedlam and included quite a graphic description in his memoirs. Any chance of a quote from this in this entry?

sprout

Richard Dadd, that's him.

Informative read

One typo I spotted was

"Other additions included a , great dome"

Reckon that comma escaped from somewhere

Perhaps I had a rather longer list of adjectives there at one time.

I'll have some time to fix that, and maybe add a short bit about famous 'residents' this weekend.

most excellent and informative entry.

I've removed the stray comma, and added a tiny bit about the artists that were admitted to the hospital.

Any other comments?

I found a link to an h2g2 entry on one of the links I just added. I love it when that happens!

The title alone told me something I didn't know.

Well done you!

Thank you!

Ooh, I found some sort of sound file on a Beeb page. I haven't got the software to be able to listen to it, but it's called The Curse of Bedlam and is here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/20cvox/health.shtml

Would someone mind listening to it, to see if it's worth linking to the page?

Great Entry!
One comment - you describe Dadd as a watercolourist, but his best-known works (eg The Fairy-Feller's Masterstroke, Titania Sleeping and others in the Midsummer Night's Dream series) are all in oils.

Ah. Now, the pictures at the museum are described as watercolour. I'll just whip that bit out.

Hi Mina!

I thought I'd better check. Of thirty-odd important works by Dadd while an inmate at Bedlam (between 1844 and 1864), only the 'Sketches to Illustrate the Passions' and 'Crazy Jane' are watercolours. The rest are oils, or else pen-and-ink preparatory sketches for unrealised paintings which were intended for oils. Dadd's masterpiece, the Fairy-Feller's Master Stroke is oil on canvas, and was painted at Bedlam. It took nine years to complete. A remarkable litany of tales surrounds it, and it could certainly carry a Guide Entry in its own right. Now there's a thought...

I'll say it again : this is a great Entry. Sometimes, with the right subject, a dispassionate and careful explanation serves to amplify the reader's discomfiture. This is a good example.

Pin

I must have misunderstood or mis-read my source. Although mis0remebered is more likely.

Thanks for your comments, sometimes people see things I didn't intend. I'll still take the credit though.