Margot Fonteyn: ballet star, sex, politics

Born Margaret Hookham (1919–91) in Surrey, she showed early promise at ballet which her mother encouraged. Margot's fath­er worked for The British American Tobacco Co., so the family moved to Sh­anghai. Her mother brought her back to London when she was 14 to pursue ballet, and once she chose to abandon school comp­letely, she chose Mar­got Fonteyn for more re­fined, professional name. 

Helpmann and Fonteyn

Façade 1936, Wiki

In 1934 she joined Sad­ler’s Wells Sch­ool. When Alicia Markova left the Co. in 1935, Fonteyn took her roles and developed a fine partnership with Aus­tralian dancer-choreo­grapher Robert Hel­pmann into the 40s. The Help­mann part­ner­ship helped to dev­elop her theat­ric­al­­ity.

Inspired by a Markova performance in Les Syl­ph­ides, Margot devoted herself to ballet full time. Sadler's Wells Director Ninette de Val­ois spotted the lass and gave her the pr­in­cipal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.

Although Fonteyn’s dancing seemed very innocent, she apparently had many lovers. Her affair with the married older cond­uctor Const­ant Lambert was problematic, due to his alcohol and women. And when Mar­got visited Cambridge Uni in 1937, she met Roberto Tito Arias (1918–89). The young law stud­ent from Panama fasc­in­ated her, so the pair enjoyed spending time to­get­her for the week. But when he return­ed to Panama, they ceased com­mun­ication.

 Throughout WW2, Margot danced nightly and sometimes daily, to ent­ert­ain troops. In Sep 1940, as the London Blitz began, Sad­l­er's Wells Theatre was turned into an air raid shel­t­er. The Co. was temp­orarily displaced, so in 1940 they went on tour to Eur­ope, start­ing in Hol­land which was full of Germans. When the bombing started, the dancers had to be rescued by a car­go boat.

In 1946 the Co. moved to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. One of Fonteyn's best roles was Aurora in Tchaik­ovsky's Sleeping Beauty, the bal­let that became a signature production for the Co. and a major role for Fonteyn. Reprising Aurora in 1949 when the Royal Ballet tour­ed the U.S, Fonteyn instantly became a celebrity with Americans.

On another American tour in 1953, Fonteyn re-met Tito Arias when he surprised her, after seeing Sleeping Beauty. Arias was now a pol­it­ic­ian and Panamanian delegate to the United Nations. Although he had a wife and 3 children, Arias win­ed and dined her, and bought her fur coats. She re­sisted, but in 1955 they married in Paris!

Arias and Margot, 1965

whosdatedwho

 Fonteyn became Pres­ of the Royal Academy of Dance, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1956. Tito had been appointed an amb­assador to the Court of St James, so Fonteyn also fulfilled a dip­l­omat's wife duties. In 1956 she was critic­ised for performing in racist Johannes­burg, and she and Tito were also criticised for be­friending Imelda Mar­c­os & Nor­iega. Was it to help Tito in his schemes to obtain power in Panama? She did believed her husband would become head of Panama, and that she would the Queen.

In April 1959, Arias staged a failed coup d'état again­st Panama’s President Ernesto de la Guardia, ? with the support of Fidel Castro. Fonteyn said the plot was hat­ch­ed in Cuba in Jan 1959, with Cas­t­ro promis­ing to assist Arias with arms or men. During a sea voyage, Arias jumped ship while Font­eyn used her own yacht, to divert the government forces. She returned to Panama City to turn herself in, and meeting at the prison with the British ambassador to Panama, she confes­s­ed her involve­ment. While the Bri­t­­ish Foreign Office got her to NY, Arias hid in Brasil’s Panama embassy and got safely to Peru.

As a retreat from London, the couple bought a house Taplow Bucks

in the 1950s, Daily Mail Aus

Just when she might have retired, Fonteyn began her greatest artistic partnership. In 1961 Kirov Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defect­ed in Paris and was invited to join the Royal Ballet. Fonteyn was given the opportunity to dance with him in his debut, but she was reluctant be­cause of the age gap. They first performed together in Gis­elle in Feb 1962 where Fonteyn dis­covered new energy, and thus the par­tner­­ship late in her car­­eer won them both worldwide fame. Her per­f­­ect line and lyricism were qualities evident in the roles created by Sir Frederick Ash­ton eg Ondine, Cind­er­ella, Chloë. Ashton created Marguerite and Arm­and for Nureyev and Font­eyn in 1963, a signature piece.

Nureyev said that they were lovers; Fonteyn said not. Nonetheless Margot wanted to divorce her fickle husband Arias in 1964, so she was happy to tour with Nureyev and The Australian Ballet in Stuttgart. Alas Margot learned that a Panam­anian politician had shot Arias. Fonteyn, though shaken, still dan­ced before going to Panama.

This was lucky because, despite planned retirement in her 40s, Arias was now quadriplegic and Margot had to keep earning. Luck­ily her part­ner­ship with Nureyev gave her a new lease of life and pro­longed her career by 18 years.

Fonteyn went into semi-retirement in 1972 with one-act per­f­ormances and she also mov­ed into modern ballet, dancing in 1975 with the Chi­c­­ago Ballet. She fully retired in 1979! For her 60th birthday, Fonteyn was feted by the Royal Ballet, dancing a duet with Ashton and a tango with Helpmann.

Fonteyn and Nureyev 

Pinterest

 In 1989, before Arias’ death, Font­eyn was diag­nosed with ovarian cancer. Having used all her savings to care for Arias and now retired, she had to move to a remote Panama cattle farm. But she st­ayed in touch with Nu­r­­eyev via tele­phone. By 1990, she’d had 3 oper­at­ions and had to sell her treasures to pay for her care; thankfully Nur­eyev helped. A Covent Gar­dens gala raised money for her where Placido Domingo sang & Nureyev danced. After her Feb 1991 death, Fonteyn and Arias were buried in Panama. A memorial ser­vice was held in Jul 1991 at Westminster Abbey.

massacre at 1972 Munich Olympic Games

Only a few decades after the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games debacle and the WW2 Holocaust ending in 1945, West Germans hoped they’d rehabilit­ate their reputation with splendid Olympic Games in Munich 1972. Not­hing would symbol­ise the new Germany more than the particip­ation of a keen Isr­aeli team and a light blue Olympic em­blem that embod­ied fresh­­ness. Even the friendly safety guards at the 1972 Games were largely unarmed.

Victims' names and their sports, Flickr

Top: Amitzur Shapira, David Berger, Eliezer Halfin, Josef Romano, Kehat Shorr.

Bottom: Moshe Weinberg, Mark Slavin, Jacob Springer, Josef Gutfreund, Andre Spitzer. 

Absent Ze'ev Friedman. 

The German authorities were aware of security threats, noting the Red Army Fact­ion, And­reas Baader, Ulrike Mein­hof's leftist group and the far-right Nat­ional Demo­cratic Party of Germany. Nonetheless they believed a killer Palestinian group was improb­ab­le.

Black September originat­ed in the long 1948 Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Jordan-Palest­in­ian Lib­eration Organ­isation/PLO con­f­lict. The post-war UN partition plan of Palestine envisaged both an Arab and a Jewish state, but after the 19­48 Arab-Israeli War, only Is­rael exist­ed with many Palestinians dis­pl­aced. From 1964, P.L.0’s goal was self-determination for Palestine, especially after the 1967 war, in what the Palest­in­ians called The Cat­astrophe.

Jordan’s King Huss­ein ruled more Palestinian refugees than Jordanians and he feared the PLO. His army killed thousands of Palest­in­ians in Sept 1970. Black September, an affiliated extremist wing of the PLO, was formed in 1971 to av­enge the sl­aughter, assassinating the Jord­anian Prime Min­ister. Japanese terrorists rec­ruited by a Pal­est­in­ian group mass­acred 26 at Israel's Airport May 1972. But killing young, world athletes in a distant country would be a new obscenity.

The Munich Games in Sept continued for 10 days without incid­ent, and security officials relaxed. But on Sept 4, while the Israelis enjoyed their Vil­lage flat, some Palestinians planned an operation under Palestinian Commander Issa. At 4am partying at­hletes help­ed the track-suited fed­ay­een over the Vil­lage fence, car­ry­ing Kal­ash­nik­ovs and gren­ades in duf­fel bags. These Black Sept­em­berniks were linked to the PLO. 

Black September terrorists on the balcony

outside the Israeli athletes' flat

Olympic Village Munich

As West German authorities scrambled to respond, the Gam­es continued normally; it was 7 hours into the sit­uat­ion bef­ore anyone saw the cr­isis. This became the first time terrorism had rea­ched a live global audience. Despite the Israeli wr­estling judge blocking them, the ter­ror­ists pushed in. Two men escaped out the back window, but 11 other team­mates were shackled. Josef Romano and Moshe Wein­berg were killed grabbing the ter­ror­ists’ guns.

When the Olympic Village woke, officials locked the gates and flats. At 7am, papers signed by Black September fl­oated from a window detailing the terrorists’ demand: release of 234 terrorist prisoners in Israel and 2 in West Germ­any, or an Isr­aeli hostage would be exec­ut­ed every hour. The freed terrorists would be taken to an Arab count­ry.

As German officers negotiated, Israeli P.M Golda Meir trusted West German officials to protect her athletes on German soil. Alas their re­scue attempts failed eg German pol­ice officers went onto nearby roof­­tops. But as the world watched on live TV, so did the terr­orists inside the flat. As the Ger­mans stalled, Issa grew impatient, threatening to kill all the athletes. A truce was reach­ed: the terr­orists and hostages would be flown to Für­sten­feld­bruck mil­itary airfield Munich where a Boeing 727 would fly to Cairo.

That night the 8 terrorists and the surviving hostages arrived at the airport. Is­sa inspect the Boeing and found an empty plane waiting. 13 German police officers dressed as flight crew for a plan­ned amb­ush i.e to kill the hostage-takers as they emerged from the heli­c­opters to board the plane. But the police had no trained snipers, little equ­ip­ment and no data on how many Black September memb­ers were there.

As Is­sa and his mate returned from the deserted plane, police sharp shooters fired from a rooftop. The scene descended into chaotic cross­fire and the airfield pl­unged into blackness. The West Germans shot  5 of the 8 terrorists, but not before the terrorists mass­ac­red all of the rem­ain­ing Israeli hostages, and a West Ger­man police­man. Three of the Black September members escaped and were soon capt­ur­ed. Only at 3am did the ABC announce to world audiences that the athletes had all been killed. The well-intended German rescue attempt was a tragic failure. 

The flag was flown at half mast

to honour the murdered athletes

at Munich's main stadium, NPR

The Olympic Games had been suspended for 34 hours, with a mem­orial for the Israelis held in the main stadium the next morning. But Pres. Avery Brundage (International Olympic Committee) declared that the Games must go on. Only Israeli sur­­vivors and coffins flew home. 

The nation stood in silence

when the Israeli athletes' coffins arrived at Lod Airport, 

Sept 7, 1972. Origins

Global coverage sh­ock­ed the world, affecting pub­lic opinion on non-state violence as a pol­it­ical tool. Germans had tried to save the athl­etes, but were seen as unprepared because sec­urity was in the hands of State (not Fed­eral) authorities i.e people without expertise in hostage situations. And West Ger­many's post-war const­itution limited the dom­estic use of the army in peacetime. Meanwhile some Germ­ans blamed the Israelis for ignoring the terror­ists’ de­m­ands.

Many Palestinians saw the terrorist attack as bringing welcome, world­wide attention to their struggle, despite denunciations for the terr­orists’ methods. But the Munich massacre in Sept 1972 had lasting rep­er­cussions on an international scale, waking up Western govern­ments to the threat of terrorism, showing the power of live broad­cast and set­t­ing the stage for future violence.

Later tensions worsened when Black September sympath­isers hijacked a Lufthansa flight in Oct 1972, dem­an­ding that the 3 Black September members in West German det­ention be freed. The West Germans complied! The 3 surviving Munich killers arr­iv­ed as her­oes in Libya, saved by Moammar Gadd­afi. Golda Meir and all the Jews were devastated. Spouse and I had already left Central Europe and were safely in London, but we never fully recovered.

The development of counterterrorism forces grew so that new special forces could respond to hostage sit­uations and te­rrorism eg in Entebbe (1976) and Somalia (1977). Now read One Day in September by Simon Reeve (2005) and Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph by David Large (2012) . 

Mt Barker WA: history, architecture, wine

Federation-style Plantagenet Hotel

built 1912-4

Mt Barker is 360 ks south of Perth, Western Australia, in the shire of Plantagenet. Fr­amed by the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges, Mt Barker is the ideal base to expl­ore the surround­ing mountain country, wildflowers, great coast, na­tional and re­g­ion­al parks, and wineries.

                                  

Chapel at St Werburgh’s.

built 1873

In 1836 George Egerton-Warburton, a lieutenant in 51st Reg­im­ent, arrived in Albany WA. He sold his commission later, return­ing to Albany where he married and settled. In 1872 he received £550 from his eldest brother, Squ­ire of Arley Cheshire to build a Chapel at St Werburgh’s. The Chapel was dedic­at­­­ed to St Wer­bur­gh, a C7th Engl­ish Abbess who was a daughter of Wul­f­ere King of Merc­ia and 3rd Abbess of Ely. Artisans completed the building in 1873 and Bishop Hale consecrated the Chapel in 1874. The walls were made of clay plug and the roof of shingles. An Albany carpenter did the wood­work, using local she­oak and jarrah, whereas the iron­work was made in the family forge. Some of the materials need renovation. 

Wine tasting

Mt Barker is a starting place for travellers exploring the Great Southern Wine Region. This became an important region, producing ov­er a third of the state’s wine. In 1859 George Egerton-Warburton first pl­an­t­­ed vines and soon bott­led the first vintage. In the inter-war era, the Mt Barker region successfully made table wines in the light European style. In the growing-season, the Mt Barker region has warm sunny days, cool nights, excellent fruit-ripening and acidity-ret­ain­ing conditions. These conditions cr­eate wonderful intense wines, and I loved the tasting in the wineries!!

Mt Barker hosts yearly fest­ivals and events, incl Grapes and Gallops, Graze Mt Barker and Taste Great Southern Festival.

Police Station Museum

Police stables

changed to a lockup

There are some fascinating historic build­ings eg the historic Police Station Museum Complex built by convict labour in 1868, are part­ of this rich heritage. The Old Police Station was used un­t­il 1908 when a new station was built next door. The police hor­se stables were div­id­ed off as a lockup and a Court House of­f­ice was added in 1919.

Surrounded by lovely lawns and gard­ens, the Plantagenet Hist­or­ical So­ciety opened the cottage as a Mus­eum in 1968, furnishing it with lo­cally donated objects. In 1971 the Pion­eer Room was built to dis­p­lay more artefacts, in 1985 and 1987 the cottage and stables were re­stored, and in 1994 the Napier Creek one-teacher schoolroom was mo­v­ed to the Museum. In 1997 the second Po­l­ice Station and Court Room were acquired. And an apple picking shed has been assemb­led in honour of the apple industry's historical contribution.

Police duties included having a change of horses ready for the mail coach which operated from Albany to Perth. They also patrolled as far as Esperance (400+ ks) on horseback, also doing the census and rep­orting on weather.

At the Old Police Museum, the main and out-buildings nest in beautiful landscaped gardens, with structures covered in colour­fully flowered creep­ers, giving an old fashioned village look. Any­one visiting the Museum comp­lex with an inter­est in his­t­or­ical heritage sh­ould allocate a few hours. There’s a wide ran­ge of hist­or­ic­al arte­facts and images spread around.

The Plantagenet Hotel was a two st­orey pub built by the Sounness fam­ily in 1912-4 with Feder­at­ion style ch­ar­acter. The veranda posts and balcony’s ap­p­le motifs depicted their link to large apple orch­ards in the area in the early part of the century. It took ov­er the licence from the origin­al Park Hotel when it was delicensed in WW1.

In 1996 the hotel was smartened up so it would continue to be a soc­ial gathering place for the local comm­unity and visitors. The large open fire in the lounge area is a beautiful feature on cool Mt Bar­ker ev­enings and the wide veranda is for en­joy­ing pre dinner drinks. Yet another of the many historical land­mark jewels of the area!

Art Gallery

The Gallery & Arts Centre is where artists can create, exhibit or sell their paintings, quilts, jewellery or pottery. The Gallery runs the Art Trail and the Plantag­en­et Art Prize, and runs a yearly fund-raising exhibition. And they hold solo exhibitions at Mitchell House in the little pink building that once was a post office. Here cours­es are run in Drawing, Painting, Pottery, Hat Mak­ing, Weaving, Felting and Craft.

Mt Barker Railway Station

built 1883

The rail line southwards from Mt Barker Junction to Mt Barker was const­ructed by Messrs Walker & Swann who had previously built an Ad­el­aide line. The sub­stantial stone station buildings were built from Aldgate freestone in 1883, including a Stationmaster's quarters at the southern end. Ceremoniously opened by the Gov­­er­nor in 1883, Mt Barker passenger facilities were still in place into the 1970s. At the northern end were timber refreshment rooms which were used up until 1963, with white linen laid out un­d­er the poplar trees. The Dis­trict Council of Mt Barker restored the historic Railway Station building to coincide with the transfer of SteamRanger from Adelaide in 1996 and they re-planted the turn-of-the-century gardens.

Mt Barker Rolling Stock Depot took the south of the station first used as a goods yard, and incorporated the original bluestone goodsshed. New Depot has been operating since May 1996, while the heritage goods shed was retained as a storage area for Track Maintenance. My young sons loved it.

ES&A Bank building, erected in 1928 

Later converted to a bookshop

Photo credits: Photographs of Perth and the South West of Western Australia 

Langton Vineyard in Mount Barker

Wine Searcher

Vikings' North Exhibition in York !!

As the premier museum in North England for ancient objects, The Yorkshire Museum in York is displaying the Viking North Exhibition from July 2025-July 2027. In partnership with the British Museum it explores the world of the Vikings and the North’s Power Base from 800-1066 AD. Dr Adam Parker, Curator of Archaeology York Museums Trust wrote: “Viking North is a story of geopolitical change & clash of cultures. When the Viking Great Army arrived in North England in 866 AD, everything changed. Anglo-Saxon kings were defeated, new territories and allegiances rose and fell, new identities were forged and new connections made. The true story is brought alive by the emergent research into these temporary towns in the late C9th as these settlers expanded their geographical locations and made England home. 

Yorkshire Museum

Little Vikings

Based on new archaeological research and new technology, the exhibition combines objects from Yorkshire Museum’s own collection, the Vale of York hoard and specially loaned national and regional items eg objects from Viking Army Camp at Aldwark Nth Yorkshire. Many of these items in gold and silver are valuable and prestigious, showing the power, wealth and skills of the Vikings who lived in Nth England.

York helmet, c760

Yorkshire Museum

The York Helmet is an impressive star in the Viking North Exhibition, possibly the best-preserved early medieval helmet in Britain. This iron cap with brass edging and a chain mail neckguard, beautifully decorated with tiny animals, displays how these helmets were made, used and stored. Latin across the two bands reads: “In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God; and to all we say Amen. Christ.”  The helmet was a great status symbol for the owner, Oshere, a nobleman and a ?member of the Northumbrian royal family, the most powerful dynasty in England then.

The Ormside Bowl was discovered in 1823 in St James’ Churchyard in Great Ormside Cumbria, just where a Viking warrior grave was also discovered decades later. Was the bowl looted from York by the Viking warrior and then buried with him in his grave alongside his sword & shield boss? This gilded silver and bronze with glass bowl was the ?finest piece of silver work, with remarkable craftsmanship, surviving from Anglo-Saxon England.

The 2 shells are intricately decorated and fused, making a unique luxury item. It would have been treasured by its original owner for its beauty, quality and value. It is decorated with vine scrolls in the outer design, being a common Christian theme. This suggests that the delicate outer shell started life as a religious vessel. It was owned used by monks for religious services in a Northumbrian monastery, likely looted by Viking raiders, or given to them in tribute. A religious object could be adapted by Vikings as a drinking vessel (850-900). When an inner bowl was added, it was used at celebrations with friends.

The inner bowl was made later made from gilt-bronze and riveted with studs of blue glass and silver with an internal bowl and 16 circular pieces of glass in a ring of cloisons-partitions. The base plate of the internal bowl and features five further rivets, of which the central is missing.

Ormside Bowl, c775

Esmeralda's Cumbrian History

 

The bowl is a double-shelled cup made from 2 pieces joined with dome-headed rivets and beaded collars. The bowl’s interlaced cruciform surface is decorated with a chased repousse technique.  The gilding on the bowl was added after the other decoration. The inner bowl could have been made in York where a matching blue-glass stud was found.

Bird and vine decorations

Instagram

The original outer shell was made of gilt-silver decorated with Anglo-Saxon style interlaced creatures in Continental vines. Note plants, fruit, animals and birds in decoration. The outer bowl decoration was done using the chase repousse method where the design was hit from the reverse side, creating it in relief outside of bowl. The rim had a strip of ungilded silver although this has now mostly been lost. This strip was first attached using some clips in the shape of animal heads. The frontal gaze of some creatures was a familiar occurrence in carvings of this type, with both naturalistic & grotesque decorations.

After seeing Christians wearing crosses around their necks, Vikings wore pendants in the shape of Thor’s hammer from their own pagan beliefs. And other religious symbolism. A collection of late C10th-mid C11th stone crossheads is currently on display in the monks’ dormitory at Durham Cathedral, found and reused at building materials or found during excavation of the 1891 Norman Chapter House (so note that Durham borders Yorkshire but is separate). The scenes depicted include the Baptism & Crucifixion of Christ, and an ordination scene.

memorial cross, found in 2nd century foundations

Durham Cathedral

 

Dr Parker, Viking North is telling new stories about the Vikings 

BBC

Thanks to Esmeralda's Cumbrian History & Folklore; I recommend reading her posts.