Wilfred Owen: Britain's key WW1 poet

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was born in Nth Shropshire, learning at Shrewsbury Technical School. He went to Birkenhead Institute Liverpool & Shrewsbury Technical College, then worked as a pupil-teacher in a poor rural parish. So he had to start teaching in Bordeaux to earn money, just as war broke out in mid-1914.

He enlisted in the British Army in 1915 and by Jan 1916 he saw active service in the trenches on the Western Front. Owen wrote poetry during this time, and his work was heavily influenced by his war experiences and the suffering he witnessed. His poetry was known for its stark realism, emotional  intensity and condemnation of war horrors. See, for example, Anthem for Doomed Youth,  1917.

Lt. Owen on cover of The Poems of Wilfred Owen

Penguin

While fighting near St Quentin on the Somme in Apr 1917, Wilfred suffered serious concussion and trench fever. A doctor diagnosed shellshock, used to describe the physical and/or psychological damage suffered by soldiers in combat. Owen was sent to a French hospital and later returned to Britain, where he was admitted into Craiglockhart War Hospital for Neurasthenic Officers in Edinburgh and recovered slowly. Owen’s time at Craiglockhart, one of the most famous hospitals treating victims of shellshock, coincided with that of his great friend and fellow poet, Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon read his poetry, suggested ways to enhance it, becoming a major influence on Owen's work.

After their treatment, both men returned to active service in France, where Owen led his platoon through an artillery barrage to the German trenches; he discovered when they arrived that the enemy had withdrawn. Severely disoriented by the bombardment, Owen avoided being hit by an exploding shell but returned to base camp confused and speechless.

In France Lieut Owen won the Military Cross. But only Sassoon survived the war. Owen almost survived, but in Nov 1918, he was shot dead by a German machine-gun during an unsuccessful British attempt to German-held bridge Sambre Canal, near Ors village. This was a week before the Armistice was declared to end WWI and the Western Front was liberated but Winfred’s mother did not receive a telegraph re her son’s death until the war ended. He'd never married nor had children.

This English soldier was seen as one of the key literary figures of WWI, his most famous poems including Anthem for Doomed Youth and Strange Meeting.

Funerals for British soldiers were held along the Western Front in the war

BBC

His work was published posthumously after being killed in action in France in Nov 1918, 1 week before the Armistice that ended the war. Today Owen's poetry is widely studied and admired for its powerful and moving depiction of the realities of war, and he is remembered as a significant voice in WW1 literature. His poetry owes its beauty to a deep ingrained sense of compassion coupled with grim realism.

WWI devastated the world, and that shift was reflected in literature, novels and poetry. Now celebrated as one of the greatest English C20th poets, Owen’s war poems were later popularised when Benjamin Britten included 9 of them in his War Requiem, dedicated to 4 mates who’d been killed in WW2. Anthem for Doomed Youth was a memorial to those who died in the Great War AND a classic representation of the tragic waste of war.

There are MANY memorials in Owen’s honour including a memorial window in Birkenhead Central Library by David Hillhouse, unveiled in 1995 by Peter Owen. Wilfred headstone in the British corner of Ors Communal Cemetery France. Napier University Edinburgh’s collection of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon’s works. A plaque at St Julian Church Shrewsbury. And Poets Corner for Great War poets in Westminster Abbey.

Only Sassoon survived the war. Owen almost survived, but in Nov 1918, he was shot by a German machine-gun during an unsuccessful British attempt to German-held bridge Sambre Canal, near Ors village. This was a week before the Armistice was declared at the end of WWI and the Western Front was liberated.

** Why am I coming back to Wilfred Owen now? Long Lost Family is a great tv programme, this week focusing on teenage sweethearts who’d finally been reunited with their daughter 46 years after they were forced to give her up for adoption. Biological mother Inge was just 17 when she became pregnant by her boyfriend Jeremy Owen in 1968, when they were living in British colonial settlements in Africa. When Inge's own nasty mother discovered what had happened, she punished her pregnant teenage daughter. Jeremy, a caring educated man now living in Australia, had not seen his daughter since her birth. 

Note that Jeremy was the proud nephew of celebrated WW1 poet Wilfred Owen who had never had children!

 

Wilfred's nephew Jeremy Owen, with his recently found daughter, 

Long Lost Family

                                               

Cocodile Dundee, Outback Steakhouse, shark attack cocktails

Crocodile Dundee was the second-highest-grossing film in the U.S in 1986, and stood as the highest-grossing non-U.S. film ever at the American box office. There is a strong consensus that the film relied heavily on outback stereotypes that do not represent most modern Australians, who largely live in coastal cities. Contemporary critical commentaries pointed out that the movie featured out of date social dynamics regarding gender, race, foods, drinks and clothes that many modern Australians would not have recognised. Principal photography for Crocodile Dundee began in 1985, starting with the scenes filmed at the Federal Hotel renamed the Walkabout Creek Hotel in McKinlay, Queensland

 Nonetheless it is the American home of juicy steaks, spirited drinks and Aussie hospitality.

Outback steakhouse shark attack cocktail called Aussie JAWSsie

The ocean blue has clouds of red blood. Etsy

Outback Steakhouse didn't copy Walkabout Creek Hotel, but its vibe was generated by Crocodile Dundee which featured the iconic pub. Compare the two photos below.

The first Outback Steakhouse location was opened in Mar 1988 in Tampa Florida, and now there are 660 Outback Steakhouse locations in the U.S. Despite its Down Under branding and Aussie-themed slang eg three Australian appertizers (Bloomin onion, Aussie Cheese fries, Coconut shrimp), the chain was inspired by the popularity of the film Crocodile Dundee and served American-style cuisine rather than authentic Australian food. Outback Steakhouse operates a small number of locations (c8) in Australia but only in NSW and QLD; so I have never seen any in my state, Victoria.

Outback Steakhouse, Randolf MA 

Trip Advisor

Walkabout Creek Hotel, Qld

delicious

Outback Steakhouse is touted as an Australian-themed restaurant but focuses on American-style grilled steaks, seafood, chicken and ribs; big portions at moderate prices. The menu’s famous items are the fresh seafoods, wedge salad, mashed potato and cocktails - the Wallaby Darned is a signature, frosty frozen peach cocktail. The Outback Steakhouses targets itself between casual dining and classic steakhouses, hearty food without fine-dining prices.

Shark Week has been an annual week-long summer programme at the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming since 1988. Originally devoted to conservation efforts and correcting fallacies about sharks, Shark Week is marked at the Outback Steakhouse chain each year. It offers $8 drinks and 50% off appetizers for Shark Week. The shark-attack drink, named the Aussie JAWSsie is made with New Amsterdam Raspberry Vodka, Blue Curaçao, a trio of citrus juices and grenadine. Directions for making the shark-attack drink are as follows.

Step 1. Pour spiced rum, club soda, vodka, blue Curaçao and lime juice together in a pitcher.
Step 2. Gently mix with a long spoon. Pour Shark Bite cocktail into ice-filled individual glasses.
Step 3. Drizzle 1 1/4 ounces of grenadine into each glass to create a blooming effect that resembles blood in ocean water. Strain cocktail over ice in the glass. Add drops of grenadine to cocktail.
Step 4 Garnish with a blue gummy shark in each glass.

The Aussie JAWSsie: a blue tropical alcoholic cocktail crafted with New Amsterdam Raspberry Vodka, Blue Curaçao, a citrus juice blend, and topped off by squeezing red grenadine i.e shark blood from a keepsake plastic shark toy into the drink. This is the jaws-themed cocktail!

Outback also has a new mocktail - Sharky Temple: a child-friendly, alcohol-free version made with a base of Sprite and grenadine, also served with an interactive shark toy. These 2 drinks became popular to Outback Steakhouse for the 2026 summer and Shark Week promotions.

Walkabout Creek Hotel

Queensland

Mick Dundee & crocodile in Walkabout Creek Hotel.

ABC News, 1985

Has anyone ever visited a Outback Steakhouse? Did you try a shark attack cocktail? 

Frank Lloyd Wright's MANY women

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was born in Wisconsin. His Welsh preacher grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones, crossed the Atlantic in 1844 with his wife and children, settling in a fertile part of the Midwest near Chicago, a landscape with a lasting influence on Wright's work. Wright's apprenticeship with prominent Chicago architects served him well. In 1889 at 22 he married, designed and built a house for himself and wife Catherine Kitty Tobin in Oak Park, a new outer suburb. It was fine example of the Arts and Crafts style, but soon key signs of Wright's taste showed through. In 1893, he was sacked and set up his own practice; he extended the house to serve his growing family, studio & office.

 

 

FLW with cape, cane and hat

Architecture Here and There

Wright's designs became more experimental eg elongated, open-plan Prairie Houses of the era. And he began to wear broad-brimmed hats, red-lined cape & cane. Wright & Kitty had 6 children, but he left the children to Kitty's care.

In 1903, Wright designed an Oak Park house for Edwin Cheney, and soon fancied Edwin’s wife, Mamah Cheney, a modern intellectual feminist. They fell in love, although Wright had been married for c20 years. Often they drove through Oak Park, but the gossip meant Wright's wife refused him a divorce, and Edwin Cheney refused one to Mamah.

Frank and Olga driving around Oak Park together

Instagram

Wright worked with the Prairie Style, esp re single-family houses. Alas Wright was not getting large commissions for commercial or public buildings. In 1909 Wright & Mamah Cheney travelled to Europe, leaving their spouses & children. What drew Wright at 42 to Europe was the chance to publish his work portfolio with Ernst Wasmuth so they went to Wasmuth Berlin’s offices. Wright remained in Europe for a year and then Cheney granted Mamah a divorce. Kitty still refused to grant one to Frank! 

Taliesin, Wisconsin

Wiki

Wright returned home in Oct 1910 and persuaded mum to buy him land in Spring Green WI, near mum's Welsh Lloyd-Jones family. Then in 1911 the couple returned and began to build a flowing bungalow in Helena Valley WI, the Taliesin theme coming from his mum's side: Taliesin in Welsh mythology was a poet, magician & priest.

Tragedy struck in 1914. Wright was working in Chicago when Cheney lunched with her 2 children & estate workers. Domestic servant Julian Carlton poured acid around Taliesin’s livingrooms, locked the doors, set the house afire and axed 7 of the 9 diners: Cheney, her children and 4 workers. Carlton survived the acid but died in gaol. Wright was devastated. 

In 1922 Kitty gave a divorce, although Wright had to wait a year until marrying his 2nd wife, Maude Miriam Noel, sculptor/architect in Nov 1923. But morphine addiction soon saw their marriage failing. In 1923 Frank's mother Anna Lloyd Wright also died. Meanwhile they travel led together to Japan, where Wright was commissioned to build the Imperial Hotel Tokyo by 1923. He threw spent years building the elegant hotel where workers were surprised to see the US architect arrive in velvet suits. Wright visited Japan often, and assimilated many ideas there.

In 1924, separate from Miriam but not divorced, Wright met a mystic dancer from Monte-negro Olga Hinzenburg at a Russian Ballet in Chicago. This new exotica joined the Taliesin household, a place where Wright's workers lived in a hippy community, growing their own vegetables & making music together. Olga and her child had followed her husband to Chicago seeking a divorce.

The couple moved to Taliesin in 1925 with Olga pregnant. Wife #2 Miriam was deranged & jealous, with drug-fuelled explosions, and misfortune restruck. In Ap 1925, an electrical fault from crossed wires caused a fire and destroyed the house. It was insured for  rebuilding but not to cover the loss of Wright's c$1 mill. art collection. His home was ruined and he was broke, yet he rebuilt the living quarters Taliesin III.

After his daughter’s birth in Dec 1926, another scandal broke: when Miriam heard about the birth and tracked Olga to the hospital, demanding to see HER HUSBAND'S BABY. Later she had Wright arrested. Olga's ex-husband sought custody of his daughter. Also in 1926, Wright and Olga were accused of violating the Mann Act which prevented immigrant prostitutes arriving, and were arrested in MN. Miriam competed with Mamah's ghost AND with Wright's tough mother. And she created a serious fight when the next woman came along. In a rush of litigation, she hurled accusation at Wright, accusing Olga of being an Undesirable Alien. Miriam tried to own Taliesin, pursued the couple to Calif, had them arrested, harassed them by phone and smashed their house. She finally agreed to the divorce IF Wright paid her! The charges were dropped.

Wright designed summer estate Graycliff, Wright & Miriam Noel's divorce was finalised (1927) & Wright moved in architectural history. The International Style a la Le Corbusier had arrived in America and middle-aged Wright seemed tired! For a while he tried working in LA where his son Lloyd had a successful practice. There he designed Ennis House, and Hollyhock House, a huge site for an oil heiress. 

                                   

L-R: Kitty, Mamah, Miriam, Olga

booksaremyfavouriteandbest

In 1928 Wright and Olga married, inviting paying students to Taliesin to study Wright's holistic designs. By 1932 a small group enrolled & created Taliesian Fellowship. In this alternative education, the architect expected his men to work in fields, cook and listen to Bach & Beethoven. Apprentice Austrian Rudolph Schindler described Wright in a letter to architect Richard Neutra as inconsiderate.

The Taliesin project helped support the family in the Depression. It also led to some of Wright's most important commissions, including Fallingwater (1937) the exquisite house built over a Pennsylvania waterfall for Edgar Kaufmann. Fallingwater revived Wright's career, and during the last 25 years of his life he designed as many buildings as his early busy period. He was Guggenheim Museum N.Y’s architect, the most memorable, organically round building. 

In 1937 he bought acres in Paradise Valley AZ near Phoenix and built a desert camp for students. And Wright's winter home near Phoenix that was particularly beautiful; he called the open-plan house in Scottsdale AZ Taliesin West. The winter home & desert laboratory are now headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and a major attraction for fans. Olga served as Foundation President for 25+ years and protected her husband's architectural work. But his buildings preserved as historic monuments, not living architecture. Only with increasing interest in low-energy, low-impact buildings were the two schemes relevant again: both his homes were designed to be cool in summer & warm in winter without mechanical ventilation.

As interesting as Wright's women may have been, they were exciting largely BECAUSE they were involved with Wright. Yet while he designed charming C20th buildings, do fans know about the axe murders, madness, drugs, endless women and fires? Since his death at 91 in 1959, there have been writings examining the cultish community Wright built. And to preserve the work the School of Architecture Wright now runs accredited BA, MA courses and summer school. 

Falling Water, 1937

fallingwater.org

The Taliesin arrangement helped support the family in the Depression. It also led to some of Wright's key commissions, including Fallingwater (1937) the exquisite house he built over a water fall in Pennsylvania for Edgar Kaufmann. Fallingwater revived Wright's career, and during the last 25 years of his life he designed as many buildings as he had in the busy period from 1893-1911. He was architect of the Guggenheim Museum N.Y, the memorable organically round building in a city of straight lines. But it is Wright's winter home near Phoenix that was the most beautiful. In 1937, he bought hundreds of acres in Paradise Valley and built a desert camp where his school could relocate for the cold months of the year. Taliesin West's open-plan living quarters were furnished like a tent.

His belief in the value of creative work continued under Olga, after Wright's death. But  Wright's reputation suffered for decades, with the teaching at Taliesin regarded as eccentric and his buildings preserved as historic monuments, not living architecture. However with increasing interest in low-energy, low-impact buildings, schemes like Taliesin and Taliesin West are relevant again: both Wright's homes were built using local materials and were designed as cool in summer & warm in winter without mechanical ventilation.

The private life of a public man is always fascinating. Wright needed challenging, attractive women and his relationships were essential to his work. In any case, the architect's genius always won through! Wright raised selfishness to a fine art - he was prepared to sacrifice others, except for those he currently deemed essential.  Even Wright's #1 wife, mother of 6 of his 7 children, got short shrift in life. 

Beth Shalom Synagogue PA, 

FLWright's only synagogue 1954

The Forward

However interesting & decisive Wright's women may have been, the unavoidable fact remains that they were interesting largely as far as they were involved with Wright. Yet architecture remained in the margins of these books, something Wright was off doing while his women desired. While Wright de-signed some of the most beautiful C20th buildings, his personal life was problematic. Now read Marcus Field who told of axe murders, madness, drugs, endless wives and redemption. Since his death at 91 in 1959, there were biographies, memoires and exposés examining the cultish community Wright built.

To preserve the work, School of Architecture Wright runs accredited BA and MA courses and a popular summer school. 

Panama Canal: corruption or poor science?

Europeans dreamed of a Central American canal for ages; even Pres. Ulysses Grant sent 7 feasibility expeditions. As tra­v­­el and trade in the Western hemisphere increased, a canal became essential. To sail from the At­l­­an­tic to Pacific, ships went around treacherous Cape Horn taking c21,000 ks (New York-San Francisco)

The isthmus separating Gulf of Panama

from the Caribbean Sea

     

In Feb 1881, driven by patriotism and capitalised by mainly small in­vestors, the Panama Company began work on a canal that would cross the Col­ombian isthmus of Panama and unite the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans. This can­al would make its stockholders rich, just as the Suez did for its investors. Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-94) showed the tiny cross-Panama rail­way had made $7+ million in 6 years although building that rail­road HAD cost 6,000+ lives.

Even though he had little financial expertise, De Lesseps handled prom­oting and money-raising for the canal project. His enthusiasm for the pro­ject, and his faith in technology, att­racted many stockholders. Frenchmen keenly invested because public loans were backed by the French gov­ernment, thus a patriotic public service.  

French share certificates

signed by de Lesseps

When work started in 1881, digging progressed slowly but st­ead­ily. The French contr­ol­led modern equipment, from locom­ot­ives to tug­boats & dredges, while their crew was made mostly of West Indian & Indian lab­ourers. De Lesseps, who’d visited Pa­nama only in the dry season, disregarded the rain warnings of men who knew Pa­nama in­tim­ately. Now his crew discovered imp­as­sable jungle, tor­r­ential rain, ins­ects, sn­akes, swamps, hell­ish heat and smallpox. In 1881 the Fr­ench recorded 60 deaths from disease. In 1882 deaths doub­led. In 1883 420 died mainly from malaria and yellow fever, but the Co. of­ten fired sick labourers to reduce medical costs. Doctors at the French hos­p­ital at An­con worked hard but 3 out of 4 men hospitalised there died.

Ch­agres River crossed the canal route 14 times! De Lesseps' decid­ed to dam and divert the river, ignoring eng­in­eers’ advice re the impossible task. But in the rainy season, this River rose to a monst­rous torrent that swept everything aw­ay. Chest deep in mud, the Fr­en­­ch force contin­ued. The rain and Chag­res often de­st­royed what en­g­ineering and hard labour won; mudslides buried men, sup­p­lies, mach­ines.

In 1887 Gustave Eiffel agreed to build Panama Canal's locks. This was his biggest contract AND the riskiest. So he was gr­ant­ed major financial advantages and solid guarantees, all­owing him to collect his profit as soon as the work began.

When the Canal Co failed in Dec 1888, French investments were lost and Panama meant fraud; c$287 m had been sp­ent, 50 million cubic ms of rock were moved, 11 miles of canal dug & 20,000 men killed. The money end­­ed and shareholders voted to dis­s­ol­ve the Co, placing it in legal re­ceiv­er­ship.

The wor­th­less Canal Co. stock made investors fur­ious, demanding the Fr­en­ch government conduct an 1893 Inquiry which named many individuals and in­stitutions. The br­ibes, slush funds and in­fl­uence ped­dling also pr­oved that many legis­l­ators were involved!! Key fin­an­ciers Baron de Reinach and Cornelius Herz allegedly gave bribes to targets. The public claimed that the VERY REA­SON for their con­fid­en­ce, government back­ing of loans, was the key factor in the crisis. And although some culprits were impr­is­oned or fined, de Rein­ach died before he was sen­tenced. Ferdinand & Charles de Lesseps, and Gust­ave Ei­f­fel, were sentenced to (non-enforced) prison terms. Herz fled to Eng­land. Eventually the burden was born ONLY the c800,000 French citizens who saw their investments eliminated.

So President Roosevelt took up the cause. In 1901, Roos­evelt passionately spoke of the Panama Canal to Congr­ess. In 1902 the U.S agreed to buy rights to the French canal property and equipment for c$40 mill and U.S Dept of War began negotiating a Panama treaty with Colombia.

When Colombia slowed negotiations, Roosevelt & Panam­an­ian bus­iness int­er­ests collaborated on a revolution las­ting br­ief­ly. Colombian soldiers in Colón were each brib­ed $50 to down arms; USS Nashville cruised off the Panaman­ian coast in supp­ort. In Nov 1903, the nation of Panama was born.

The U.S took control. Americans had written the Pan­amanian Constit­ut­ion in advance, after a payment of $10 million se­cured a canal zone and rights to build. The pro-canal lobbyist Phil­lipe Bunau-Varilla, instal­l­ed as Pan­amanian minister to the U.S., signed a treaty favourable to US in­t­erests. The $40 million given to J.P Morgan for distribution to French stockholders faded amid rumours of larceny.

The Americans' first year in Panama (1904) replicated the French disast­er. The chief engineer, John F Wallace, developed no action plan; the food was putrid and living conditions abysmal. Disease struck, 3 out of 4 Am­ericans went home, and Wallace soon followed. The Americans had poured $128 useless millions into the swamps of Panama.

Clever John Stevens took over, he who’d built the Great Nor­thern Railroad across the Pacific NW. He ultimately saved the troubled canal with a new plan i.e a well-housed, well-fed, disease-free labour force. Dr William Gorgas, who’d earlier eradicated yellow fever in Havana by killing mosq­uitoes & sanit­ation. Workers drained swamps, swept ditches, pav­ed roads, instal­led plumbing and sp­rayed pesticides. Towns rose with housing, schools, churches, shops and halls.

Pres. Roosevelt visiting the Canal

1906, PBS

After 9 months of Capitol Hill lob­bying, the push for Roosevelt’s fav­oured Lake and Lock Canal succeed­ed and the canal's engineering was ch­ang­ed. Stevens planned to dam the Chagres to create the vast Gat­un Lake in Panama's interior where a series of locks could raise ships from the Atl­antic side to the level of the lake. The boats could cross the lake, then de­scend by another set of locks to the Pacific. This plan was near­ly iden­tical to one proposed by French engineer Godin de Lépinay in 1879 when M de Lesseps promoted his sea-level plan. With sanitat­ion complete, gig­an­tic steam shovels scooped tons of earth, and railroad cars ran on double tracks, dumping tailings on the Chagres dam.

By Dec 1905 yellow fever had been eradicated. In Nov 1906 Roosevelt happily visited the canal. In Feb 1907, Chief Engineer Stevens resigned and Col. George Goethals, an Army engin­eer who built lock-type canals, quickly took over.

First ships ready to test the Canal, 1913

At Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, workers poured concrete for a wall 8' wide, 12' high and 133 miles long. They built cul­v­erts/rail­­road tunnels to channel water from Gatun Lake into the locks. Pitt­sburgh's furnaces roared as 50+ mills, foundries and mac­hine shops chur­ned out the metalwork. There were lost equip­ment and deaths, but progress!

In May 1913, steam shovels broke through the Culebra Cut and the last cement was poured at Gatun locks. The Chagres filled Gatun Lake, and en­g­ineers prepared for the canal's first trial run in Sept. The  end was near! The Panama Canal opened officially on Aug 1914. Sadly just as German troops were driving across Belgium to Paris.

A cruise ship sails down the completed Canal

Many thanks to PBS