Happy Sunday!
One of the joys of creating the Batting the Breeze podcast and Breezer newsletter is to uncover exceptional personal stories and histories.
This week, I found myself thumbing through motivational quotations and came across this:
You must not lose your hope, your love of life and your trust in people.
It has left an impression on me for two reasons. First, I loved the quote so much it is now my computer screensaver. Second, it was from a play called The Memorandum by Václav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
I descended into some serious me-time, exploring the extraordinary life of an individual who, before that moment, had been a footnote in my limited understanding of post-war Eastern Europe.
Václav Havel was born 88 years ago this Saturday, 5 October 1936. He would become one of the most influential figures in modern Czech* history.
The international community remembers him for his brave opposition to communist control across the Eastern Bloc countries throughout the 70s and 80s.
In November 1989, Havel spearheaded the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia’s transition from communism, echoing the fall of the Berlin Wall just two weeks earlier.
This watershed moment propelled Havel to become the nation’s first non-communist leader in 41 years.
In this role, he administered a peaceful transition to democracy and dismantled the Warsaw Pact (the Eastern Bloc’s version of NATO). He then gained entry into NATO itself once the new Czech Republic had partitioned from Slovakia.
Above all, history remembers Václav Havel for his staunch focus on human rights and his championing of civil society. He died in 2011.
I noticed many striking parallels between Václav Havel and Ukraine’s current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Havel started out as a playwright, penning 19 plays and many essays with recurring themes of individual responsibility, integrity, human dignity and a disdain for totalitarian systems.
Zelenskyy’s career began in comedy and transitioned to acting and production. He often mocked the corruption and incompetence of his Russian neighbours.
In 2015, Zelenskyy famously starred as a high school teacher who unexpectedly becomes Ukraine’s President in the TV series ‘Servant of the People’.
The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself but when he plays the role destiny has for him.
Disturbing the Peace, Václav Havel, 1986.
Both men were propelled into leadership of their respective countries from non-political backgrounds. Their grounding as playwright and actor nurtured the communication skills that serve/served them so well in politics.
Of course, they lived at different times, if not ‘in’ different times. When Zalenskyy was born in January 1978, Havel was serving a 14-month suspended sentence for supposed crimes against the (communist) state and writing his acclaimed essay, The Power of the Powerless.
If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth.
The Power of the Powerless, Václav Havel, 1978.
Václav and Volodymyr are both recognised for their moral authority and authenticity.
Havel led his country from communist oppression to democracy. Zalenskyy is attempting to protect his former Soviet state from future Russian oppression and defend the democracy it has strived for since 1991.
Václav Havel was central to shaping the modern Czech Republic. Can Volodymyr Zalenskyy ultimately achieve the same for Ukraine?
Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.
Speech in Prague, Václav Havel,1989
*The Czech Republic is now also known as Czechia.
Podcast episode... a look back
Episode 10. A Holotropic Journey
Stanislav Grof is a Czech psychiatrist and leader in transpersonal psychology. Simply put, that means studying human experience beyond normal states of consciousness.
On 5 October 2007, Václav Havel presented Grof with the VISION 97 award in Prague for his contribution to ‘science and human thought’. Part of this work comprised the development of Holotropic Breathwork, a therapeutic technique combining breathing and music to induce ‘altered states of consciousness’.
I was delighted - and astonished - to learn more about Holotropic Breathwork back in Episode 10. A Holotropic Journey from a long-standing friend of mine.
Neil Harris introduced me to HolotropicUK, which he runs with his wife, Sally. Together, they facilitate group sessions in the UK as part of the worldwide Holotropic Breathwork family founded by Stanislav and his wife Christina.
When facilitated in the correct way, the breather - through rapid breathing techniques - can experience medieval battles, confronting victims of the Holocaust, climbing along cave walls and even being given birth to by 'rather impressive goddesses'. The release of emotion and energy can be profoundly helpful.
Sound a bit whacky? Well, sit back, take a few deep breaths and listen in with an open mind. You may be surprised. Then email me to let me know what you think.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music or just about any other podcast player of your choice. Check out the show notes for the links and transcript to learn more.
My favourite quote from the episode…
Neil referred to Aldous Huxley, the English writer and philosopher of the early 20th century, who thought of the brain as a reducing valve.
He postulated that there's an enormous range of potential experience out there, far more than we can cope with in our everyday lives. And in order to manage the necessities of everyday living, our brain switches off the tap on stuff that's too much to contemplate, so that when we take psychedelics or experience Holotropic Breathwork, the reducing valve is opened and other possibilities and alternative realities can flood in.
Dates with History…
Tuesday...
For many years, Albert Speer was one of the luckiest men alive. Despite being one of Hitler’s closest confidants during World War II with its associated atrocities relating to the Holocaust, he lived to tell the tale.
After the war, Speer was one of 24 hardcore Nazis put on trial at Nuremberg. Historians are sure today that he was fully complicit in the Holocaust.
However, 78 years ago, on 1 October 1946, he side-stepped a journey with ten of the other Nazis on trial to the gallows. Instead, the International Military Tribunal sentenced him to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Albert Speer served every day of those 20 years. He walked free from Spandau Prison, Berlin on 1 October 1966.
Speer then crafted a career as the repentant Nazi, writing and talking about his reconstructed version of the Third Reich until he died in 1981, aged 78.
By the way...
The Crimean War I learned about at school broke out 171 years ago this Friday, 4 October 1853. Unsurprisingly, religious tensions sparked the conflict, but Crimea's strategic position offered Russia and other future Soviet states crucial military control and promised access to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.
The Charge of the Light Brigade, oil on canvas, 1894: by Richard Caton Woodville Jr., Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsThe British, French and Ottomans fought the Russians for control of the territory. Three years and 500,000 deaths later, the Allies defeated the Russians, and the Treaty of Paris was signed.
Russia retained the Crimean Peninsula but with its wings clipped. Today, we can see how impotent those clippings were.
The Crimean War is remembered in particular for one famous incident, memorialised by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, who died 132 years ago next Sunday, 6 October 1892.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of Tennyson’s most recognised works. It vividly depicts the disastrous British cavalry charge that occurred only weeks before he wrote it in 1854.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
The poem highlights a fatal misunderstanding between Lord Lucan and Captain Nolan. As a consequence, Lord Cardigan led his light cavalry towards a heavily defended valley rather than the originally intended target.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forty per cent of the 670 cavalrymen were either killed or wounded, with a further 50 men captured. The tragedy formed part of the Battle of Balaclava which the Russians edged.
However, memories of the heroic actions of the British forces - following orders without question despite the obvious ‘blunder’ - have survived much longer than Russia’s marginal gains.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Question of the week...
The first ‘real’ James Bond film, Dr. No, was released in Britain on 5 October 1962. We had to wait another 11 years for the first real James Bond, Roger Moore, in Live and Let Die.
On the same day Dr. No was released, a relatively unknown band from Liverpool called The Beatles released their first single. What was the single called?
(answer at bottom of newsletter)
And finally...
The anniversary of the last Goon Show was a one-off special, 12 years after the regular run ended, and 52 years ago this coming Saturday, 5 October 1972.
The most eccentric of the Goons had to be Spike Milligan. Born in 1918 in India due to his father’s military service, he later settled in England in the early 30s. During World War II, he fought in the British Army in North Africa and Italy.
These experiences are thought to have contributed to a lifetime of mental health issues.
A Conversation with Spike Milligan, 2019: Loz Pycock from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIn my twenties, I lived for a short time in a way-out place called Ourimbah just north of Sydney on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Closer to Sydney was the slightly larger - but equally way-out - Woy Woy, famous as the home of Spike Milligan’s parents.
Spike once described Woy Woy as “The world’s only above-ground cemetery”, a comment steeped in affection as he was very fond of the town.
Between Ourimbah and Woy Woy lies the city of Gosford. Twenty-one years ago this Friday, 4 October 2003, Milligan’s brother Desmond delivered Spike Fest in Gosford, a cultural festival wholly dedicated to Spike Milligan’s memory. Spike died in 2002.
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Thank you for joining me. Have a great week!
Steve
HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER
P:S: Incidentally, I am always keen to receive your feedback to help me continuously improve this newsletter and the podcast. Just hit reply to this email and...... let it rip! I respond to every email that I receive.
Answer to Question of the week: The first single released by The Beatles was “Love Me Do”.
NEXT WEEK'S BREEZER
Moulin Rouge mayhem. Cancan you believe It?
LAST WEEK'S BREEZER
Assassination Nation
Attribution for cover image: Vaklav Havel, 2014: ří Jiroutek, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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