The Powell Cotton family were explorers, soldiers, women, anthropologists, naturalists, film-makers and more. Their astonishing archives and collection form the core of the Powell Cotton Museum (PCM) in its country park, and include the world’s largest elephant specimen and the first room-sized habitat-display diorama (a form of exhibit best known through the examples at the …
July 2013 archive
Jul 18
Officer! I moustache you a question: The Science of Selecting Soldiers in WWII
Which type of fine- follicled fellow would you pick to be an officer: trimmed, divided, clipped, line or bushy? Wartime researcher G.R. Perberdy gave the matter considerable thought, compiling data on the facial hair of hundreds of participants – whom he helpfully notes were male – that went through the War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs) …
Jul 18
Aldous Huxley – Antic Hay (London, 1923)
Why does Gumbril feel he needs to wear a fake beard to be ‘The Complete Man’? In Antic Hay, Gumbril feels inadequate in his own body. He feels restricted and unconfident, unable to express his true thoughts. When he sports a fake beard, however, he becomes what he calls “The Complete Man”. With the beard, …
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