The Past Tense Of Youth: The charade

On May 31, 2014February 9, 2015 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Now and then, Romantic interludes

I remained on watch for the next hour whilst pretending to be very involved in a game of charades with the others in the main hall. There were now many of us as more carriages had arrived with the sultan’s wives. It seemed as if all of Topkapi was moving to Yildiz palace that night. The guards had returned almost two hours later and were dismayed to find Rana amongst us. She explained in her sultry voice which seemed to drive them mad with desire that she had, in fact, been feeling out of sorts and had merely retired to her chamber for a rest. The guards had been constrained because the private chambers of the sultan’s consorts were off limits to any man other than the sultan. Gurel, who was now once again one of them ,had joined the halbadiers (military guards ) in their quarters directly opposite the harem pavillion. Yildiz Palace was high up on a hill and surrounded by very high walls which may have been the reason for Hamid’s preference for it as a place to entertain guests away from the prying eyes of his servants and it would limit the possibilities of a seaside attack. We did not yet know that there were plans to make this palace our new home.

The palace overlooked two other palaces down the hill and close to the waters edge. ‘Dolmobache and Ciragen palaces were much grander but maybe not as safe as Yildiz and though the walls seemed to reach way up to the clouds there were gaps in the stone work from which we could glimpse the sea. There was also a bridge which connected the palace with Ciragen but this was off limits to us. Inside the walls there were manicured gardens weaved around pavillions. There were courtyards with pools,greenhouses and aviaries with rare birds such as the hoopoe, the blue parrott and the Hunkari, a frill pidgeon trained for racing. These caged birds symbolised believers eager to be liberated from their mortal coils. Setting these birds free would earn them points in heaven. Strange that these believers could not see the parallels between captured birds and captured women.

The servants quarters were separated by gates and passageways leading to other parts of the palace and maybe even down the hillside and through the valleys surrounding as this would be a the best way for the sultan to commute and remain unseen. The Sultan resided in the Sale kiosk which consisted of two floors and a basement.In the centre of this was the Sedefi salon covered in mother of pearl inlay. It’s ceiling adorned with painted landscapes and it’s reception chamber ,which we had visited prior to the opera company , guilded in gold with a coffered ceiling and large mirrors on the panelled walls. Other kiosks included the Cadir Kiosk where prisoners were held,including princes of the realm, and the grand ceremonial hall where Hamid conducted his official business with the palace beaurocracy. There was even a kiosk for the making of porcelain which resembled a Medievil castle. The Muayede Pavillion to the left was for guest accommodation and also housed the entrance to the harem. Adjoined to this was the lovely Yildiz theatre where we had just performed for the royal guests and where at least one captured bird had managed, for a short time, to shake her mortal coils and soar way into the heavens in a secret lovers tryst.

© Renee Dallow ( Hybiscus Bloom ) 31/5/2014

‘D-DOLLs’ on duty

On May 29, 2014February 6, 2015 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Now and then

With the anniversary of D-Day on it’s way I got to wondering what role women had to play both in the lead up and in the activation of the famous landing on Normandy shore. Well quite alot actually. It’s not very widely known that women too were called up by the National Service Act. This means that women were actually required to play an active part by the governments of the day. Many who refused served time in jail. A harsh penalty indeed. In America, Canada, Britain and Australia as well as many allied European countries women were mobilised as orderlies,drivers,postal workers and ammunition inspectors as well as joining officer ranks in the field of medicine. There was a women’s voluntary service at home and the women’s land army helping out on the farms. By 1943 9 out of every 10 women took part in the war effort. Their jobs were dangerous too especially when working as radar operators, dealing with anti aircraft guns, and patrolling their turf as military police. Let’s list some of the job titles.

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry ( U.K. )…..’ FANYs’ ( Yes it’s true. )

Canadian Women’s Army Corps …… ‘CWACs’

Volunteer Emergency Service …… ‘WAVEs’

Women’s Airforce ….. ‘WASPs’

Women’s Army Corps ….. ‘WACs’

Women’s Land Army ….. ‘Land Girls’

Women’s Royal Australian Navy …., ‘WRANs’

Women’s Royal Navy …. ( America, Canada ) …. ‘WRENs’

Where are the accolades for a job well done? Where are the documentaries on their considerable achievements? How many of these brave women died defending their countries? Many women went back to their normal every day lives as hum drum housewives taking second place once more in the world of men. Even when on war duty these women were not given the credits they deserved. In fact if their brave deeds were made public and their names posted in the halls of war memorials and on monuments you would probably find them listed under …. ‘D. DOLLs’.

Think about it.

Amy Elisabeth Thorpe: A WW11 Mata Hari

On May 26, 2014December 15, 2024 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world

Amy Elisabeth Thorpe was known as the Mata Hari of WW11. Blonde and beautiful she proved hard to resist and had all the right credentials to boot. Her father was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corp and her mother the daughter of a senator. A part of the social set In Washington, Amy was much sought after. With her father being quite high up in the military she made some very good connections indeed and soon came to the attention of British Intelligence through operatives working in the U.S. In 1930 Amy married the under secretary of the British Embassy. Though the marriage was pretty shaky they managed to have children and maintain the facade of a happy family. When her husband was transferred to Madrid, Amy decided that she also wanted to do something important for the war effort and , being sympathetic to Franco, began helping Spanish nationals escape across the boarder while also helping transport Red Cross supplies to Franco’s troops. Following the evacuation of British Embassy staff from Northern Spain during a bombardment the family was transferred to Poland. Amy ,once again feeling alone and disillusioned, began an affair with a Polish diplomat who shared information on German interests in the Sudetenland, which she dutifully passed on to British Intelligence. It was this liason that made the Brits sit up and take notice of her skills and recruit her as an agent. The decision to use her as an agent proved to be a good one and ‘Cynthia’ went on to find information on Germany’s enigma enciphering machine as well as proof of Hitler’s plans to dismantle Czechoslovakia.
Soon after her affair with the Polish Diplomat was exposed her marriage was over. New York beckoned and the still very young femme fatale moved there to work with British Security co-ordinations. From there she moved on to Washington D.C. as an undercover journalist and managed to obtain Italian naval ciphers through her new lover a naval attache from the Italian Embassy. Probably her most famous exploit was in obtaining documents from the bureau of the Vichy government whilst having an affair with a French press attache by the name of Charles Brousse. The affair was conducted in Brousse’s office while British embassy staff drugged the guard and photographed cables, letters and documents with detailed plans on troop movements. Meanwhile it was up to Cynthia to obtain the key to the the Vichy safe which contained the cyphers. The information found in the cyphers was of immense importance to the allies when they landed in North Africa in 1942. Her first husband died on the field. Retiring in 1944 she married Charles Brousse, her collaborator on the vichy codes, whilst still young enough to start again and enjoy the remainder of her life . When frowned upon as being overly promiscuous Cynthia famously replied ” Wars are not won by respectable methods.” Unlike Mata Hari , however, Cynthia died of natural causes in 1963.

The Past Tense Of Youth: In Defiance

On May 21, 2014October 9, 2014 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Romantic interludes, stories of mystery and romance

Sultan Hamid’s opera Theatre in Yildiz Palace was a sight to behold. We were lead to the theatre through an underground passage from the seraglio and were given a small tour before the arrival of the opera company. The theatre was small and compact but beautifully designed with stars painted on the domed ceiling . The balcony boxes were fitted in red velvet as were the seats below. We were given permission to be seated in the upper balconies way at the back where we would not be easily seen unless,of course, someone knew of our presense and strained to catch a glimpse during performace. We were taken back stage and shown where we were to make our entrance after the company had made their exit. This would be my only chance to get a message to Gurel as I would be the first on stage.

I would drop my handkerchief just as Gurel exited the stage with the rest of the cast. This would not be noticed as I had another enclosed within the palm of my hand. Gurel would read the message written on the handkerchief and wait for Rana behind the poplar tree to the right of the main door to the Harem chambers. When the dance had finished Rana would be first off stage leaving the rest of us to cover for her disappearance momentarily. When the Sultan had realised that she was missing I would say that she had made her escape through the garden. While all were out in search of the escaped gypsy Harem girl she and her beloved would be united. The opera ‘ The Barber of Seville’ was scurrulous and just as I had remembered it on the London stage.

The faces of the other girls lit up as Rossini’s opera permeated the tiny theatre. They had never seen or heard anything like it in their lives and probably never would again. Our view was not the best as we were so high up and it took some time to recognise Gurel as there were so many on stage and it was quite dark. During an argument between the count disguised as a drunken soldier and the heroin Rosina’s guardian ‘Bartolo’, a crowd gathered and there was one young man protesting louder than all the others. He was also dancing and looking up at the balconies as he did so.

Rana was shaking with the anticipation. There was no doubt it was he and as his eyes came to rest on her Rana removed her veil for a brief moment and lifted her chin in defiance of protocol. He smiled and whirled off stage behind the character of Figaro as the crowd dispersed and the next aria began. At the end of the performance as the company exited the stageLead by the sultan and his entourage and we moved on behind them I made eye contact with Gurel and dropped the handkerchief. As he picked it up he gazed into my eyes for and I thought I thought for an instant that somehow he had recognised me but he turned away and hurried in the direction of the seraglio where he knew Rana would be waiting. There was a brief interval in which the opera company enjoyed tea and cakes with the sultan in the sale pavillion. During this time we positioned ourselves on the stage and the musicians tuned their instruments.

All went according to plan and our skirts made almost entirely of handkerchiefs were a source of fascination with our audience. They were intrigued with our way of life and with the fact that we all belonged to one man. With our handkerchiefs we remained joined in a circle ducking and weaving our way through the music until Hamid clapped his hands to end the performance whereupon we formed one line and came to the front of the stage. Rana was way at the end of the line off stage behind the curtain and ,with the eunuch distracted by the musicians , managed to make her way back to the Harem undetected. As no-one was allowed to have their backs to the sultan we had to step off the stage still in a line and file through the crowd. We were then to walk around to the back of the pavillion where we would enter the passageway leading back to the harem The sultan would be entertaining the cast with a lavish feast afterward were it not for our little ruse.

As expected he was counting each of us as we moved past him and before long noticed that his favourite was not among us. I was summoned and told him that she had broken away despite my plea that she not take the risk. Guards were sent off in a search party while eunuchs were deployed in the opposite direction. We were escorted back and the guard doubled outside our doors. They did not know that in the room adjoining mine two lovers were preparing for the day when they would no longer need to hide their love and could rejoice in the freedom that would come with the overthrow of an empire. Nor could the guards know that they were in the presence of an interloper from another time who had been forewarned of the upheavals to come.

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