The Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg

Well I’ve been in South Africa for just over a week now and so far I am loving it. I went and visited the Apartheid Museum on Wednesday 25^th August. Like most people, I’ve heard all about the great statesman Nelson Mandela and the role he played in ending apartheid, but I’d never really learnt about apartheid and what it actually meant to the people living through it in any detail.

As you enter the museum, you are randomly classed as either ‘White’ or ‘Black’ and had to enter through either the ‘Whites Only’ gate or the ‘Blacks Only’ gate.

The system of apartheid was then explained; each person was categorised as either ‘White’, ‘Coloured’, which meant a person was of mixed Black and White descent, or ‘Black’. It was quite a flexible system, and was not so much about the colour of your skin as your social grouping. Consequently, it was explained, sometimes people were re-categorised. In practice, this meant that your rights could sometimes be taken away overnight.

During apartheid, which started in the late 1940s, black people were essentially afforded less privileges. They were moved into ‘townships’ where they had severely reduced civil liberties and infinitely less opportunities than their white counterparts. The museum gave an immense amount of detail about apartheid, its origins and how it worked in practice. One of the mechanisms by which apartheid was enforced was by passing a number of laws, such as prohibiting mixed marriages.

The museum also interwove the factual history with the stories of real people, and painted a graphic and disturbing picture of the realities and hardships of daily life. When you realise that black domestic servants often had to have different cutlery and plates to their white bosses as they didn’t want to use crockery that had been ‘contaminated’, you appreciate the depth of segregation and how ingrained it was in peoples’ mentalities.

One of the things I found fascinating was learning about how apartheid actually came to end. It was not the overnight process I had imagined, rather it took several months of negotiating between the government and the ANC, of which Nelson Mandela was the leader. It also took hundreds of riots and demonstrations across South Africa, during which hundreds of people were killed. Seeing the video footage of white police beating young students protesting peacefully against the regime was particularly shocking.

A number of changes took place in South Africa after this. A new constitution was drawn up affording equality and freedom for all different groups. Whilst this is great in theory, obviously such profound social changes take a long time, and it is clear that today’s South Africa is still living in the shadow of apartheid.

Having said that, my feeling so far is that there is a deep sense of optimism in South Africa - the love for Nelson Mandela verges on the obsessive, and his words are venerated:

Lilies on the Land

There are certain part of history which attract a lot of popular attention; Henry VIII and his six wives (greedy chap), Hitler and his fearsome salutes, and of course, men landing, or at least pretending to land, on the moon. You get the picture.

But being an out-of-the-closet History geek, I have always been interested in the lesser known stories. The stories of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times. So when I wandered past the Arts Theatre near Covent Garden earlier in the summer and saw a play called 'Lilies on the Land', I knew I had to go.



A few people may be familiar with the story of the Women's Land Army of World War II. With most of the men away fighting in the war, there was a desperate need for people to farm the land, as few imports were possible owing to the German blockades which were intended to starve Britain into submission. And so, women of all ages, from all parts of Britain, took to the fields to keep the country going.

The play followed the stories of 4 Land Girls from all different parts of the UK, in which each character recounted their experiences. They ranged from hilarious reminiscences about city girls being unable to identify the most basic of farm animals (''Is that a coooooooooooooooooow?''), to the emotional recounting of the heartwrenching moment one women discovered her fiance had died in the war.

What made the play even more incredible was the fact that the play was based on hundreds of letters from and interviews with original Land Girls. Knowing that the stories being told had happened to real women, many my age or younger, was deeply humbling.

At the end of the play, I thought it was a little bit odd when one of the actresses began crying, particularly as these are trained actors who have performed this play dozens of times. She then explained the reason for her emotion - present in the audience that day were a number of ladies, most of whom are now in their 80s or 90s, who were the original Land Girls. I then noticed a large number of women wearing scarves, hats or badges bearing the 'Land Girls' insignia.

Outside, many of the women had tears in their eyes. They waited to meet the members of the cast (See below right - taken on my phone and not the best picture I'm afraid!)

I could hear the women exchanging stories, reminiscing about some of the songs such as 'We'll Meet Again' which had been part of the production. It was amazing to think that these women, now wrinkled and slowed down by age, had once been the
people who had kept Britain going through the war.


I didn't quite pluck up the courage to speak to any of the Land Girls; I wouldn't have anything worthwhile to say to them, other than to express my for their service to the country, but I am glad that through productions such as Lilies on the Land, or the film The Land Girls, their contribution will not be forgotten.

A new venture

Hello and welcome!

Just a bit of background to the blog - After completing 20 (yes, 20) years of school and university, I am finally about to embark on the world of work, as a Lawyer. No, I'm not boring. No, I'm not going to be rich (not much money in Family Law!) No, I am not balding. And no, neither of my parents are Lawyers.

The prospect of ending my formal education and commencing my career has made me feel a number of emotions...

1) Exhilarated!! - Money to buy pretty handbags and not-very-practical-but-oh-so-gorgeous shoes.

2) Grown up - I will be be involved in processes which will really affect peoples' lives.

3) Mourning - No more 10am wake ups for this Barrister. And bye bye, This Morning. I will miss watching you with my morning cup of coffee!

4) Creative - Which brings us to the birth of this blog. I've always really enjoyed writing, and sadly the last 2 years of Law school hasn't given me much of an opportunity to write in a creative way.

And so, here we are. I'm giving blog writing a bash. It's quite likely nobody will read it. But it will at least give me a creative outlet and an opportunity to record some of my experiences. I'm not entirely sure what I will write about yet - it's likely to be a mixture of my great passions - History, Food and Wine, Travel and Theatre.

If there's anybody out there...I hope you enjoy reading!