Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of Beatrix Potter

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Get Sleepy, where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host Thomas and it's a pleasure to have your company. Tonight Elizabeth will be telling us all about the incredible life of the writer and illustrator, Beatrix Potter. Through her words and art, Beatrix introduced the world to beloved characters like Squirrel Nuttkin, Jemima Paddleduck, and of course the mischievous little bunny, Peter Rabbit. If you enjoy listening to Elizabeth's soothing narration tonight, remember to check out our sister podcast, The Sleepy Bookshelf, which she hosts.

Starting point is 00:00:59 It features many classic books and tales perfectly adapted to help you fall asleep. Just search for the Sleepy Book shelf wherever you listen to podcasts. Tonight this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life can be full of challenges, especially in times of change. Sometimes it really feels tough to face those challenges and look after our mental health. That's where BetterHelp comes in. Therapists are trained to help you figure out the cause of challenging emotions and learn productive coping skills. Having used BetterHelp myself, I know how powerful it is to have a sympathetic neutral ear, whom you can get things off your chest too. As the world's largest therapy

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Starting point is 00:02:45 love for you to try and get sleepy premium. And with the Gifting option, you could even add it to your own wish list this festive season. On the premium feed, you can enjoy over 450 full-length episodes, completely and entirely add free. Plus every Thursday we release a new bonus episode, just for our premium supporters. Like tomorrow, where we'll be returning to a special home on the North Sea coast of England, to join Kate and her cat, Whiskers.

Starting point is 00:03:23 Your support means so much to us and is essential in helping us to keep the show going. To find out more and enjoy a 7-day free trial, go to GetSleepy.com slash support or follow the link in the show notes. Thanks so much. So my friends, take a moment to get relaxed and make yourself comfortable. Try and relax your spine from your neck to your tailbone. Notice how your spine length by sinking deeper into bed. Suffer your muscles and relax your face. Now that you're comfortable, slow your breathing. Inhale deeply. Hold the breath for a moment or two.

Starting point is 00:05:00 And exhale. Try to extend the length of your exhale a little longer than that of your inhale. And keep breathing like this, finding a rhythm that works perfectly for you. As you continue to breathe calmly and evenly, let your eyes gently close as I hand over to Elizabeth. Imagine you are standing in the well-capped garden of a grand brick Begins. This mansion is located in Kensington, London. The lawn is well manicured. The tall, old oak trees provide shade from the warm summer sun and the leaves of the elm trees rustle softly in the breeze. The flower beds are a pleasing tangle of daisies, primrose ends, buttercamps and pansies.

Starting point is 00:07:03 A gentile rose garden boasts flowering shrubs with roses in a riot of pings, creams, reds, and buttery yellows. If you sniff the air, you can smell the roses sweet scent. The year is 1866. Kensington is a far cry from the bustling inner city suburb familiar to Londoners today. Back then, the district sat on the outskirts of the city, and though many of its streets boasted gracious homes, in some ways it still resembled the rural village. Beyond a clash of comfortable, middle-class homes lay forests and open fields. Some of the fields were still used as common farmland where local families brought their sheep and cattle to graze. In fact, if you listen, you can hear the trilling of the birds in the forest and the distant bling of sheep. But there are no sheep or cattle in this very respectable garden.

Starting point is 00:08:47 film in this very respectable garden. Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866. And for the first 47 years of her life, she lived in this house at a 22, Bolton Gardens, Kensington. She was born into a comfortably middle-class family, originally from the area around Manchester, a city in the north of England. Towards the time, one of the world's first great industrial cities, famed for its skyline of red brick factories and textile mills. The Etrix's paternal grandfather was the proprietor of a calico printing works. Her maternal grandfather, the proprietor of a cotton mill.

Starting point is 00:09:51 Her own father was a London barrister. Despite their upper middle class respectability, an artistic streak ran through the family. Her mother, Helen, was a keen embroiderer and loved to spend evenings dipping her paintbrush into her pot of watercolours and producing moody scenes of the wind-swept landscapes of her childhood, or more temperate scenes of her London garden. Helen would later gift her paintballs to Beatrix. Beatrix's father, meanwhile, was an avid devotee of a relatively new artistic discipline, photography. Theatrix would watch, fascinated as her father set up his camera on his tripod, then disappeared disappeared behind the dark clock which shrouded the camera and blocked out all the light. She waited eagerly outside the door of his dark room to see how the final photograph appeared.

Starting point is 00:11:20 He loved to take portraits of her and when he was born six years later, a her younger brother Bertram. She didn't even mind standing completely still for minutes at a time, so that her likeness in the final photograph would be clear, not blurry around the edges. Following her father's influence, Beatrix would grow up to become an accomplished photographer in her own right. Like many Victorian girls, Beatrix was sheltered from much of the world. She and Bertram were educated privately by a series of governors.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Because Beatrix was a girl, she wasn't expected to take much interest in serious subjects, like Latin or mathematics. Instead, she was encouraged in more lady-like pursuits, playing music, sewing, and of course, the watercolour painting which would eventually make her name. However, her parents didn't discourage her from those serious subjects when she showed an interest. She took to the natural sciences and were surprised. Her parents were quite encouraging for the time. Beechic and Bertram both loved spending long days in the garden. They rambled through the flower beds, and when they were permitted went beyond the

Starting point is 00:13:16 confines of their own cottage garden and into the fields and forests of Kensington. Surrounded by trees and rocks mottled with lichen and moss, with cool, damp soil underfoot and a bright tapestry of bird song, weaving through the branches above them, they felt very far from the city. Here, they filled their pockets with treasures to take back to the schoolroom, birds nests and shells, leaves and rolls. They carefully transported live creatures back to the school room too, and soon one corner of the room was a dedicated manadury by salamanders and mutes swam in bowls. Mines nibbled at the edges of their sawdust nests. Frogs ribbitin, worms slithered, and tortoises chewed thoughtfully on crisp green letter-slings. Beirutrix and Bertram both delighted and observing their creatures and sketching their likenesses.

Starting point is 00:14:51 The pair made etchings, crayon drawings and paintings of the animals in their care. At weekends, Beirutrix and Bertram went farther afield. They visited Kensington Gardens, wandering through its gracious rose gardens, stopping to sail three boats at Regents Park in the heart of the city where the London zoological gardens could be found. They joined the thronging crowns, dressed in their best-going outclones, all eager to catch a glimpse of animals from far away lands. Here, Beatrix would have admired the elephants and orangutans and the Jew-colored parrots in

Starting point is 00:16:00 the Avery. While the monkeys and elephants always drew crowds of excited onlookers, Beatrix also sought out the less popular animals. She loved to examine the intricate scales of the rattlesnakes that draped themselves over rocks in the reptile house. And the thrilled lizards that watched her almost as intently as she watched them through their gleaming guise. Far better than their garden in London and the the sewage regions part though, was the wild countryside of England's late district and Perthshire, Scotland, where the Porta family

Starting point is 00:16:57 often went on holidays. In Perthshire, theatrics would have walked across wild mawes and through thick forests, where rivers and waterfalls tumbled over mossy rocks. In the lake district, the pot has stayed at Lake Windermere, a glacial lake nestled in the district's green, rolling hills. Beatrix would have wandered the lake's edge, even rode out to visit the islands scattered across the middle of it. Beatrix loved the feeling of freedom that came with roaming across the countryside for hours. In the lake district, she learned to ride a horse and track,

Starting point is 00:17:59 and then she could travel to even further flung destinations. At the end of every holiday, the Porta family returned to their comfortable life in London. The atrix always felt her heart belonged to those wilder, less cultivated landscapes, and she would return to them time and time again. When Bertram was sent to boarding school to continue his education, Beatrix was left alone with her governors and ladies companion Annie Moore. Annie encouraged Beatrix's artistic passions, but Beatrix's interest in the sciences also flourished. She filled sketchbook after sketchbook with highly detailed,

Starting point is 00:19:02 biologically accurate depictions of flora and fauna. In her late teens, Beatrix was accepted to the National Art Training School, where she took courses in drawing and painting. Beatrix was a diligent student, spending many afternoons, copying the work of master painters, like Constable and Van Dyke, with the Royal Academy's exhibition. She was skeptical about some of the advice her teachers gave her. She was skeptical about some of the advice her teachers gave her.

Starting point is 00:19:51 She found their insistence on doing things the right way, sapped all the life and energy from her drawings. Although she devoted herself to art, Beatrix was still passionate about science. In fact, she found ways to bring her two passions together. She could often be seen in the grand halls of London's Museum of Natural History, bent over her sketchbook as she made an exacting copy of which ever specimen had caught her eye that day. In her late teens and early twenties, Beatrix drew in-sacks, fossils, moths, birds,

Starting point is 00:20:52 mosses and lichens. But more than anything else, she sketched mushrooms. She collected the specimens herself, foraging through the forests on misty autumn days. With the help of a pocket knife, she lifted the most beautifully coloured and intricately structured examples carefully from the mossy earth where they grew and carried them back to Bolton Gardens where she observed them through the lens of a wondrous new invention and microscope. She taught herself the techniques for proper botanical illustration. Soon, her work caught the eye of Sir Charles McIntosh, a leading figure in British mythology as the study of fungi and mushrooms is called. With Macintosh's encouragement, Beatrix began to study how mushrooms reproduce, a subject about which little was known. Some scientists had suggested that they reproduce through their spores, tiny cells, to

Starting point is 00:22:09 generate it by the mushroom cat, drop down into the soil where, when conditions are right, they connect with other spores and finally generate new mushrooms. These theories will widely dismiss, but Beatrix thought there might be something to them. She conducted various experiments, germinating her own mushroom spores and trying to establish under which circumstances these spores might reproduce. She even published a paper on the topic titled, On the Germination of the Spores of a Gara Case in I. She hoped to present the paper to London's Linian Society, an organization of eminent oughtnests. There was just one

Starting point is 00:23:17 problem, the Linian Society only accepted male members. Despite Beatrix's best efforts, they refuse to even discuss a woman's research findings. Now it is widely accepted that mushrooms do reproduce through their spores. What's more, Beatrix's botanical illustrations are still studied today, thanks to their scientific accuracy. A scientific career might have been closed off to her, but that couldn't dampen Beatrix's love of nature. She continued to sketch the animals she observed in her London garden, in the lake district, and in the Scottish Highlands.

Starting point is 00:24:20 And while Beatrix was a rigorous scientist who captured the flora and fauna she saw around her with astonishing accuracy. She also felt that the English countryside was filled with magic. After a walk through the lake district, she has said to have observed that the moors felt like they belonged to the fairies. This intertwined interest in science and nature and sensitivity to magic and enchantment would go on to define her unique artistic style. would go on to define her unique artistic style. In September, 1893, she enclosed some of these drawings in a letter to No More, the son of her former governess Annie.

Starting point is 00:25:30 The drawings showed a young rabbit to a muse known Beatrix wrote a little story to accompany the drawings. She called the rabbit Peter. In the story, the mischievous Peter sneaks into the garden of Pharma Magrega and feasts on the Pharma's vegetable patch, even though his mother has sternly warned him not to. When Pharma Magrega catches sight of Peter, Peter runs away and gets stuck in a watering can. Eventually, he riggles free and escapes. That night, his systems flop see, mobs see, and cotton tail enjoy a supper of black breeze and cream.

Starting point is 00:26:26 But Peter, who has over indulged on farmer McGregor's radishes and lettuce, has a stomach ache and has to drink chamomile tea instead. Null and his siblings were delighted with the story. His mother, Annie, suggested Beatrix Publish it. Beatrix worked at the story a little more and refined her illustrations with a view to finding a publisher. The first publisher she approached rejected her, so did the second. All in all, six publishing houses turned down the chance to take our story. While many editors enjoyed her work, none were prepared to publish a book that fit Beatrix's very exacting stipulations.

Starting point is 00:27:33 She wanted the book to be published in a smaller format than was usual at the time. She insisted that smaller books would be easier for children's small hands to hold, and because she wanted her story to be affordable for all children. She proposed only including a select few color illustrations. The rest would be rendered in black wine, which were far cheaper to print. At last, Beatrix printed off a small run of copies

Starting point is 00:28:16 which might be shared with friends and family. In 1902, the publisher Frederick Warn saw Beatrix's little book and was charm. Together, they prepared the story for commercial publication with colour plate illustrations. The tale of Peter Rabbit was an immediate success. The story captivated readers and its illustrations which blended Victorian whimsy with Beatrix's scientific eye for accuracy caused a sensation. The public was delighted with the young rabbit Peter, who dressed in a natty blue velvet jacket and his sister's flopsie, mopsie and cotton towel who wore in the head of Cain's. In partnership with Warn, Beatrix was soon producing two story books a year. Following on from Peter Rabbit, she wrote The Taylor of Gloucester, and The Tale of

Starting point is 00:29:39 Squirrel Nuttkin. In all, she would publish more than 20 children's books, in which perfectly realistic animals dressed in the latest Victorian fashions, and went on adventures through the picturesque mores, dales and forests of the English countryside. For most of her career, she worked very closely with her editor, Frederick's son Norman Warren. Their relationship did not stay purely professional. Beardrix had always been a shy woman, more at home in the forest than she was in the drawing rooms of Victorian society, a woman who counted more pets than people among her friends.

Starting point is 00:30:39 In the gentle, soft, spoken Norman, she found a kindred spirit. Someone who truly understood her and encouraged her ambitions. The two fell in love. Beatrix's family did not approve of the match. In pursuing a career as a writer and illustrator, Beatrix was already defying social conventions. Her parents never fully supported her career. They certainly couldn't support their only daughter becoming involved with an editor. They viewed Norman as a tradesman well below their own class. But Beatrix wasn't a town, she and Norman wrote each other long letters professing their love. Norman even proposed to Beatrix in a letter, and be a trick s accepted without hesitation.

Starting point is 00:31:50 She was prepared to defy her parents' wishes. After all, she loved Norman, and unusually for a woman at that time, her commercial publishing success meant she had the financial means to make her own decisions in life. But their longed for marriage was not to be, less than a month after he proposed, Norman passed away. Beatrix received the news by telegram, while she was on holiday in Wales with her parents. She went into deep mourning. When the clouds of grief passed, Beatrix decided to do something rather unusual for a woman of her class.

Starting point is 00:32:45 With the substantial royalties she had earned on the tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix bought a property of her own, Hilltop Farm, small cottage in the Lake District. Although she continued to live with her parents in Kensington, she travelled to the cottage often. She threw herself into renovating the Shabby 17th century stone house and even turned it into a working farm where she bred herdwick sheep. She was very good at it and would go on to be elected the first female president of the Herdwick sheep breeders association. Beatrix often retreated to Hilltop to work on her books. She found the wild nature that surrounded her there, inspiring.

Starting point is 00:33:50 The cottages pleasantly overgrown gardens with climbing flowers and a vegetable patch by carrots and rhubarb and cabbage grew, often crept into her distinctive watercolour illustrations. So too did the views of the lake district that she enjoyed from her hilltop patch. delicate grey green fields and mores, tumbled down farms and higgledy-piggledy stone fences, and silvery skies where heavy clouds almost always seemed the threatened rain. Some of Beatrix's best loved characters came to life in her studio at Hilltop. Characters like the scatterbrained Ailsbree Duh, Jemima Puddle Duh, who is forever forgetting where she has laid her eggs. And Tom Kitten, the mischievous cat who wreaks havoc on his mother's tea party. During care visits to Hilton, Beatrix got to know the residents of the nearby village.

Starting point is 00:35:18 One resident in particular became a treasured companion, local solicitor William Helens. The two married and moved into Castle Cottage in the prosperous town of Meir Soory. Here, Beatrix Rowe, and painted. She also developed a deep admiration for the region's traditional farming methods. She and William bought a few acres of farmland and Beatrix expanded her flock of sheep. All their agriculture in England was becoming increasingly industrialized, the Eritrex insisted on doing things the old fashioned way. As a result, her flock thrived.

Starting point is 00:36:18 Soon, she expanded her land holdings. In her 15s, as her eyesight began to fade, she concentrated more and more energy on tending to her own farm and to safeguarding the welfare and interests of other local farming families. She also did something that struck her farming neighbours as a little on. There were large tracks of her land that Beatrix didn't farm. As she acquired more and more land, she decided that some of it should be left wild and untouched. It was our way of trying to preserve the uniquely rugged beauty for adopted home. In 1930, Beatrix published what would be her last book, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson. It tells the story of a gullible young pig who is sent to market by his grandmother. At the market he meets a sailor who invites him on an ocean voyage.

Starting point is 00:37:46 Pig Robinson immediately accepts the sailor's offer, cited at all the adventures he will have it seen. But the sailor has tricked him. He's only invited the pig aboard the ship so that the cook can serve the luckless pig to the crew for dinner. Happily, Pig Robinson escapes and finds his way to a tropical island where he makes friends with the owl and the pussycat from the old nursery rhyme.

Starting point is 00:38:26 Although it was the last book she ever published, it was based on one of the first stories Beatrix ever wrote, back when she was still a young girl, spending hours in the garden at Kensington, sketching the birds, insects, and mice, and squirrels she spied there in her notebook. In 1943, the age of 77, the Atrix died. Her legacy lives on in the many books she published. Although they have been reprinted many times, they are still just the right size for little hands to hold.

Starting point is 00:39:15 And the charming, precise illustrations inside continue to enchant generation after generation. Her legacy lives on too. In the vast acres of land she worked tirelessly to preserve throughout the lake district. On her dad, Beatrix gifted 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust, an organisation that works to preserve the British landscape. Thanks in part to Beatrix's distinctive illustrations. In summer, they might see the rolling green mors unfiled under a blue sky, ribbing through the mors, a glittering streams and tiny waterfalls. The trees that dot the landscape are in full leaf.

Starting point is 00:40:35 The gardens of the farms and cottages that stand in the fields are overgrown with a profusion of flowers and vegetables. In autumn they might see the moors turn a heavy purple and woodland corpses banished in orange, red, copper, rust. With every brisk flurry of wind, they would see bright leaves spinning towards the air. In winter, they might see frost-rimmed fields punctuated with bright bursts of green and red from the hollybushes that grow wild in the region. The thick white slay marks or perhaps the tiny paw print of a rabbit or two. And in spring they would see a carpet of wild flowers under a gentle pastel sky.

Starting point is 00:44:26 sky. All rendered with a hazy wash of colour could have been painted from the brush of ... ... ... ... ... ... I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room.

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Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of Beatrix Potter

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