Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Deckchair

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Get Sleepy. When we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host, Thomas. Thank you for tuning in. It's time for another sleepy history tonight. We know a lot of you are big fans of this series, so I hope you enjoy listening. On this occasion, we'll uncover the history of the deck chair, an object that brings to mind sunshine and naps on the sand. It's a place to rest and watch the world go by, but it has a surprisingly storied past. Traveling thousands of years back, it's a journey that will take us through ancient civilizations, before arriving on the cruise ships, lawns and beaches of today.

Starting point is 00:01:08 And thanks to Joe for writing this wonderful story. Tonight's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes in life we're faced with tough choices, and the path forward isn't always clear. I'm definitely an indecisive type, which can feel rather frustrating, but the weight of big decisions has always felt lighter once I've spoken to a friend or my therapist. Whether you're dealing with decisions around career, relationships or anything else, therapy helps you stay connected to what you really want while you navigate life, acting a bit like a roadmap so you can move forward with confidence and excitement.

Starting point is 00:01:59 So if you're thinking of starting therapy, I highly recommend giving better help a try. Their service is entirely online and it's designed to fit around your schedule in whatever way suits you. You just fill out a short questionnaire and they match you with a licensed therapist. Let therapy be your map with better help. European. Let's take a few moments before we begin to ease out of the daytime and into the night. Find a position that feels comfortable to you count of four, they more hold for one and breathe out for six. I invite you to imagine the breath in color, choosing any shade that feels calm and soothing.

Starting point is 00:03:30 As you breathe in, you can visualize this colour, watching the air as it sweeps through your body. Notice all of the places that the breath touches. Notice the sensations that it brings to the body. So let's begin. Breathing in colour. One, two, three, four. Hold for one. And breathe out. Two, three, four, five, six. Notice how it feels to take in that breath, to hold and, hold and out. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. And one last time now, breathing in. 2, 3, 4. 4 and out 2 3 4 5 6 What a gift it can be to transition from doing to a state of being. Let yourself be as you follow my voice and we begin our adventure into the past. The word Dekcha is typically used to mean a folding chair made of treated wood.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Most of us might picture a chair with canvas or vinyl dropped like a hammock between wooden frames. They have a portable design. These chairs can be folded easily into a compact 3 inch wide form. They can be stacked in large numbers, which makes them ideal for public spaces like the beach. The classic deck chair goes hand in hand with leisure. For many, it conjures up images of of holiday makers on the sand, their eyes closed as they bask in the sunlight. All people sitting in their fine summer outfits, sipping lemonade, watching tennis on the lawn. Others might think of the deck of a cruise ship where passengers sit and take in the sea air. This is, after all, the place where deck chairs officially began, on the luxurious ocean liners of the late 19th century.

Starting point is 00:07:50 In fact though, the deck chair has far deeper roots stretching more than 5 millennia into the past. The Shotsund was a mound of earth, named in English as Gold Hill. It was here that such a chair was found in its entirety when the site was excavated in 1891. being dated to the 1400s BCE, the seat remains very well preserved. Its ashwood frame forms the shape of a letter X, with a closer today to what we might call a stool. Though to people of the Bronze Age, there weren't such distinctions. The seat includes decorative pitch black inlays or patterns carved into the wood. The seat is thought to have been a symbol of high status, unlikely belonged to someone who ranked high in the community.

Starting point is 00:09:42 True, it was maybe 15 inches tall, but that was enough to allow the user to tower above the other people who would have been sitting by a religious leader or village chiefed him, someone with authority to whom people would listen. The site in Saxony, Germany, was excavated eight years after the one in Denmark. Though it didn't yield a seat in its entirety, a great many chair fragments were uncovered. There were pieces of ash and maple wood, and a piece of leather which would have made up the seat. There were also a number of metal components, fixtures, fittings, and opulent decorations. Experts were able to compare their findings from Saxony to the chair discovered previously in Jutland.

Starting point is 00:11:15 They used this to produce a reconstruction and bring to life the seat of the Nordic Bronze Age. The reconstruction of the Denson Folding Chair can be seen today in Hamburg, Germany. Two movable frames crossed over in an X shape, connected by a nail, hammered into the wood. Gold pleated stuts attach the fabric to its top. The grooves of circles worked into the metal. The ends of the wood are capped with gold, their faces engraved with a pattern of concentric circles. The gold caps cover the top and bottom ends across all four corners of this beautiful seat. A ring hangs down from the top of four caps, displaying our glass-shaped plates, dangling

Starting point is 00:12:39 like key chains. They are similar to the tassels at the end of a curtain tie, but made of gold-plated metal instead of ropey cotton. The reconstruction of this Bronze Age chair furthers the argument that it was a seat of high status. It also demonstrates a level of craftsmanship far more sophisticated than one might have imagined. Some argue that the chairs together also show that ideas travelled far, even in the past. The seats found in northern Europe were thought to be made there, but the designs echoed

Starting point is 00:13:41 those from far away realms. The oldest known evidence of a folding seat came from Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. An image of the chair appears on a seal that swore under half thousand years old. Similar furniture was thought to be in use around the same time in ancient Egypt. Seats were buried in the tombs of the elite, fers, royalty, and high ranking officials. Many were found in the valley of the kings on the west bank of the Nile in what is today Luxong. These X-shaped stores were portable and foldable, made with the finest materials and elaborately decorated. The most famous finding was in 1922 at the Tomb of Pharaoh Tutankha Moon. Amongst the many ancient riches

Starting point is 00:15:11 owned by King Tut was a folding stall fit for royalty. A reinterpretation of the stool is housed in Cairo today. Beautifully carved in black ebony wood, it's decorated with caps of bronze and topped with a seat of the rarest leopard skin. This exact seat is pictured elsewhere on the walls of a tube belonging to an Egyptian official. Oy was viceroy of Egyptian Nubia, located today in modern day Sudan. One of his responsibilities as leader of that area was to organize a tribute to gift to the Pharaoh. We can see this play out on the

Starting point is 00:16:30 walls of his tomb, which show him presenting the leopard skin stool. Tutankar Moon died around 1324 BCE and the chair is stated to around that period. It's thought that similar chairs had long been in use by that time though, that they were a typical piece of furniture amongst high ranking Egyptians. Some liken the seats to portable thrones taken on travels about the kingdom. They were included in tombs to take into the afterlife where one hoped to be reborn into a state of luxury. It's clear that the seat was a symbol of high status. What's less certain is whether the Nordic chair is a copy of the Egyptian.

Starting point is 00:17:49 Indeed, some feel that the similarities are too striking. We know that there were scouts who made their way far from home, despite the limitations of ancient travel. And they'd have had fewer miles to go back then, as Egypt had expanded its borders, reaching modern-day Turkey under Tuttma III. It isn't unthinkable that a lone trader might have traveled to Egypt and spotted a chair, nor that he would have copied it onto Papyrus so that it could be made back home. Regardless of whether it was copied or not, this type of seat would find a place across cultures and continents. These included the great civilizations of ancient Greece and then ancient Rome. We can see from depictions on pottery that the X-shaped stool was known to the Greeks. Artifacts originating from the 5th century BCE show the seat being

Starting point is 00:19:30 used by gods and heroes. Achilles sits on what was called the Eoclidesus, a cauldeous, a seat with tassels hanging at its sides. The god Apollo strums a liar upon another, its feet carved like the paws of a lion. For the first time too, we see the seat used by women, a tunic-clad noble woman on one ancient artifact. In one hand, she holds crown of laurel leaves. The frame of the stall is visible at the chair shown here has four crossed slats. The Greeks were famous for their style and engineering, and would no doubt have experimented with the seat's design. However, the Romans seem to have reverted to the X-shaped structure when creating what they called the Curell seat or chair. Like the Greeks, the Romans are dead a little flare, and the chair legs became curved like

Starting point is 00:21:32 the lines of an hourglass. It was typical for the seat to be constructed from ivory, either in its entirety, or as of a near-overward. Only those with Imperium were permitted to sit in the Curell seat. This was a position of authority, someone in charge of either a military or governmental body. It was a seat from which officials would perform their business, be they politicians, generals, priests oristrates. One seat appears in the history books in 494 BCE, at the Circus Maximus, where chariot races drew thousands of onlookers. Storytowers of a magistrate being awarded the seat, a prize for his

Starting point is 00:22:51 recent victory in battle. later in 44 BCE. The folding stall is as important as ever. We're told by the historian Cassius Dio that the senate granted permission to Julius Caesar to use the seat every place except the theatre. There, he would be carried in on a gilded chair and raised to the height of the gods. This type of chair has always been associated with power. It was the seat of Chieftain's, fairos and gods. In ancient Rome, it became the seat of emperors after the period of republic came to an end. Before he became the first emperor of Rome, the young Octavian sought to further his position. He had a coin minted with his image on one side and the X-shaped seat engraved on the other. As the Emperor or Gustus, he would later use the seat as a portable throne on his travels. He would take it to war like so many who followed him and use it as a place from which to officiate Rome's business. Use of the seat would spread far and wide as foreign lands were conquered and occupied.

Starting point is 00:25:12 were conquered and occupied. By 117 CE, the Roman Empire spanned across three continents and included most of the Mediterranean under its banner. Roman culture travelled with its armies, leaving a lasting impact still felt today. Much of Western civilization has its roots in Rome, from laws and language to architecture and engineering. Rome also accelerated the spread of Christianity, which was accepted as an official religion in the 4thth century. The Curell seat would survive as the seat of a bishop when he was traveling through his district. It was practically identical in appearance to what had been used by those earlier Romans.

Starting point is 00:26:45 Though now it went by many different names. The X-chair, the S until the European Renaissance, beginning around the 15th century. It's then that we're introduced to the Savonarola chair, named after the Italian priest who owned it. It was similar in design to those updated Okledeas, sat upon by ladies in ancient Greece. Though the structure resembled the Roman curve decks, it had several overlapping wooden slats, rather than two frames crossed over.

Starting point is 00:27:56 The slats of the chair rested on a base rail, and typically had lion claws carved at the front. The chair usually included arm rests and a backrest, the latter folding away on shift in the chair's design. Previous seats were deliberately made to be a tad uncomfortable. The hope was that this would encourage the seated official to perform their duties in a timely and efficient manner. While this was still true of the Savonarola chair, the inclusion of back support certainly made it more comfortable. And closer to what would eventually become the Decc Chair, with its simple wooden frame free of decoration. Savonarola himself despised any kind of luxury, and would likely have been disappointed by future updates to his

Starting point is 00:29:28 chair. A century later, in the 1500s, the seat had become increasingly elaborate. It was common to see chairs made of the finest walnut with reliefs carved into the backrest. Others were in late with metals and ivory and upholstered in fabrics like silk or velvet. Such elaborate seating was common throughout Europe, not only in cathedrals, but in the homes and palaces of the wealthy elite. Inventories surviving from 17th century England detail the belongings of King Charles I. These include six folding chairs of Crimson Velvet, trimmed with gold lace. bed, trimmed with gold lace. In an age of discovery and exploration, the chair's design had far-reaching influence. It was used by furniture designers across Europe and beyond, as the basis for other chairs, folding and otherwise. The Glastambree Chair is an example of this, thought to have been used by the last abode of Glastonbury in England. This chair was typically constructed from oak,

Starting point is 00:31:31 including carved armrests and a full seat and backrest. It has the appearance of a folding chair with x-shaped legs of two overlapping frames. Though in fact, it doesn't fold. Historians believe that the Glastonbury had been around since the early Middle Ages before dropping out of use. Its re-emergence and popularity in the early 19th century makes it perhaps the closest ancestor of the early Deccure. of the early Decc Chair. debate as to who invented the modern deck chair. John Cham of Boston, Massachusetts took out a patent in 1855. This was for a folding chair, though it didn't yet include the canvas seat. Over three decades later, in 1886, an Englishman also obtained a patent for foldable and

Starting point is 00:33:20 portable chairs. John Thomas Moore manufactured these chairs at his factory in Mackelsfield. Moore produced two different types of deck chair. The Hygienic was more of a rocking chair. The Hygienic was more of a rocking chair. It was marketed to help those with sluggish boughs, digestion being a hot topic amongst the Victorian public. The wavily as he called it was the more typical deck chair, described as being suitable for a ship's deck or tennis lawn. The chair comprised three wooden frames, two crossed to form the age-old X shape. The third frame was used to prop up the seat's back. The wavily is the first example of a deck chair that included a strip of canvas. It hung between the frames like the material of a hammock, allowing one to

Starting point is 00:34:49 recline with feet on the ground. The original canvas was olive green in colour, but this would change over time. What was sometimes referred to as the Brighton Beach Chair came to be known for its multi-coloured stripes. Again, there's debate as to who made the changes. Some say the idea belonged to a Brit named Atkins. Others argue that it was American in design, pointing to an advert from 1882, showing the Yankee Hammock Chair. The earliest designs of the named D Children in the 1880s.

Starting point is 00:36:14 A decade later, the name appears again, this time in the reading materials of P&O Ocean Linus. Passengers packing for their transatlantic cruise were encouraged to bring aboard their own deck chairs. By the early 20th century, ships would commonly carry inventory of deck chairs, sometimes with numbers in the thousands. They were typically those without a canvas, closer in appearance to John Chams' design. On Sham's design. They are most obviessly a forerunner to the sun lounger, simple, elegant and a little more upright. They had a tall back of wooden slats and a seat of either wood or woven wicker. They had curved armrests and legrests too, ones that could be propped up and extended were required. The back legs displayed the bottom of the X shape, curved outwards like its Roman predecessor. It became normal practice for passengers aboard ocean liners to reserve a deck chair in

Starting point is 00:38:01 a particular spot. The crew would write their name on paperboard and attach it to the seat, which would be theirs for the duration of their voyage. Now that the seat was more common and comfortable, you'd think that it would lose its link to status. But primarily, it was enjoyed by the wealthiest in society, those who could afford the coveted fast-class ticket. With the advent of ocean liners and then cruise ships from the 1900s, perceptions of travel were beginning to change. The voyage was about more than simple necessity.

Starting point is 00:39:07 It was something to be enjoyed as much as the destination. Crew ships were designed to be like five-star hotels, with everything from ballrooms to gymnasiums and art galleries. Passengers could relax in luxurious surroundings as happy a board as when stopping at a location. Deck chairs fit in perfectly with this type of pleasure cruise. They exemplified a mixture of the ocean waves. The crew would bring out drinks and plates of biscuits. Blankets too, when the breeze was cool. At night the chairs would be folded and stacked, leaving the promenade clear for walking. John Thomas Moore's wavily, with its canvas seat, had initially been marketed for use on ship decks.

Starting point is 00:40:48 But in his home country of England, it became far more common to see them lined up at the seaside. Like the nature of travel, this too was changing. The invention of train travel from around the 1820s meant that the seaside was more reachable and affordable. For centuries, well-to-do brits had been heading to spartowns and the coast, often under doctors' orders. The sea air was said to be healing, and a dip in the water was thought to alleviate ailments.

Starting point is 00:41:48 With trains came the beginning of the British seaside holiday. A middle-class family might enjoy a week in the sunshine, or a paid day off work after the Bankolidays Act of 1871. As a result of its increased popularity, the 1860s and 1900s. They housed cafes, bandstands, magic shows and fortune tellers. The coast was still a place of relaxation, but one with funfares, candy floss, brass bands, and ice cream cones. Canvas deck chairs became synonymous with this new type of seaside. From the 1900s, they began appearing on the peers and promenades and arranged in rows on the coastal wooden benches along the promenade. Now they could rent out comfortable deck chairs, claiming them as their own by the day or the hour. It was a trend that continued throughout the

Starting point is 00:43:51 20th century, reaching its peak in the 1950s and 60s. By this point, holidays were widely affordable, and deck chairs would be rented out in the tens of thousands. The chair that had once been a mark of status now became tired to leisure and relaxation. The image of its canvas dancing in the breeze brings with it the scent of salty seaheer. The seat moves like the sail of a yacht, lifting up and down like the waves of the ocean. The chairs were also used in large public gatherings, particularly sporting events that took place on the grass. Spectators could lounge on their canvas seats whilst the croquet, tennis, common at outdoor shows. Film footage from the 60s shows London's Hyde Park in the peak of summer time.

Starting point is 00:45:36 We see the audience watching a brass band perform from rows of deckchairs beneath the shady trees. Today, the canvas deck chair is a rarely spotted creature in its original form at least. You might come across them at summertime gatherings, like an outdoor concert, or within the grounds of a state-of-the-home. But you're less likely to see them in large numbers, parked on the sound of a British seaside. What you will likely see is an adapted form of John Charms' Decteur, the sun lounger.

Starting point is 00:46:37 The back has been lengthened and ruts are did so that the backrest can be positioned at different angles. One might easily adjust the back of the seat, sitting up to read a book, or to sip a cool drink. It is also possible to recline completely to some bath or nap on a flat surface. The seat and leg rest have been merged to form a flat bed-like shape. It's usual for a town to be draped across the lounger, a makeshift mattress providing extra comfort. The sun lounger has become a piece of commonplace furniture. You'll find them in gardens, on beaches and pool sides, anywhere involving leisure and relaxation. And the next time you use one, perhaps you'll remember the rich history of this portable

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Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Deckchair

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