Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, arriving for the ceremony in 2012: photo by Monica Almeida/The New York Times
After
luncheon the snow stopped, and the afternoon turned out intensely cold
but bright and clear. I took a tram up the hill to Monte Carlo. The
sound of firing came from the bastion below the promenade where 'Tir aux Pigeons' was advertised. Some kind of match was in progress;
the competitors were for the most part South Americans with papal
titles. They made very interesting gestures with their elbows as they
waited for the little cages to collapse and release their game; they
also had interesting gestures of vexation and apology when they missed.
But this was rare. The standard of marksmanship was high, and while I
was there only three birds, fluttering erratically with plucked tail and
wings, escaped the guns to fall to the little boys below, who wait for
them on the beach or in rowing-boats and pull them to pieces with their
fingers. Often when the cages fell open the birds would sit dazed amid
the debris until they were disturbed with a bowl; then they would rise
clumsily and be brought down, usually by the first barrel, when they
were about ten feet from the ground. On the balcony above the terrace
sat one of the Casino pigeons, privileged and robust, watching the destruction without
emotion. The only convincing recommendation which I heard of this sport
came from one of the visitors at the Bristol who remarked that it was
not cricket.
Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966): A Pleasure Cruise, from Labels: A Mediterranean Journey (1929)
Björk, at the Academy Awards in 2001: photo by Reuters
Gibraltar: Charles Pears for the Empire Marketing Board, c. 1930 (National Archives UK)
Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Academy Awards: photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
6 comments:
los ricos inventan cosas que los tontos imitan
RONDO
The rich as dumb as
they come as smart
as they are; they
welcome the poor !
'Tir aux Pigeons' coming up tonight on channel "X" -- viewer discretion advised . . .
many crimes against humanity have been committed - as pierre teilhard de chardin said, human evolution is a way of the cross
but "worst"?
in the words of the ancient question, "compared to what?"
the truly worst people have succeeded in having their evil deeds forgotten
may the creative forces of the universe have mercy on our souls, if any
worst is worst and there is no problem in telling it....today the words evil, bad, wrong and all those who criticize or condemn someone or something seem to be forbiden to say...and the evil forces are happy for that (I apoligize for my english)
Beneath the porticos, in this view of Monte Carlo in its glory days, were the pigeonholes whence the disabled birds were released for the purpose of killing
The young Evelyn Waugh was not the only civilised person of the period to be disgusted by the pigeon tunnel shoot at Monte Carlo. In his youth the novelist John Le Carré was curiously obsessed by Tir Aux Pigeons, and the repellent fascination of the ritual has stayed with him. That for Le Carré something about human nature and human behaviour seems to have been revealed in the observation of this cruel hobby of the rich is suggested by the title he has given a recent memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel.
Indeed, Tir aux Pigeons is a lovely sport with a long tradition in the culture of the highly civilised land of Charlie Hebdo.
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