100 years have passed since an evening in london when a curious audience gathered to hear a lecture by james mcneill whistler. [clock ticking] he began by saying that the artist stands in no relation to the moment at which he occurs. he is no more a product of his time than is a scientific truth newly asserted. the assertion requires man to make it but the truth itself exists independently. [clock strikes] james mcneill whistler arrived in paris on november 3, 1855 resolved to be an artist having left america never to return. he was 21. his mother hoped he would follow a career at west point, as his father and grandfather had before him but his temperament was not suited to the discipline of army life. he failed out of west point. in paris whistler began his studies at the academy of charles gleyre, who had a reputation for providing solid groundwork in drawing and painting yet encouraging individuality. following his admission to the academy whis
( music ) all petty and exacting details vanish and i see thing as they are in greattrong masses. the buttons are lost but the garment remains. the sitter is lost but the shadow remains. the shadow is lost but the picture remains. anthat, night cannot efface from the painter imagination james mcneill whistler. narrator: painter, printmaker, designer, and critic whistler was one of the most original and controversial artists of his time. he was born in 14, in the industrial town of lowell, massachusetts. when he was nine years old his father was hired to oversee construction of a railway in russia the family moved to st. petersburg. whistler later claimed that cosmopolitan city as his birthplace. i shall be born when and whe i want and i do not choose to be born at lowell. after eight years in russia, the fami returned and settled pomfret, nnecticut. ( rapid drumbeats ) in 1851, whistler entered the military academy at west point. whistler was oft
brink. and i m terribly pleased, because it was so dangerous. what now? that s the really big question, isn t it? they ve set themselves the task of preparing a budget by mid-december. the continuing resolution will run out in january and the debt ceiling issue will rise again in february. i don t see how they re going to agree a budget. we know why it s been so difficult so far. i hope they will. and if they don t, i imagine there must be a possibility that we ll be in the same place again early next year. so, how are the markets likely to handle that uncertainty between now and then and as we get close once again to the brink? the interesting thing is that the markets have taken all this in their stride largely. there s been very small tremors in parts of it. but i think the markets still assume that nothing bad is going to happen, that in the end it will be so insane for the us actually to default even for a few hours that it s not going to happen. it s not a real thre
i would imagine that this is dating just after the first world war, and it just seems very appropriate that i can place this stand along the signed photograph a day after the flight. now, talking of photographs, richard, a little bird told me you might be bringing along something connected with aviation, so i brought along a little photograph of my own. who is this hasome chap, i hear them ask. now, here you are in your flying stripes. when was this taken? how long ago? well, i ve only got three stripes there, so that was probably 22, 24 years ago. i d obviously just got back off a trip and was clearly in need of a glass of wine and some food. yes, there we are. look, the two great aviators together. richard, thank you very much. thank you, fiona. it s a very unusual plate, isn t it? it s lovely, isn t it? yes. how did you come by it? my parents bought it in the 1960s, and i think there was a shop in bolton. i think they just bought it because they liked it. and how much did
honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. so let s share some snapshots from the state of the union. that s speaker of the house john boehner, of course. he s led his party to ptectro wa t veee ohtomigrs and accountability. the finance, insurance, and real estate industries gave him more than $3 million last year. eric cantor is the republican majority leader in the house. among his biggest donors, goldman sachs, masterminds of the mortgage-backed securities that almost sank the world economy. cantor s also the third largest recipient of money from the national rifle association in the house, which is one reason he s such a big gun there. senator rigert menendez, democrat of new jersey, may be in hot water. he s currently under investigation for allegations that he improperly intervened with government agencies on behalf of a big donor. and there s fred upton, or republican from michigan, chairman of the house energy and commerce committee. what a coi