by Matthew Cobb
As regular readers will know, Jerry and I are finishing up our books at the same time. His is The Albatross, mine has a name and a topic ‘Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code’. I hope to press ‘send’ to my publishers tomorrow morning. [JAC: Mine is hard on the heels of Matthews’]
One of the final things I’ve been doing is finding interesting photos that aren’t usually used in history books (will The Albatross have photos?).[JAC: No photos]. I came across this photo of Francis Crick, reclining in the foreground, at a party in his Cambridge house in the 1960s. They all look the worse for wear, under the influence of who knows what recreational chemicals. The leg in the very front of the picture is sporting a rather fancy pair of tights…
As you can see from the watermark, the photo is taken from Science Photo Library. The official caption is:
Crick hosting a flower party in the 1960s. This party was hosted by British biologist Francis Crick (1916-2004) and his wife Odile Crick (1920-2007). Crick is lying on the floor at lower centre, with his back to the camera. Francis and Odile had married in 1949, and this party was held at their house ‘The Golden Helix’ at 19 Portugal Place, Cambridge, UK. The dress code was ‘beads, bells, flowers’. It was in Cambridge that Crick and his co-workers had discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1953. Crick, Watson and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
Funnily enough I was talking to a good friend of our library last night – an ENT surgeon – he had Crick as a Phd supervisor in Cambridge. I wonder if he went to any of those parties? I must ask him!
Were the walls fucking brown?
/@
😀
Wondering what they were listening to. Perhaps a bit of early Floyd, or maybe Sgt. Pepper or Jefferson Airplane?
Such a pity that Rosalind Frankin missed out on a share of the Nobel Prize due to a bad case of death (and perhaps sexism).
There are worse examples perhaps, Jocelyn Bell Burnell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Bell_Burnell
That is an extremely cool picture.
In my opinion it would make any biology text book, or any kind of biology book (maybe any kind of book period), a better book.
Ramen! These are real people with real lives outside the labs, and it’s good to remember that.
b&
I’m reminded of this sometimes just interesting often hilarious site:
http://composersdoingnormalshit.tumblr.com
There are other “X doing normal shit” sites, too.
Cool page.
If you scroll down far enough, you’ll see Aaron Copland aiming an Uzi.
I don’t even…
Really.
Many of these photos bring new meaning to “normal shit.”
I like the recurring “being a father” theme.
And I love the Sad Picnic theme. I hated picnics…
Still have about 11 pp to look at…
lol
I also thought “normal” was not an appropriate term for many of those pictures.
…like hangin’ out with JFK and Jackie at the White House….
b&
“Those were the days, my friend. We’d thought they’d never end. Oh yes, those were the days.”
You stole my comment. 😉
“Take the cash, and let the credit go.”
– Omar Khayyam
The recreational chemicals were probably various solutions of CH3CH2OH.
Maybe. Though I suspect some C20H25N3O may also have been involved.
Yes, the ubiquitous varieties of ethanol and nicotine are obviously visible. Perhaps there were concealed amounts of lysergic acid diethylamide and leaves containing tetrahydrocannabinol kept prudently out of sight.
I think I’ve located some video footage of this event!
Not a party sans birdie num nums🐥
Love the Crick party and the composers doing normal shit!!
Somebody put some Burt Bacharach on the HiFi!
“Make it easy on your-se-eh-eh-eh-elf . . . .”
Gravy, Booby🐸
I remember being at a faculty-hosted party in the early 70’s, when a plate of joints was passed around…Most of us smoked cigarettes back then, too, and we had drinks in our hands…
One of the (pretty well-known) young profs in a jolly mood clinked glasses with me and remarked, “Juggle your drugs! Diversity leads to stability!”
(That [the second half, of course] was an accepted concept at the time…since debated…)
Faculty-hosted…plate of joints passed around…. Wow.
You mean, far out.
😀
Outta state, right arm:-)
😉
i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/ofhsfootball/artful-s-peace-sign.jpg
Couldn’t get your link to work, Diane G.
Good thing. Not really worth it.
What happens when you try not to embed by dropping the http//, and shy away from href…
🐾
Farmed out🐖
(I shoulda just gone with “piece” in the first place…)
You’re right! That is what I meant! ✌️😎🌻
You did it right. 😉
PS–that was at Cornell, BTW.
I love those flowered tights!
The photo reminds of of the scene in Mad Men where Roger does LSD.
Let us not forget Jesus’ last words according to the gospel of Shecky: “Peter . . . Peter . . . I can see your house from here.”
Whoops! Kicked that one right into the bleachers. Pardons are begged.
Sorry, but all I could think of was his wife’s name. “Crick Odile”.
I know exactly where that address was/is. Was a student at Cambridge in the mid 80’s, so I’m afraid those groovy parties were all over by then. The biggest cultural thing (besides picketing Maggie Thatcher when she came to town) was the movie ‘Flash Dance’ at the cinema in town. Portugal Place was just around the corner for the movies. I had no idea of the pedigree of that address!
Sub
My late father had the privilege of attending this party along with taking this photo (and a number of others). Am happy to finally see some feedback!
From the stories, some of the music played was Herb Alpert and Herman’s Hermits, and some of the punch procured directly from the lab.
Look forward to both books…