SPECS

Like a large number of my friends, I wear spectacles, eye-glasses or whatever you want to call them, to assist me clearly to see our wonderful world. I take them entirely for granted and feel more relaxed wearing them, even if I do not always need them. There is little downside: I am too old to be vain about my good-looks – I already closely resemble George Clooney in my own estimation! I suppose there is a small danger of being insulted as “a four-eyed git” if I have a road-rage encounter but such a sad event has thankfully not yet occurred. 

Our ancestors took a long time to perfect specs. Some rudimentary versions appeared in India and China, later taken up in 12^th century Italy. By the 18^th century specs were widely used in Europe and polymath US Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, is credited with the invention of bi-focals.

Ben Franklin with his bi-focals

There was in the 19^th century a stigma against spec-wearing, thought to be only suitable for bible-backed, religious types or the studiously academic. Bespectacled but hyper-active Teddy Roosevelt put an end to that prejudice. Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman followed in that style while in Britain Clem Attlee had a modest NHS pair of specs; Ernie Bevin and Herbert Morrison always sported glasses and famously Mahatma Gandhi peered out from his steel-rimmed favourites.

Not all spec-wearers were such worthy types. Horrid Trotsky, worse Molotov and unspeakable Himmler glowered behind glinting specs:

Trotsky

Molotov

Himmler

Anyway, grey politicians are never ideal role models and in the 1920s the world instead laughed with Harold Lloyd, inseparable from his horn-rims, even in his worst scrapes.

Harold Lloyd in Safety Last

The ever-enterprising Greeks gave a huge gift to opticians with lovely songstress Nana Mouskouri whose face advertised high-cost spec frames for a generation, as she trilled away with her fractured English and sentimental repertoire.

Nana's lovely specs

Here in Greece we await a visit tomorrow from bespectacled Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of EuroGroup, the finance ministers monitoring Eurozone finance. He usually sounds reasonable, but he may find the newly radical Greeks a trifle aggravating.  I hope his vision is clearer than his complicated name and he is not blind to the fact that Greece needs urgent help!

Jeroen Dijsselbloem

My dear father was told by his own father to have a profession, as in his view the family’s embryonic entertainment business was too risky and grandfather feared cinemas were a 3-day wonder. Accordingly my father qualified as an optician and his shop grew to be a leading emporium in my native Aberdeen. Father kept it going even when his main interest shifted to the family biz which was much more remunerative. He held open court for the cross-eyed, boss-eyed, wall-eyed and cock-eyed, bringing them the manifold blessings of proper sight. Wear your specs with pride!

SMD

29.01.15

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2015