#birtles

It may not be the same, from much we now refrain And though we long for normal times to come around again Our challenge is adapting to hold onto what we treasure Our norms, our fun, our everydays, The things that make us…US, our ways Our business and our pleasure

It may not be the same, it will not be the same, But June is here, the skies are clear, it’s Racing’s time again Royal Ascot goes ahead, for once behind closed doors It’s thumbs up time, our sport proceeds The champion Jockeys, Noble Steeds, Assembled for The Cause

Positive’s the byword; looking forward, it’s unique It will not happen every year, this one-off Ascot Week It’s screen time, Twitter, Facebook, the old Telly, Insta, Zoom Remotely party with your friends Bring what you can, the odds and ends And decorate the room

StyledWithThanks, the Hashtag, is a calling to our nation, To honour those who help us, through a form of celebration To tell them that we won’t forget, for them we must campaign We’ll stay indoors, tune in and cheer We’ll drink to now and pray next year, We’ll hit the track again

But now is now and now is here, a virtual life existence Two metres is the guideline, our ordered social distance So let us find it in ourselves, tear up your normal plans Enjoy it all, as if we’re there, Glad rags and hats, good times to share As Royal Ascot Fans

- Henry Birtles, The official Racing Poet to celebrate Royal Ascot 2020

There are few sporting venues that can match the rich heritage and history of Ascot Racecourse. Over the past 250 years Royal Ascot has established itself as a national institution and the centrepiece of the British social calendar as well as being the ultimate stage for the best racehorses in the world.

It is fair to say that Melbourne poet, journalist and social activist Bert Birtles harboured an enduring fascination for Greece. He named the poetry journal that he founded in 1935 Thyrsus, after the fennel rod tipped with a pine cone that was held in processions by ancient followers of Dionysus. Along with his wife Dora, for whose sake he was expelled from Sydney University for penning an explicit poem describing their tryst on the roof of the university quadrangle, in 1935 he travelled to Greece just as that country was embroiled in one of its most significant political crises: the return of the monarchy and the collapse of Greek democracy.

Birtles and his wife travelled throughout the country, meeting with key players in the intellectual and political spheres, assiduously recording prevailing social conditions. Most significantly, Birtles, a communist sympathiser, was, despite the dictatorships of Kondylis and Metaxas, able to visit and record the conditions of leftists exiled to the islands of Anaphi and Gavdos. As a result, in 1938, there appeared the first full-length book by an Australian on modern Greece, Bert Birtles’ “Exiles in the Aegean.” Bearing the sub-title, “A Personal Narrative of Greek Politics and Travel,” the contents of the book are clearly outlined in its dedication: “For Dora, who made the Journey with me, and for the Brave Greek Victims of Fascist Terror in Prison and in Exile.”

It was travel that awakened Birtles’ social conscience and gave rise to a remarkable Australian record of a pivotal moment in Geek history. “Having come to Greece with no set purpose but to enjoy ourselves,” Birtles writes, “we did not mean to stay more than two or three months; but as we became interested in the problems that the Greek people were up against, and as our interest in politics grew, we kept prolonging our visit… What might have been a very pleasant holiday, became an intellectual adventure.”