Desiderius Orban

Desiderius Orban, OBE (née Orbán Dezső; 1884 –1986) was a renowned Hungarian painter, printmaker and teacher, who, after emigrating to Australia in 1939 when in his mid-50s, also made an illustrious career in that country.

One of The Eight in Budapest, early 20th-century painters who were influential in introducing cubism, expressionism and Fauvism to Hungary, Orbán had been influenced by the paintings of Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, seen when he lived in Paris.

After building a substantial career, in 1939, with the rise of the Nazis, anti-Semitism and Fascism, Orbán fled Budapest around the time of the German invasion of Poland and beginning of World War II and emigrated to Sydney. He painted and taught for nearly another fifty years, influencing generations of students.

Portrait of Desiderius Orban, 1968. By Judy Cassab

Women's Royal Australian Army Corps

Established in 1951 to help overcome a manpower shortage, the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps was disbanded in 1985 after women were integrated into the army. 

Women march at the Australian Royal Australian Army Corps Officer Cadet School Graduation at Georges Heights, 30 June 1978.

Royal Berets

The Queen is no more, but berets still feature in the Royal Family.

Princess Elizabeth with her uncle David, c1936

Scary Berets from Brazil

"Only God can take the presidency from me",  Bolsonaro, Trump's most dedicated pupil, states. 

Just four weeks before the first round of elections, President Bolsonaro is far behind his left-wing challenger. He will use the celebration of two centuries of independence this Wednesday to fight back in a Trumpian way.

Sand Sculpture Art

A vintage postcard featuring a sand sculpture artist at work, showing "The Flight into Egypt" including the Holy Family, on the beach at Bournemouth, circa 1935. 

Queen Elizabeth II's Beret-Like Hat

Beret style hat by Milliner Simone Mirman, worn by Queen Elizabeth II when visiting Morocco.

On display at the exhibition "Hats And Handbags - Accessories From The Royal Wardrobe" at Kensington Palace State Apartments.

That Obscure Object of Desire

That Obscure Object of Desire (Ese oscuro objeto del deseo) is a 1977 comedy-drama film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1898 novel The Woman and the Puppet by Pierre Louÿs.

It was Buñuel's final directorial effort before his death in July 1983. Set in Spain and France against the backdrop of a terrorist insurgency, the film conveys the story told through a series of flashbacks by an aging Frenchman, Mathieu (played by Fernando Rey), who recounts falling in love with a beautiful young Spanish woman, Conchita (played interchangeably by two actresses, Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina), who repeatedly frustrate his romantic and sexual desires.

In recent years, the film has been highly acclaimed by critics.

Onelio Jorge Cardoso

Onelio Jorge Cardoso (1914–1986) was a Cuban editor, screenwriter, short fiction writer and party functionary.

He started writing at a young age, winning a short story writing contest in 1936. However, it was not until 1945 when he became known by winning the "Alfonso Hernández Catá" contest with a story entitled "Coalmen" (Los carboneros). In 1945, he published in Mexico his first book, Taita, you tell me how (Taita, diga usted cómo). In 1948, he settled in HavanaHe was awarded the National Award of Peace for his story "Scrap Iron" (Hierro viejo). He published his second book in 1958, The storyteller (El cuentero).

After the Cuban Revolution, he became Director of the Institute of Music Copyrights, Chief of Special Articles of Granma, and Chief Editor of Pueblo y Cultura and Pionero magazines.

Les Orgueilleux

Les Orgueilleux (The Proud and the Beautiful) is a 1953 drama film directed by Yves Allégret. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story (the nomination officially went to Jean-Paul Sartre) but lost to Dalton Trumbo (under the pseudonym Robert Rich) for The Brave One.

Many large cowboy hats feature in the small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic, but also a small boy with a beautiful Basque beret.

The Cuban Literacy Campaign

The Cuban Literacy Campaign  was an eight-month long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution.

Before 1959 the literacy rate for Cuba was approximately 77%, as noted by UNESCO. This was the 4th highest rate in Latin America. The Cuban government of Fidel Castro at Che Guevara's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education" and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominantly illiterate guajiros (peasants) to read and write.

By 2010, according to UNESCO, Cuba's literacy rate for those above the age of 15 was 99 percent.

In Extenso Supersevens - Rugby Championship

Bastien Pourailly of Section Paloise Sevens wearing french "beret" during the Rugby Championship semi final match between Pau Sevens and Toulon Sevens of In Extenso Supersevens at Paris La Defense Arena on February 1, 2020 in Nanterre, France. 

Les Bérets Universel Luxe

Another scoop for South Pacific Berets: the Bérets Universel Luxe are the luxurious version of the Universel Auloronesa/Orthez models in a 10p (28cm) diameter.

These foulard quality berets are made of the softest French merino wool and fitted with a solid French linen lining (in naturel or black) and the new woven Manufacture de Béret label exclusively for the Luxe models.

Exclusively at South Pacific Berets!

Touche pas à ma forêt

A man has written on his back 'don't touch my forest'. 

Several associations, political parties and people called for a march from Capvern to Lannemezan in the Pyrenees mountains as a global company, Florian, wants to build a giant sawmill near the Pyrenean town of Lannemezan. 

The sawmill is expected to treat nearly 400.000 cubic meters of beech wood each year. For this, Florian will need to cut beech trees in all the French Pyrenees. It intends to clear cut forests. Protesters came from nearly all the French Pyrenees. On October 11th, 2020 in Lannemezan.

Uriage FFI

Young soldiers, trained at the Uriage FFI Executive School, attend a military ceremony in January 1945, in Uriage, near Grenoble. 

The Ecole des cadres d'Uriage, at the Uriage Castle near Grenoble and intended for training the French elites, was created under the Vichy regime by Dunoyer de Segonzac, then dissolved and replaced by the Militia executive school, and finally became at the Liberation the FFI executive military school, under the direction of Xavier de Virieu.

 

Brother Frans

Faithful followers of The Beret Project have [virtually] known my brother Emile, the Beret Spy, for a good number of years.

It's about time to introduce my (half)brother Frans to the beret community.

Frans is the oldest of us 3 and as dedicated a boinero as the Beret Spy and myself combined. 

Despite the almost 20.000 kilometers between us, Aotearoa-Flanders, we remain close as ever and are in touch most days of the week.

Both being hoarders & collectors, much time is spent on admiring each others novelties (these days via zoom and WhatsApp - thanks to covid our physical reunion is long overdue).

Philosopher, psychotherapist, economist... we have taken different paths, but we continue to amaze ourselves how much we still have in common. Not only berets; fanatic walkers, our love of the outdoors and dogs, books, Bach, meditation and, in the past, pipes... 

What we don't share is [his] obsession with fountain pens and [mine] with badges of the French Chasseurs.

Marlene Jobert

French actress Marlene Jobert is pictured on the set of the film "Le bon et les mechants", directed by Claude Lelouch in Paris on January 19, 1976. 

Georges Pompidou

Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (1911 –1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968—the longest tenure in the position's history. He had long been a top aide to President Charles de Gaulle.

Pompidou's time in office was marked by constant efforts to modernize France's capital city.

US President Richard Nixon and his top adviser Henry Kissinger admired Pompidou; the politicians were in agreement on most major policy issues. The United States offered to help the French nuclear programme. Economic difficulties, however, arose following the Nixon Shock and the 1973–75 recession, particularly over the role of the American dollar as the medium for world trade.

Young Basques wearing a beret and dressed in traditional clothing offer Georges Pompidou a Basque culinary specialty, in Bayonne, France in 1969.

The Yellow Vests Protests

The yellow vests protests (Mouvement des gilets jaunes) are a series of populist grassroots weekly protests in France, at first for economic justice and later for institutional political reforms, that began in France on 17 November 2018.

After an online petition posted in May 2018 had attracted nearly 1 million signatures, mass demonstrations began on 17 November. The movement was initially motivated by rising crude oil and fuel prices, a high cost of living, and economic inequality; it claims that a disproportionate burden of taxation in France was falling on the working and middle classes, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. The protesters have called for lower fuel taxes, a reintroduction of the solidarity tax on wealth, a minimum wage increase, among other things.

Yellow high-visibility vests, which French law requires all drivers to have in their vehicles and to wear during emergency situations, were chosen as "a unifying thread and call to arms" because of their convenience, visibility, ubiquity, and association with working-class industries. The protests have involved demonstrations and the blocking of roads and fuel depots, some of which developed into major riots, described as the most violent since those of May 68. The police action, resulting in multiple incidences of loss of limb, has been criticized by politicians and international media; it has sometimes resulted in police officers being charged for their violent behaviour. 

The movement has received international attention. Protesters in many places around the world have used the yellow vest as a symbol.

Portraits from Périgord

 

Périgord is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.