Anna Pavlova

This portraitback to top

Ivy House, in Golders Green, became Pavlova's home in 1912. Even though she only lived in the house for short periods, many portraits of Pavlova with friends or posing with her pets survive. In the garden pond she kept swans, which she studied to bring realism to her signature role of the Dying Swan. In her London home, ballets were devised and rehearsed in a specially designed studio, and sets and costumes were made and stored. Pavlova's association with Britain can also be traced to the beginning of her career, when she made her London debut at the Palace Theatre in 1910.

Events of 1920back to top

Current affairs

The Government of Ireland Act (Fourth Home Rule Bill) partitions Ireland into the Irish Free State with a devolved parliament in Dublin and Northern Ireland with a devolved parliament in Belfast.
The Communist Party of Great Britain is founded in London, uniting a number of independent socialist and Marxist parties into a single, united party.

Art and science

Queen Alexandra unveils a monument to Edith Cavell in St Martin's Place opposite the National Portrait Gallery. The English nurse was executed in Germany for helping hundreds of allied soldiers to cross the border from occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands.
George V officially opens the Imperial War Museum at the Crystal Palace.

International

The Kapp Putsch threatens the newly formed Weimar Republic. In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, the leaders of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt refused to disband and marched on Berlin, occupying it on the 13th March. With the general army refusing to defend the city, the government fled to Stuttgart. The rebellion, however, failed after the workers joined a general strike, disabling their plans.

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