John Banting

This portraitback to top

Humphrey Spender first met John Banting at the home of Rosamond Lehmann whereupon they became close friends. In this portrait, one of a series of playful collaborations between Banting and Spender, the wire violin was in fact an armature made for a floral arrangement, taken from a war memorial. Spender recalls that, 'John got hysterically abusive about war memorials. He would make off with the flowers and was arrested for stealing geraniums and jailed for three days, which he found a very interesting experience.'

Events of 1930back to top

Current affairs

Amy Johnson is the first woman to fly solo to Australia. She flew the 11,000 miles from Croydon to Darwin in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth named Jason and won the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE for her achievement. She went on to break a number of other flying records, and died while serving in the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941.

Art and science

Noel Coward's play, Private Lives is first performed. The original run starred Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier as well as Coward himself. Private Lives became Coward's most enduringly successful play.

International

Gandhi leads the Salt March. The march to the coast was a direct protest against the British monopoly on the sale of salt and inspired hordes of Indians to follow him and adopt his methods of Satyagraha (non-violent resistance to the British rule of India).
Stalin orders the 'liquidation of the kulaks (wealthy farmers) as a class' in a violent attempt to centralise control of agriculture and collectivise farming.

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