Myths About The Morgans of Tredegar House
EVAN MORGAN AND BLUE BOY
MYTH MAKING
AT TREDEGAR HOUSE
CATHOLIC MYTHS ON EVAN, LORD TREDEGAR
LINK BELOW
http://myths-evan-tredegar.yolasite.com/
Myths About the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales: Busting the History Fraudsters: NEW BOOK FROM WILLIAM CROSS - 2018
BOOK RELEASE AFTER 30 APRIL 2018
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Myths-About-Morgans-Tredegar-Newport/dp/1905914423
Worst Lies at Tredegar House
'Blue Boy' The Parrot
Silly Trouser Trick
One of the most congenital lies told to visitors at Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales ( a National Trust property) is a silly odd ball tale about Evan Morgan’s parrot ' Blue Boy' , a hyacinth macaw.
The history fraudsters claim that Evan ( the last Viscount Tredegar, who died in 1949) trained the bird to crawl up the inside of his trouser leg and to poke its head out through his flies.
Amusing? Rude? And, good grief what nonsense!
Consider the size of a hyacinth macaw. As well as being exceedingly brave (or foolish) Evan - who certainly had a way with birds- would have needed to own a pair of clown sized baggy trousers for the trick to be just attempted never mind succeed.
One of Evan's closest friends reveals the origin of this devious tale about 'Blue Boy' – which has been in circulation for over 20 years, and which fueled by its persistent telling like all lies has gained it’s own life, legend and momentum.
The background account of the story's chequered history comes from the travel writer Robin Bryans who comments about the idea of Evan legs and middle being ruffled up and fleeced by Blue Boy as “ Not very nice was it? .......And not very accurate, either.”
The source of the expose is in Bryans ' memoir “ Let the Petals Fall” . He adds that the late Hugh Montgomery Massingberd, went to Tredegar House in the 1990s during the time that he [ Massingberd] was researching a newspaper article and was compiling his epic and glossy text book “Great Houses of England and Wales”. The inclusion of Tredegar House by Massingberd in his popular book was good for marketing the place. Much of what he records except for the inaccurate coverage on Evan is typical of books on stately homes.
Massingberd over heard a guide in the House tell a group of visitors :
'One of his Lordship's party tricks was to let a parrot crawl up his trouser-leggings and then peep out from his fly buttons. ‘
It was good copy. But with little regard to whether the story was accurate or not Massingberd swept what he'd overheard into his book and therefore gave it credence. It entered the public domain and this nonsense on par with some of the images from the far fetched sketches from Edward Lear's imagination has been regularly repeated and believed.
There is a famous photograph of Evan with 'Blue Boy' and a group of visitors. See below.
No one knows why the women look aghast. The image - on display in the House- is sometimes used to back up the trouser trick . There is another misrepresentation given of why the two women in the picture appear surprised and look away. It is often said their reaction was because of Blue Boy's bad language. The bird is remembered in one staff memory from Tredegar House as " swearing like a trooper". In truth the photograph does stand out because of the women's body language but it is much more likely that the two women were scared of the damned parrot, it had a reputation for being violent and unpredictable.
Trouble also in the story of Blue Boy's feat crawling up Evan's trouser leg is that it is not ever mentioned in any recollections by servants, estate staff or Evan’s friends who came to stay at Tredegar House in Blue Boy's era in the mid- 1930s to the start of the Second World War ( when Evan's menagerie was dispersed to various zoos).
The story of Blue Boy's trick ascending Evan's trousers must be dismissed as mischievous and made up in house to suit the crowd.
Welsh author David Conway doubts the story too and records in his book "Magic Without Mirrors "
"There was ..a macaw that accompanied its owner [ Evan] everywhere but, contrary to popular legend, is unlikely to have climbed up the inside of his trouser leg so as too frighten lady visitors by peeping out from between the buttons of his flies. A budgerigar might manage it, but certainly not a macaw."
It is an endless game of the truth and spot the lie, spot the conspiracy as so many stories told in Tredegar House to visitors are contrived and have been shown to be false , dodgy and so, sadly, suspicion must surround everything that does not have a clear cut, genuine or written source.
Spotting what is true and what has been conjured up by the old guard at Tredegar House whilst they twiddled their thumbs on a dull, wet day when they had nothing better to do is a very serious matter. Of course no one admits the manipulation of facts and history.
The return to Tredegar House of former Council employees who were guides in past years makes the current project by the National Trust of ' Myth Busting' a tall order. There remains a hard core of insiders who will not change nor be challenged. So much so that the point has been reached where there is no integrity on much of the information given out to visitors. Does it matter? As a historian I think it does. The National Trust should ensure it matters too.
There are stories that can be told of 'Blue Boy' that are verified by good sources.
Earlier solid and confirmed testimony on 'Blue Boy' comes from writers like Daphne Fielding who refers to “ Evan's familiar as a vicious macaw that took women's jewels and dropped them in the huge log fires at Tredegar Park.” Another witness who mentions 'Blue Boy' is the literary critic Alan Pryce- Jones who refers to Evan allowing “ himself to be teased by a formidable macaw named Blue Boy, which liked to bestow hammer blows at great speed between his toes, bare in the bathroom.”
These are several other true stories and accounts about 'Blue Boy' worth citing. These will feature in a forthcoming new book. See below.
Tredegar House should use and cite the real stories mentioned above and dump the trouser lark for good. If they are serious about myth busting this one on the trouser trick currently ranks as one of the worst lies.
Otherwise put up the source of the trouser tale before it was first mentioned by Massinberd in 1994.
This is a draft extract from a forthcoming book entitled " Myths About the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales" Busting the History Fraudsters. edited by William Cross, FSA Scot ISBN 978-1-905914-42-5
ANY QUERIES PLEASE CONTACT EVAN MORGAN'S BIOGRAPHER WILLIAM CROSS FSA SCOT
AUTHOR OF SIX BOOKS ON EVAN, VISCOUNT TREDEGAR
Short Reading List for stories on Tredegar House and Evan Morgan mentioned in above article
"Let The Petals Fall" by Robin Bryans ( 1993)
"Those Remarkable Cunards : Emerald & Nancy" by Daphne Fielding ( 1968)
"The Bonus of Laughter" by Alan Pryce-Jones ( 1987)
Magic Without Mirrors : The Making of a Magician : David Conway (2011)
" He [ Evan Morgan ] had a pet macaw who terrified his friends and once pecked a black pearl…" -- Source - Tredegar Lectures"
" One of Evan's pet macaws was using my leg as a ladder for claws and beak, to climb up to the sofa. Evan had a predilection for exotic creatures..... Source - Julian Huxley ' Memories'