Flitch of bacon custom ceremonies in 1855. They have been held ever since in one form or another except for a gap caused by the World Wars. The first ceremony after World War II was held in 1949, despite rationing still being in force. The modern trials are held every fourth year on leap years; the next one is planned for 2020. The event is organised by the Dunmow Flitch Trials Committee who employ a counsel to cross-examine the applicants in an attempt to save the bacon for the sponsors who donated it. The trial is decided by a jury. When first revived the
What is a Masterpiece? confluence of memories and emotions forming a single idea", that it has "a power of recreating traditional forms so that they become expressive of an artist's own epoch and yet keep a relationship to the past". The highest masterpieces are said to be "illustrations of great themes." Clark also implicitly excluded the erotic from considerations of what constituted a masterpiece, based on his perspective that a necessary condition is the balance between sense and form (works that are too sensual are, therefore, unbalanced and not to be categorised at masterpiece level). What is a Masterpiece? What is a Masterpiece? is