Did Saxons Destroy King Arthur's Kingdom When he Died?

I believe the legend of King Arthur comes from fact - he once existed, but I'm not sure if it was during the Dark Ages because Roman culture Britons would have been literate after four hundred years of speaking Latin. It does not seem feasible that Angle, Saxon, and Jutish kings were known of from the supposedly pagan English times, yet the learned Celtic Britons have no substantial record of the real King Arthur, the Arthur knights, the Arthur sword, Merlin the wizard, and of course the round table. I   am no long sure of King Arthur of Cornwall and his queen, Guinevere living during the Dark Ages. After all, these were the ones who could put pen to paper at this time.

I have recently become sceptical of this mass migration of Anglo-Saxon tribes suddenly arriving in Britain when the Romans abandoned the Isle. I have seen documentaries where Saxon sites have been dug up and DNA samples of bones suggest Britons predominantly living in Saxon sites. This throws so many things into confusion and even the evolving of English language, from Frisian or what Dutch people speak.

Some historians of language think it was adopted with heavy British (ancient Welsh) influence. How this was explained was a little beyond me, but there seems to be a general agreement that pagan English tribes were already in the south east of Britain or speaking such a dialect when Rome still ruled. Were these people Christian because by this time Romans and Britons were? Names of Teutonic Gods would suggest that there was a pagan belief, but not the old British Druid system of religion. Therefore this Teutonic religion must have been imported. There are so many unanswered questions especially skeletons of Saxon settlements being mainly Briton in DNA testing.

However, as said previously, much of the DNA is still Celtic British. I wonder if Arthur and his legend were old even during these times - a folk tale back then and perhaps Saxons, Angles and Jutes replaced Romans as the enemy of Arthur's kingdom. I honestly think this mythical king of Celtic Britons was around before, English language or pagan English tribes were in Britain.

Perhaps Angles, Saxons, and Jutes speaking a strange tongue and believing in an un-Christian religion would have found themselves ostracised by Romanised Britons who were literate in Latin. Why write off these people yet not Arthur? I think he would be much more chronicled if he lived in the Dark Ages.

This is the reason I did not mention such a British Celtic King by name in the novel Saxon Quest. I think two cultures clashed in Dark Age Britain, but I can't commit to there being a King Arthur of this time. I believe he goes much further back.

UK Government Work Programmes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/12/single-parents-work-programme-childcare

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21532191

  

I can understand a government's need to get unemployment down and that there may be a large number of the British population on benefits that need to be encouraged to get back to work. I agree, something constructive needs to be done to change this. However, I do think our political classes are out of touch and our flowery British language, especially when spoken by English Brits, leaves us hamstrung by political correctness. We are not allowed to say certain things without being branded despicable or vulgar. Because of this we use tremendous understatement when trying to say things. We go around the houses and use obscure words to present a meaning to something in the hope of not causing offense. We have also learnt to use such words when trying to introduce something we may want played down – in this case; WORK PROGRAMMES – in reality; slavery.

WORK PROGRAMMES are government backed schemes to force unemployed people back to work without wages. In short, this is compulsory and the employer that allows you (the work programmer) to work in their corporate industry, shelf stacking; cleaning toilets etc for free; is doing something for the good of his citizens. Work Programmes are championed by the high profile corporate industry bosses and for good reason - free Labour.

There are also areas of our country where entire communities are destroyed by lack of industry and people may need to move away from their areas to find work. Of course this is easier said than done. There are so many variable things that bring high levels of unemployment to areas. Many of these peoples have had their lives and cultures changed by industrial closures. Expecting them to starve is stupid. They will not and will not allow laws to inhibit them from living life. Many of these people are like urban nomads. Sometimes underhand dealings are the normal way of life on some of the isolated and run down estates across the county. They can be near affluent areas too, but become isolated areas where we do not like to go. We dismiss them and then find it strange when these unemployable peoples treat us with the same contempt.

I assume this is the reason our UK Government has introduced these Work Programmes for unemployed people and often these schemes are meant for the good, but are not revised properly. We have big corporate industries getting free labour under the pretence of cherry picking small numbers of people for permanent employment after many weeks of free labour. Many good meaning people who champion the UK Government Work Programme argue that it is a positive thing. Less then 2% get work.

I have listened to the many arguments and whilst I understand the governments need to tackle mass unemployment; Government Work Programmes are open to exploitation of unemployed people.

I understand that many people on benefits might be exploiting the system too, but many of these people will find ways to avoid doing slave work. They know how to buck the system and know slavery when they see it. They'll go out and rob or commit other crimes knowing the law system cannot afford to keep them locked up for costs in excess of a thousand pound a week. We live in a society where money talks and principles are heard but then take a long walk.

The genuine unemployed people are being forced to do slave work until they learn how to turn bad and thieve as well. They adapt. Disrespect the system, because it will not respect you. I know this is a terrible and wicked thing to say; but I have more awe for the criminals who would find illegal methods to eat than subject themselves to slave traders, because this is what WORK PROGRAMMES are. No matter how many pretentious words they string together to present this diabolical scheme.

Help the community by litter picking the areas, clean graffiti, repair guttering within the community – the parks the waterways – the uneven pavements, but not free labour for private corporate industries. It sends out a horrendous message. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. WORK PROGRAMMES are slave labour – pure and simple. I honestly have more respect for the villain who will not buckle to such treatment and will thieve and commit crimes not to go into slavery. If local authorities and government pay this meagre benefit, use the labour or work experience to clean the estates these people live in. The way WORK PROGRAMMES are used by wealthy industries stinks!

No matter how well meant Government Work Programmes are; it is another name for slavery. It is wrong and should be abolished to find another way. I admit, that I do not know how this might be done, but I would strongly argue that millions of foreign unskilled workers have been brought into our country and exasperated the situation to horrendous levels for many Brits who do want to work but strongly object to being forced to work for up to six weeks free of pay and then be dis-guarded for a new batch of free workers. Our political classes allowed this circumstance to come about in the first place.

These Work Programme, free workers are got rid of after so many weeks and then the next rota of Government Work Programmers are forced to work for nothing under the pretence of they might get a job. If they do not comply, the meagre benefits are stopped. Give them a proper wage and allow them to stay. Don’t make them work overtime if they don’t want too when in paid work. Many of us do not want to do more than the proper hours per week. There is no wrong in this. Now they are being forced to do these things without pay because one person has sway over so many. This is very wrong and no matter how well worded people try to present this issue; it still is slavery. Once again our British ruling classes are using our wonderful language to understate exploitation and slavery with words like WORK PROGRAMME.

I now pray for the trade unions to rise again, though I think it is unlikely. I hope so many people throw in the towel and turn to crime and then the government will realise it cannot imprison them all. Better still, get this government out. They live on another planet and have no concept of what it is like to live on the many run down council estates throughout Britain. They are places where decent people look to the thieves for cheap affordable commodities, where drug dependant people shop lift and turn up with delights. And then they all become villains together. This type of culture is enforced on them because it is a better choice than complying with unfair rules.

You might think this world is bad, but if you have to live in such a place, it is a whole lot better than slavery on Government WORK PROGRAMMES. The more this unfair scheme is allowed to continue the more people will say; “what’s the bloody point.” They learn to adapt in dreadful ways. Why respect a government that will not respect you? This new type of world has been evolving for decades. Most of us know of such places from the outside, but more and more are being drawn into it.

Some might welcome it with open arms because our political classes offer nothing better than WORK PROGRAMMES (SLAVERY)

http://www.24dash.com/news/central_government/2013-03-04-social-landlords-should-deliver-the-work-programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20526620

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/12/single-parents-work-programme-childcare

Sven Hassel 1917 to 2012 - Danish Pulp War Fiction Writer?

When John Wayne died, everyone was shocked. No one thought he would die. For people who read Sven Hassel; well they could be forgiven for thinking likewise. I could not believe Sven Hassel was dead, yet unlike the actor; the Danish writer's fame had a certain anonymity.

Being a Brit and growing up in the sixties, I had a diet of British heroic stands against National Socialist Germany. Our grandparents fought against them, our shops were full of weekly comics that told stories of brave Brit, Canadian, Ozzie or Kiwi soldiers gritting their teeth and confronting the faceless enemy of autonomous entities in jack boots. This faceless enemy seemed so inhuman and unfeeling to me. Then one day, around my friends house, I came across a grubby paperback called SS General by Sven Hassel. The picture was that of a high ranking officer in an open topped car while the steepes of Russia were in flames. I was allowed to have this book and started to read it. I was about twelve or thirteen years of age and got totally sucked in by this group of soldiers like Porta, Tiny, the Old Man and of course Sven watching them. I suddenly realised that the enemy was very human and they too, had a sense of humour and morality as they tried to survive their Hell on Earth in a world gone mad.

Sven Hassel 1917 - 2012

I was shocked to learn that Sven Hassel had passed away aged 95 in Spain on September of 2012. This was with regret because I read so many of his stories in my youth. I thought them graphically compelling. I went from horror to laughter because of Porta and Tiny plus many more of Sven Hassel's wonderful friends.

Sven Hassel as a young soldier

Sven Hassel was a Dane who is believed to have fought in a penal battalion of the German Army during World War II. There is some controversy surrounding such claims and there are people that dispute him being in the Panzer battalions. Some of these people claim he got his notion for stories from veterans who fought upon the Russian Front. Some think he was in a collaborating Danish Nazi police force. There are all sorts of things said and claimed and no one seems to really know for sure. 

Most believe that Sven Hassel joined the German Army in 1937 and tried to go AWOL after a time. He was caught and put into a penal battalion and saw action in many parts of Europe during World War II. He was captured in Berlin in 1945 and interned where he began writing of the war.

From a movie of his book
Wheels of Terror

He wrote a story called Legion of the Damned which won international recognition. After this he began to write more with the same characters in different theatres of the war. After release from internment, Sven Hassel was considering joining the French Foreign Legion, but he met a lady who became his wife and she encouraged him in his writing. They moved to Spain after Sven recovered from a long spell of ill health.

Perhaps he found a winning formula with his  friends from Legion of the Damned because they become much more developed in other stories and we all come to love the same collection of the roguish characters of his books, which were believed to be based on real friends he knew during the war. Again some dispute this, but writers do use people they know, to develop characters in fiction. In Legion of the Damned we go through the war with terrible outcomes for many of Sven's much loved characters. In the other stories; they are set at events between the time of beginning and end of Legion of the Damned.

Indeed, Sven has his friends fighting in so many theatres of war that they could not have gone to all places from Russia to Western Front to Italy. However, his pulp war stories are very good with horror and brutality of war plus fabulous humour of his friends. Sven Hassel is among these soldiers writing in first person singular. He is not the main character but just an observer in the background running about with them most of the time. He also interacts with them, so his stories come across as memoirs.

The formula of writing that Sven Hassel uses makes for excellent reading and one does become immersed with this group of misfit soldiers that try to survive the Hell of a world gone mad. You feel for them and like them despite the wicked and cruel things they must do to survive. They are often governed by ruthless officers and on occasion do not hesitate to eliminate them if they are out in the wilderness. They also make wonderful friends who have tragic demises. The stories are very good and if his friends are real, and I like to believe they are; then I hope they are all living the laughter times somewhere else.

Britain in 1960s decade - Cilla Black

When I was a kid, I can remember that Cilla Black had a weekend TV show, that was very popular. Of course she has hosted other TV shows since then and she is an iconic household name in the UK with her Liver bird (Liverpool girl) accent. She came to fame during the time of the Beatles and played at the same venues in Liverpool. I am told she featured in the famous Cavern where the Beatles played too.

One of my favourite things about being British; was growing up in the 1960s. Every memory is still through naive childhood eyes. I thought all our adults where great and our entertainment was fun too. It is still good now, but I think we are overdosed with too many fine artists and most don't get the nationwide appeal on the scale that many of the Retro Brit sixties celebrities got. I have chosen two Cilla Black songs that conjure up all sorts of kind memories from my childhood.

H.M.S. Jervis Bay - Heroic Final and Valiant Moment - MV San Demetrio.

The Merchant ship, H.M.S. Jervis Bay had been taken over by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war in 1939. This ship had been hastily converted with vintage guns from 1898 - seven 6in guns and two 3in guns. She had become a convoy escort during the last few months prior to November 1940 when this brave ship would charge into legend with an act of supreme bravery.

The event took place on 5th November 1940. The Captain of H.M.S. Jervis Bay made a heroic decision and sacrifice to protect a convoy of merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean. Captain Edward Fegan ordered the convoy, his ship was escorting, to scatter when they came up against the German pocket Battleship Admiral Scheer. What followed was an act of bravery by Captain Fegan and his crew that was remarkable because all knew that their converted armed merchant cruiser was outgunned against such a formidable enemy. The merchant convoy, escorted by H.M.S. Jervis Bay, held valuable cargo bound for Britain from Canada and USA. With the safety of this in mind; H.M.S. Jervis Bay charged at AdmiralScheer diverting the pocket Battleship's attention away from the thirty seven Merchant ships. The crew of Jervis Bay were under no illusions as to what would happen when their Captain ordered the attack against a superior German pocket Battleship.

The hastily converted Jervis Bay attacked with her inferior and out ranged guns, fighting against the 28 cm guns of Admiral Scheer. Never the less, the crew of Jervis Bay stubbornly attacked with their guns blazing away. They fought for twenty two minutes as their ship was blown and torn apart – reduced to a burning hulk. Captain Fegan was reported to have had his arm shattered and his bridge blown from under him, yet still he remained, trying to keep his guns firing. He went down with the ship.

The Admiral Scheer was able to sink five more of the Allied convoy's Merchant ships, before the rest could scatter.

As the flaming H.M.S. Jervis Bay sunk, sixty five survivors managed to abandon the ship. They were picked up by a neutral Swedish Ship. The other brave 190 crew perished with H.M.S. Jervis Bay as the vessel went down to the bottom of the Atlantic. 

The dreadful sacrifice was not lost on British people. The vital cargo of the Atlantic convoy was the nation's lifeline. At this time of 1940, Britain was fighting for survival and her fate rested upon a knife edge. These bold acts were common in the Battle of the Atlantic as Britain and her allies desperately tried to keep their war effort alive.

MV San Demetrio

MV San Demetrio

From this dreadful attack came another incident of remarkable bravery. MV San Demetrio was one of the Merchant ships attacked by Admiral Scheer after HMS Jervis Bay went down fighting. MV San Demetrio was full of aviation fuel. The German shells that struck her had caused crippling damage and the merchant ship was burning furiously. The crew were ordered to abandon ship as it would be only a matter of time before the flamable cargo ignited. As the lifeboats left the burning vessel the survivors probably expected further shells from the German pocket Battleship.

Her crew sat in lifeboats waiting and knowing the same fate would befall San Demetrio as had HMS Jervis Bay. They were bobbing up and down upon the waves, expecting the worse. But it never came.

Amazingly, the Admiral Scheer turned her attention upon other ships of the scattering convoy. Maybe the crew of the German ship thought other vessels deserved priority attention and the San Demetrio could burn and blow without further help from them. It made sense when other merchants could be sunk.

Later, the San Demetrio crew were able to return and board the stricken Merchant ship. What had been a raging inferno had suddenly abatied. They ran about the decks and managed to quench the various fires still burning aboard the vessel. To everyone’s amazement the stricken San Demetrio was still afloat and able to make way through the sea. 

The attentive crew painstakingly nursed the damaged vessel over the following days and managed to limp the stricken ship back to the UK. She received a rapturous welcome home and the story of this heroism was noted. A movie was made about the ship and its crew. It is called; "San Demetrio London."

Sadly, the San Demetrio would be sunk at a later stage in the Battle of the Atlantic by U-boat in 1942.

Germany wakes up and smells the coffee

Daniel Hannan makes a very important speech concerning the powerhouse economy of Germany. I honestly think the UK is right on their stance concerning the fiscal Union, despite being isolated because of David Cameron's veto of the treaty.

Germany can't continue to be the bottomless pocket for the failing southern nations of Europe. It will allow a long term state of apathy to develop. (If it has not developed already when these nations came into the Euro currency on a level playing field along side Germany, France, Netherlands etc)  

You can't keep lending bankrupt friends money, it exasperates the situation. The southern Euro nations have to be able to claw themselves out. In the long run; bale outs will not help and the Germans, I think, are beginning to realise this.

France Anger at UK Veto of New EU treaty.

It’s all getting very nasty now the French are throwing their rattles out of the pram. This sort of thing just hardens people’s resolve. The UK wants the Euro to succeed and get out of the mess it is in. The UK is outside of this but still a member of the European Union. Despite being outside of the Eurozone; (Countries that use Euro currency) the UK is still obliged and will help financially to get the Euro back on track. We will not sign the fiscal Union of the new amended treaty because it threatens our banking industry in London. We do not want to drive them overseas. Because our British Prime Minister David Cameron Vetoed the new treaty on the basis of the banks; France is now acting like a spoilt little baby and making an already bad situation worse. David Cameron came up against the Eurozone countries stubborn resilience concerning this matter. So he chose not to enter the UK into the new treaty agreement. He had no choice and the UK will not be blackmailed by France on this matter.

Again this wins votes for the anti-European movement in Britain. Many British people want the UK to remain in Europe, but there are a large number that want to quit. Sooner or later one of the main political parties will fight an election on the referendum vote. This could be dangerous for the UK, because decades of work within the European Union will go to waste. However, when one is confronted with this type of French winging; it forces one to wonder if being united with such a fickle government is worth it.

English language and the Anglo-Saxon Invasion of Britain.



King Arthur fights the Anglo-Saxons

The Romans began to leave Britain in 410 A.D as their grand empire began to shrink. Across mainland Europe barbarian tribes were causing all sorts of migrations as Huns, Goths and other tribes ventured into the western areas of the continent - lands rich with over 400 years of Roman administration.

Neighboring tribes that had previously been driven back by the Roman army began immigrating to the British Isles en masse. All of Britain, including Caledonia, to the north, were under threat. The Picts who had been able to keep Rome at bay began to attract interest from Hibernia (Ireland). A northern tribe known as Scoti began to migrate to their northern lands.

Demise of Roman Britain

In the Romanised parts of Britain's south east; the Germanic people of Northern Europe, known as Saxons, Angles and Jutes began to migrate onto the island. They were fierce tribes fighting to secure lands in southern Britain. 

The Roman Celts termed the Anglo-Saxon tribes as invaders. They were pushed back westwards towards Wales, Devon and Cornwall. The stories of King Arthur are about his Britons fighting against Angles and Saxon invaders. Though the legends have become corrupted over time. (Some making King Arthur a King of England when it was the English tribes he fought against.) For the Roman Celts, the demise of their civilization must have been along an apocalyptic scale as they saw their industry and commerce decline and their lands swamped by the English tribes. They had to integrate or flee west.



Invasion of Anglo-Saxon tribes

Eventually the Angles and Saxons became the dominant force through out the entire Isle with their language, one day, becoming most widely spoken. Of all the tribes in Britain, during the beginning of the Dark Ages; the English ones were illiterate. It is strange and quite a feat that their language would one day progress so far.

Of course this language as developed over the centuries and if anyone went back among the Dark Age Anglo-Saxons, I think Dutch people might have a better chance of understanding what they were saying, then people of English speaking nations would.

Saxon Quest is a story of Gewisse Saxons and Dumnonian Celts of South West Britain in the year of AD 567.

Nephilim Watchers and Giants

A documentary video about Nephilim Giants and how they came about from the religious point of view and the reason why their down fall came about by God's hand. A bit heavy from one point of view - perhaps farcical and fantastic from another.

Read: Renee Pawlish on Nephilim Giants

Moyra Melons Ear Rings Hang Nicely.



Moyra Melons wanted to show of the new ear rings she had bought while shopping. She had returned, put them on, and waited for the forth coming scrutiny of her husband's keen eye.

As one might well imagine, Moyra's fatigued husband had all those tied cobwebs blown from his eyes as he walked in, from the garden, to see his wife as you, the reader, see in the above photo. She was moving her head from side to side as though dancing.

"Do these hang properly?" she asked. "I wanted ones that don't swing about."

"I should say so darling," he replied excitedly raising a surprised eye-brow.

"As I swing my head from side to side, do they juggle about? I don't want to go to your works do and attract attention by swinging them here, there and everywhere." 

"Well they do tend to wobble a little Moyra, but I don't think the chaps will mind too much."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course - I would go so far as to say they might be delighted."

This time Moyra raised an eye-brow. "I'm surprised to know that men get so excited over my ear rings, though I have to confess that my ear rings are the one thing I have going for me when ever I go out. I always notice people staring at me and I know its down to the varied choice of ear rings I am able to display."

Her husband coughed slightly. "Well... It's not just the ear rings Moyra."

"Oh come now," she teased. "What else could it possibly be?"

Once again he closed the door and let Moyra know what else she had going for her. Could you, the reader, ever guess what it might be." 

Heart Of Reiki - New Age

Smashing New Age Music downloaded from YouTube. It is called The Heart Of Reiki

Different Realms

I always wonder if we will be able to inter-react in realms like this on a personal level, when games consoles become more advanced - like a holodeck I suppose. I don't do PlayStation or Xbox or any other of those things. Even though some of the art is great. However, I live in hope of them becoming advanced enough to enter a realm where scenes like this montage are all around us and we can walk in such places - well convincingly tricked into thinking so... :)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Invaders - Saxon Gewisse v Dumnonian Celts AD 567

Saxon Quest

by C. A. Powell

Calamity in the Dark Ages - A Celtic king dies. He leaves a realm in West Britain without an heir.

The inhabitants of a neighbouring Saxon kingdom see the chance to invade.

This bold undertaking appears straight forward to the invaders...

However, the fixations of intoxicated and audacious men do not always deliver the desired outcome, when up against cold reality.

This gripping novel is based on the real history of Britain back in the Dark Ages of the 6th Century.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Moyra Melons ear ring attention diverters

Moyra Melons called her husband into the on-suite when they were getting ready to go out one night. She was impatient to try on her new ear rings and wanted an honest opinion. 

"How do these look?"

"Well..." began her husband, shaking slightly. "They look absolutely adorable dear."

"I thought a glitzy type of necklace here," she said putting her hands upon the incline of her neck and shoulders as you, the reader, see in the photo above.

"Well perhaps darling..." replied her husband finding it a little difficult to concentrate on tiny ear rings and attempting, woefully, to visualise a glimmering necklace.

"Well I thought it would take one's gaze from these ear rings. I don't want to over emphasize them, so I thought a nice necklace would divert attention from such prominent attractions."

"I don't think a necklace would take attention from such things," replied her husband coming over in a very excited hot flush.

"Really?" replied Moyra Melons, a tad disappointed.

"However, I don't think your ear rings will steal the show completely because there are other things to take into account dear," said her husband. "Allow me to lend this understanding to you my little ear ring charmer."

"Oh please do," requested Moyra Melons enthusiastically.

He closed the on-suite door and from inside; came the sound of a lot of splashing and giggling - jolly frivolity, one might say. The result of which, allowed Moyra Melons to realise that she did not need a necklace to divert attention away from her ear rings.

Obviously, Moyra Melons has a patient and understanding husband who believes in making education a fun thing - would you not agree?

Harrier Jump Jet.

The Harrier Jump Jet is a British designed, vertical take off and landing aircraft. There are many types that have had design upgrades over the decades. The Sea Harrier saw military action in 1982 and the plane has also been used during the Balkans conflict of the 1990s. It is a craft that captures the imagination and the sea Harriers are excellent for use on board small aircraft carriers.

 

Vampire - John Polidori of Romantic Movement/Fantasy Fiction - The Vampyre

John Polidori

John Polidori was born in London in 1795 of an Italian father who was a political exile and an English mother who was a governess. He had many brothers and sisters too. During his education he went to Edinburgh and studied medicine where he obtained a degree as a doctor at the age of nineteen in 1815.

During his short life, he was one of so called 'in crowd' of the Romantic Movement - the young toffs of the early nineteenth century. This fraction of young people, led by Lord Byron, was a group that stayed by Lake Geneva and tried each, to write a ghost story. Among the group was John Polidori who was employed as the young Lord Byron's personnel physician. Also present was Percy Bysshe Shelly - a renowned poet, and his future wife Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin who, as Mary Shelly, would write the famous Frankenstein story.

John Polidori was credited with writing the first English version vampire story, though his short novella would be over shadowed by Bram Stoker's Dracula in later years.

John Polidori wrote The Vampyre and it was published in 1819 under Lord Byron's name. Lord Byron and John Polidori both agreed The Vampyre was written by John Polidori and there was some confusion concerning this.

In 1821 at the age of just twenty five, John Polidori was found dead - some suspected suicide because of mounting debts, though a coroner stated natural causes.

His novella - The Vampyre is in the public domain today and can be read on many sites as a freebie. The link below will take you to such a site.

The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre by John Polidori - Powell's Books

Best Epic Audiomachine - Thunderdome

Epic audiomachine music, titled Thunderdome against splendid fantasy artwork - a double whammy of great art, visual and audio.

 

AEfthryth - Queen Elfthryth of England AD 962 - AD 975

Queen Elfthryth

Queen Elfthryth was an Anglo Saxon Queen of England. She was the second wife of Anglo Saxon King Edgar and was the first of all English King’s wives’ known to be crowned in full Christian ritual. This was in a ceremony before an Arch Bishop and in a cathedral in the city of Bath. Her name is spelt in many ways: AEfthryth, Alfrida, but for this blog it is Elfthryth.

She lived from AD 945 to AD 1000 or AD 1001 – the records are not too sure on her death, but she was around mid-fifties when she passed away, which was a fair age for that time. It was still Dark Age Britain and Queen Elfthryth was important because of what happened to her and what she did. Some historians have given her a bad press but she was a survivor and was capable of doing under hand things to protect her off spring in a world fraught with danger.

She was born of a noble family of Wessex and was renowned for her beauty. One day, in a year around early AD 960s, she was visited by an Earl called AEthelwald. She was about fifteen to seventeen years and Earl AEthelwald was on a mission for the Anglo Saxon king of England. The Earl was charged to see how her beauty was. For AEfthryth was reported to be one of the most beautiful ladies of the land. AEthelwald was so smitten that he asked for her hand in marriage and reported back to King Edgar that the reports were exaggerated and she was not attractive at all.

How long passed is not known, concerning the time of Elfthryth’s marriage to AEthelwald, but King Edgar heard of the deception and he decided to visit the supposedly afflicted Lady Elfthryth. Earl AEthelwald tried to make sure his new wife, Elfthryth, made herself unappealing before King Edgar, but instead she did her best to look beautiful. Maybe Elfthryth was angered by not knowing the king had looked upon her as potential Queen and she had been deceived as much as King Edgar the Peaceful, as he was often called. The year of the visit was AD 962 and upon seeing the beautiful Elfthryth, King Edgar was also smitten.

He went hunting in the surrounding lands and had Earl AEthelwald killed while on the hunt. Supposedly, Edgar the Peaceful was not living up to his name on this particular day. He then took Elfthryth to be his wife and returned to his Anglo Saxon seat of power with his young and beautiful wife. King Edgar would have been about nineteen or twenty years of age while his wife perhaps seventeen or eighteen.

When the young Queen Elfthryth came to the king’s court, he already had a son called Edward and a daughter called Edith. This son was not the acknowledged heir to the throne and perhaps Queen Elfthryth felt secure in the knowledge her children would become heirs. However, this was the Dark Ages, and people of power would kill to gain prominence, none more so then kings or emperors. At such a young age, Elfthryth would not probably have been too sensitive to such dangers, but as she got older and bore her own son by King Edgar, she would have matured in understanding. She might have even known that certain people of the king’s council would favour the oldest son over her's, AEthelred. This circumstance would have prevailed for many years during King Edgar’s reign.

Although Edgar was called King and Elfthryth Queen, it was fourteen years into his reign before he went through the ceremonial coronation in the year of AD 973. It was a grand occasion and six kings from various parts of Britain went to see him in Chester shortly after the coronation. Among them, were two kings from domains in Scotland. This was also the coronation in which Elfthryth was officially proclaimed Queen of England.

King Edgar and six British Kings

Two years later in AD 975, King Edgar the Peaceful died in his early thirties. Elfthryth was no longer Queen and the late King Edgar’s unacknowledged heir became King Edward of England. He would have been just fifteen years of age and was almost certainly influenced by older advisers.

Elfthryth watched the young King Edward’s reign for three years until an opportunity presented itself to her when the King was visiting Corfe Castle in today’s county of Dorset. It is believed her servants and supporters of her son, AEthelred, assassinated King Edward at the castle in AD 978. He was later proclaimed Edward the Martyr.

Corfe Castle where
King Edward the Martyr was killed

Elfthryth had secured the throne for her son AEthelred who was around ten years old and too young to rule. Therefore Elfthryth ruled as Dowager until young King AEthelred was old enough to become king. He would become known as King AEthelred the Unready, which meant bad council or ill advised.

Elfthryth would have seen much of the mismanaged rule and the trouble with Danish settlers. She died in about AD 1000 – 1001 with the stigma of creating Edward the Martyr because her servants were believed to have killed the young king in favour of her own son.

Had Edward the Martyr lived to become older and wiser, he may have dealt the same demise upon Elfthryth and her son AEthelred, it was a dog eat dog world and perhaps Elfthryth had learnt the art of survival better then young King Edward and his advisers.

Nosferatu - 1922 Ultra classic film that almost never made it.

Ultra classic that almost never made it. Nosferatu was very nearly destroyed over copyright. Now in the public domain and from YouTube.

F. W. Murnau's landmark vampire film Nosferatu isn't merely a variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula: it's a direct steal, so much so that Stoker's widow went to court, demanding in vain that the Murnau film be suppressed and destroyed. The character names have been changed to protect the guilty (in the original German prints, at least), but devotees of Stoker will have little trouble recognizing their Dracula counterparts. The film begins in the Carpathian mountains, where real estate agent Hutter (Gustav von Wagenheim) has arrived to close a sale with the reclusive Herr Orlok (Max Schreck). Despite the feverish warnings of the local peasants, Hutter insists upon completing his journey to Orlok's sinister castle. While enjoying his host's hospitality, Hutter accidently cuts his finger-whereupon Orlok tips his hand by staring intently at the bloody digit, licking his lips. Hutter catches on that Orlok is no ordinary mortal when he witnesses the vampiric nobleman loading himself into a coffin in preparation for his journey to Bremen. By the time the ship bearing Orlok arrives at its destination, the captain and crew have all been killed-and partially devoured. There follows a wave of mysterious deaths in Bremen, which the local authorities attribute to a plague of some sort. But Ellen, Hutter's wife, knows better. Armed with the knowledge that a vampire will perish upon exposure to the rays of the sun, Ellen offers herself to Orlok, deliberately keeping him "entertained" until sunrise. At the cost of her own life, Ellen ends Orlok's reign of terror once and for all. Rumors still persist that Max Schreck, the actor playing Nosferatu, was actually another, better-known performer in disguise. Whatever the case, Schreck's natural countenance was buried under one of the most repulsive facial makeups in cinema history-one that was copied to even greater effect by Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's 1979 remake - Nosferatu the Vampyre

Spitting Image Took No Prisoners

This Spitting image scene about 'Essex is Crap' had me in stitches of laughter. I live in Essex and most of the UK give us a stereotype, thick thugs, attitude with Barby doll girls sporting orange fake tans. This of course is not true, though there is the odd one or two that might comfortably fit the image. I love Essex and this joke on Spitting Image sending up Essex people. This UK tv show took no prisoners when it was at its height in the 1980s of Thatcher's Britain.