Moyra Melons Bounces Back with New Ear Rings.

There are a pair of things in this world that Moyra Melons likes to know capture a chaps attention. She finds all sorts of ways to show them off and we readers have enjoyed a fine range of different methods in which Moyra displays her lovely attributes. She is often unsure if fellows will notice them, but to her joy; we always do.

I'm sure that right now they are the first pair of divine things that you, the reader of this blog, perceive. Yes I know your dazzled, so let us cast aside my British understatement and celebrate Moyra Melons divine ways of displaying many a perfect pair of delightful ear rings.

Does any American US Air Force Person Know Vietnam Vet Ronald Black

Ronald Black 1947 - 2001 Veitnam Vet US Air Force

Sometimes, I was work in a cemetery in Essex, England, UK. It is a strange place at times and one comes across all sorts of things. You learn about the robins who are extremely territorial and quite vicious little things. The graves are lined headstones with privet hedge borders running around the entire perimeter and each robin has its own section of shrub and area of ground beyond which it defends against intruders. When we dig graves; the robins like to come close and search the dirt mound for worms. It is all part of nature and we become quite accustomed to the robins, as they do us grave diggers.

The graves tell all sorts of stories and some are rather tragic, while others talk of long life, asking questions of what the deceased might have seen during their lives. Sometimes, I come across a grave that causes one to wonder. The headstone above is of an American person called Ronald Black. I could not help but take a photo because I wondered, how he came to be buried in this quite little graveyard in Hockley, Essex, England. Perhaps he was a Brit who was in the US Air Force?

Ronald Black was born on 1st of April 1947 and died on his 54th birthday - 1st April 2001. He was in the US Air Force and fought in the Vietnam War. This would not be unusual for an American born in the late 1940s of course, but where he lived after, and died at such a young age afterwards, in England does seem strange to me. He might have old Vietnam Vet friends in the USA who remember him from the late sixties while serving in his nation's air force during the Vietnam War. So, in a way, this blog is here for any Vietnam veteran American who might have known Ronald Black while in the US Air Force. He rests in peace in Hockley, Essex, England, UK 

Heroine Phillipa Langley Finds Bones of England's King Richard III

Phillipa Langley of the Richard III Society

The Strange Lady from Edinburgh 

One might suppose that the King Richard III Society was or is a quirky little organisation made up of slightly eccentric people. I would thinks so, yet there is something strange and compelling to all us ordinary muggle-like people who smile indulgently at such groups. 

These idiosyncratic and wonderful people flick a switch of interest now and then, and many of us have heard of this conspiracy theory group who want to restore England's King Richard III name to a level of high standing.

After forensic people from Dundee crafted knew features Phillipa  Langley  could  see how King Richard III appeared.

The first trench stumbled upon Richard III's remains

I was thrilled by this strange lady from Edinburgh who had been working relentlessly to find his body, so that we might learn more of this king's death. For many years she wrote letters and went before committees to try and get permission to dig up a car park in Leicester. These people of various boards, that had this strange and nerdy type lady coming before them, must have thought she was a total fruit cake. Yet some how - our strange heroine, named Phillipa Langley, would not give up the battle - and all respect to the lady - what an absolute champion. 

How very right she was among the none-believers and all us muggle-like and indifferent people. Phillipa Langley found treasure, and I watched the documentary spellbound as this lady, who seemed to be very over emotional, found and had the bones of one of our most infamous kings dug up.

Phillipa Langley next to relative of Richard III - the man's DNA was positive.

Next followed many trials and tribulations concerning tests. This involved carbon dating and testing DNA against known living relatives of today. Special forensic examiners based in Dundee,  came down south and crafted a replica of King Richard III's skull and then were able to add face muscle and eyes to display what the dead king looked like.

King Richard III Skull

Sometimes during all this, Phillipa Langley appeared to go a little over the top with her mixed emotions, asking some of the scientific crew to carry the boxed bones to a van draped in the royal standard of the time. Of course the scientific crew were stalwart test people and politely declined such an invitation. However, other enthusiasts to the project complied. All these things were going on before tests proved conclusive, so scientists did not want to jump the gun. However, I would suppose Phillipa Langley had been working for many years to achieve all of this and by these moments; everything was unfolding before her dazzled eyes.

I have since heard whispers that a group of searchers are going after King Alfred the Greats bones. By the way, King Richard III will be given a proper burial on Leicester Cathedral - all royal honour restored. I still think he killed the princes in the tower though.

The Last Days Of Thunder Child by C A Powell - Book Reviews

For reviews on Amazon.com USA please click here and scroll down.

By Brian on February 5, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

2:48 0:02 JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303120152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900 Length: 2:48 Mins

Novels like this are like a painting inside of a painting, or a painting inside someone else's painting. C A Powell does a great job in both stepping into Wells world and handling the sea battle, which is probably the most challenging kind of battle to write. For more detail watch the video I made. For a buck this book is definitely worth it. I got at least seven out of it.

What would it have been like for the crew of HMS Thunder Child? The fictitious ship from the War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. 

I had a fascination with Victorian ironclads and the first revolving turret ships. These steel beasts of the British Empire never really saw action of note because during this day and age, the Royal Navy was very advanced with many ships to call upon to serve its vast empire. It was never put to the test until the time of the dreadnoughts in WWI. There was a 100 year period when Great Britain's navy cruised, at will, around the entire planet. Nothing of substance could face it upon our Earth. Nothing of note did. These wonderful ships came and went during that period of peace at sea, for Great Britain.

Then, to my delight, I read H.G.Wells' fabulous SciFi novel set in the Victorian era. This author created the ultimate for me. Nothing on Earth could face this proud navy. So he brought us 'off world aliens' from Mars in gigantic machines that roamed, at will, on three legs. The story contained a small exert of an old ironclad called HMS Thunder Child. It lasted but half a page within the novel, but gave me cause to wonder.

I wanted the ship (Thunder Child) to be like HMS Devastation or HMS Thunderer the sister ship. They were among the first revolving turrets ships without sails. I wanted the old fictitious ironclad (HMS Thunder Child) to be like one of these. It would have been built in 1971 and therefore would be old by 1898. For poetic licence I wanted it to have retained its muzzle loading guns with short stumpy barrels that barely protruded from the revolving turret's ports. I needed to invent a reason for the old (and by this time) obsolete guns to still be in use. Muzzle loaders were changed for long barrel breech loaders across the Royal Navy in the 1880s decade, after a terrible accident with HMS Thunderer.

All this was created to give fictitious HMS Thunder Child an excuse to still have the muzzle loaders, years after them becoming obsolete in the Royal Navy. It lent the ship a vulnerability, to my mind, as I decided to write a pastiche novel set in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds Universe. I wanted to go aboard Thunder Child in the days prior to her encounter with three Martian tripods in the River Blackwater, off the Coast of Maldon in Essex, England, UK. The River Blackwater is a small tributary that leads out into the North Sea. What happened in the days leading up to the dramatic event?

Writing - The Last Days of Thunder Child - a pastiche story 

It took me upon a fantasy of my own and an enjoyable adventure. It was a wonderfully engrossing project. If anyone reads H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds or even listens to Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation of the book, they will delight in the tale of Thunder Child's grand moment as the brave ironclad attacks the Martians to save a paddle steamer crammed with refugees.  I decided to go back a few days hence the confrontation, and join the crew upon its journey that would lead to the ultimate meeting. 

Images below of Thunder Child and HMS Devastation - the way I imagined the ficticious ship from War of the Worlds.

Artist impression of Thunder Child

Model of HMS Devastation

Another view of HMS Devastation

Artist's impression of HMS Devastation in Malta

Impression of Thunder Child battling Martian tripods

Jeff Wayne's artist does a great image of Thunder Child.

To enjoy The Last Days of Thunder Child - a pastiche from War of the Worlds please check out.

Pro EU People Offer Nothing Constructive to UK

I am sure that long term, Britain within the EU can work. However, pro-Euro people can't say it will be alright in the long run, even though it will. British people will not buy this at the moment. Perhaps David Cameron's attempt to kick the can down the road until 2017 might be such an attempt. I can understand this. In the meantime pro-EU needs better teeth then to start fear mongering about the UK being in a disastrous situation if it left the EU. It would not. The UK would probably be better off staying in the EU if it changed. It must change and pro-Euro Brits must emphasis this more. If the EU will not tolerate this, then I would reluctantly agree that the UK must leave.

David Cameron has bought some time, perhaps, but among pro-EU people, there is no one of substance who can offer plausible arguments against mass migration and to change laws we are powerless to impose as a sovereign nation because there is an EU directive prohibiting us. No matter how much the EU, rants that we can't have powers back; they must yield to this. If they refuse, we leave. We cannot possibly stay in under such restricting circumstances. I am in total agreement with David Cameron on this, we need to see what we can change and if we can do this first. We must also be careful that little mince morsels of consent from the EU are not bigged up to appear like we have got power back. There must be clear honesty from our own politicians.

Drone plane machine gun - Prototype Quadrotor with Machine Gun!

This type of weaponry is very ingenious, but how long before such technical skill becomes so mainstream that even criminals might acquire such things. Its all well and good using such devices against terrorists, but I can't help thinking that terrorists might be able to acquire a drone or make something like it too. So many people are getting to do clever and unexpected things nowadays with computer technology. How long before some teenager works out how to do such a thing? Or a radical minded student with warped views about the world? I find this YouTube clip extremely ingenious but also very frightening. There is far too much wicked potential to this clever way of killing people.

In the UK, I imagine what it would be like if an extremely twisted political group wanted to use such a devise. Our politicians could be attacked through a window or at a garden function before security could be alerted. Imagine a shopping mall - the potential is horrendous. Sometimes the future is just far too scary. Are we becoming too complacent in our belief of everyday security?

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=the+black+and+tan+summer&sprefix=the+black+an%2Cdigital-text%2C192

 

Giving You The Black and Tan Police of Ireland (Reserve Police Force)

The problem of Irish Independence flared in 1916 during the Easter uprising. The Irish Volunteers wore uniforms and tried to fight according to rules of war. However, the British government refused to accept this. When the IVF were defeated, many high-ranking officers of the Volunteers were executed by firing squad. The government adopted the usual retro British ways of justice with ill-deserved confidence. The Irish Republican Army learnt and adapted their methods. They went underground and became more ruthless in a new and covert method of combat.

The Black and Tans were recruited from Britain because the Royal Irish Constabulary needed more manpower. Police barracks throughout Ireland were being attacked by the IRA rebels and as a consequence, it was becoming difficult to recruit R.I.C. members. Many were killed when police compounds were raided and destroyed by the Flying Columns of the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army) 

In Britain, there was a huge surplus of unemployed ex-soldiers from the great war of Europe. Many of these men had no apprenticeship except that of fighting and killing in the trenches of Europe.  They were thrown upon the scrapheap of economic necessity when suddenly in 1919 an opportunity to earn 10 shillings a day came about. This involved being in a reserve police force attached to the Royal Irish Constabulary and serving in Ireland combating the rebel I.R.A.

Crossley Tender with Black and Tans

This covert rebel force wanted to pull Ireland away from the United Kingdom to become an independent republic. The desire for Irish independence had been about for hundreds of years and was a problem that the British Government kept pushing along – like kicking a tin can down the road and continuously coming back to it as one journeyed along. Sooner or later the issue had to be faced. In the past; Irish uprisings were brutally put down, but by 1919 this was not going to work.

Irish Rebel Flying Column

The British Government thought they could fight the I.R.A. conflict as a police action and keep it low-key. If ever a mistake could have been made it was this one - it proved to be monstrous and monumental. The recruitment of reserves among the ranks of Britain’s unemployed soldiers might have seemed an appropriate thing, but there were hundreds of thousands of unemployed. Only 8,000 were recruited as there were so many applicants. The most brutal and thuggish of the men were cherry-picked to do the job.

The large number of recruits that went to Ireland quickly found there was not enough dark green R.I.C. police uniform to go around for 8,000 men. Therefore they were supplied with part R.I.C. uniform and part British Army khaki – hence the nickname of Black andTans.

The first Reserve (Black and Tan) units were introduced to the conflict in March of 1920 and the men quickly earned a grim reputation for themselves. Their brand of community policing and winning hearts and minds left much to be desired. They started off with a carefree attitude and had diabolically scant respect for the local population. Often they took their frustration and anger out on the ordinary people. This was because the rebels were fighting a covert war and the towns and countryside among the local population were where they could hide. The rebels were proving much more evasive and adapt than anticipated.

The Black and Tan recruits did not have the proper skills or patience for the type of conflict they were in. When one of their numbers was hit; the Black and Tans would often retaliate by rounding up all people in a district. It rapidly became clear, to the British Government, that the Black and Tans and then the Auxies were doing more to further the Irish Republican cause then the rebels were. Their disrespect and aggressive tactics drove the populace to support the I.R.A. more.

At home and abroad, the British Government came under enormous pressure to redress the situation as a spiral of tit-for-tat murders began to get out of control. By 1921, both sides began to put out feelers. Eventually, there came a ceasefire in August of 1921 and the reserves (Black and Tans and Auxies) were kept in their barracks. A peace treaty came about and in November 1921, the British pulled out of Dublin as a new Irish Free State came about.

It brought about a civil war between the pro-treaty rebels and the anti-treaty rebels. The Black and Tans were disbanded and sent back to Britain. They remain a blighted organisation and something we Brits don’t like to talk about much.

They have left a lasting scar upon Ireland. The Black and Tans are an enigma to most Brits – many have never heard of them, but among Irish people, they are remembered with bitterness and aversion.

The Black and Tan Summer