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CASTLE OF GLENCAIRNHome of a retired Hippy |
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The story tellers....We are the chosen. Each family, has one who seems called to put flesh upon their ancestors and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel somehow they know and approve...To me, doing genealogy is not cold gathering of facts but, instead breathing life into all who have gone before..We are the story tellers of the tribe..
ARMISTICE DAYThe 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, 1918. Every year we see this rather odd ritual. Old men, in suits smelling of mothballs, wearing ribbons and medals on their chest, parading up and down our streets and squares. To most of the children who see them, it must seem strange. Each year and another war has begun. Children, why is this so? Well it is because we have failed in a promise. Failed to learn a lesson and failed to pass that lesson on to you, our children. What is all the fuss about? The air we breathe, is a result of the pain and suffering the "Old Contemptibles" endured. In 2009 the last two British soldiers who fought and survived the horror of WW 1 died, they have joined their comrades.
Henry Allingham & Harry Patch
So my friends, let us go back through the mists of time and remember….. The date: July 1st 1916. The time 07.00 hours. The place: Somme, France. They came from towns and villages from Astbury to Zennor. Amiens to Z.... They came from the farms, offices, factories and public schools. Pals from Manchester. Scousers, Brummies, Scots,Geordies,Taffies & Frenchies. They came from towns and villages often so small no one has ever heard of them. They left behind, mothers, fathers, wives, sweethearts, siblings and children. They left behind their country. It wasn’t for adventure or glory that they came, though some hoped for it. They came because their way of life was threatened. This is not a place of budding poppies or neat white crosses..... There is nothing to inspire or evoke greatness, only acrid, oily smoke filling the air and stinging the eyes. The cachophony of heavy guns is so deafening it is impossible to think. Then there is silence, pierced by shrill whistles. You advance, the straps of your backpack, biting into your shoulder blades, step by step, rifle in hand, you advance, through a hail of machine gun fire, to Montauban, an impossible objective. Then again silence. You crumble and fall. You are dead. Those who live lay in the mud, with the stink of your stale blood, and rotting flesh. The stench of cordite is your sacramental incense. They lay with bodies torn apart for hours, sometimes days, slowly dying. They suffer for each breath you and I take for granted. All they want is to see loved ones a last, final time...... Observe the glory of war, for the only glory here is in surviving it. Many of them are still in their teens, so young they are little more than children. Many do not understand why they are dying, because the pain has taken their reason. But we know why. They went because it was important to continue to have the freedoms we now enjoy. They went because the world was being threatened by tyranny and oppression. They went to defend a way of life. There is no grave, no white cross, only his name, JAMES HAROLD BOARDMAN is engraved on a marble tablet, and in the hearts of his family.
22.05.1885 - 01.07.1916 Since that day, when my Great Uncle died, the list of battlefields grows: Verdun, El Alemein, Normandy, Burma, Korea, Malaya, Kenya, Aden, Falklands, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The list is endless, each one a foreign field, wet with British blood.My children, at the end of "The War to end Wars", a promise was made. The nation promised that it would remember all they endured and honour them for it. Those that were left promised that they would learn and try to do better, so that no more of our people would die on our behalf. Let us remember that there is a cost for freedom and that these men paid the ultimate price, for our freedom. So please, always remember them.
[ inspired by an original piece by D Mulligan.]
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For the Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
Poppy Field - Canguedoc France.
GUY FAWKES NIGHT
YOU WILL ALL BE RELIEVED TO LEARN THAT A DASTARDLY PLOT BY TERRORISTS, HAS BEEN FOILED IN LONDON. FOLLOWING FAILED ATTEMPTS LAST YEAR TO UNSEAT THE GOVERNMENT, MINISTER'S INTRODUCED TIGHTER SECURITY MEASURES, INCLUDING THE CAPTURE AND INPRISONMENT OF RELIGIOUS ZELOTS WHO HAD INSIGHTED ADHERENTS TO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. THE GOVERNMENT DENIES THAT TORTURE TO OBTAIN CONFESSIONS WAS USED. THE LEADER OF THESE PREACHERS IS BELIEVED TO BE LIVING IN CAVES IN CENTRAL ITALY. YOU WILL RECALL HOW HE ENCOURAGED OTHERS TO JOIN IN COALITION TO OVERTHROW OUR DEAR DEPARTED MONARCH, ELIZABETH. HE ACTUALLY FINANCED THE ABORTED INVASION OF OUR ISLAND BY THE SPANIARDS. HIS STATED AIM WAS TO END OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND INSTALL HIS IDEOLOGY ON OUR MONARCH AND PEOPLE. AS EARLY AS MARCH OUR OPERATIVES IN ITALY INFORMED THE HEAD OF MI5 THAT YET ANOTHER JESUIT PLOT WAS IN THE MAKING. HENRY GARNETT,A HIGH RANKING OFFICIAL IN THAT ORGANISATION WAS PUT UNDER SURVIELLANCE. IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE TERRORIST CELL WAS BASED IN THE MIDLANDS AND IT IS ALLEGED THAT THE DASTARDLY SCHEME WAS TO ASSASSINATE OUR KING,HIS FAMILY AND THE LORDS AND KNIGHTS OF THE REALM DURING THE STATE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. THE 9 YEAR OLD PRINCESS ELIZABETH,[WHO WAS DEEMED TOO YOUNG TO ATTEND], WAS TO BE KIDNAPPED AND HELD BY THE CATHOLIC GENTRY OF THE MIDLANDS AS THEY MARCHED ON OUR CAPITAL TO USURP POWER. IT CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF OUR INTELLIGENCE SERVICE,THROUGH THE INTERCEPTION OF HIS MAIL THAT A LEADING CATHOLIC LANDOWNER,[LORD MONTEAGLE], WAS BEING STRONGLY ADVISED NOT THE ATTEND TODAY'S STATE OPENING. THIS IMMEDIATELY ROUSED SUSPICIONS AND LAST WEEK THE SECURITY LEVEL WAS RAISED TO RED. A GOVERNMENT STATEMENT WAS ISSUED EARLIER TODAY: Yesterday evening, 4 November, royal officials, Sir Thomas Knyvett, and Edward Doubleday, discovered a cache of some 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the Parliament buildings. Several suspects, including Guy Fawkes, were arrested at the scene and are now being questioned . Warrants have been issued for the immediate arrest of Henry Garnett, Edward Oldcorne,John Gerrard and Oswald Tesimond, Thomas Winter, Ambrose Rookwood , Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Bates, Robert Keyes,Robert Winter and Earl of Northumberland. Several terrorists escaped immediate capture. They refused to surrender to our collegues in the Midlands and in the ensueing exchange of fire, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Christopher Wright and Jack Wright were killed. Trials will be scheduled to take place early next year. THE COURT OF KING JAMES SAID THAT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT WILL NOW TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9TH. THE COUNTRIES SECURITY ALERT WILL REMAIN RED UNTIL AFTER THE CEREMONY. HISTORICAL NOTE: Elisabeth survived the plot and later became, through marriage, the Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia. Her direct descendants, the Hanoverians, succeeded to the British throne when George 1 was crowned in 1714. I was going to write a little about the background to the annual celebration of the foiling of the popish plot to eradicate the king of England and all the intelligensia of the day. Then I asked myself who would be interested? Some will tell you that good King Henry sacked the Abbey's and Monasteries in 1547 because the pope had refused him permission to divorce his first wife. Piffle. The church, that is the roman catholic church held almost as much land as the sovereign and was far richer - it wielded too much influence over the peasants. The renaisance was sweeping europe. In France, Spain and Holland a more tolerant belief was taking hold , its adherents were labelled "Protestants" . During the 1500's tens of thousands of non conformists were slain on the orders of the pope. One even had a medal struck commerating one such massacre. [Paris - St Bartholemews Day, 1572]. French and Dutch refugees flooded into England. [Hugenots]. The people were beginning to feel their collective muscle as indeed they would do 200 years into the future. The politicians of the day feared foreign involvement in the countries affairs and saw the wealth of the church as an added bonus to the nations exchequer. In 1547 Henry usurped the power of rome and proclaimed himself head of the catholic church in England. Forty years later the Spanish Armada , financed by the then pope, was defeated by Sir Francis Drake. Twenty years later a further assault on the establishment was launched -November 5th 1605. 15 years after that a group of non conformists left England on a ship named "Mayflower" . . . . . Given the latest pronouncements by the Pope, attempting to entice Anglicans to Rome, we may well recall the nursery rhyme: Please to remember the fifth of November PARKIN AND TREACLE TOFFEE Long, long ago before American marketing people,part of that countries continuous cultural imperialism, attempting and sadly succeeding in selling their plastic broomsticks and electric pumpkins to our children,and turning another British traditional festival into a Disneyfied pumpkinfest, we children participated in 'Bonfire Night.'
When we were young we went to the street bonfire. The weeks preceding the night we had scoured the local park and neighbourhood for wood for the bonfire. Some of the more notorious streets made late night raids - stealing from the various collections. Someone was always getting rid of old furniture - a sofa here, three legged table there. The older young men and boys would start to build the bonfire as soon as school was finished. They and parents supervised the whole night. If you were lucky enough to have had a box of fireworks given to you, then you handed it over these people and they would set them off. The effigy of guy fawkes, which for several days had been displayed to shoppers on Alexandra Road with pleas of, "Penny for the guy" would finally be hoisted to the top of the bonfire and it would be lit. Later we would learn that it was not a celebration of vengeance but commemorated the failure of a plot to massacre the ruling classes of the time and to start a civil war. Where was this bonfire? In the middle of the street of course - where we lived no one had a car. The only vehicles we ever saw, belonged to the milkman, breadman and coalman and the dustmen, (sorry, waste disposal operators'). Potatoes were laid in the hot embers on the edge of the inferno. Mothers' had been busy most of the day making treacle toffee, toffee apples, (the fruit "disposed of" by the greengrocer on the corner). My favourite was my own Mothers Parkin cake. I still have the receipe, although it is a while since I set to and made any! Many foodstuffs and sweets were still rationed, a decade after we had won a war! That spirit of community is now regretably dead. As are the friends, neighbours and parents who made OUR childhood a window on life and not a prisoner behind 'windows'. Not always happy - but safe NOVEMBER
KENNEWICK MAN - FACT NOT MYTH 2
The name given to the skeletal remains of a prehistoric man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, USA on July 28, 1996. The remains had been scattered in the reservoir due to erosion. Following delivery of the cranium by the coroner, they were examined by archaeologist James Chatters. After ten visits to the site, Chatters had managed to collect 350 bones and pieces of bone, which with the skull completed almost an entire skeleton. The cranium was fully intact with all the teeth that had been present at the time of death. All major bones were found, except the sternum and a few bones of the hands and feet. The remains were determined to be those of "a male of late middle age (40-55 years), and tall (170 to 176 cm), slender build". Many of the bones however, were broken into several pieces. At the University of California at Riverside, a small bone fragment was subjected to radiocarbon dating. This fixed the age of the skeleton at approximately 8,400 radiocarbon years or 9,300 calendar years. The biological diversity among ancient skulls in the Americas has further complicated attempts to establish how closely Kennewick Man is related to any modern Native American tribes. Skulls older than 8,000 years old have been found to possess greater physical diversity than do those of modern Native Americans. This range implies that there was a genetic shift in populations about 8,000 years ago. The heterogeneity of these early people shows that genetic drift had already occured, meaning the racial type represented by Kennewick Man had been in existence for a considerable period of time. The discovery of Kennewick Man, along with other ancient skeletons, has furthered scientific debate over the exact origin and history of early Native American people. The prevailing hypothesis holds that a single wave of migration occurred, consisting of hunters and gatherers following large herds of game, which wandered across the Bering land bridge around 12,000 years ago.
Anthropologists and archaeologists are now finding evidence that people lived in the Americas much earlier, maybe 20,000 or even 30,000 years ago. There are also signs that humans lived on the Pacific Coast of South America before the last ice age. Could the first 'americans' have arrived in northern america from Asia and worked their way south by boat? Some researchers also see a resemblance between early American and European stone tools. Did some of the first Americans come from across the Atlantic Ocean, millenia before the Vikings who established settlements in Labrador and 'new found land.' a thousand years ago? These are some of the questions scientists hope Kennewick Man can help answer. They say he holds clues about his physical traits, health, and lifestyle that can lead to a better understanding of the first Americans.
HALLOWEEN
Samhain is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four 'greater Sabbats'. It is generally observed on October 31st, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility.
did you know that the carved pumpkin or Jack o Lantern replicates the ancient Celt tradition of beheading your foe and hanging the skull above your homestead?
THE TROLL-TEAR
A Children's Story for Samhain
The night was very dark, with a Full Moon hanging in the cloud-filled sky above. The air was crisp with the feel of late Autumn and the doorway between the worlds was wide open. Carved pumpkins sat on the porches of the houses in the little town, and the laughter of children dressed in costumes could be heard from the streets. It was a sad time for Beth as she climbed the little hill behind her house. In her arms was her cat and friend Smoky, carefully wrapped in his favourite blanket. A little grave was already dug on the hill, waiting, for Smoky had died that day. "Do you want me to go with you?" Beth's father had asked. "No, I want to go by myself," she answered. "I dug his grave beside MacDougal's at the top of the hill." Beth clearly remembered when their dog MacDougal had died after being hit by a car. Beth stopped at the top of the hill and knelt beside the little grave. She carefully laid Smoky's blanket-wrapped form in the earth and covered it with dirt, laying several large rocks on the top. Then she cried and cried. "Oh, Smoky, I miss you so much!" Beth looked up at the Moon, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Why did you die?" "It was his time to rejoin the Mother," said a deep, gentle voice in the darkness. "Who said that?" Beth looked around but saw no one. "Dying is part of the cycle of life, you know." One of the boulders on the hill stirred into life. "Who are you?" The moonlight shone down on the little woman, and Beth could see she was not human. "I'm a troll-wife," said the creature as she came to site across from Beth. "This is a sad night for both of us, girl. I, too, came to this hill to bury a friend." The troll-wife wiped a crystal tear from her cheek. "The squirrel was very old. Still it makes me sad." Beth stared at the troll-wife. The little woman was the colour of rock in the moonlight, her hair like long strands of moss, her bright eyes like shining crystals. She wore a dress woven of oak leaves and tree bark. "The squirrel and I lived together for a long time," the troll-wife said. " We often talked to your cat when he was hunting here on the hill. Smoky and I were friends. I shall miss him, too." The little woman patted Smoky 's grave gently, "Sleep well, little friend. When you are rested, we shall talk together again." "But he's dead," Beth said, her voice choked with tears. "Child, this is Samhain. Don't you know the ancient secrets of this sacred time of year?" The troll-wife motioned for Beth to come and sit beside her. "It is true that our friends have gone into a world where we can no longer physically touch them, but the Mother has given us other ways of communicating with them. We can do this any time, but the time of Samhain is the easiest." "I don't understand how this can be done," Beth said, "or why Samhain makes it easier." "At this time of year," the troll-wife answered, "the walls between this world and the world of souls and spirits are very thin. If we quiet and listen, we can hear our loved ones and they can hear us. We talk, not with spoken words, but with the heart and mind." "Isn't that just imagination?" Beth looked down at Smoky's grave, tears once more coming into her eyes. "Like my thinking I can feel MacDougal get up on my bed at night like he used to?" "Sometimes it is, but mostly it is not imagination, only our friends come to see us in their spirit bodies." The troll-wife reached up her hand and patted something Beth couldn't see on her shoulder. "Like my friend the raven. He is here now." Beth looked hard and saw a thin form of hazy moonlight on the troll-wife's shoulder. "I've seen something like that at the foot of my bed where MacDougal used to sleep." She whispered. "I thought I was dreaming." She jumped as something nudged her arm. When she looked down, nothing was there. The troll-wife smiled. "Close your eyes and think of MacDougal," she said. " He has been waiting a long time for you to see him." Beth closed her eyes and, at once, the form of her little dog came into her mind. His tail wagged with happiness. She felt a wave of love come from him, and she sent her love back. Then she felt the dog lie down against her leg. "Can I do this with Smoky?" Beth asked. "Not yet," the troll-wife answered. "He needs to sleep a while and rest. Then he will come to you. This gives Smoky time to adjust to his new world, and you time to grieve for him. It is not wrong to grieve, but we must not grieve forever." "I never thought of it that way," Beth said. "It's kind of like they moved away, and we can only talk to them on the phone." "It is this way with all creatures, not just animals." The troll-wife stood up and held out an hand to Beth. "Will you join me, human girl? Although I buried my friend squirrel this night, I still must dance and sing to all my friends and ancestors who have gone on their journey into the other world. For this is a time to honour the ancestors." Beth joined the troll-wife in the ancient slow troll dances around the top of the little hill in the moonlight. She watched quietly while the troll-wife called out troll-words to the four directions, words Beth couldn't understand. Deep in her heart the girl felt the power of the strange words and knew they were given in honour and love by the little troll-wife. When the troll-wife was finished with her ritual, she hugged Beth. "Go in peace, human child," she said. "And remember what I have told you about the ancient secret of Samhain." "I will," Beth answered. "Will I ever see you again?" "Whenever the Moon is Full, I will be here," the little troll-wife said. " And especially at Samhain." "I wish I had something to give you." Beth hugged the little woman. "You have taught me so much." She felt the tears come to her eyes again. "Let us exchange tears for our lost friends." The troll-wife reached up a rough finger and caught a tear as it fell from Beth's eye. The tear glistened on her finger. The troll-wife gently touched her finger to her cloak, and Beth's tear shone there like a diamond in the moonlight. Beth reached up carefully and caught one of the troll-wife's tears as it slid down her rough cheek. It turned into a real crystal in her hand. "Remember the secret of Samhain, and remember me," the troll-wife said softly as she disappeared into the darkness. Beth walked back down the hill, the crystal clutched in her hand. Her father was waiting for her on the porch. "Are you all right?" her father asked as he gave Beth a hug. "I will be," she answered. She opened her hand under the porch light and saw a perfect, tear-shaped crystal lying there. "Did you find something?" her father asked. "A troll-tear," Beth answered, and her father smiled. For, he also knew the little troll-wife, and the secret of Samhain.
**************************** by D. J. Conway
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Shanghai Maglev Train
Passenger air travel revolutionised the transportation industry in the last century, allowing people to traverse great distances in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks or months. The first commercial maglev line made its debut in December of 2003. Learn about it and other maglev lines in the works.The only alternatives to airplanes - feet, cars, buses, boats and conventional trains - are just too slow for today's fast-paced society. However, there is a new form of transportation that could revolutionise transportation of the 21st century the way airplanes did in the 20th century. MAGLEV, or magnetic levitation is a system of transportation that suspends, guides and propels vehicles, predominantly trains, using magnetic levitation from a very large number of magnets for lift and propulsion. This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems. The power needed for levitation is usually not a particularly large percentage of the overall consumption, most of the power used is needed to overcome air drag, as with any other high speed train.The first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world. The system and trains were built to the Transrapid standard. Construction began in March 2001, and public service commenced on 1 January 2004.
The line runs from Longyang Road station in Pudong, on the Shanghai subway line 2 to Pudong International Airport. The journey takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of 30 km. A train [using German technology]can reach 350 km/h (220 mph) in 2 minutes, with the maximum normal operation speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) reached thereafter. In January 2006, the Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev Train extension project was proposed by the Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau. The extension would continue the existing line towards Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, running via Shanghai South Railway Station and the Expo 2010 site, with a possibly continuation towards Hangzhou. If built, the extension would allow transferring between the two airports—located 55 km (34 mi) apart—in approximately 15 minutes. The plan for the extension to Hangzhou was first approved by the central government in February 2006, with a planned date of completion in time for 2010. Work was suspended in 2008, owing to public protests over radiation fears. According to China Daily, as reported on People's Daily Online February 27, 2009, the Shanghai municipal government is considering building the maglev line underground to allay the public's fear of electromagnetic pollution, and the final decision on the maglev line has to be approved by the National Development and Reform commission.
In common with Eurostar the nearest I have been to either train is riding along an adjacent motorway . .. .!
Toussaint L' Ouverture
Toussaint L' Ouverture (c.1744-1803), son of an African prince and Haitian martyr, was a self-educated slave freed shortly before the uprising in 1791, he joined the black rebellion to liberate the slaves and became its organizational genius. A fervent Catholic, and member of high degree of the Masonic Lodge of Saint-Domingue, he rapidly rose to power, Toussaint joined forces for a brief period in 1793 with the Spanish of Santo Domingo and in a series of fast-moving campaigns became known as L' Ouverture [the opening], a name he adopted. Although he professed allegiance to France, first to the Republic and then to Napoleon, he was single heartedly devoted to the cause of his own people and advocated it in his talks with French commissioners. Late in 1793, Britian in attempting to reduce French influence in the area, occupied all of Haiti's coastal cities and allied themselves with the Spanish in the eastern part of the island. Following several battles Toussaint Louverture signed a trading treaty with the British in May 1799 whereupon they withdrew from the island.
Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough Within thy hearing, or thy head be now Pillowed in some deep dungeon’s earless den; O Miserable Chieftain! Where and when Wilt thou find Patience? Yet die not; do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: Though fallen thyself, never to rise again, Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; There’s not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee; thou hast great allies; Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love, and man’s unconquerable mind. - William Wordsworth William Wilberforce’s Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the trade in the British Empire.
OCTOBER 24
Ever wonder what it is about the month of October? So many battles.. 1942 The Second Battle of El Alamein . 1899 Battle at Rietfontein.South Africa. 1854 Charge of the light brigade Crimean War 1805 Trafalgar 1781: The American War of Independence ends with the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to George Washington 1066: Battle of Hastings And also 50 years ago today the world ignored the plight of the brave men and women of Hungary. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies. It lasted from 23 October until 10 November 1956 when russian tanks appeared in Budapest.
Britian and France had problems in the mediterreanean with the nationalization of the Suez Canal in early 1956 which was a threat to european economic interests. The British government decided in favour of military intervention against Egypt to avoid the complete collapse of British prestige in the region. They concluded a military pact with France and Israel that was aimed at regaining control over the Suez Canal and freeing Gaza of terrorist camps. The operation, aimed at taking the Suez Canal, was highly successful from a military point of view but was a political disaster due to external forces . The United States who saw an opportunity to enhance its own influence in the middle east put financial pressure on Great Britain to end the invasion. They threatened to sell part of the US Government's Sterling Bond holdings. Britain's foreign exchange reserves simply could not sustain a devaluation of the pound that would come after the United States' actions; Within weeks of such a move, the country would be unable to import the food and energy supplies needed simply to sustain the population on the islands. In concert with US actions, Saudi Arabia started an oil embargo against Britain and France. The U.S. refused to fill the gap until Britain and France agreed to a rapid withdrawal. This was completed by the end of 1956. The imposed end to the crisis signalled the definitive ending of the british and French influence and created a vacuum since filled by warlike dictators. It would be another 30 years before Hungary established its freedom from soviet tyranny.
THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT On St Crispin's day, the 25th October 1415 an exhausted, sick and starving English army are faced by a confident foe outnumbering them four to one. Forced into battle and against all odds, they annihilate the French and slaughtered the flower of French nobility. “If we are mark'd to die, we are enow ' King Henry V' Wm. Shakespeare [1564 - 1616]
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