Yes, Friends, I expect you love watching the occasional historical re-enactment!!! But is 'authenticity' generally the first 'casualty'? I wonder.....!
And if you want to know the answer for sure, ask your local 'history buff' - it's the only safe way haha!!!! Today's Onion News has a story with a bit of a health warning attached, to put it mildly!!!!
The story, however, goes to show how valuable your local history buff is to the well-being, and dare I say it, to the general health and safety of the wider community, no question about that!
So Kudos, Nance!!!! And this semi-official record of yet another of Nance's small but significant 'triumphs over ignorance' (!) brings a big smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in semi-crustaceous Liphook, Hampshire, as we sit, with a bunch of other 'old codgers', in the town's iconic Millennium Hall's luxurious Canada Room, to put it mildly!!!
(left) my wife Lois and me, pictured this morning with (right) a bunch
of other 'old codgers' in the Canada Room of Liphook's iconic Millennium Centre
We're waiting, with the town's other 'ageing history buffs' for local author Neil McLocklin to begin his talk on 'The English Civil War in Hampshire and Surrounding Counties', so as you can imagine, the excitement in the room is 'palpably palpable', to coin a phrase (!).
[Get on with it! - Ed]
The talk has been organised by the local U3A's "Intermediate Local History for Old Codgers" group, and, as we wait for the talk, there's a wave of disenchantment filling the room when the member known as 'Tall Graham' comes in and starts nattering with our speaker for today. And you can almost hear the muted whispers of 'Get to the back of the room, Tall Graham!' - he's actually been banned by group rules from sitting anywhere but in the back row, in case he gets any taller as the meeting progresses - superstitious maybe, but nonetheless a real source of anxiety on the part of some of the group's more nervous members (!).
as we wait for Neil's talk to begin, the group member known as 'Tall Graham' enters,
to the usual accompaniment of a murmur of discontent from the assembled 'old codgers' (!)
Poor 'Tall Graham" !!!!! But finally, the poor man sits down at the back, and Neil's talk can begin, which is a relief!!!!
It's a huge subject, the English Civil War between the country's Royalists and its Parliamentarians, but luckily Neil is planning to concentrate just on its effects in our own local county of Hampshire, and in neighbouring counties, which was a good call!
The 'Royalist' side was fairly straightforward, he tells us, i.e. it was just the people who wanted the King to continue to rule 'by divine right', who were mostly Church of England.
and (right) a map showing predominantly Royalist areas (blue)
and the predominantly Parliamentarian areas (pink), which included Hampshire
The Parliamentary side, however, the people who believed in the supremacy of Parliament, was more complicated, and riven with different factions: members of around 50 different Protestant sects, for starters, and with a mix of political ideas, some of them way ahead of their time. The 'Levellers' faction preached universal male suffrage, with some wanting to extend voting to women also. The 'Diggers' faction, meanwhile, wanted to end private property in the countryside, making the land free for all to farm wherever they wanted.
There were also a number of slightly weird groups on the Parliamentary side, like the Ranters, who rejected marriage and believed in 'free love', and the Adamites, who also rejected marriage, but who also believed in prancing around in the nude. What madness (again) !!!!!
two of the more eccentric groups on the Parliamentarian side:
(left) the Ranters, who believed in free love, and (right) the Adamites,
who liked to prance about in the nude - what madness, wasn't it!!!
It's nice to hear this morning, however, that, in our own county of Hampshire, and in neighbouring counties like Dorset and Wiltshire, the war was fought in a much more gentlemanly way than in other parts of the country.
The fighting here, our speaker McLocklin tells us this morning, in contrast to the rest of the country, was strictly seasonal, with a long semi-official break during the winter months. And two prominent friends and military men who found themselves on opposite sides in the conflict - Sir William Waller (a Parliamentarian) and Lord Ralph Hopton (a Royalist) - didn't let the war affect their friendship, and between battles, this lovable pair of 'chums' kept up a lively correspondence without a hint of ill-feeling in their letters, which was sporting!
prominent local military men, Sir William Waller (Parliamentarian)
and Lord Ralph Hopton (Royalist) were determined not to
let the war spoil their close friendship, which was a nice touch!
[Why did you say it then! - Ed]
And any 'cheating' was regarded with great disfavour "in these here parts", as people say "in these here parts" (!_. Hopton himself 'blotted his copy-book', and came in for a deal of criticism locally, when, in 1643, his unit turned up early for the Battle of Roundway Hill in Wiltshire, and started attacking the opposing Parliamentarians while they were still 'setting up', i.e. when they were obviously 'not quite ready', which was a pity, and a bit of a stain on Hopton's otherwise impeccable record.
[That's enough history! - Ed]
But what a crazy world they lived in, back in those far-off days!!!!
[And that's enough madness! - Ed]
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
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