I have been browsing in the dying vegetation, at the edge of the News River, in search of the zeitgeist . I can do little better than this quote ..“BBC1 Headline “ Another schoolboy shot dead. Police to hold urgent talks “ Talks?
The Dummy upon which I once practiced my kiss of life, has been replaced in Whitwick Leics .The subject is now called ‘Fat Fred’ and has a 46 inch waist .As an obese dummy he is reckoned more likely to resemble the dying party . A gang of internet perverts who plotted to rape and kill two young sisters were jailed for 27 years last year( Sun 6.2.07). The same edition featured Girl’s Allowed in St. Trinians outfits on the flimsy pretext of the then rumoured remake. Zeitgeist ?
Very dead Queen Cleopatra was revealed to have been a dead ringer for Les Dawson when a coin bearing her "Two bag" image , some 2000 years old, was discovered by Newcastle sleuths . Another altered image was Michael Foot , inexplicably still alive at 93. He had a relationship in 1971, with a 24 year old girl ,when he was 58. According to Kenneth Morgan`s recent biography Mrs. Foot`s became suspicious when he started to tidy up his Cat Weasel appearance .
“Face Book” sounds sort of contemporary does`t it ? Not necessarily;a book published in 1606, about Gunpowder plotter Henry Garnett’s execution, was bound in his own skin and ,apparently, a recognisable image of his face can be discerned . Face book geddit ? ( Wilkinson’s Auctioneer’s South Yorks ) . Paul Kelly was killed on new Years day last year in Bath and clues as to the identity of his killer subsequently appeared in verse form on lampposts .“The truth is there like an open grave “…..Herbert Powel knifed and battered his wife to death at the age of 88. Its Roald Dahl come to life is it not
There was such a lot of fake death as well . Canoe man of course but what about the approval given by the CIA to water boarding .The tortured man believes himself to be dying due to the reflex reaction to watery asphyxiation. They usually crack in 14 seconds.. Glenda Askew 47 from Swansea feigned her own death to avoid a £60 speeding ticket . Sounds like a plan to me ( both of them.)
Death plunges included the Tate Gallery man with his mysterious mobile phone call, and the co-founder of the world`s biggest on line dating agency, Gary Frisch(38). He “plunged “ from his Battersea flat. Yvonne De Carlo the cadaverous vamp of Munster’s fame shuffled of this mortal coil, and I will miss John Inman .He came out late in life having previously said he was “Married to the Business called Show “. Speaking of shows, Albert Lynch ,suffering from cancer , organised his own wake only to be taken two weeks early . The party went ahead as planned .So many people are gone and yet little of it affects me .
Odd things shock you. The description of the airborne cull of wild horses in Australia in which many die in agony, after slaughter on an unimaginable scale . Last year the rate at which British troops in Afghanistan were dying or seriously injured was higher than during the Second World War . Perhaps it is better not to hold these two thoughts in your head at once ,The death of the Chestnut tree outside Ann Franks hiding place, and from which she drew comfort, seemed strangely sad. It reminded us of the inhumanity people are capable of .
A four year old boy dashed into a burning building and lost his life trying to save his father ( Ryan Mchale of Carlisle) ......So , not only our with the old but on some tragic occasions out with the young as well. Just the other day the 26th London child was shot this year.
5 comments:
Face Book” sounds sort of contemporary does`t it ? Not necessarily;a book published in 1606, about Gunpowder plotter Henry Garnett’s execution, was bound in his own skin and ,apparently, a recognisable image of his face can be discerned . Face book geddit ?
You'll find a piccie of this by goggling - well, I had to see it, didn't I? Can't see too much in this pic, but you can make out a bit of a face by defocussing your eyes and altering your field of vision as you do when looking at one of those optical puzzles.
Trouble was, I of course ended up reading about poor old Garnet and that led onto Henry VIII's live blog. How bl**dy depressing that was, not just Garnet's fate but Henry tells everyone how much better off we were in his days than now. If you aren't an aristo or priest, it's hard to disagree with him.
sorry, googling, not goggling. It's that image I have of Broon goggling in the bath.
Auntie Flo'
Spent part of my new year's day in the stunning Norman church of Little Braxted. What a perfect apse and fabulously decorated interior it has - thanks to the painting skills of a loopy Victorian vicar. He richly gilded and decorated every single surface, even the font and arches with archaic fleur de lys, the creed and religious portraits. Didn't get to go up the tower though as it doesn't have one.
Called into Little B's pub afterwards and there on the wall was a letter of appreciation from John Betjeman - he stopped at the pub while visting the church. Odd coincidence that as it's just a few days ago that I was going on about him here.
I wonder if that's a message from beyond telling me to get back to my church towers and forget miserable politicians for a while?
Auntie Flo'
Could be Flo...although I think the one goes with the other. That was rather a good snipet wasn`t it. I dod not seriously think that the face was going to be leering back at anyone
I don't think you mean actually "the rate"....?
>>>Last year the rate at which British troops in Afghanistan were dying or seriously injured was higher than during the Second World War<<
I am sure that the erroneous person whom you have in good faith quoted, actually means the "percentage loss rate per hundred combatants".
This Afghan rate might well be above Ww2's average rate. But we must remember that very very very much smaller numbers of soldiers are involved.
In WW2, 250,000+++ BRITISH soldiers were (that is to say, really really killed) killed, as opposed to being mere "casualties". The total for the Empire was apout 450,000 - bad enough. The BRITISH mean daily total (of deaths only) was about 116 PER DAY not inclusing bombed civilians, and SOE agents who faced a Gestapo guillotine. About 209 per day, of combatants, for the entire Empire. HMS Hood (1,411) representd about a week's worth but in one instant.
I don't think we are losing 100+ sodiers a day in Afghanistan, not even if you add Iraq (from which we have run. What a humiliation, caused by our MOD bureaucrasts who buy art for their offices instead of tanks and lethal stuff for our men to throw at the Iranian-guvmint-cloned insurg-droids coming in there.
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