Who are we? The genetic make-up of the British people is a hotly contested subject in academic and political circles. Britain has a tumultuous history that includes Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Roman invasions, but what legacy of these settlers and invaders remains in the DNA of Brits today?

The BNP’s Nick Griffin, who has recently gained a foothold in British politics, claimed recently to represent the “indiginous people” of Britain, comparing modern English, Scots, Irish and Welsh with the indiginous populations of North America and New Zealand.

But today’s Brit is a complex melting pot of influences. A revealing Channel 4 documentary in 2006 carried out genetic testing on eight people who believed themselves to be “100% English“, and found them all to have a rich genetic heritage beyond their expectations.

Advances in DNA profiling have enabled scientists and historians to probe the depths of British history in a new way. Can little strands of DNA tell us who are and where we came from? And how do these new approaches alter the established timeline of British history?

The Science Bit

The field of genetic research into ancestry is still in its infancy – although, as projects such as the human genome demonstrate, it is moving at a rate of knots.

Geneticist Bryan Sykes – a human genetics professor at Oxford University and a science adviser to the British House of Commons – was one of the first people to successfully extract DNA from fossilised bones. In 1996, he dated a skeleton found in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset to around 7150BC, making the ‘Cheddar Man’ the oldest modern human ever found in the British Isles.

In the last 15 years scientists have adopted two key methods of tracing ancestry through DNA. Mitochondrial DNA can be used to unpick female ancestry, while Y-chromosomes can determine male lineage.

When passed from father to son, the Y-chromosome is usually unchanged. However, over time, small variations occur – and these variations can be used to identify different population strands.

Who Were the First Brits?

Archaeological evidence near Lowestoft, Suffolk, indicates that the first human settlement in the British Isles was around 700,000 years ago, when – believe it or not – the climate was almost Mediterranean, and Mespotamian farmers were migrating to hunter-gatherer-occupied Europe.

Researchers on the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project at the Natural History Museum in London suggest there were seven failed attempts at human occupation in prehistoric times. Each time humans were beaten by changes in climate. Permanent settlement did not occur until after the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago.

The traditional view of British history has generally held that the first inhabitants of the isles were the Celts, who were thought to have originated somewhere in central Europe.

These original Britons were subjugated by the Romans then displaced by an influx of Anglo Saxons from Germany and Holland in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Later invasions by the Vikings and the Normans further altered the local population.

Recent research in genetics has found evidence to both support and disprove this traditional viewpoint. Broadly speaking, there are two main schools of thought – one argues that the British gene pool was profoundly affected by the influx of invaders; the other maintains that the British genetic make-up has changed little over time.

Anglo Saxon Wipeout

Not the name of a Dark Ages quiz show, but rather a theory used to assess the impact of the Anglo Saxons on Britain.

The Roman occupation of Britain had a profound impact on trade, culture and technology, but saw little in the way of actual immigration. After the Roman withdrawal in around 400AD, Britain entered the Dark Ages – and found itself increasingly vulnerable to attack by outside forces.

Wave after wave of Europeans came to displace the native Britons. The three main tribes were the Angles from Angeln in northern Germany, the Saxons from Lower Saxony, and the Jutes from the Jutland Peninsular.

It is almost impossible to say how many Anglo Saxons arrived or how violent the clashes between natives and settlers were. Historical sources are limited to just a handful of scribes, most of them writing years after the event. The sixth-century cleric Gildas, for example, describes some of the battles between the Britons and the Anglo Saxons, but hard facts are in short supply

Mass migration of Anglo Saxons would have ensured the dilution of the original British gene pool over the course of several centuries. What, then, can genetics tell us about the Anglo Saxon invasion?

Mass Migration Event?

A 2002 study at University College London (UCL) looked for evidence linking modern-day Brits to ancient Anglo Saxons. They compared the Y-chromosomes of present-day males in central England with those of men in Friesland, a Dutch province thought to be an Anglo Saxon homeland.

The study found remarkable genetic similarities between the two populations and concluded that a ‘mass migration event’ must have occurred in the Dark Ages. In other words, a flood of Anglo Saxons came to dominate the English gene pool, stopping short at the Welsh border. (The same study found that despite thousands of years of shared history, there is a marked genetic dissimilarity between English and Welsh people.)

In order to explain the wide genetic spread of the Anglo Saxons, it has been suggested the invading force must have numbered some 500,000 people – an enormous population movement for the time.

Apartheid System

Another UCL study in 2006 offered a different explanation. Anglo Saxons came to dominate the gene pool not through sheer weight of numbers but rather through their imposition of an ‘apartheid-style’ social hierarchy. The native Britons were reduced to second-class status and the Anglo Saxons enjoyed greater ‘reproductive success’; they had more babies, more often and more successfully than the subjugated, downtrodden Brits.

The researchers cited examples of other apartheid systems throughout history in support of their theory, alongside fragmentary evidence that appears to show Anglo Saxon laws discriminated against native people. The UCL team theorised that a force of 200,000 invaders could have dominated the gene pool in just 15 generations.

Other historical sources indicate that there was widespread Celtic migration away from Britain during the Dark Ages, as defeated Britons fled their lands to set up enclaves in Brittany (its name derived from Briton) and Galicia in Spain. The Celtic influence is still visible in the culture of these regions today.

In addition, diseases such as the plague of Justinian may account for what historians believe was a significant population decrease in the Dark Ages. A combination of these factors, therefore, radically altered the make-up of the British population.

The gene pool received new input with the arrival of the Vikings in the ninth century and the Normans in the eleventh. However, genetic researchers have yet to find a way of distinguishing between the Y-chromosomes of the Anglo Saxons and the later invaders – making it hard to say how much impact these groups had on the population.

Basque Country?

There are, however, high-profile voices that argue against the Anglo Saxon wipeout theory. Leading geneticists Bryan Sykes and Stephen Oppenheimer maintain that the British gene pool has remained largely unchanged since the first settlers arrived 12,000 years ago.

Both writers refute the traditional view that the Celts originated in central Europe and insist that they hailed from the Iberian peninsular – specifically the Basque country. The Irish, the Welsh and people in the west of England have been found to share up to 80% genetic similarity with modern-day Basques, falling to around 65% in eastern parts of England where Anglo Saxon and Viking influence was greater.

Oppenheimer goes further by questioning the notion that the British Isles were uniformly Celtic at the time of the Roman invasion. He has argued that the absence of Celtic words in English and the conspicuous lack of Celtic place names implies that England itself was not in fact a Celtic nation.

The theory goes that, by the time the Romans arrived, southern England was occupied by Germanic-speaking tribes with connections to Belgic Gaul. Julius Caesar himself, on a fleeting visit in around 50BC, reported that the locals spoke a dialect similar to that of the Gauls.

Oppenheimer’s reading of the genetic evidence also indicates there were people of Scandinavian origin living in northern and eastern Britain long before the Vikings invaded.

Perhaps most important of all, Oppenheimer’s research on specific gene types has found that Anglo Saxon DNA contributed as little as five per cent to male lines, with virtually no evidence of it occurring in female lines. Any similarities between modern-day Britons and Anglo Saxons, he argues, can be attributed to common ancestors way back in the distant past.

A Cultural Legacy

If DNA cannot yet provide a definitive answer, historians must approach the problem from more traditional angles. Over the course of time, invaders left more than just a genetic stamp on the British Isles – they built towns and forts, changed the culture and radically transformed the language.

The Romans founded London, built roads, baths and aqueducts, overhauled trade and introduced coinage.

The Vikings brought with them words from Old Norse that remain in our language today – some of them tellingly aggressive (knife, ransack, die), some rather more elemental (husband, sky, bairn, get, call).

The Normans had arguably the greatest impact, establishing one of the oldest monarchical lines in the word, overhauling the political and legal systems, and fusing French and English words together, as well as kick-starting a thousand-year rivalry with the Old Enemy.

The Original Briton

No study can ever fully measure the vast contributions made by each of these invading forces to the make-up of the British Isles – linguistically, culturally and genetically. The idea of the ‘original Briton’ may continue to obsess certain political elements, but it seems likely that he will remain as mythical as King Arthur – a Briton who would probably have his own things to say on Anglo Saxon wipeout.

It is clear, then, that the answer to who we are lies as much beyond these sceptred isles as within them. Life here, it seems, began out there. As the UCL scientists Neil Bradman and Mark Thomas summarised in their study of the Y chromosome, “if we go back far enough, all men are not only born equal, but are paternally related.”

Originally published here.

Author Rating: B+

Celtika (read 12/15/09) recommended

This is the first of Holdstock’s Merlin Codex series. The story covers the period before Arthur. Seven hundred years after Jason’s death, Merlin discovers that Medea had not murdered Jason’s sons but had moved them forward in time. But Jason is not dead, he is still aboard his ship the Argonaut in the bottom of a frozen lake. Merlin rescues him and they set out to find Jason’s sons. It is through this adventure that Merlin first meets Urtha, an ancestor of Arthur, setting the stage for Holdstock’s version of the Arthurian Legend.

I was a bit impatient with the first third of the book but I think that is more my fault than the author’s. I have always found Merlin to be the more interesting character, and Holdstock does a pretty good job of bringing him to life.

If you like Arthur/Merlin stories, I highly recommend Peter David’s series.

I just started this one last night- I’m sure i read it when i was a yoot but I dont remember anything about it except a very general storyline and that i enjoyed reading it. So far I’m blown away by the language and the vivid descriptions- it’s great. There’s crazy olde tyme vocab- lots of words pertaining to falconry that I’ve never seen nor said before- and I’m not 100% sure what a libbard is, but I love that. And i really love the characters so far- they’re wonderfully formed and sympathetic. I was falling asleep reading and just didnt want to put it down- it’s quite gripping. Any kid who likes Harry Potter will love this book, and see the many parallels. JK Rowling did her reading before her writing, not that there’s anything wrong with that- just saying, you can see it bigtime here. I totally recommend this one for the 12 and over crowd.

Friday, December 11, 2009
Waning Moon
Sunny and COLD!

A day without retrogrades, can you believe it? But Mars goes into retrograde soon, so . . .sigh. I can never remember if that means I get crankier and more prone to fights, or have trouble standing up for myself. Guess I’ll find out!

I keep thinking today is supposed to have some deep personal significance, but damned if I can remember what it is!

Having some nice discussions with UK producers about my plays. My work tends to do well over there. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday was just flat out frustrating. I got some errands done. I can’t find my hot glue gun, so I sprang for the $10 to get a new and better one. Actually, I had a 40% off coupon, so it was much less than $10.

By the afternoon, I was finally able to start pulling Christmas decorations out. It was total chaos, so, of course, one of my least favorite neighbors shows up at the door in the middle of it in a panic about a situation that has nothing to do with me, and there is nothing I can do to help her. I explained that this was a really bad time to interrupt me, and that there was only one small thing I could do to help. I was willing to do that one thing, but that was ALL I could do. She’s always trying to get me to do things for her — I don’t mind helping out when I can, and I set firm boundaries, but when I say, “This is what I can do for you, no more” and the response is, “ But I need this, this, and this in addition”, my response is “If what I’m able to do doesn’t work for you, then I can’t do anything.” I will NOT be guilted, manipulated, or bullied into doing things I don’t/wont’ do. She’s also a nasty old gossip, and always trying to get into the apartment to see what’s on the desk or on the altar and then gossip about it.

She finally agreed to what I said I could do. I told her I had everything scattered all over the floor, and she could borrow my cell phone, but we had to do it in the hallway; she could NOT come in. So what does she do? Tries to push her way into the apartment. I realize it’s rude to manhandle senior citizens, but when I say NO it means NO, no matter who you are. She would have broken her neck if she’d tried to pick her way through wires and half-opened boxes of decorations. Plus, I don’t want her in there and talking about how the apartment looks when I’m in the middling of decorating.

I took care of her business, told her that was all I could do, I wouldn’t be around most of the weekend (which is true), and I was in the middle of something and this was it. So what happens? Not only does she knock on my door a half a dozen times more throughout the afternoon with this request and that request — none of which I could fulfill because I was up to my armpits in fabric and glue and tree branches and ribbon and stitching and a lot of other stuff — but she goes to another neighbor and GIVES OUT MY CELL PHONE NUMBER as her contact.

I basically melted down. Not at her — won’t give her the satisfaction — but the lack of respect just galls me. The complete and utter disrespect for my time and my boundaries is completely unacceptable. Whenever someone called, I said that I had allowed her to use my phone as a courtesy and that was the extent of my involvement. I could not take or deliver messages, nor could I serve as coordinator or point person on this situation.

I realize she and another nasty old gossip (they talk about each other behind each other’s backs all the time, yet spend all their spare time together) are in a competition to see who they can get to do more for them, but I am NOT playing. I have my hands full taking care of my own mom, handling her medical appointments and cooking and laundry and all of that. I don’t mind helping out my neighbors, but when I tell them what I can realistically do, I expect those boundaries to be honored.

If I’d been on a deadline and writing, I would have gone ballistic, and there would be bits of the building missing.

Needless to say, I got very little done. I have the tree table set up and the tree on it and fluffed, though not decorated. I have the Advent table set up, although not decorated yet. Part of the faux mantel is decorated, and I wrapped some things in the hutch and built and stitched the bows, shown in the photo above, because I thought it was cute and a little different. And that’s as far as I got.

Today, before I leave for my friend’s place, I’m going to wrestle the lights on the tree, and then, bit by bit, over the weekend, I’ll finish the decorating. And not answer the door OR the phone.

In spite of all the chaos, I had some very good writing sessions yesterday. I have to back up my computer — Time Machine reminded me that I hadn’t backed up in 30 days, and really, given my history of technical difficulties, didn’t I think that was damned stupid? And here I thought I was backing up faithfully once a week! So I’ll do that. I’ve got the holiday cards and lists packed in my writing bag, and I’ll take my other writing. The laundry’s ready to go. I’m going to a friend’s this afternoon to do laundry, write cards, and then cook dinner as a thank you for letting me do umpteen loads of laundry. (LIke I said, they never replaced the machines in the laundry room after the floods a few years ago, just hosed them down, and I’m sorry, but no cholera panties for me).

I baked mini scones for breakfast. Pretty good, but again, even the dough isn’t holding together properly. I think they’re processing flour differently. I will ask Pillsbury. I’m having trouble with anything I make using Pillsbury flour. I think I’ll just switch back to using King Arthur — I can completely trust their quality and consistency.

Backing up, back to the page, and then heading out!

Devon

• Such A Busy Day…..Rushed Off My Feet At Work and Cinema With Princess @ The Trafford Centre Tonight…And No Doubt A Little Xmas Shopping.
• Long Weekend though  Off Friday and Monday…Shopping In Manchester Tomorrow and Meeting Gorgeous Niece and New Fella For Lunch.
• Feel Very Liberated Today…New Phone Contract…New Number…Its All Very Quiet Now….Must lol

♥Party Patty♥

Pensioner gang allegedly kidnap and torture their financial adviser

A gang of pensioners allegedly kidnapped and tortured their financial advisor after losing £2million savings in the credit crunch.James Amburn was ambushed outside his house, hit over the head with a Zimmer frame and bundled into a car, it is claimed.The OAPs then bound the 56-year-old with masking tape and threw him in a cellar for four days until he agreed to get their cash from a bank.American-born Mr Amburn  said the ambush took a while “as they ran out of breath”.He added: “The fear of death was indescribable. They bound me with masking tape until I looked like a mummy.”Mr Amburn was driven 300 miles from his home in Speyer, Germany, to one of the pensioner’s homes in Lake Chiemsee, Bavaria.His ordeal ended when he faxed a Swiss bank to get the cash. He secretly scrawled a message to call police.The five OAPs, aged 60 to 79, have been charged with kidnap.

A distant US relative of Dr Hawley Crippen, executed in London in 1910 for murdering his wife, has failed in a bid to secure a posthumous pardon for him.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission refused to send the case back to the Court of Appeal, saying the applicant was not a “properly interested person”.James Patrick Crippen, 73, of Ohio, a second cousin three times removed, said he was “disappointed” by the decision.He argues remains found at Crippen’s home were not those of his wife, Cora.He said DNA tests had proved this, casting serious doubt over his ancestor’s conviction.

James Crippen has been fighting for years for an appeal, a royal pardon and the release of his relative’s remains, which are buried in the grounds of Pentonville Prison, London.Mr Crippen, who lives in Dayton, told the BBC News website: “It’s an embarrassment to the British courts to have to admit, after 100 years, that the gentleman was innocent.”They didn’t want to review the case – it’s so old they felt they shouldn’t change it. They just leave our name in disrespect.”The former marketing manager said he would be consulting his UK lawyers about the “other avenues”.

Failed test

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) decided James Crippen was not a “properly interested person” in the case and there was no real possibility the Court of Appeal would hear it.The commission said in cases where the person whose conviction is to be appealed against was dead, the request must come from someone “approved” by the Court of Appeal.

That person should be the widow or widower, “personal representative”, or a relative who has a “substantial financial or other interest” in the appeal.”Without an individual who has a real possibility of being approved by the Court of Appeal, there could be no court hearing and so no purpose would be served by the commission carrying out a review of the case,” said a CCRC spokesman.The commission, which had received the request in May, said it considered the application “impartially and in detail” but concluded last month that James Crippen did not meet the test.It is understood the CCRC did not examine the grounds for the appeal.The appeal was launched after scientists at Michigan State University claimed to have obtained DNA evidence in 2007.

The researchers said they had tracked down three of Mrs Crippen’s grandnieces and compared their DNA with samples from the body which had been kept on a microscope slide since the Old Bailey trial.

Trans-Atlantic dash

The Crippen case is one of the most notorious in British criminal history.After hiding his wife’s remains under a cellar, the US-born doctor tried to escape to Canada on the SS Montrose with his lover Ethel Le Neve, who was disguised as a boy.But he was caught after the ship’s captain recognised him from newspaper reports and alerted Scotland Yard.The Montrose was the first ship to carry Marconi’s new telegram system and Crippen famously became the first criminal in history to be arrested thanks to such technology.He was arrested at sea and brought back to Britain after Inspector Walter Dew made a trans-Atlantic dash in a faster vessel.Crippen was found guilty and hanged at Pentonville Prison in November 1910.Le Neve, who was tried separately for complicity in the killing, was acquitted.

Spooks star Miranda Raison spied spending time with Ralf Little after marriage split

Former Spooks actress Miranda Raison has fuelled rumours she is dating actor Ralf Little after she was photographed leaving his home.The blonde, 29, was seen arriving at the Royle Family star’s west London home late one night over the weekend, before leaving together the following morning.Their pairing comes just weeks after Raison announced she had split from husband Raza Jaffrey after just two years of marriage.

Miranda Raison is all smiles as she leaves Ralf Little’s west London home over the weekend

Raison and Little, 29, met earlier this year while filming ITV drama Married, Single, Other.In the series, Miranda played a model named Abbey who captured the heart of Ralf’s serial womaniser character Clint.Friends of the couple said they have ‘fallen for each other in a big way’.Last month, it was revealed that Raison and Jaffrey, 34, had ended their two year marriage after living ’separate lives’.The couple started dating in 2005 after falling for each other on the set of Spooks.However, when Jaffrey – who played undercover operative Zafar Younis, left the show the same year they married, the couple began spending increasingly more time apart.

According to friends, the couple’s marriage started to suffer soon after the wedding.The source told the Daily Mail: ‘When they spent all day and night together on the set of Spooks their relationship was fine but after Raza left the show it all started to go terribly wrong.‘Their careers have both taken off and they have been focused on that. It’s hard to juggle a personal life and work in the industry when you.

Little, who played hapless Anthony in the Royle Family, previously dated TV presenter Lisa Rodgers and his Summer Holiday co-star Sarah Churm.Before meeting Raison, Raza dated his Bombay Dreams co-star Preeya Kalidas, who plays Amira in EastEnders.Raison recently left Spooks after four years of playing Junior Case Officer Jo Portman, who was shot by Ros Myers (Hermione Norris) while restraining a terrorist during a hostage situation.

Todays WTF !!

Mythical white stag found in the forests of Gloucestershire

White stags have long been associated with mythology and legend, an elusive yet magnificent beast.King Arthur was left frustrated by his attempts to capture one, as were the Kings and Queens of Narnia, who chased the creature through the woods and found themselves tumbling out of a wardrobe.But photographer Ken Grindle has managed to get a little bit closer, taking this picture of the animal in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.

The White Stag was snapped by amateur photographer Ken Grindle near Lydney, GloucestershireThe majestic wild animal – long associated with mystery and good luck – was filmed by the wildlife enthusiast.Ken, 66, has been filming and photographing wildlife in the area for the past six years – but had never seen a white stag.’I was very surprised to see it,’ he said.

‘I was camped in a shelter and was really fortunate. It just strolled right in front of me and calmly wandered around.

‘He is a beautiful creature and it’s really nice to be able to show people who perhaps can’t make it into woodland what beautiful animals roam out there.’I was lucky to be able to get some footage of it as well as the battery on my camera was running out.I wasn’t sure I’d actually got it until I got home.

This white stag was decapitated in 2007. Its existence was kept secret in a bid to deter poachers

‘I take the pictures to share with everyone as a lot of people can’t get out into the woods to see this.’The Forest of Dean is thought to be home to an array of unusual and wild creatures including wild boar, big cats and white stags.Retired builder Ken added: ‘There’s a lot of talk about big cats in the Forest and that really would be something to see.I managed to stand my ground when some wild boar came out into the path in front of me but it might be a bit different if I saw a big cat.’Last year a white stag was spotted in the Scottish Highlands and was photographed by a member of a nature charity while she was on an expedition on the west coast.Fran Lockhart, of the John Muir Trust, a charity which protects wild land, said she was “thrilled” to spot the majestic beast, which is closely identified with the unicorn.In October 2007, a wild white stag was shot by poachers on the border between Devon and Cornwall, where horrified locals had known it by the name Snowy.

Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon wins £6million in shares row with mother

Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon has won £6million in a long-running legal battle with her 70-year-old mother.Miss Mellon had sued her mother Ann Yeardye for the return of shares mistakenly paid into a family trust fund.The lawsuit in the Royal Court of Justice in Jersey, was abandoned last week after Mrs Yeardye conceded the case.

Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon says he has always had issues with her mother Ann Yeardye, pictured here in 2006

Miss Mellon, 42, who has made £100million from her shoe empire, recently said her relationship with her mother, a former Chanel model, has always been strained.But spokesmen for Mrs Yeardye say the ‘apparent ill-will’ came from Miss Mellon’s side.

The family rift began in 2004 after the sale of Jimmy Choo to an investment group.Miss Mellon, who set up the company in 1996, remained in control but an accounting error meant some shares were paid into a trust controlled by Mrs Yeardye.She allegedly refused to repay them before launching a counter-complaint.Earlier this year, Miss Mellon told American Elle magazine that her mother was jealous of her looks and success: ‘We never got along. She wanted to be me, I think, which seems terribly sad.’An agreement was settled on Thursday, sources said, with both sides paying their costs.Lawyers for Mrs Yeardye said it was agreed ‘amicably’.

He will make an address to MPs and peers from the spot where Sir Thomas was sentenced in 1535 for his opposing the adultery of King Henry VIII.Details of the four-day state visit are being discussed in Rome between a delegation of Whitehall officials and their Vatican counterparts.A Vatican delegation has also visited London in an attempt to finalise the plans.It is understood, however, that the visit will begin on September 16 and that it will end after the Pope has personally presided over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, possibly in Wembley stadium, on Sunday September 19.The address in Westminster Hall will be one of two public speeches that the Pope will deliver during the trip. The other will be to academics at Oxford University.Former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe, a convert to Catholicism who will be standing down at the next General Election, said it was “marvellous” that the Pope will be able to address parliamentarian from such an historic venue.

She said: “He should remind Parliamentarians of their duty to guarantee freedom and democracy and that includes Christians.”Westminster Hall was built in the 11th century and is the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster.It is sacred to many Catholics because it was where many martyrs and saints were tried for High Treason during the Protestant Reformation.Most notably it was the scene of the trial of Thomas More, the former Lord Chancellor canonised as a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1935 and made patron saint of politicians by Pope John Paul II.More was beheaded after he refused to take an oath attached to the Act of Supremacy that made the King the supreme head of the Church in England.A plaque marking the spot where the trial took place was kissed by Mother Teresa of Calcutta during one of her visits to Britain.

During the Elizabethan era, St Edmund Campion, the Jesuit missionary, was also tried in the hall and in the reign on James I it was the setting for the trial of Guy Fawkes, who had tried to blow up the building in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.In the same century dozens of innocent Catholic priests falsely accused by Titus Oates of plotting to kill King Charles II and put his Catholic brother James on the throne were tried and sentenced to death there. Samuel Pepys, the diarist and naval administrator, was implicated in the plot, was also tried but was acquitted.An official announcement of the papal visit is not expected until well into the New Year.

Irony

‘Freedom of speech’ victory as Christian hoteliers are CLEARED of insulting Muslim woman as judge slams her evidence

Christian hoteliers accused of insulting a Muslim guest for wearing the hijab and berating her for her beliefs were dramatically cleared this afternoon.Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated against white British Muslim convert Ericka Tazi, 60.District Judge Richard Clancy, who heard the case in the absence of a jury, told the couple that religion and politics was the ‘tinderbox which set the whole thing alight and it would appear because of strongly entrenched positions that is what has happened here’.

Explaining his reasons for dismissing the case, he said Mrs Tazi’s claim that she was verbally attacked by the couple for up to an hour had not been borne out by other prosecution witnesses, who suggested that any discussions lasted around seven minutes.Judge Clancy also highlighted Mrs Tazi’s use of language. When describing how she was provoked by the couple about her hijab she used words to the effect of: ‘Would you prefer it if I got my tits out?’He said: ‘I mention this because when I read that together with what she said about ‘them taking the piss’ it doesn’t quite form the same religious view that was put to me on the stand’.Judge Clancy said: ‘I’m not satisfied on the facts that this case has been made out.’His decision was greeted by prolonged applause from the couple’s supporters in the public gallery.Outside, Sharon Vogelenzang told reporters: ‘We’ve been found innocent of any crime. It has been a very difficult nine months and we are looking forward to rebuilding our business and getting on with our lives.’We would like to thank all those who have supported us, our family, our friends, our church and Christians all around the world, and non-Christians.

‘And as Christmas approaches we wish everybody peace and goodwill.’

Mrs Tazi told the court yesterday that she was left traumatised after being insulted by the couple while a guest at The Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, on March 20.She said they laughed at her when she came down wearing a hijab on her final day at the hotel and shouted at her, saying her Islamic dress was a form of bondage and that she had provoked an argument by wearing it.Mrs Tazi, who converted to Islam when she married a Muslim 18 months ago, was staying at the hotel while she attended a pain management clinic at Aintree Hospital for her fibromyalgia.She claimed Mr Vogelenzang called the prophet Mohammed a murderer and a warlord and likened him to Saddam Hussein and Hitler.But the couple denied her version of events and claimed Mrs Tazi told them Jesus was a minor prophet and that the Bible was untrue.

Earlier, the court heard how the Vogelenzangs’ B&B had suffered as a result of the case.Benjamin Vogelenzang, 53, accused Mrs Tanzi of trying to ruin his business during heated scenes in court. The hotelier raised his voice and thumped the witness box before he was told to behave by Judge Clancy.His 54-year-old wife, Sharon, told the court that takings were down by 80 per cent since they were prosecuted for a public order offence.Benjamin Vogelenzang told prosecutor Anya Horwood in cross examination: ‘At the time I was persuaded she (Ericka) was quite a nice person.’Raising his voice, and thumping the witness box for emphasis, he continued: ‘I was mistaken, you know why? She wasn’t a nice person, she wasn’t a loving person, she ratted to the police and is trying to make us lose our business.’His outburst prompted Judge Clancy to tell him: ‘Behave yourself please.’When Mr Vogelenzang returned to the dock to sit alongside his wife he bowed his head and cried.The court heard that the couple, who have five adopted children and have fostered a Muslim boy, returned to the hotel after a holiday in Scotland three days before the alleged incident on March 20They learned from the hotel manager that guests had engaged in robust debates about religion over the dinner table, with Mrs Tazi and a self confessed ‘happy clappy Christian’ taking the lead.

Mr Vogelenzang told his defence counsel, Hugh Tomlinson QC, that, on the morning of March 20, he spotted Mrs Tazi wearing the hijab, the traditional Islamic dress, and told her: ‘You look tiny’ before walking off.He said that, when he next saw her, she was talking to his wife and told the court he overheard the following conversation: ‘Her wording was, in essence, ‘I’ve tried all the religions, I’ve tried Jesus, it didn’t work for me but the Bible is untrue anyway and Jesus is a minor prophet’.'She called Our Lord a minor prophet. My reaction was ‘You haven’t prayed alone and asked God to prove himself to you’.

‘Because she was a small person I sat next to her and just gently said that to her.’He admitted that his wife may have referred to the hijab as a form of bondage and said Mrs Tazi replied: ‘My husband doesn’t even want me to wear it, but I wear it as I love Allah.’He told the court: ‘Great, that’s fine. At least she wears it because of the love she has.’Mr Vogelenzang said Mrs Tazi then went off into the dining room and he belatedly went after her to make light of the situation.

He told the court he reeled off a list of historical figures, including Caesar, Nero, Hitler, Mao and Saddam Hussein.Mr Vogelenzang said: ‘She took the examples of history and she started provoking me by saying ‘Oh, will you tell me then that I’m a murderer, that I’m a Nazi? You’re telling me I’m a terrorist?”I never meant it this way.He denied shouting at her or referring to the prophet Mohammed as a warlord.Mr Vogelenzang told Ms Horwood that Mrs Tazi was not in tears but left the hotel ‘as cool as a cucumber’ and that he had the ability ‘not to take offence’.Mrs Vogelenzang told the court that Mrs Tazi seemed determined to get a response from her about her hijab.

She said the guest approached her and said: ‘You didn’t know I was a Muslim, did you?”The hotelier replied that she had known, the court heard.Mrs Vogelenzang said Mrs Tazi then came up to her and said she ‘was still the nice, kind Ericka you know’She said she was ’stopped in her tracks’ when she heard Mrs Tazi say to her husband that, ‘Jesus was a minor prophet and the Bible was not true’.She told her: ‘I’m afraid we’d have to disagree with you there. We believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins.’Mrs Vogelenzang said Mrs Tazi told her: ‘It’s my choice to put this outfit on’ and said she replied: ‘I can’t understand why you would want to put yourself into bondage.’She explained that she used the phrase ‘bondage’ because she understood that Muslim women lacked the freedom to make many choices in their lives.Mrs Vogelenzang also told Mr Tomlinson, her defence counsel, that she went into the dining room after hearing raised voices and, when Mrs Tazi spotted her, ’she charged towards me with her hand thrust up at my face and said ‘Get away from me, get out of my face”.Yesterday, Christians gathered outside Liverpool magistrates’ court to support the couple.Mrs Tazi, who suffers from the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia, spent a month at the hotel earlier this year while attending a course of therapy at a nearby hospital.

The former Roman Catholic from Warrington, who converted to Islam last year, gave evidence after swearing an oath to Allah and kissing the Koran.She wore a hijab and ankle-length gown in court similar to the outfit she was wearing on the day of the alleged confrontation.She told the court she had worn Western clothes until the final day of her course.

Heres The Irony

Taxi driver sacked after he was captured on hidden CCTV telling a pensioner: ‘You die tonight’

A taxi driver has been sacked after a hidden in-car camera caught him swearing at three terrified pensioners and telling one: ‘You die tonight.’Elyas Haidari, 24, hurled abuse at the women, who were all partially sighted, and told them to ’shut up’ as he took them to a day care centre.When the pensioners tried to get out of his car, Mr Haidari, who had held a licence for seven months, refused to help them.

Mr Haidari is the first cabbie to be caught by the new ‘taxicam’ system employed by Southampton City Council.He was hauled before the council’s licensing committee after the women complained about his ‘truly shocking’ behaviour.Council officers downloaded the footage from the camera within hours and were stunned when they heard Mr Haidari telling one passenger ‘you die tonight.’He was also heard yelling, ’shut up’ during the journeys and ‘get out’ at the women when they reached their destination.Councillors voted in August to make it compulsory for cameras to be fitted in all new Hackney carriages.Mr Haidari’s car was among the 150 cabs which already had a camera fitted.Licensing committee chairman Councillor Brian Parnell said that without the camera in Mr Haidari’s car, his behaviour could have gone unnoticed.He said: ‘While incidents such as this in the city are fortunately rare, it undoubtedly shows the merit of having cameras fitted to all licensed vehicles in the city.’It is a ringing endorsement of the council’s recent decision to make the fitting of cameras mandatory.’

Council licensing officers downloaded the recording from the camera within hours of the incident being reported to them.The council praised the cooperation and response by Radio Taxis following the complaint about their driver, who was promptly dismissed.Company chairman Clive Johnson, who has launched a legal challenge against the decision to make cameras compulsory, said: ‘We were very upset and concerned about what happened.’But we didn’t need the camera evidence. We acted on the information from the statements from the three ladies.’We supplied all the information to the police. We didn’t need a camera to tell us something had gone disastrously wrong.’We are not against cameras, we’re against being forced to have them.’The £625 cameras, which the council sells at subsidy for £250 excluding VAT and fitting, take still pictures and record continuous audio once they are triggered by a door opening.Drivers are also able to trigger a burst of pictures if they push a panic button.A police spokesman said an officer spoke to Mr Haidari’s three passengers although no official statements were taken and they did not wish to make an official complaint.

TIGER TIGER

Porn star Joslyn James is tenth woman linked to disgraced golfer

• Backlash begins as sponsor Gatorade drops Tiger Focus drink named after Woods
• Experts claim he is now ‘beyond PR redemption’
• Swedish TV personality claims she was asked to have affair with golfer
• Furious wife Elin Nordegren ‘flung mobile phone at Woods breaking his tooth’
• My mother’s collapsed: Dramatic 911 call from Woods’ mansion leaked online

A pornography actress was today the tenth woman to be linked to scandal-hit golfer Tiger Woods.Joslyn James, who has starred in a number of extremely explicit adult films, allegedly slept with the sportsman on a number of occasions.According to sports website Deadspin.com, she had boasted of their relationship to a friend.James, whose real name is Veronica Siwik-Daniels,  is said to have considered herself Woods’ ‘full-time mistress.’Shortly after the golfer’s personal life imploded, she posted a status update on her Facebook page, saying: ‘I find it comical when certain individuals have no life of their own and want to be ME… so terribly bad.’James, 39, joins a string of women to have reportedly had affairs with the golfer, including another porn star Holly Sampson, 36.

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Porn star Joslyn James (right) is the latest woman to be linked to Tiger Woods

In further revelations, one of Sweden’s top celebrities claims she was approached by man acting on behalf of Woods about having an affair with the golfer.Carolina Gynning – infamous in her homeland for having sex on Big Brother – said the incident happened ’six or seven years ago’ when she was living in London.

Now a famous TV presenter in Stockholm, she blogged that she was at a party where she met Woods’ ‘agent’ at a party.She described him as a ‘really strange man who I assumed was gay,’ adding ‘he wanted to tell me something special.’After accepting a lunch invitation, she said the man asked her ’strange questions’.He wondered if I knew who Tiger Woods was, and obviously I did,’ she wrote. ‘He said he was friends with Tiger and that Tiger loved girls like me.”He said that Tiger was looking for a girlfriend and that he wanted to introduce me to him.’I never got back to the guy, obviously, even if Tiger is rich, he’s also ugly as sin and absolutely not my type. Was that guy a pimp for Tiger?’Gynning also expressed support for Woods’ wife, fellow Elin Nordegren, urging her to take the couple’s two children and ‘move home to Sweden.’The fresh batch of revelations emerged as a backlash against Woods, 33, gathered pace.One  of America’s top PR experts said his image would be tarnished forever after a string of lurid allegations.

Howard Rubenstein said: ‘He is beyond PR redemption. He is in public relations hell right now. There is not a PR man on Earth who can restore.’He’s haemorrhaging; even a transfusion won’t help. He can never re-establish that perfect image of a happily married family man. Never.’He advised Woods to separate from his wife as quickly as possible. ‘Who knows how many more women are going to emerge?,’ he added. ‘This could continue for a long time.’Adverts featuring the tarnished golfer have been pulled from broadcasts and cable channels in the States.According to media research group Nielson, the last prime-time commercial starring Woods – a 30-second avert for Gillette – played on November 29.There were no adverts featuring the billionaire during weekend sports programmes.Woods is also losing his own brand of Gatorade sport drink named Tiger Focus, which was launched in March 2008.

The company, one of the golf superstar’s biggest sponsors, along with Nike and American Express, claimed that the decision was nothing to do with the current scandal.’We decided several months ago to discontinue Gatorade Tiger Focus along with some other products to make room for our planned series of innovative products in 2010,’ the company said in a statement.Meanwhile, Woods ranking as a celebrity product endorser plunged from 6th to 24th on the influential Davie Brown Index.The scale tracks 2,800 celebrities with the golfer  now placed between Julia Roberts and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Woods’ life began to unravel on November 27 after a bizarre car accident in the early hours of the morning.The golfer, who had carefully cultivated an image as a clean-living family man, crashed into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his house in Windermere, Florida.

Emergency services found him unconscious in the road after being dragged out of his £35,000 Cadillac Escalade by his wife Elin Nordegren.But the affair was initially shrouded in mystery until details of a string of women who had alleged affairs with Woods began to emerge.It was claimed today that Nordegren had made a furious phone call to Rachel Uchitel – one of the women subsequently linked to Woods – around 90 minutes before the crash.According to Star magazine, the golfer’s wife yelled ‘I know everything.’Nordegren then reportedly hurled the phone at her husband, knocking out a tooth, before grabbig a golf club and chasing him around the house.’She did thousands of dollars of damage,’ a source told the magazine. ‘Tiger ran out to his Escalade barefoot to get away from her.’

Support: Mrs Holmberg (left) had flown to the US to support her daughter Elin Nordegren (right, with husband Tiger Woods) after he was accused of having a string of affairs

It was revealed yesterday that Florida authorities feared Woods had overdosed on prescription drugs.The TMZ website claims the hospital admission chart listed ‘OD’ and showed that he was having trouble breathing.He was admitted under the alias ‘William Smith’ and was with his wife.

A police report released on Monday said Woods had been drinking before the crash and had taken powerful painkillers Vicodin and Ambien sleeping pills.Apart from releasing a statement a week ago apologising for his ‘transgressions, Woods has made no comment and remained out of sight since the accident.He is said to have offered his wife millions to keep her from walking out on him and taking their children Sam, two, and ten-month-old Charlie.

But she recently bought a £1.3million island hideway in Sweden, fuelling speculation that the former children’s nanny and bikini model is preparing to start a new life in her homeland.Nordegren, who married Woods in 2004, is still living at the family’s £1.7million mansion, despite earlier reports she had moved out.Tiger Woods’s wife Elin believed him when he said he was not playing around with other women, it was reported in the US last night.

Sources told People magazine she ‘believed his lies’ when he told her he was not seeing anyone while he was away from home taking part in golf tournaments.The respected magazine said it was common knowledge on the golf circuit that Woods was cheating on his wife.But sources told People:’It is sort of sad that all of the golfers knew about Tiger’s cheating throughout his marriage while poor Elin believed his lies when he told her he was not seeing any other women when on the road for days at a time.’The source added: ‘Now that it has hit her over the head, she is going to make the best decision for her and the kids.’She was at the centre of a further drama after her mother Barbro Holmberg collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Emergency: Tiger Woods’ mother-in-law Barbro Holmberg is wheeled into hospital on a stretcher after collapsing at the golfer’s home

Mansion: Mrs Holmberg returned to Woods’ mansion in Windermere, Florida, after being treated in hospital

A dramatic 911 call made after the 57-year-old Swedish politician became ill was leaked online overnight.It is believed she became sick after confronting Woods over claims that he had cheated on her daughter Nordegren with a string of mistresses.In a recording made at 2.35am, a sobbing woman – understood to be Nordegren – told the emergency operator that her mother had collapsed.’Hurry up,’ the caller said. ‘She collapsed in the bathroom. What do I do?’

The dispatcher then makes attempts to calm the woman down and asks her to check on her mother’s condition.A few seconds later the caller said Mrs Holmberg was breathing normally, talking and did not appear to be hurt from her fall.’She said she collapsed,’ the woman said. ‘She fainted. She was down for a while.’I heard her fall and ran up there and tried to get her up. I don’t think she’s injured.She then apologises for the call, adding: ‘I’m sorry. I got so scared.’A child can be heard crying in the backgroundMrs Holmberg was taken to Health Central Hospital, in Florida, where she was carried inside on a stretcher. Nordegren was seen driving behind the ambulance.After spending 11 hours at the centre, Mrs Holmberg was released yesterday evening and returned to Woods’ mansion in Windermere, near Orlando.Earlier reports suggested she had been suffering from acute food poisoning but it is understood she had an anxiety attack after the argument.

The women: 1. Jaimee Grubbs, 2. Holly Sampson, 3. Jamie Jungers, 4. Mindy Lawton, 5. Cori Rist, 6. Kalika Moquin, 7. Rachel Uchitel, 8. Unidentified cocktail waitress, 9. Joslyn James and 10. Unnamed British TV presenter

Woods stands accused of having affairs with at least ten women, a mixture of waitresses, club hosts, television presenters and porn stars.The eight women named so far are Rachel Uchitel, Kalika Moquin, Jamie Grubbs, Jamie Jungers, Mindy Lawton, Cori Rist, Holly Sampson and Joslyn James.An unnamed cocktail waitress says she had a two-year affair with the billionare golfer and claims he told her his marriage was a sham and ‘just for publicity’.

Michael O’Quinn, who is representing the 26-year-old, said that she met Woods in 2004 while working as a cocktail waitress for VIPs at the Roxy Nightclub near his home in Orlando.He was already engaged at the time.’Her relationship was not a one-night stand,’ Mr O’Quinn told the New York Post. ‘It was long-term, and it was witnessed by many people in this community. She has detailed knowledge of his life, his habits.’The waitress is said to have had qualms about the affair after Woods married Swedish au pair Miss Nordegren in 2004, according to the TMZ website.There are also reports that a British TV star was involved with Woods, taking the tally to ten.A new photograph of the golfer flirting with a scantily-clad cocktail waitress at a Las Vegas club emerged last night.The image, taken on October 4, shows the scandal-hit golfer talking intimately to a blonde dressed in a strappy black leotard and white collar with black bow-tie.

They were at Tao, the Vegas club where Rachel Uchitel and Kalika Moquin – two of the women already linked to Woods – used to work.

911 CALL FROM WOODS’ MANSION IN FULL

Caller (C): Oh my god (crying)

Operator (O): Fire and rescue

C: Oh my god. My mum just collapsed

O: Ok. Calm down. It’s ok. What’s the address? (Break in tape) And is she breathing? They’re coming. It’s ok. Calm down for a minute

C: She collapsed in the bathroom. What can I do?

O: Is she breathing?

C: Hold on. I just ran to the phone. Hold on… hold on (Pause. A child can be heard crying in the background) She’s fine.

O: She’s fine?

C: I’m sorry

O:Try and calm down for me. You said she collapsed?

C: Yes

O: How old is your mum?

C: 57

O: You said she’s breathing. Is she conscious?

C: Yes

O: Can she tell you what happened?

C: It’s a hardline so I’m running back and forth.

O: Is there any way you can pick up another phone and take it closer to her?

C: Yes. (Pause) She’s fine

O: You’re saying she’s fine

C: Yes

O: She can talk

C: Yes

O: Can she tell you what happened?

C: She says she collapsed. She just fainted. She went down for a while.

O: How do you know?

C: Because I heard her fall and I went up there and I tried to get her up

O: Is she injured from her fall?

C: I don’t think she is

O: Is she bleeding from anywhere?

C: No

O: And has she not been feeling well or anything?

C: I don’t know. I don’t know

O: Is her breathing completely normal?

C: I’m sorry

O: That’s ok. Do you still want the paramedics to come out?

C: I don’t think so. I think we’re fine

O: Has she got any history of heart problems?

C: No. She says no. I’m sorry. I got so scared

O: That’s fine. We’d rather come and check her over and get her vitals and check if everything’s ok

C: It’s not urgent now

O: Is it ok if the come out and check her?

C: Yes

O: We’ll come out and check her. Keep an eye on her. If anything gets any worse call us right back. They’ll be there in a few minutes

Susan Boyle goes to Paris and meets her biggest fans… a superfluity of nuns

They don’t look like your average YouTube users. So it is a mark of how far Susan Boyle has come, that even nuns at a French church are thrilled to meet the Scottish star.The singer became a worldwide sensation after a clip of her first audition for Britain’s Got Talent was viewed millions of times on the net.

Sound Of Music: Singer Susan Boyle was met by a crowd of excited nuns when she visited a church in Paris today

That was back in April. Now with a chart topping debut album to her name, Susan is a bona fide pop star, whose fame isn’t confined to the web generation.The 48-year-old was surrounded by nuns when she visited a church in Paris today, in between appearances on two TV shows.

Susan has made no secret of her religious views.

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Working hard: Susan filmed appearances for two French TV shows today

Her album I Dreamed A Dream, currently at the number one spot, contains two hymns.And in a documentary about her meteoric rise to fame, she tells Piers Morgan: ‘On a personal level, church is very important to me; it’s the central point of my faith, and I recognise that God gives you gifts that you have to use to the best of your ability.’Filming a pre-recorded appearance on popular French chat show Vivement Dimanche, Susan demonstrated her quirky behaviour as she winked at the cameras.

I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story, will be screened on ITV on Sunday night after the X Factor final.

Cheeky: Susan gives viewers of a French TV show a cheeky wink

International superstar: Susan is greeted by Vivement Dimanche host Michel Drucker

Sarah Harding is the ‘naughtiest’ schoolgirl in class at St Trinian’s 2 premiere with revealing slits in her premiere dress

After landing a leading role in the new St Trinian’s movie, Sarah Harding is making the progression from pop star to actress.Arriving on the pink carpet at the premiere of St Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold last night, the Girls Aloud singer looked every inch the Hollywood star as she shimmered in a revealing floor-length black dress.With her blonde hair swept back, long black lashes and red lips, Sarah showed off her figure in the panelled dress, which hugged her curves in all the right places.Joining Sarah at the Leicester Square premiere were her glamorous co-stars Gemma Arterton and Tamsin Egerton and her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh.

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My big night: Sarah Harding looked stunning as she shimmied up the pink carpet in a revealing black gown with train at the London premiere of St Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold

Bringing sexy back: Sarah shows off her figure in the revealing dress’s cut-out back

Keen not to outdo their bandmate on her big night, Nicola, 24, looked girlie in a cream asymmetrical prom dress, while Kimberley, 28, went for traditional glamour in a black bandeau dress.Following a small cameo in the first St Trinian’s movie two years ago, Sarah, 28, returned to the sequel for a much bigger role, playing naughty schoolgirl Roxy.As well as acting in the film, Sarah has also recorded three songs for the soundtrack.Sarah teamed up with Xenomania – the production team behind a majority of Girls Aloud’s biggest hits – to record three tracks: Too Bad, Make It Easy and a cover of David Bowie’s Boys Keep Swinging.

Yin and yang: Sarah was supported by her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts (left), in a cream prom dress, and Kimberley Walsh in a black bandeau dress

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Lady in black: Bond girl Gemma Arterton kept it simple in a slinky black Alexander Wang dress

Speaking on the red carpet, Sarah admitted she was terrified about watching herself on the big screen.She said: ‘I’m nervous about everyone out there and the critics seeing it, more than anything. It’s a really, really great amount of pressure.

‘I think because people, in this day and age, in Britain don’t expect you to cross over into acting… there’s a bit of a stigma to that. What people don’t realise is that I did actually train for acting when I was younger as well, so it’s kind of relighting a little fire there. I’ve got a ball of emotions in my stomach right now.’Describing her character, she said: ‘She is probably a more laid back version of myself. She’s too cool for school and she’s not a team player to start with.

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Blonde ambition: Tamsin Egerton (left) looked stunning in a flowing cream silk gown, while Talulah Riley wore an asymmetrical black column dress

Celebrating: (L-R) Gemma and Sarah joined co-stars Rupert Everett, Talulah and Tamsin

‘But then she gets involved with some of the things that are going on and starts getting more excitable and losing her cool slightly towards the end and starts to get really close to the girls.’St Trinian’s 2 sees the naughty schoolgirls from the infamous boarding school go on a hunt for Fritton’s gold.Returning from the first film is Gemma (Kelly Jones), Tamsin (Chelsea Parker), Rupert Everett (headmistress Camilla Fritton/Carnaby Fritton) and Talulah Riley (Annabelle Fritton).Joining the cast for the sequel is outgoing Doctor Who David Tennant, who plays the evil female-hating Pomfrey, who tries to reach the treasure before the girls.

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Glamour: The film’s stars Jodie Whittaker (L), Zawe Ashton (C) in a Moschino Cheap & Chic halterneck and Celia Imrie all wore black dresses

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Musical guests: Paloma Faith (L) and The Noisettes frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa (C) both went for vertical hairstyles and colourful outfits, while Amy Winehouse’s god-daughter Dionne Bromfield wore black

Black was the dominant colour on the pink carpet, with most of the film’s female stars opting for the shade.Bond girl Gemma, 23, wore a £650 black Alexander Wang satin jersey dress with platform sandals and carried a sparkly clutch.Statuesque blonde Tamsin, 21, wore a low-cut cream gown, while co-star Talulah Riley, 24, showed off her curves in an asymmetrical black gown.

The film’s other stars Montserrat Lombard, Zawe Ashton, Jodie Whittaker and Celia Imrie also got dressed up for the occasion.

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Ashes To Ashes actress Montserrat Lombard (L) looked chic in cream, EastEnders teen Madaleine Dunn (C) wore a black mini while ex-Strictly contestant Ricky Groves looked dapper in his suit

Injecting some much needed colour on the red carpet was flamboyant singer/songwriter Paloma Faith, who looked futuristic in her orange jumpsuit and bolero and a red beehive.Also going for a vertical hairstyle was The Noisettes frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa, who wore a fuchsia mini-dress with plunging neckline.Others in attendance were Amy Winehouse’s protegee and god-daughter Dionne Bromfield, EastEnders teenage star Madaleine Dunn and ex-Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ricky Groves.St Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold is due for release in the UK on December 18.

Here comes trouble: Sarah (L), Talulah (C) and Zawe in a scene from St Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold

Icy weekend ahead slashes odds on a white Christmas

It may be cold comfort to those shivering through it, but icy weather this weekend will double the chances of a white Christmas, say experts.Forecasters believe the torrential rain has now ended after nearly two months, and a cold blast is about to send temperatures plunging below freezing, with fog, ice, sleet and even snow. In some parts of the country, the weather system moving in from Scandinavia means it is now odds on  for the first white Christmas since 2004, says one forecaster.

The Met Office expects overnight frosts this weekend, especially in northern areas, with temperatures dropping to -3c or -4c.

This will be followed by a brief spell of slightly milder weather, but the run-up to Christmas is then expected to be even colder.The Met Office won’t be drawn yet on the odds of a white Christmas but independent analyst Positive Weather Solutions has now doubled its estimated chance of snow falling on December 25. The company said Scotland and the North-East of England have a 59 per cent probability; the East Coast 55 per cent, with the rest of the North, mid-Wales and the Midlands at 32 per cent.The South has a predicted 18 per cent chance and the South-West 10 per cent. William Hill has slashed odds for a white Christmas to 6-1 for London and Newcastle, 7-1 for Manchester and just 3-1 for Aberdeen.

Senior forecaster Jonathan Powell said: ‘For the first time since 2004, there is a definite chance of snow this Christmas. The chances of parts of the UK seeing a white Christmas now look favourable.’A cold pool of Arctic air is pushing down across the nation and will introduce sustained chilly and frosty weather.’With the introduction of several weak rain-associated weather fronts, any rain will readily turn to snow – so there is a greater possibility of waking up to snow on Christmas Day.’The most likely area is down the eastern side of the country and over Scotland. But there is the possibility scattered snow showers will push further inland, perhaps reaching the Midlands and even London.’New Met Office figures reveal rainfall from October 16 to December 6 was 319.8mm (12.59in) which is 64 per cent above average for this period. It was also the wettest November on record with further records for 24-hour and 48-hour rainfalls.However, last month was the seventh-warmest November in central England, according to records dating back to 1659. Autumn was 1.2c warmer than normal.

GENIUS !!!

Frank Lampard’s ex Elen Rivas unveils the UK’s most ‘innovative lingerie ever’

Ex-WAG turned underwear model Elen Rivas has unveiled a new bra which is tipped to revolutionise women’s underwear.Frank Lampard’s ex unveiled Diamond Boutique’s Limitless Bra, which will be on sale in Tesco and has been described as the most innovative lingerie ever.The bra comes in several parts, including two cups and a selection of straps, giving the wearer the power to create their own ‘DIY style’ bra.

Elen Rivas reveals a unique way Diamond Boutique’s Limitless Bra can be worn – this style is perfect for underneath a one shoulder dress

Each cup features 24 hook positions and the back strap another 28, which is said to offer limitless ways of wearing it.Miss Rivas last month signed up as the body of Diamond Boutique, a range of lingerie by entrepreneur and star of The Apprentice Michelle Mone which is being sold through the supermarket giant.The bra took over 12 months to make, will be available in black and nude in sizes 32-38 A-D, and will cost just £16.

Ms Mone said the bra was a ‘must have’ garment for every lingerie drawer.’These days fashion is so experimental, it’s often a hassle finding the right bra for the right outfit, any girl will tell you,’ she said.

Miss Rivas – who until recently was known as Ms Rives, revealed last month she took the modelling work in order to support herself since the couple’s split nine month’s ago. She has previously complained about how she has had to rein in her lavish lifestyle by cutting down on the amount of champagne she drinks and that she has to shop at cut-price high street store Primark because she is worried about saving money.

One shoulder wonder: The bra, which retails for £16, features 52 hook positions

Miss Rivas is now living with her daughters, Luna, four, and two-year-old Isla, in a six-bedroom house that Lampard has bought for £2.85million overlooking Chelsea Harbour.They ended their seven-year relationship in February this year after he was linked to other women. As part of their split, he also agreed to pay maintenance for their two children.

Endless possibilities: The bra can also be adapted for use under strapless or halterneck-style clothing

But she has claimed she is struggling to adjust to life as a single mother but says that her impoverished upbringing has helped her cope.

It was Christmas time in the year 450 AD. King Uther Pendragon of Britain was dead. All the knights in Britain decided to go to the cathedral in Canterbury to choose a new king. The knight, Sir Ector, his son Kay, and their squire Arthur were on their way to Canterbury.

Kay stopped. “Oh, no. I haven’t got my sword,” he said. “Arthur, go home and get it.”

“Be careful, Arthur,” said Sir Ector. “There are robbers in the forest and there’s a dragon on the hill near the village. Take the other road.”

Arthur went to Sir Ector’s castle. When he arrived, nobody was at home. Arthur didn’t have a key for the door.

Arthur returned to Canterbury with no sword. All the knights were in the cathedral. Arthur didn’t know what to do. He saw a sword in a big stone next to the cathedral. The sword was called Excalibur. There were words on the stone but Arthur didn’t read them. He pulled the sword from the stone and went to find Sir Ector and Kay. Sir Ector and the other knights saw Arthur with the sword. They ran to look at the stone and read the words on it.

“The true king will pull the sword from this stone”

SIR ECTOR: – Arthur, put the sword into the stone and pull it from the stone again.

Arthur did it. It was easy. Then the knights knew that Arthur was the new king.

*

Answer the following questions. Write a summary.

1. Where did all the knights in Britain decide to go to choose a new king?
2. Who were on their way to Canterbury?
3. What was the matter with Kay?
4. Did he send Arthur to get it?
5. Did Arthur get the sword in the castle? Why not?
6. What did he see in a big stone next to the cathedral?
7. What was the message on the stone?
8. What did Arthur do with the sword?
9. Who was the new king?

.                                 .                                 .                                   .                              .

Canterbury Cathedral

*

The sword in the stone

I’m feeling brand new about the days ahead of me. I get down on myself but in the end, no matter how much I think that I can’t do it, I end up having a great time and results are always . Time is only a part of the puzzle. I am learning to deal with time like I might deal with a small child. Time is needy and wants my attention, it pulls at my pant leg and my shirt whining and complaining sometimes.

This is  a brand new web venture to coincide with my new ventures in life. Soon to be based out of New York I need something new to record my thoughts and my reality. I want to share with you all, that’s the heart of it all. Except my invitation to open dialogue and discuss those things in life that can perturb, surprise excite.

Let’s just have some fun while we discover new things about this world and ourselves. We are all in this together, there is no reason to ignore one-another while we brush shoulder at the bus station and share the agonies of traffic. We should get to know each other before we it’s too late.

I’ll share my thoughts if you share yours. Contemplate like it’s your job, and enjoy the great mysteries.

My version of Elaine of Carbonek. A wise woman and creature of intrigue.
She is a character with animalistic attraction and secreted intentions of pursuit.
She revealed the Holy Grail to Lancelot and became the mother Sir Galahad,
“The noblest of knights”

I can’t say for sure, but I think the first time I ever saw something remotely Pre-Raphaelite was in elementary school upon visiting the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. It very well could have been this painting, though I’m not sure when it was acquired. Regardless, I remember returning from the museum on an absolute high, my mind alive with the images I’d seen and thrilling at the prospect of such visual imagination.

Throughout college, I learned a great deal more about the Pre-Raphaelites, and they and their brotherhood (and sisterhood, et al) continued to crop up during my Arthurian studies.

And the more I read of Arthur, the more books and romances and poems I crammed into my head, the more I wanted the vision of the Pre-Raphaelites. Malory is fun, but he is also quite brutal. Even T.H. White on his best day can be a little laughable, a little more distant. I could never find that “true” telling that I was looking for, that pure Arthurian vein.

When I sat down to write Queen of None I was simply working a retelling of the story of Arthur, his knights, and his family; in a way it’s the Masters thesis I wish I’d done. But it became abundantly clear, as I was writing, that the female-driven storyline was in many ways a vision much in line with the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. Hwyfar, the scarlet-haired, earthy seductress; Gweyn, so rounded and lovely and sad; Morgaine, dark and severe; and of course, Anna, Arthur’s brother, another golden child. Their faces are so striking to me in my mind, their clothing so resplendent and sumptuous…

I digress a bit. While I wouldn’t ever say that Queen of None is not, technically, medieval, it is however a medieval vision through the eyes of the Victorian, as well as through my own. It’s almost utopian in that the religious aspect is mostly eradicated and, at least I’ve attempted, to convey a sense of visual depth. Free from historical timelines, fashions, and customs, I’ve concentrated on one thing: characters and stories. Because, well, there are lots and lots of them.

My sources have been all over the place. I mean, we’re talking about almost 1500 years worth of poems and romances. But because I’m just looking at the stories, I totally cherry picked. I had thought I was going for a more pure retelling at first, since Anna herself is in that first wave of Arthurian characters along with Gawain, Bedevere, Cai and other early well-known folks.

But all along the way I’ve been surprised, and I want to share some of the insights I’ve had with you.

Throughout the month of December, I’m going to be writing a little series on rewriting Arthuriana. Next up will be “Loving Lanceloch” – a look at what happened when I to exclude my least-favorite knight, only to find that he shouldered his way into the story and, in the end, became one of my favorites.

Suggested Arthurian texts for the curious among you:

The triune – Start with Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur (good translations are easy enough to find) – then move to Tennyson’s take on Malory, with his own Victorian colorings in Idylls of the King and, finally, see what T.H. White does to the whole story in his brilliant The Once and Future King.

What of the King Stag, when the young stag is grown?

Such is asked often in the book The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, a story of the women behind the throne of King Arthur. Including everything from romance to religious termoil, The Mists of Avalon, as is shown by it’s near-900 pages and division into four long books, is highly descriptive and entertaining.

The protagonist, Morgaine (or, more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay by other Arthurian tales) narrarates plenty of the story, and gives her opinion in first-person on some matters. The perspective of other women is shown too: Igraine, Morgaine and Arthur’s mother, Vivaine, the Lady of The Lake and Morgaine’s aunt, and Gwenhwyfar, King Arthur’s wife, are a few of the woman of whom the book also follows.

The first book, Mistress of Magic, begins soon after Morgaine’s birth, following her mother Igraine, a daughter of the previous Lady of the Lake and daughter of Avalon of whom has been wed to an older man and Duke of Cornwall, Gorlois. When the story begins, she recieves-and forsees-a visit from her sister Vivaine and her father the Merlin of Britan, or Taliesin. They tell her that she will bear a son to one of the High King Ambrosius’ loyal knights, Uther, and that he will rule over all of Britan succesfully, and be praised as a hero. She denies that such will happen, but later on, Uther is crowned High King and Igraine and Uther discover their love for one another, causing Gorlois to swear against Uther. Gorlois is later killed and soon afterwards Igraine and Uther marry and have Arthur, moving to the home of the High King, Caerleon. Morgaine is sent off to Avalon with Vivaine to be trained as a priestess, and Arthur is sent to one of Uther’s Kings to be fostered after a few “attempts at his death”.

Vivaine, in hope for the future of Avalon, sends an older and unknowing Morgaine to the Beltane Fires-one of the Celtic religion of Avalon’s festivals in order to repay the gods for what they have given-in order to play the part of the Virgin Huntress in the Kingmaking of her brother, after Uther had died and it was decided Arthur should take the throne. She, unknowing that the man she took part in the festival with was her brother until it was too late, becomes pregnant with Arthur’s child, and, in rage, flees from Avalon and seeks home with her aunt Morgause.

Most of Book Two is about Arthur’s Queen, Gwenhwyfar (Guenivere in other Arthurian tales), and the war between the Britans and the barbarian Saxons. It also talks about the love affair between Gwenhwyfar and Lancelet (Or Lancelot in other stories) behind Arthur’s back, and his later consent for Lancelet and Gwenhwyfar to try and bear a child together. Morgaine, who is angered at their love, as she had previously been in love with Lancelet, is one of Gwenhwyfar’s waiting-women throught the majority of this book.  She later sets Lancelet up with Gwenhwyfar’s cousin, Elaine, however, in both convincing, and though she may have not admitted it, jealosy.

Book Three, The King Stag, is moreso about the religios turmoil of Britan- it includes various arguments between Morgaine and Arthur’s court about the sake of Avalon, and Gwenhwyfar’s desire for Arthur to take in Christianity over all other religion and destroy the “pagan” religion of Avalon. She practically forces Arthur, once she is in knowing Morgaine bore a child of Arthur, to seek spiritual guidance, blaming the fact his sins are unforgiven for her bareness and their lack of any children.

The final book, The Prisoner in the Oak, is mainly a conclusion-to both the book, and to Avalon and it’s spiritual guidance, claiming that it is falling back into the mists, like the fairy lands. However, it talks of how the Merlin after Taliesin, the cripple and harper Kevin, is punished for his betrayal to Avalon by giving the Christians their holy relics. After they dissapear from Arthur’s court, however, the Companions of the Round Table (Or Knights, as opposed to Companions) set off in search of the holy grail.

Overall, The Mists of Avalon is well-written, and is portrayed in old language, but not to the point it makes it confusing. There are multiple sides to each caracter that are shown in the book. Morgaine takes on many different lovers and stages of belief, Gwenhwyfar goes from fearful maiden, to regretful sinner, to proud High Queen, Igraine from weak girl, to doubtful lover and mother, to powerful queen, to a nun. All the characters, even as the book stretches over 50 years, face turmoil and self-change that is depicted well in the story through inner thought and outer action. The mix of romance and arguments is pretty well balanced, though the woman’s gossip thrown in does bring it all down a bit.

However, despite the overall goodness of the book, the conversation seems to lag on at times, and a lot of the arguments hit the same points over again. Some of the affairs, as with Gwenhwyfar and Lancelet, seem to drag on as some unmentioned modern books have done recently, it would have been a lot easier on the reader if each simple glance from one forbidden lover to another wasn’t gone on about over again in esquisite detail. The turmoil faced by the women can be a bit overly accentuated at times, also, and it seems most of the characters are never satisfied unless it’s a festival, or they are making love. Or both. Fortunately, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

I find The Mists of Avalon to have been a worthwhile read, and something that I would probably buy for my own book collection. I enjoyed the plot, even if I’ve never read that much on the Arthurian Legends. It may not appeal to those, however, who are strong christians, or not fans of medival literature, as the protagonists generally are in favor of the side of Avalon as opposed to that of christianity. Nonetheless, I give The Mists of Avalon a 9/10.

This blog will contain reviews for Fantasy Novels and Stories that I have read and reviewed. It is in my hope, that others will get something out of this blog — whether it be inspiration to read something different — or simply run into something compelling that they wouldn’t have found without it. Please take the time to stop by and look around!

1. 15th December –> Chapter 1.
2. 12th January –> Chapter 2.
3. 19th January –> Chapters 3 and 4.
4. 26th January –> Chapter 5.
5. 2nd February –> Chapter 6.
6. 9th February –> Chapter 7.
7. 16th February –> Chapters 8 and 9.
8. 23rd February –> Exam.

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper LCC 66-11199  (ISBN 978-1416949640 — mass market paperback)

Though originally published in 1965, I find that this book speaks to the children of today rather nicely.  I read this out loud to my children and they did enjoy it.  It may not be as “action packed” as some of today’s books but it does have the chase scenes and the times of extreme tension.

The premise is that the three children (Simon, Jane, and Barnabas) and their parents are meeting Great Uncle Merry at a rental home in Cornwall.  Their plans include nothing more exciting than walking the headlands and fishing.  Then they find an ancient map in the attic of the rental home and all their quiet plans are shot as they become the focal point of thefts and kidnapping. 

Great Uncle Merry is a well respected history professor and is a great help to the children when they find the map and try to decipher the significance of the images.  His role as guardian enables the children to explore and discover things they may not have had the courage to do initially.  This is a wonderful story about the myths of King Arthur and how they effect the English country-side even in today’s society.  King Arthur truly is the once and future King!

the link to Amazon.com :

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Under-Stone-Rising-Sequence/dp/141694964X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259608959&sr=1-1

For ever and ever, we say when we are young, or in our prayers. Twice, we say it, do we not? For ever and ever … so that a thing may be for ever, a life or a love or a quest, and yet begin again, and be for ever just as before. And any ending that may seem to come is not truly and ending, but an illusion. For Time does not die. Time has neither beginning nor end, and so nothing can end or die that has once had a place in Time.

And here we stand in a long time gone, that has not yet come. Here.

Susan Cooper, from “Silver on the Tree”

So I actually just put together a long(ish) blog post which got deleted for no apparent reason when I attempted to publish/save the draft, so I’m sharing one photo & will muster up the energy to re-do it another day.

Apparently King Arthur's buried around here somewhere...

When I was young I adored Arthurian legend. I read just about every book I could find on King Arthur, Merlin, Camelot and The Lady of the Lake. I should clarify; I didn’t read the educational based-on-fact history books – I read the ones with magic and betrayal. Thus, my knowledge of Arthurian legend is steeped in chivalry, sorcery, adulterous drama, noble quests and a larger-than-life surreal world. I lost many a day buried in my fantasy books. I used to curl up in a comfy chair in the living room (preferably with a fire crackling) and read for hours – usually only taking a break to turn on a light because it was suddenly night time and too dark to read.

You can imagine my delight upon discovering that Camelot and Arthur’s castle are (were) both located a mere hour from my new home. It has been theorized that the modern-day Camelford is roughly where the ancient/mythological Camelot was established. Tintagel is thought to be where King Arthur would have had his famous court: Guinevere, the round table (complete with chivalrous knights), the start of the Quest for the Holy Grail – this is where all of the magic would’ve happened. All this history and legend right on my doorstep!

Here are some pictures of my stroll back through ancient (mythical) history:

I got my official release date for Kiss Across Time yesterday.  May 4, 2010.  Just under six months away.

I guess that’s the drawback for writing for a house series.  Everyone gets pooled together at the speed of the slowest common denominator.  I have a feeling I’ll have other titles coming out between now and then.

Anyway, I thought I’d celebrate by splurging with an excerpt, as they seem to be well received by everyone.

But first the blurb, of course!

Taylor Yates just got fired from her university for insisting that the 5^th Century British poet and playwright, Inigo Domhnall, existed. When she hears the poet’s lyrics in a death metal song, she engineers a meeting with the dark-eyed, dark-haired lead singer, Brody Gallagher. An unintended kiss sends them spinning back to the poet’s time, when Saxons were pillaging King Arthur’s Britain, and a warrior expects a proper farewell from his woman before he sets off for war.

Brody’s all for kissing her again.  More, he’d like her to try kissing his friend and lover, Veris, just to see what will happen.  His blond, tall, blue-eyed Saxon friend Veris.

_____________

Excerpt

The bathroom door opened and the singer stepped out, wrapping a silky-looking bathrobe around him. He halted when he saw her, his eyes narrowing.

“It was you,” he said flatly.

Her heart squeezed. It was him. Breandán. In the vision, dream, whatever it was that she’d had when this Brody had kissed her. Long hair and everything.

“You even have a scar on your chest,” she said and lifted her hand to touch, just under her own left breast. “Just like Breandán did.”

His eyes widened. “Jesus,” he breathed.

After a second or two he stirred. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you experienced what I did out there, then.”

She licked her lips. “That isn’t…usual, then?”

He gave a low laugh. “God no!” He lifted a hand to her face but hesitated just before he touched it. “May I?”

She appreciated his sensitivity. “Yes.”

His thumb stroked her cheekbone. “Your name is not really Toiréasa, is it?” His voice was low.

She shivered. He’d been there. He’d really been there with her.

“Taylor,” she said.

“I want to kiss you again, Taylor. I want to see what happens this time.”

She focused on his full lips and she remembered him sliding his cock into her. Even though it had been a dream or a vision, or whatever it had been, she recalled it like it had actually happened. She could feel it. Her clit throbbed.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Curiously, she believed him. She nodded.

His mouth touched hers hesitantly and she knew there was a pocket of fear in him too. Then his lips grew firmer, more demanding and his tongue thrust into her mouth. She forgot about visions and daydreams and simply enjoyed the kiss. Brody was a damn fine kisser and she hadn’t been kissed in a long, long time. She threw herself into the kiss, letting herself be seduced by its power. She pressed up against him, enjoying the pleasure of simply being held by a man, the scent of a man. She wound her arms about his neck and rubbed herself against him with a soft little moan.

He gasped and lifted his head up, looking at her. “No visions,” he said softly. “But both of us experienced it, the first time.”

“Yes,” she agreed. Then she realized that she was draped against him. Worse, his cock was beating between them, signaling his arousal in the most obvious way.

She tried to stand up but he held her still. “Wait,” he said. “There’s no rush, is there?” His hand was stroking the back of her thigh, making it quiver.

“I have to go home.” She tried to make it sound convincing. But she really wanted to stay right where she was and continue kissing him. She had no idea who he was. She didn’t even know his last name. But she already knew what his cock looked like and what it felt like to fuck him. And if the vision they had shared had any sort of truth in it, he had loved her once.

Before she had been fired two days ago, Taylor had been within half an inch of being a history professor. She hadn’t believed in past lives and all that sort of bullshit. But right now she was willing to grasp it in order to give herself enough justification just to fuck the brains out of this man because kissing him felt so damn good. But that wouldn’t make her feel any better tomorrow morning.

She bit her lip. “I can’t stay,” she said regretfully. “I would love to. I would. But that isn’t a good enough reason.”

Brody held up his hand. “Before you go,” he said. “Would you do me one small favor?”

She stepped away from him. “It depends.”

“I want you to kiss my friend. I want to see if it works on him.”

Taylor laughed. “Why on earth would it?” Then something in Brody’s expression registered on her. “Oh…he’s your lover, isn’t he?”

Brody lifted a brow.

“A very long-term lover,” Taylor concluded with growing wonder. She tilted her head to study him. “What is his name?”

“Most people call me Veris, because they can’t pronounce my real name.”

She whirled around to face the voice.

He was sitting on the arm of the chair where the suit jacket had been a few moments before. Blond hair, blue eyes, six foot two inches of self-assured, very broad-shouldered male.

“You!” She struggled for the name. “Dr. Gerhardsson. You consulted with me last week, about the Domhnall plays.”

“Jesus, you son of a bitch,” Brody said behind her. “You went and did it after all.”

Veris smiled. “I did.”

Brody brushed past Taylor and threw himself into the lounge chair. He looked at Taylor. “You’re a history professor?”

“I nearly was,” she said flatly.

“You don’t look like one,” Brody commented.

“Neither does he,” she said, pointing at Veris. He was wearing leather pants and a sleeveless white cotton overshirt that made the most of the tanned, rounded caps of his shoulders and the bunches of muscles of his arms. Veris crossed his arms over his chest, which just seemed to multiply the amount of tanned muscle on display. His blue eyes twinkled.

Brody seemed more than mildly pissed about Veris’ consultation, which had been utterly professional in nature. Dr. V. Gerhardsson had not indicated by so much as an inch that he even recognized that Taylor was a woman.

Even so, Taylor had been left feeling edgy and weak-kneed after the evening consultation and had fallen into bed and indulged in a rare session of masturbation that featured Gerhardsson and his blue eyes and broad shoulders and various parts of his magnificent anatomy, over and over again.

Brody glared at Veris now. “I can see now why you came home in such a muck-sweat that night…the seventeenth, right?”

Taylor jumped. That was the night.

Veris just shrugged a little. No pride lost there. “I have no objections to kissing the lady now, if that’s what you want.” He smiled a little but his eyes were dancing with merriment.

Brody glared for a moment longer, then gave up. Taylor knew he had tabled the argument for later. He sat forward on the seat and spoke to Veris. “I told you what happened during the concert. I want to see if it happens to you when you kiss Taylor, because of our bond. If it does, then we’re going to have to tell Taylor.”

Veris glanced at Taylor. “And that won’t have tipped her off at all,” he said.

“Like consulting her about the Domhnall plays won’t have?” Brody shot back.

Veris grimaced. “I see your point.” He got to his feet and walked toward her and Taylor knew that the equivalent of a nuclear explosion would have to go off before she would move from the spot.

Veris stopped in front of her. “May I?” he asked. He seemed to tower over her five-foot-six frame, even with her spiked boots.

She thought her knees would give out. “Yes,” she said, her voice hoarse.

He slid his hand around her waist and the other under her hair. This close, his blue eyes were mesmerizing and she could feel her heart thundering. It hurt as it slammed against her chest. She gripped Veris’ shirt almost convulsively, suddenly afraid.

“It’s all right,” he whispered, his lips brushing hers, his breath fanning her. “I have you.”

He kissed her.

_________

So…what do you think? 

]]> http://idynamo.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/a-review-pt-iii-she-by-h-rider-haggard/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:18:49 +0000 reprindle http://idynamo.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/a-review-pt-iii-she-by-h-rider-haggard/

A Contribution To The

ERBzine  ERB Library Project

She

by

H. Rider Haggard

Review by R.E. Prindle

Part III

The Gruesome, The Morbid AndThe  Hideous

     Rider Haggard was criticized severely by certain of his contemporaries for employing so many gruesome, morbid and hideous details.  Indeed, ’ She’ seems to be a study in the hideous, the gruesome and the morbid.  If one concentrates on those aspects of the story one might actually question Haggard’s mental health.

     Haggard himself calls attention to this morbidity.  In King Solomon’s Mines he pointed out  his humor with references to the Ingoldsby Legends; in She he makes a pointed reference to a Mark Tapley.  I had no idea who Mark Tapley might be but thought I’d consult that most magnificent of encyclopedias, the internet.  No problem.   Mark Tapley was a character from Charles Dickens’  Martin Chuzzlewit.  No matter how adverse the circumstances were Tapley was always cheerful and ebullient.  Haggard must have thought him ridiculous.  Thus he is devising a series of incidents that would bring even Mark Tapley down.  Hmm.  Interesting experiment.

     It would seem then that Haggard was suffering from a fairly deep depression.  In that sense She is sort of a horror story not too different in intent than, say, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  Indeed,  at one point Ayesha explains that she rules by terror.  That being the most effective way to control brutes like the Amahagger.

     Certainly the storm at sea prior to entering Kor was an example of terror on the part of nature, a portent of things to come.   Not least of these was the hot potting and projected cannibalism of the surviving member of the ship’s crew, Mohammed.  ‘She’ had only required the safety of the Whites; as Mohammed was apparently a negrified Arab the Amahagger excluded him from the ban on Whites.  An interesting example of White Skin privilege.

     Their custom of killing their victims was to heat a pot red hot and turn it over on the victim’s head.  There’s a gruesome and hideous enough example.  You can see where Burroughs picked up his fascination for the gruesome and hideous.

     The Caves of Kor are actually a city of the dead.  Kor was an active civilization before Egypt existed  in the fifth or sixth millennium BC.  As embalming was a known practice when the Dynasties began c. 3400 the practice must have developed long before.  Quite possibly it was practiced by the peoples of the Basin before the Mediterranean was flooded.  In The World’s Desire Haggard mentions that the ancient Egyptians possessed writings in a precedent language.  If so, how far back things like embalming go might be prodigious.

     Egyptian embalming was primitive compared to that of the Korians.   While Egyptian mummies became desicated the Korian process was such that the body was preserved forever in an apparent state of health.  Thus bodies perhaps ten thousand years old or older had the appearance of  freshness. 

     Now, this is positively creepy.  Holly’s Amahagger attendent Bilalli while discussing Korian embalming  told Holly that while he was a young man a particularly beautiful female corpse occupied the very slab on which Holly slept.  Bilalli used to enter the cell and sit looking admiringly on the beautiful corpse by the hour.  One day his mother caught him at it.  The embalming fluid used was extremely flammable.  Bilalli’s mother stood the body up and lit it.  Like a huge torch the body burned down to the feet.  The feet were still as good as new.  Bilalli wrapped them and stored them beneath Holly’s slab.  Groping around beneath the slab he brought out those ten thousand year old feet, still fresh, except for some charring at the ankles.

     Haggard doesn’t stop there but goes on to emphasize the beauty of one particular foot.  One wonders if perhaps George Du Maurier read She becoming entranced by the foot image thus reproducing the image in his novel Trilby when Little Billee draws Trilby’s beautiful foot on th wall.  It is a thing Du Maurier would do as he inserted his literary baggage as profusely as Burroughs.

     What effect this image had on Haggard’s contemporary readers may be guessed from the complaints about his gruesomeness.

     In fact Haggard projects a depressed brooding evil permeating the Caves of Kor very well.  This may have been caused by his and Lang’s theories of the Matriarchy.  Human sacrifice was an integral part of the Matriarchal world.  The sacrifices were invariably of men because women had greater economic value.  When men were no longer sacrificed bulls, rams, the males of the species were substituted, the female still having greater economic value.  Thus the story of Isaac and the Ram.  That would be a great advance in civilization.  About that time Isis ceased being the Egyptian symbol of the firmament being replaced by the female cow as the symbol of economics.  Something like the kings of England sitting on the woolsack.

     Depending on Haggard’s and Lang’s theories of the Matriarchy then Haggard may have been portraying a consciousness that has ceased to exist.  There is always an element of misogyny in Haggard’s stories that is no longer tolerated.  Then men were men and women were women instead of the attempted strange unisexuality of today.  Thus the tens of miles of swamp between the Amahagger quarters  and the citadel of Kor indicate the extent and quality of the Matriarchy.  Swamps are the symbol of the female and the Matriarchy or, in other words, this very primitive superstitious consciousness.

     The Korian swamp was haunted by mephitic vapors, evil smelling and oppressive.  The ground they walked on was of uncertain solidity; it might look firm but this was only illusory as one could break through the crust.  Often the litter bearers were walking through evil smelling muck up to their knees.

     At one point an accident occurs and Bilalli’s litter with him in it is dumped into the slimy water.  He would have drowned if Holly hadn’t leaped into the rank female waters to save him.  They emerge looking something like the creature from the Black Lagoon.

     It will be remembered that Holly was something of a misogynist.  One may be stretching a point but even though rejecting women and marriage Holly managed to inherit a son from a man who was also a womanless widower.  Haggard makes a strong contrasting point when he says that Leo was not averse to female company.  The manservant, Job, is absolutely terrified of the female.

     After traversing this desolate swamp of the female for days they arrive at the citadel or temple of Kor.  Now, the citadel of Kor was built on an ancient lake bed that had been drained ten thousand years before.  In that sense Ayesha is the same as Nimue or the Lady Of The Lake of King Arthur.  Nemue lived at the bottom of a lake where she raised Lanclot who consequently was called Lancelot of the Lake.

     Compare this also with Haggard’s postumously published Treasure of the Lake in which the Anima figure lives on an island in the middle of  a lake in the middle of a volcanic crater.  The lake of Kor was also in the middle of a crater.

     When the Korian civilization was extinguished it wasn’t by invasion or other external reasons but by a  monster plague something like the fourteenth century european Black Death that wiped out nearly everyone.  At the resulting rate of death it wasn’t possible to embalm everyone so that tens of thousands of bodies were dumped into a huge subterranean pit.

     In conducting Holly and Leo on a guided tour of Kor which was one gigantic necropolis, talk about depressing, Ayesha brings them to this pit.  I quote:

     Accordingly I followed (She) to a side passage opening out of the main cave, then down a great number of steps, and along an underground shaft that cannot have been less than sixty feet beneath the surface of the rock, and was ventilated by curious borings that ran upward, I do not know where.  Suddenly this passage ended, and Ayesha halted, bidding the mutes return, and, as she prophesied, I saw a scene such as I was not likely to behold again.  We were standing in an enormous pit, or rather on the brink of it, for it went down deeper- I do not know how much- than the level on which we stood, and was edged in with a low wall of rock.  So far as I could judge, this was about the size of the space beneath the dome of St. Paul’s in London, and when the lamps were held up I saw that it was nothing but one vast charnel-house, being literally fullof thousands of human skeletons, which lay piled up in an enormous gleaming pyramid, formed by the slipping down of the bodies at the apex as others were dropped in from above.  Anything more appalling than this mass of human remains of a departed race I  cannot imagine, and what made it even more dreadful was that in this dry air a considerable number of bodies had become dessicated with the skin still on them, and now, fixed in every conceivable position, stared at us out of a mountain of white bones, grotesquely horrible caricatures of humanity.  In my astonishment I uttered an ejaculation, and the echoes of my voice, ringing in that vaulted space, disturbed a skull which hd been accurately balanced for many thousands of years near the apex of the pile.  Down it came with a run, bounding along merrily towards us, and of course bringing an avalanche of other bones after it, till at last the whole pit rattled with their movement, even as though the skeletons were rising up to greet us.

          Talk about a holocaust!  Imagine standing in that dimly lit space far beneath ground, in the grave itself so to speak,and viewing that.  Holly was overcome and perhap Mark Tapley himself would have lost a little of his cheeriness.  If that didn’t do it the ball Ayesha threw would have.

    Before I move on to that though let’s take a penultimate example that might actually unsettle Mark Tapley.  This is truly unsettling with truly macabre and voyeuristic soft porn details that are quite remarkable.    Let me say that it is only with the fourth reading that the horrific nature of these details really began to sink in.  I hope to really make this clear in the next section in which I intend to do an in depth analysis of Ayesha.

     In his cell at the citadel of Kor Holly notices a cleft in the wall he hadn’t noticed before.  This cleft is going to lead him to Ayesha’s sleeping room.  This is not unlike King Solomon’s Mines in which upon  entering the symbolic vagina  they were led to the womb or treasure box.  As I say Holly entered this cleft, let your imagination dwell on that,  and followed a dark, dank, narrow corridor until he perceived a light.

     He is looking into Ayesha’s sleeping room where in a certain deshabille, very erotic, she is addressing a covered form on a bier next to hers.  This is the embalmed body of Kallicrates who she murdered twenty-two hundred years before.  So she has been sleeping with this corpse for twenty-two centuries.  Now, dwell on that for moment, let the horror of it sink in.

     She addresses the corpse in a fairly demented way.  Twenty-two hundred years of this would drive anybody nuts.  Finally to the dismay of Holly she animates the body by telekinetic powers actually causing it to stand zombie like so she can kiss and caress it.  A lot of necrophilia in this novel.  Haggard must have been half dotty when he wrote this.  Of course Kallicrates is a double of Leo so Holly has all he can do to keep from crying out.  Causing the dead man to lay himself down Ayesha covers him and blows out the light.

     Holly has to find his way back in the dark reminding one of innumerable passages in Burroughs where his characters have to find their way in the dark.  Holly gets only so far and collapses in the tunnel.  Waking he sees a light coming in from his cell allowing him to find his way back.

     And then Ayesha throws her ball.  If you’ve read carefully and really ingested these macabre, gruesome, and as Burroughs’ would say, hideous details they’re beginning to oppress your mind, perhaps even a mind like Mark Tapley’s.

     Now Haggard trundles out the frosting.  To illuminate her ball Ayesha brings out piles of ten thousand year old corpses placing them around the perimeter as human torches.  Laying out a large bonfire the corpses are stacked alternately like so much cordwood and replaced as they were consumed.  Remember these are as fresh looking as you or I.  The Roman emperor Nero actually used live humans in the same manner.  Haggard notes this in the text which I thought weakened the effect.

     Ayesha seems to be aware of the effect, indeed, intended it and appears to relish the reaction.

     These are the high points of these horrfic details.  Minor ones are constant so that the cumulative effect leading up to the terrific images of the demise of Ayesha, temporary though it might be, is overwhelming.  But about She, Ayesha, in the next part.

If you’ve followed either of my blogs, listened to my podcast, of likely talked to me for all of ten minutes, you’ve probably gathered that I have a thing for Arthuriana. My love of the genre is deep-seeded, having taken root somewhere in between watching The Sword in the Stone and receiving a book from my great aunt on the subject (I can’t seem to locate the book, but it had fabulous illustrations, including a brilliant one of Morgause holding up Mordred as a newborn amidst the rocky sea and churning waves).

But it wasn’t until college that something really clicked with me, something started reverberating in my brain, in regards to Arthuriana. I took a seminar my freshman year at UMass with Dr. Charlotte Spivack, who was a remarkable teacher with a rigorous syllabus (she’s got some impressive titles to her name, I’ve learned, too). It was in Dr. Spivack’s class that I first encountered a full treatment of the Arthurian myth, from the earliest scraps of poetry and Celtic beginnings to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon. It’s also the first time I learned about Sir Gawain. (More on that to follow)

When I transferred to Loyola College, I was lucky enough to yet again find myself amidst impressive medievalists (and started to realize that such a title was what I wanted to be, should I be able to attain it). Dr. Kelly DeVries, a historian, taught a senior history seminar on the legends of the Middle Ages, and of course we encountered Arthur again, though from a less fictionalized slant.

By graduate school, I decided to go full on Arthuriana. I worked with Middle English manuscripts, familiar and obscure (my favorite moment being when I discovered a work that had hardly ever been written about called Outel and Rolande–which was Carolingian, but still, chivalric) and wallowed (rather miserably) in literary criticism. Most of my research pertained to Malory, however, who hated Gawain a great deal but had many fascinating things to say about Sir Palomides. I even did a few conferences. Then I had a baby, and wrote a hasty thesis about Marie de France and William Morris’s treatments of Guenevere before finally graduating and realizing, quite clearly, that I wanted to write fiction.

Two years after, with the dawn of 2009, I found myself beginning the first lines of Queen of None, where Anna Pendragon (the oldest mentioned and most often forgotten sister of Arthur) reflects on her birth, her family, and her curse. It is very much her story, told in the first person, but there are a few things that I knew I wanted to do differently right away.

First and foremost, my Carelon (rather than Camelot) is fantasy literature. It is a re-imagining without the Christianity and, more importantly, without much of the history of our world at all. Now, this might seem entirely peculiar. But for me, what’s important about Arthuriana are the stories, the characters, and the setting and attempt to shove it into a Christian nutshell always made me lose my suspension of disbelief. I loved Mists of Avalon, but the ending always irked me; and as much as I adore The One And Future King, it borders on farce too often to take seriously.

And oddly enough, removing religion and history don’t do much to change the stories at all. Yes, I have a Britain (Braetan), and an Arthur and a Merlin, Morgaine, Gawain, etc. But I’m playing a great deal with some of the older texts; for instance, Arthur marries three separate women during the course of the books (one of the oldest poems mentions three inconstant wives of Arthur, all named Gweynevere).

Now, I’m moving on to Sir Gawain’s story. Gawain is Anna’s son, and features a bit in Queen of None; but as Anna is rather self-absorbed, he only makes appearances when they aren’t arguing, which is rare. In tradition, Gawain’s character is turned about and upended constantly. He starts out as a hero, one of the earliest mentioned knights along with Cai and Bedevere. By the time Malory has his hands on him, and the whole of the Orkney clan (including Gaheris and Gareth), he basically demonizes him and turns him into a bloodthirsty murderer.

But I am drawn to that dichotomy, to that tension. And my Gawain is complicated. On the one hand, he is a formidable warrior, known for his prowess far and wide. But it comes with cost. In the current book (tentative title Knight of the Blood to indicate his connection to Arthur, etc… not sold on it, but gotta call it something) Gawain takes the story from where Anna left it, filling in the blanks regarding the knights’ campaign in the north, what he encountered there, and how he’s trying to reconcile his violent nature with his learning. Because Gawain would have been reared at court, he’s had a top-notch education at the hand of the Avillionian monks. While not religious, he claims that his power is still something given to him by some divine force simply because he cannot accept that the ability to kill so many, so quickly, so well, can be from him only.

The story concerns Gawain and some primary knights (Bors, Lionel, Gaheris, Palomides, and occasionally Lanceloch)  and King Pellinore, as well as the Questing Beast, and the Queen’s sister Hwyfar. It’s a bit more lighthearted than Queen of None, but with more philosophy in a way. Anna is a woman of action, when pushed to it; her book dealt entirely with her own revenge. Gawain’s book really is a quest, a search for his own identity among the knights, his family, and his realm. But most importantly it’s him trying to balance his blood-thirsty nature with the mind of a thinker.

Eventually, the plan is to write a series of books–which could each stand alone, if necessary–that take place over three generations, starting with Anna then moving to Gawain and his brothers, then ending after the fall of Carelon with Gaheris’s daughter (I think) returning to Orkney.

However it ends up, I’m having a blast doing research. Collecting bits and pieces of the mythology and then fashioning them together into something new; it’s thrilling. I haven’t been this excited about a project in a while, and it’s rather nice to have a mythology to lean on, rather than make mine up entirely (as with The Aldersgate and Peter of Windbourne).

A bit of an excerpt, and that’ll end the babbling. The scene takes place after the last battle of Hropnar’s War, where Gawain single-handedly saved his retinue before falling to one of the northmen’s axes. Just as he’s about to take the death blow, Palomides intercedes and Gawain is only wounded. However, in a blood fury, Gawain turns on Palomides and has to be subdued. He wakes in his tent, with Bors attending to him:

Bors was growing frustrated, I knew, his frown deepening into his beard. “Come, lad, you’ve uttered naught but five words to me. You won’t die now, but if you keep this up it’ll come swiftly to you. If that’s what you were seeking on the field, then so be it; but leave me out of it, you hear? I’ll have no such guilt on my conscience. I’ll not be the one to bear it.”

“Bors. You lout,” I said. “That was a bigger speech than you’ve ever given…” I coughed, the labor of speaking sending daggers of pain down my side and across my back. “How many cups have you had?”

A smile, like a child discovering their naming day giftm spread across his face. Bors took my slightly less mangled hand in his and kissed it. “There’s my lad.”

“Water?”

He brought it to me obediently, a perpetual grin on his face. That I know, Bors never married nor had children, and though he was not quite old enough to have been my father, still he looked to me as a son.

Bors helped me sip a bit, each drop burning as the last, and wincing I rested back down on the pillows. I knew no other knights had such luxuries; the pillows, the clean water, the fresh linens. I was the King’s nephew. And a hero. Even if I had refused it, I doubt I’d have been able to avoid it, and so I did not let it trouble me.

I expected to meet Bors’s grin again, but when I looked to him—my lips still afire from the water—he was somber.

“I find it best, Gawain, not to question the gifts of the gods,” he said, taking my hand again. “It’s a right pain when they choose, and their reasoning’s quite beyond me. But before this life is over, you must make your peace with it… one way or another.”

C’est maintenant une habitude, à chaque grand événement de boxe, il y a un gala de la UFC.

Deux gros combats ont ouvert le tournoi du Super Six le 17 octobre dernier. Une victoire sans équivoque d’Arthur Abraham sur le plus gros nom du tournoi, Jermain Taylor, et une victoire douteuse de Carl Froch sur Andre Dirrell. D’ailleurs, je ne crois pas que ce dernier va réussir à obtenir à nouveau une victoire à l’intérieur de ce tournoi s’il se bat à l’extérieur de son Angleterre. Ce soir, Mikkel Kessler affronte Andre Ward. En plus d’obtenir la victoire plus tard aujourd’hui, je vois Kessler comme grand gagnant de ce tournoi.

Le UFC 106 marque le retour de deux anciens gros nom avec l’organisation : Tito Ortiz et Phil Baroni. Il me semble que la buisiness du UFC se porte très bien. Pourquoi ramener des vieux croulants? Je comprends que Ortiz attire beaucoup de monde, mais est-ce nécessaire? En espérant que leur retour ne sera pas aussi pénible que celui de Mark Colmen. J’ai bien hâte de voir Anthony Johnson contre Josh Koscheck.

Étant donné qu’on ne peut pas tout voir dans la même soirée, heureusement qu’il y a internet pour nous permettre de tout voir  le lendemain!

TEDtalks have been a very dear thing to me. I can’t seem to get enough of the interdisciplinary potpourri of utter awesomeness.

One of the things that I have struggled with for a while is the imposed dichotomy between the Eastern and Western schools of thought, ways of life etc. According to some it boils down to basic stereotypes but for others there are intrinsic differences caused by geographical location, climate and other natural factors.

So in today’s TEDtalk, Devdutt Pattnaik discusses the differences between the myths of India and the general West and the differences in business models that arise from that. It can be viewed here.

Okay, so he has a good basis for comparison, a very unique approach to understanding business and possibly an avant-garde professional title. Yet when I was watching it, the following points of concern came up.

1. India is a large country. Hindu myths are not the only ones around. In addition, Hindu myths as learned by him the mythologist are hardly the same as the general public. His interpretation of myths come from his extra-textual experiences, which presumably include a lot of interdisciplinary reading. The general Indian public doesn’t go around doing that, resulting in a much different interpretation.

2. The “West” is not just influenced by Greek myths. Local myths are often way more influential in forming cultural identities than those from what is considered to be seat of Western civilization. Also, he stresses the point about the West’s preoccupation with “one” life, linear logic, a step-by-step approach etc. This is a generalization that cannot be easily forgiven.  What about the Second Coming of Jesus? Of King Arthur, once and future king of Britons?

3. People are shaped not by their myths only. There are many more contemporary things which, no doubt may be inspired by mythical writings, but arguably can go further than myths in shaping individuals. The point is that interpretations change over time. Heroes become villains and villains become victims. Pattnaik seems to suggest that myths are static documents with absolute extra-textual relationships. Myths are simply a category of literature. That hardly gives them enough power to sustain a century without being torn apart.

This got me thinking. What is my personal mythology? What are my takes on the traditional mythos of my people?

In the video, Pattnaik talks about how Ganesha revolved around his parents three times implying they are all the world is to him. While that may be a fair example to explain the differences between subjective and objective worldviews, I think it also goes a considerable way in explaining a country full of mama’s boys.

I am sure at one time Rama was like King Arthur. That however does not mean he didn’t have a patriarchal fetish with testing female chastity (What a surprise! That’s around even today! Among the most significant people; brothers, fathers and husbands!). However that may have been interpreted back in the days, I am pretty sure someone somewhere agreed with me, even centuries ago. Just because Rama did it, it doesn’t make chastity policing an okay thing to do for Indians today. A lot of crap is allowed to go down in myth-obsessed societies just because it has canonical precedents.

That brings me to my last point. Should myths be allowed to dictate how people behave in the modern world? How the individuals behave today regardless of what culture they come from? Is it more okay for Indians to be ambiguous and contextual in their business planning than their Western counterparts just because their myths made them that day? Is it acceptable for Westerners to keep being linear and narrow in their focuses and business decisions?

Sure there is a clash of civilization bound to happen somewhere down the road, but simply learning about the other perspective and not budging from one’s own and then throwing your hands up and blaming your myths is not the way.

So I guess I’ll end with a question. What mythology, modern or ancient influences you? How does it help you adapt to the modern worldview?

Nice to have this bruin looking out for you. I like to see touches like this on older buildings. This one was seen outside the Hotel St. Michael in Prescott, Arizona.

The name St Michael reminded me of St. Michael’s Mount, a beautiful little island and castle off the coast of Cornwall, England. At one time I worked in Praze-An-Beeble, a tiny village very close to St. Michael’s Mount. If you have a chance to visit this area please do so; it’s full of friendly people, beautiful scenery, and fascinating history. This is where you will find places with names like Land’s End, Penzance, and Tintagel – the birthplace of King Arthur.

I stopped for a moment to admire the view as we climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán. Below, the four-day path my companions and I had taken to reach this place was visible. I could see how far we had come — from the plaza that symbolized hell and unconsciousness, to our present position which represented unmitigated awareness and the dream of heaven on earth. As I retraced our steps with my eyes, a thought flew through my mind, “This is the meaning of life.” Our weeklong odyssey through the pyramid complex was a small-scale representation of life’s journey.

On this journey we are born as pure awareness, completely innocent. When we are old enough to focus our attention, our parents give us a taste of the apple from the tree of knowledge. They teach us well-meaning fictions about ourselves and the world, and we begin the process of forgetting. We forget our true nature. We believe others when they say we are flawed and struggle to make up for our deficiencies. We suffer because we have lost something precious and we don’t know what it is. What we have lost is the experience of our innocence. We have forgotten that we are an expression of Divinity. We judge ourselves and it hurts. When the suffering becomes too unbearable, many of us embark on a quest to wake up, to remember the truth of our Divinity, although we seldom know what we are searching for. We find spiritual teachers, we read books, we search and search for answers to restore our awareness. If we are able to find what we lost when we came through the machinery of childhood domestication, the cycle is complete. We awaken, we remember the truth of our Divinity and look down at the perfection of our lives from a high place. Through this shift in our perception, we ultimately help to awaken our brothers and sisters.

The process of forgetting and remembering is a common theme in stories, myths and legends. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden because of the knowledge they possessed. Knowledge will always cast us from paradise; once we learn to judge what we see according to the prevailing dream of our society, we suffer if we see or experience things that go against our belief system. Of course, we must learn. Learning is part of the process, because only through learning and forgetting our true nature can we ever find that precious place of remembering. Remembering the truth of your innocence and Divine perfection is the most wonderful awareness because it brings so much freedom and joy.

As I looked down at the plazas in Teotihuacán, I could see how our journey had taken us from forgetfulness to recollection. I saw the grassy plaza where my old self died and was buried. I could see where I had jumped into the Unknown, and how the result of that leap of faith had led me here where I could see my life and the world with new eyes. I had finally forgiven myself for my shortcomings and so-called failings. I was able to forgive myself because I remembered the truth of my innocence. In my search for the truth, all the lies that made up the framework of my life shattered. I had never been so free or so happy.

The truth of your Divinity carries within it another truth — that there is only One thing here. You are not just you. You are Everything. You are the Earth. You are the Universe. You are God. And this is the awareness that frees you from every mental or physical prison that exists. You see that you are timeless, and there are no prisons. We are all made up of the same vibrating energy, the same starlight. This One essence is manifesting as every conceivable form there is, perhaps for the sole purpose of sharing its love with itself. And the reason it goes to sleep and forgets what it is in each human, is so that it can wake up inside the human and experience the joy of rediscovering itself. As Love! As Life! As all that is.

Each of us, in our own way, searches for what has been lost. In the legend of King Arthur, Arthur forgets his true nature and his connection with everything as the One. As a result, the land withers and dies. His knights, who represent aspects of himself as The Seeker, go on the ultimate search for the Holy Grail, the answer that will restore him to the truth of his connection with everything. The search for the grail is the quintessential journey and search for truth. The truth revealed is the same for each of us. You are the One. You are the Divine. There is no separation. When you stop suffering, the world gets closer to happiness because you are the world. When King Arthur remembers this truth, he is able to fulfill his destiny as King.

You are the King of your life and the master of your inner world. Find the Holy Grail, the truth you have lost, and recover your ability to be who you are born to be — the One expressing itself as You. Everything you do on your search is a step along the way to remembrance. Books, words that are spoken, journeys, even simple meditation brings you closer to remembering that which you have forgotten. Sometimes you’ll notice you are awake, and sometimes you’ll notice you have fallen asleep once again. Life is the ecstatic journey of going to sleep, waking up, and falling in love over and over again. Enjoy it. What else is there to do?

-

done

With Sir Arthur, the whole family can play more than 20 different games. Themed with knights and dragons, these games will provide you with weeks of fun. Beautifully rendered graphics and non-violent gameplay will keep everyone entertained.

22 different games.

Exciting sound effects.

Age-appropriate

System Requirements:

OS: Windows 2000/XP/VISTA

CPU: 600MHz or faster Processor

RAM: 128 MB

It Takes Just A second To Say Thanks,

It Takes Longer To The Work On This.

Sir Arthur In Dragonland