Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY: Hadrian’s Wall and the River Eden

A photograph of a section of Hadrian's wall, Northumberland, UK
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com | Above: A photograph of a section of Hadrian’s wall, Northumberland, UK

AceHistoryDesk – Beau Ouimette may be from across the Pond, but this American YouTuber is on a mission to excavate secrets from British history, using only his metal detector and his talent for swimming. He and fellow outdoorsy enthusiast Rick Edwards are the River Hunters, literally diving into the past to find relics from bygone epochs.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.31: 2024: Article written by: Sky HISTORY TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

A photograph of a section of Hadrian's wall, Northumberland, UK
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com | Above: A photograph of a section of Hadrian’s wall, Northumberland, UK

One episode sees them exploring the River Eden, which flows close to one of the most remarkable historical monuments in the country: Hadrian’s Wall.

Once the northern boundary of the Roman Empire, the wall still draws visitors today, eager to see and touch this throwback to a legendary time. Beau and Rick hope they’ll discover anything from coins and weapons to everyday household items which belonged to the thousands of troops stationed here.

And that’s the key thing to remember about Hadrian’s Wall.

Its remains may look stark, lonely and romantic today – the stuff of wistful rustic poetry – but in Roman Britain, this was a bustling, fearsome militarised zone, with fortifications and multiple barriers. Think the border between North and South Korea, only with more swords and shields.

Construction on the wall began in AD 122, several years into the reign of Emperor Hadrian.

This was during the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace – a long period of stability that began with the transformation of the old Roman Republic to the Roman Empire back in 27 BC. The unrest and civil war that plagued the latter days of the Republic gave way to an era of empire building, as the Romans expanded their reach across Europe and the Middle East.

Hadrian took over the reins of power from the previous emperor, Trajan, in 117 AD.

Unlike Trajan, who oversaw a vast expansion of the Roman Empire, Hadrian was more interested in consolidating and strengthening the territories. Openly gay, he is remembered almost as much for his private life as he is for his political moves. His lover, a beautiful Greek youth called Antinous, was at his side during his travels across the Empire, before perishing mysteriously while sailing with Hadrian along the Nile. To this day, historians debate whether it was an accidental drowning, a murder, or even a human sacrifice of some kind.

Art and architecture were Hadrian’s other passions.

He spearheaded the building of one of the most iconic structures in world history: the Roman Pantheon. But what about that famous wall in Britain? Why was it even built?

@acenewsservices

The question isn’t as easy to answer as many might think. The most common assumption is that Hadrian’s Wall was created to keep out the defiant confederation of tribes inhabiting what would become known as Scotland. These were the Caledonians, who resisted the invading Roman forces who’d successfully conquered the southern part of Britain.

The peoples of the region would in later centuries come to be known as ‘Picts’, deriving from the Latin for ‘painted’, as in painted people.

A photograph of a section of Hadrian's wall, Northumberland, UK
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com | Above: A photograph of a section of Hadrian’s wall, Northumberland, UK

There is some historical ambiguity about exactly who the Picts where in relation to the earlier Caledonians and the various different tribes in the region. In any case, these peoples of the north managed to resist being swallowed up as part of the Roman Empire.

Although it’s certainly possible the wall was simply a defensive barrier to keep the ‘barbarians’ out, there are other, less exciting explanations for its construction.

Perhaps it was intended as a symbol of Roman might? Or a way of controlling immigration and trade, and procuring taxes from local native Britons? After all, the wall wasn’t just a wall: it had multiple gateways that allowed traders to cross the frontier, with troops acting as border officials. The area of operations extended far beyond the wall itself, with a long earthwork known as the Vallum running alongside the southern side of the wall and forming the boundary of the militarised zone.

Running for 73 miles from the shores of the North Sea to the Irish Sea, the wall’s dimensions differed throughout its length – in places, it was almost 20 feet high and 10 feet wide.

Studded with fortified gateways as well as observation towers and full-scale forts which could accommodate vast numbers of troops, Hadrian’s Wall was painstakingly constructed by over 15,000 legionaries, who were Roman citizens, as well as the auxiliary troops, who were drawn from various parts of the Empire.

The diversity of the people garrisoned at the wall made for an unlikely melting pot of cultures at this remote, northern outpost of the Empire.

There are inscriptions referencing soldiers recruited from North Africa, while one of the most remarkable archaeological finds recovered in the vicinity of the wall is a sculpture of the god Mithras. A deity based on Ancient Persian mythology, Mithras became the venerated figure in a new religious movement that spread through the highest levels of the Roman military, and clearly had its supporters among those stationed at Hadrian’s Wall.

It’s hard for today’s Britons to square the ‘heyday’ of Hadrian’s Wall with the subtle landmark it is today.

Following the end of Roman occupation of Britain in the 5th Century, the troops of the Empire departed, and the forts were possibly used for a time by local tribespeople.

Eventually, though, the wall was abandoned and plundered over the centuries for its stones.

Many structures, such as Lanercost Priory in Cumbria, were built using material pulled from Hadrian’s Wall. You can even see inscriptions by Roman legionaries in the walls of the priory – a striking reminder of the heritage of the stones and of the wall which still beguiles onlookers today.

  • Editor says Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external sites or any reports, posts, or links. Thanks for@acenewsservices  following, as always; I appreciate every like, reblog, retweet, and comment. Thank you
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY: 14 fascinating facts about Shakespeare’s Globe

@acenewsservices

AceHistoryDesk – Stood on London’s vibrant South Bank, the Globe Theatre’s Elizabethan whitewashed walls and dark beams certainly make it stand out from the crowd. Home of Shakespeare’s greatest works, the drama of the Globe extends far beyond the stage. From its cloak-and-dagger construction to its modern-day reimagining – here are 14 interesting facts about the Globe Theatre.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.30: 2024: Sky History News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJ

The Globe Theatre
@acenewsservices

1. It was built by actors 

Joined by Shakespeare in 1594, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were a ‘playing company’ led by actor Richard Burbage. 

Originally based out of a venue in Shoreditch, disaster struck when the troupe fell out of favour with Queen Elizabeth I. Not wanting any part of the drama, the company’s landlord Giles Alleyn chose to cancel the troupe’s lease and tear down the theatre that Burbage’s father had built on the rented land. 

The Chamberlain’s Men chose to build their own theatre at a new location across the Thames.

2. Its construction was considered a crime 

The venue drama didn’t end with Burbage and his crew simply changing location, however. If Alleyn was unhappy with his ousted tenants before, he certainly hated them after what happened next. 

The story goes, in the middle of the night, Burbage and other members of the crew secretly deconstructed the theatre, carrying as much as they could from the location in Shoreditch, across the Thames, and to the new site. 

3. The name was inspired by Greek myth 

Carrying a whole theatre across London in the dead of night would have been no easy feat. It’s no wonder then that they named the theatre ‘The Globe’ as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the ancient Greek myth of Hercules lifting the world on his back. 

4. Shakespeare was one of the original investors 

Of course, sheer strength and willpower alone wouldn’t help the Globe become an established theatre. The Chamberlain’s Men also needed money. Investors, like Shakespeare, were invited to fund the theatre in exchange for a percentage of ownership. For £10, the bard received a 12.5% share of the theatre.

5. It held a lot of people

At its height, the three-story building could host as many as 3,000 audience members. Much like a theatre today, each area of the theatre had its draws and drawbacks. 

The area closest to the stage was the cheapest spot, with tickets costing only a penny. It was standing room only, and with so many patrons to fit in, it was tightly packed. In the summer, it gained a reputation for its foul odours thanks to a lack of toilets, discarded food left to rot, and the poor hygiene of its patrons. 

Wealthier patrons could find themselves in the galleries at the edge of the theatre, with prices for each performance increasing the further away you got from the smells by the stage. The best seats in the house were on the top floor, furthest away from the stage. 

6. No girls allowed 

While women might have gotten away with acting in street plays and performances, it was considered indecent and dangerous for women to tread the boards at the theatre and was illegal until 1661. Female characters were instead played by young boys. 

7. Colour coded flags 

Not all of the Globe’s patrons had access to education, meaning that most of the audience was unable to read or write. This made advertising new plays difficult, so the theatre used a flag system that enabled people to see which type of show they would see. Black flags signified that the play that day was a tragedy, while white flags represented a comedy and red flags were for history.

8. There’s more than one Globe Theatre 

While it might look the part, the Globe Theatre you can spot by the river today isn’t the original building. It is the third version of the playhouse to exist in London. Outside of England, there are more than 15 replicas all around the world. 

9. The first Globe was burned down by Henry VIII 

History buffs here might spot that this should be technically impossible. After all, Henry VIII died 20 years before Shakespeare was born. So how could he have burned down a theatre that Shakespeare helped build? 

The truth is that during a performance of Shakespeare’s historical play Henry VIII, the Globe met its first demise. It just took a tiny spark from firing an onstage cannon to start a flame that spread fast through the timber and thatch structure. It took just two hours to burn to the ground. Thankfully, it only took a year to rebuild the theatre. 

10. The second theatre was eventually outlawed 

Following the First English Civil War, the Puritan Long Parliament prohibited drama and ordered all theatres in London shut their doors. 

The Globe was turned into tenement buildings, but by the time the ban was lifted by King Charles II in 1660, the theatre had already been torn down.

11. The original site was discovered under a car park

The original remains of the Globe were discovered in 1989, hidden under a car park. Unfortunately, most of what remains is under the foundations of an unstable building, meaning that there’s not going to be an in-depth excavation of the site any time soon. 

12. It’s not round 

For centuries it was believed that the Globe Theatre was round, but the foundations discovered in 1989 revealed that the building was an icosagon – or a 20-sided polygon. 

13. New Globe built in 1997 

It took nearly 400 years for the Globe to make a return. Thanks to American actor and Director Sam Wanamaker, the iconic theatre was rebuilt just 200 meters away from the site of the original theatre. 

The new Globe Theatre was designed to be as historically accurate as its previous counterparts and was built using the same techniques that would have been used in Tudor England. 1,000 green oak trees were felled from English forests to supply the necessary timber, and the iconic thatched roof took 6,000 bundles of reeds from Norfolk to complete.

14. The roof is illegal

The classic techniques and historical accuracy of the new theatre were nearly a reason for it not being built. Thanks to a law enacted following the Great Fire of London in 1666, no new buildings in London were allowed to be built using thatch for the roof.

Thankfully, an exception was made, making the Globe the only thatched roof built in London in over 350 years. 

@acenewsservices Editor says Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external sites or any reports, posts, or links. Thanks for following, as always; I appreciate every like, reblog, retweet, and comment. Thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

SNIPPET OF ENGLISH HISTORY: W. Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was a writer & playwright

@acenewsservices

AceHistoryDesk – He achieved national celebrity as a playwright; by 1908 he had four plays running simultaneously in London’s West End. After 1933 he concentrated on novels and short stories.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.24: 2024: History Today News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

His popularity provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, and many belittled him as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage as a masterpiece, and his short stories are held in high critical regard.

Maugham’s plain prose became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical commentary.

During World War I Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, later drawing on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s.

He married Syrie Wellcome in 1917, and they had a daughter, Liza.

However, his principal partner was Gerald Haxton; after Haxton’s death, Alan Searle became Maugham’s secretary and companion. Maugham gave up writing novels after World War II and died in 1965.

READ MORE HERE:

Editor says Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external sites or any reports, posts, or links. Thanks for following, as always; I appreciate every like, reblog, retweet, and comment. Thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY: The five worst UK floods in modern history

Destroyed buildings and vegetation after the Boscastle flood
@acenewsservices

AceHistoryDesk – In recent years, flooding in the UK has, unfortunately, become a lot more common. There have been at least seven notable events since the beginning of the 21st Century and this figure will inevitably rise as the world continues to warm.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.10. 2024: Sky History News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Composite image showing flooding in various areas around the UK. Two cars and a litter bin are submerged in water and a red sign reads 'Road Closed Due To Flooding'
@acenewsservices

The subsequent damage to homes and infrastructure caused by flooding has a devastating effect on thousands of people’s lives and can also lead to numerous deaths.

Destroyed buildings and vegetation after the Boscastle flood
@acenewsservices

Thames Flood of 1928 

Who’d have thought that an event about 80 miles west of London would cause a disaster in the capital? When heavy snow in the Cotswolds, the source of the Thames, thawed in early January 1928, it doubled the water volume and the turning tide caused an upstream surge. 

On 7th January, water breached parts of the Thames embankment, flooding local homes and forcing residents to swim for their lives. Not everyone made it. At least 14 people drowned and another 4,000 were made homeless.

The most severely affected area of the city was Millbank, just south of Westminster. The water around the Tate Britain was so deep it reached the top of the ground floor doors and caused millions of pounds worth of damage to several paintings 

Lynmouth Flood of 1952 

Such was the severity of the Lynmouth Flood, the former lifeboat station was re-imagined as a memorial hall to honour the 34 residents who lost their lives. 

Intense rainfall flooded Exmoor in Devon and then poured into the small village. As the water flowed through it accumulated debris that smashed into buildings, bridges, and vehicles, thus perpetuating the carnage. The damage was so severe that Lynmouth had to be virtually rebuilt. 

52 years later, almost to the day on the same stretch of coastline, a similar event occurred 65 miles south in Boscastle.

Great Flood of 1968 

6,250 square kilometres of land – stretching roughly from Hampshire and Sussex across Surrey, Kent, and Essex – was hit with over 100mm of torrential rainfall during July and September 1968. 

Further west it claimed the lives of eight people in Bristol and flooded 3,000 local properties with many regions surrounding the city also affected. Most of the London borough of Lewisham was submerged and the town’s mayor jumped in a dingy to help evacuate residents.

Boscastle Flood of 2004 

About one billion litres of water crashed through Boscastle in Cornwall on 16th August 2004. Two rivers, Valency and Jordan, burst their banks due to 75mm of rain falling in just two hours. The damage to the picturesque fishing port was unprecedented, with the Environment Agency describing the flash flooding as ‘among the most extreme ever recorded in Britain’

Shops, pubs, and homes were flooded and at least 50 cars were washed away. A major rescue operation – that saw the deployment of helicopters, lifeboats, and the fire brigade – was coordinated with such efficiency that not a single loss of life was recorded.Image credit: Benjamin Evans

UK Floods of 2007 

The May to July period in 2007 was the wettest since records began in 1776. June was one of the wettest months on record with double the national average rainfall across the whole of the country. Most areas in the south and east were largely unaffected as well as parts of Wales, Scotland, and the Midlands. 

However, the rest of the country saw flooding so severe that both civil and military sources declared rescue efforts as the biggest in peacetime Britain. A total of 13 people died during the floods, a figure that would have been considerably higher without the aid of emergency services. 

Millions of households were affected by power and water cuts and the medieval market town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire (famed for its part in the War of the Roses during the late 15th Century) was turned into an island by flooding from both the River Severn and Avon. 

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not @acenewsservices responsible for the content of external sites or from any reports, posts or links, and thanks for following as always. I appreciate every like, reblog, retweet and comment. Thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY: Drab London office block was GCHQ spy base used by spooks

@acenewsservices

AceHistoryDesk – A drab office block sandwiched between a pub and a branch of Starbucks was a secret base of spy agency GCHQ, it has been confirmed.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.08: 2024: BBC History 2019 News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Building on Palmer Street
The unremarkable office block is sandwiched between a Starbucks and a pub

The anonymous building opposite St James’s Park Tube station in central London was used by British spooks for 66 years.

Despite the covert goings-on within, neighbours said the address’s purpose was an open secret among locals.

GCHQ acknowledged the location after moving out of its home.

Director Jeremy Fleming said the site in Palmer Street, used by intelligence officers since 1953, had been part of “a history full of amazing intelligence”.

The government-leased building has been used by the intelligence service since 1953

The entrance is through a nondescript black door opposite St James’s Park Tube station

GCHQ, known as Britain’s listening post, was set up on 1 November 1919 as a peacetime “cryptanalytic” unit.

During World War Two, staff were moved to Bletchley Park to decrypt German messages including, most famously of all, the Enigma communications.

When the service moved its headquarters to Cheltenham from the London suburb of Eastcote in the 1950s, the Ministry of Works provided the Palmer Street building as a centre to handle secret paperwork and a base for its director.

‘It was just common knowledge’

It turns out that it’s hard to put a spy HQ with frosted glass windows in the middle of central London without someone asking questions.

And at the Adam and Eve pub at the end of Palmer Street, the answers were surprisingly accurate. Asked if she knew what the building next door was, a barmaid said: “It’s M… MI6?”

The secretive neighbours were just a fact of life and she could not remember how she found out, she said. “We don’t really talk about it.”

She suggested that the landlord might know more, but the BBC’s inquiries fell foul of the pub chain’s operational security – press enquiries have to go through head office, the landlord said, before disappearing through a door marked “The Hideaway”.

Staff at Starbucks on the other side of the office building either knew less or refused to crack under interrogation. Regina Toth, who had worked in the coffee shop for two years, said: “It was very mysterious.”

At Pall Mall Barbers, Jack Holden knew it was “secret service or something”. He’d worked opposite the GCHQ building for six years, but seeing police cars come with lights flashing to move on a loiterer in the street convinced him that “it’s legit”.

It was just common knowledge,” he said.

“ It looks suspect, doesn’t it? With those blacked-out windows. It’s a very secure building.”

The spy agency said the unremarkable building, which is between a coffee shop and the Adam and Eve pub, had “played its part in significant events over the years, such as the 2012 London Olympics”.

It has been sold privately but future plans for it are not currently known.

The spy agency is known as Britain’s listening post

Despite the sale, GCHQ said it would maintain a presence in the capital, in addition to its Cheltenham HQ and other offices in Bude in Cornwall, Scarborough, Lincolnshire and Harrogate.

A new secure facility is also set to open in Manchester later in the year.

GCHQ was marking its centenary this year

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links @acenewsservices and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY TODAY: Christine Granville: The Polish aristocrat who was Churchill’s favourite spy

Christine Granville sitting in a deck chair
APIC/Getty Image

AceHistoryDesk – Britain’s longest-serving World War Two spy, Christine Granville, risked her life countless times carrying out missions across Europe, yet today her contribution is barely known. Who was she and why does the nation owe her such a great debt?

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.07: 2024: BBC History News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Christine Granville sitting in a deck chair
APIC/Getty Image

On 15 June 1952, Granville returned to the west London hotel she called home, her flight to Belgium having been cancelled due to engine failure.

After making her way to her usual room on the first floor, she heard a man in the lobby shouting her name and demanding the return of some letters. Downstairs, she found herself faced by her former lover who suddenly thrust a commando knife into her chest, fatally wounding her.

Having survived many perilous situations on three different fronts during the course of World War Two, it was a bitter irony that she should lose her life in the apparent safety of a Kensington hotel.

Granville worked for MI6 on several occasions in France, where agents had an average life-expectancy of only six weeks

Born in May 1908 as Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, she was the daughter of a Polish count and, through her mother, an heir to a Jewish banking family. She spent her early years running free on a grand country estate, a childhood that would profoundly influence her later life.

“She’d been brought up used to a lot of freedom and adoration, taught to ride a horse, shoot a shotgun, all that sort of thing,” says historian Clare Mulley, who is the author of The Spy Who Loved, a biography of Christine Granville – the identity the agent assumed while working for the British.

In September 1939, she had been travelling in southern Africa with her second husband, a Polish diplomat, when they heard their homeland had been invaded by Nazi Germany. The couple headed straight to Britain to join the war effort.

While her husband went on to France to join the Allied forces, Granville had a different plan as to how she could make a difference.

“She storms off to what’s meant to be the secret headquarters of MI6,” says Mulley. “She doesn’t so much volunteer as demand to be taken on.”

While in France, Granville spent time in Vassieux-en-Vercors, which faced heavy German bombing

Granville submitted a plan to ski across the Carpathian Mountains into Nazi-occupied Poland, to take in Allied propaganda material and funds and bring back intelligence about the occupation.

As they had limited information about what was happening in Eastern Europe, it was a plan Britain’s spy bosses liked and, according to Mulley, Granville was promptly signed up as MI6’s first female recruit. 

Over the following years, the Polish exile became the stuff of legend in the intelligence community. “She was this countess who had all of these connections to varying people in the know,” Mulley explains.

“She spoke all the right languages… and she knew how to get in and out under the radar because when she’d been a rather bored countess – because she’s a high-adrenalin woman – she used to smuggle cigarettes across the border skiing, just for kicks. She didn’t even smoke.”

Granville arrived for one mission in France by parachuting from only 200m during gale-force winds

During postings for MI6 in Hungary, Egypt and France, she would carry out missions, travelling across numerous borders, sometimes hidden in the boot of a car, sometimes while fleeing machine-gun fire, and often along with one of the many lovers she had during the war.

On one occasion, she received a microfilm that showed German forces lining up along the Soviet border for what looked like an imminent attack. It was passed on to Winston Churchill who, according to his daughter Sarah, would declare that Granville was his favourite agent.

Twice she would be captured and interrogated by the Germans but was able to spring herself free. On one occasion, she convinced her captors she had tuberculosis by biting her tongue so hard she appeared to be hacking up blood.

“Her great tool is her brain. She’s so quick-thinking; talks her way in and talks her way out. She’s amazing,” says Mulley.

Even animals were seemingly unable to resist her charms. In her book, Mulley describes two occasions when Granville was able to turn a snarling guard dog kept by border patrols into her pet that would follow her beck and call.

Along with her quick wits and immense courage, Granville was a master of manipulation and persuasion.

In 1944, she climbed up to a German garrison based on a strategic pass in the Alps. Using a loudhailer, she convinced a group of 63 Polish officers forced into the German army to sabotage the military installations and desert, causing the garrison’s commander to surrender.

On the same day, she discovered her Special Operations Executive (SOE) commander – and lover – had been arrested in Digne in south-east France by the Gestapo, along with two other agents, and faced being executed by a firing squad.

At great risk to her own safety, she managed to free them all by storming into Digne Prison, claiming she was the niece of Field Marshal Montgomery and informing the officer in charge an American attack was imminent.

Mulley says: “By the end of an hour she’s basically terrified this guy, and she says, ‘You know, if you go ahead with this execution I will make sure that you are strung up. If you do anything to me, you’re going to be hanging from a lamppost, but if you help me, I will speak out for you.'”

Francis Cammaerts, Granville’s commander in France and lover, was one of three men she managed to get released from a Nazi prison

“There is a reason women were really useful in these [intelligence] roles,” Mulley explains. “The men were expected to be working, so able-bodied men walking around are very suspicious. But women are going everywhere because they’re trying to keep the businesses going; they’re looking after their families and their in-laws – she’s undercover in plain sight.”

Yet in spite of her heroism, come the end of the war, in Britain Granville would find the country for which she had repeatedly risked her life had seemingly abandoned her.

“The last entry in the British files that relates to her, and this is just a quote from it, it says ‘she is no longer wanted’,” explains Mulley.

“Young men – some of them haven’t even served in the war themselves – they just say, ‘I doubt she did all this’ and ‘this little girl seems to be making things up’ and ‘she’s very difficult to place’. It’s very insulting, incredibly sexist stuff.”

The Shelbourne Hotel in Kensington, where Granville lived in London, was run by the Polish Relief Society to provide cheap accommodation

Even though Granville was unable to return to communist-controlled Poland because of the likelihood of her being targeted by the Soviet secret services, her temporary UK papers were not renewed and she had to leave Britain.

Granville would return to the UK to refuse to accept a George Medal and OBE awarded to her for her war efforts, thereby shaming the government into finally offering her citizenship. She ended up accepting the awards.

While living in the Shelbourne Hotel, she took on roles very different from her wartime escapades, waitressing in cafes and selling frocks in Harrods, before taking a job as a cleaner on a passenger ship.

“You have to remember that when she came to Britain to serve, she was with her diplomat husband at the start of the war and they arrive first class on a passenger ship, while at the end of the war, she’s having to become a bathroom stewardess on the liners – but at least it gives her some sort of feeling of freedom,” Mulley says.

Even so, Granville would again experience discrimination when the ship’s captain at one point requested his staff wear any medals they had earned during the war. Having served on three fronts, Granville had acquired numerous awards but was accused by her fellow workers of being a fake.

“She’s a woman, so it seems absolutely ridiculous. She’s got a foreign accent. She’s quite dark-haired, looks a bit Jewish. You know all of these prejudices are stacked against her and she gets a really hard time,” Mulley says.

One man, a fellow steward, did stand up for her – Dennis George Muldowney. 

The pair started a relationship but Granville soon became bored by him. Spurned, an obsessive Muldowney continued to harass her until the night he murdered her in the Shelbourne Hotel.

“She came downstairs… then he just lunged at her and she cried out. She died within seconds of the impact; this blade had gone straight through her heart,” Mulley says.

The World War Two agent is buried under the name Krystyna Skarbek-Granville at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, north-west London

Muldowney would be hanged 10 weeks later and, while the murder became front-page news, over the years Granville’s story has faded from memory.

“She falls between every category, so no-one’s blowing the trumpet for her,” Mulley says.

“She’s too much of an action person to be really feminine, and yet she’s obviously too much of a woman to really be a male soldier. She’s too English for the Poles to consider her Polish – she’s never been recognised with an honour in Poland – and yet she’s far too Polish for the Brits to really consider her truly British.”

Mulley, who has been working to have Granville’s achievements more widely recognised, successfully organised in 2020 for a blue plaque to be placed on Number 1 Lexham Gardens, which was once the Shelbourne Hotel and is still a hotel today. Mulley was also behind the creation of a Granville Suite at the luxury hotel The OWO, which opened in September in what was once the Old War Office in Whitehall.

“She’s fallen between the lines and I think that’s what’s happened to her story as well,” Mulley says. “So I’m out there, solo championing her.”

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH ART HISTORY: Hunt for lost Gilbert and Sullivan Utopia Ltd opera score launched

Poster for Utopia Limited, 1894
This is a poster for Utopia Limited, 1894

AceHistoryDesk – A call has gone out for people to check shelves and lofts for a missing opera.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.06: 2024: By David Sillito: Arts BBC correspondent: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Poster for Utopia Limited, 1894
This is a poster for Utopia Limited, 1894

The original score of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Utopia Limited was sold in 1915, but its whereabouts are unknown.

Gilbert and Sullivan created 13 operettas that are still performed today, but the manuscript for Utopia Limited has been lost.

Musical researcher Colin Jagger has been tracking down their original scores, saying current copies often have mistakes and omissions.

“The (current) score (of Utopia Limited) is completely unreliable. The only way (to be sure) is to go to Sullivan’s autograph manuscript,” he said. 

“It seemed to me that the time is long overdue to give these materials proper editions which are free.”

Omissions, changes and mistakes

When the operas were first created, copyright law, as understood today, barely existed, and so the company that performed the works, D’Oyly Carte, kept tight control of the scores and any copies. 

The versions used today often reflect how D’Oyly Carte performed the works, rather than Gilbert and Sullivan’s original intentions. 

Some songs have disappeared altogether and, Jagger says, the scores have a multitude of omissions, changes and mistakes.

The objective now is to return to the originals, and create complete and corrected scores.

But the project cannot be finished until the lost opera is found.

Ashley Riches was The Pirate King in 2017 in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance

“All of these manuscripts…you can access mostly in the UK or one or two in the US. So I can go into the British Library and I can look at the Grand Duke in Sullivan’s own hand, and I can take photographs of it.

“I can study it away from the library as well. And I can go (online) to the Morgan Library in New York… and I can see a beautifully done copy of the manuscript of Safe Trial by Jury. They’re all there except for one.”

Utopia Limited is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s less successful works. 

It’s a story based around the problems and consequences of the introduction of limited liability laws in the 19th Century. Essentially, it’s a satire about business people leaving their creditors in the lurch.

The score was sold at auction in 1915 for 50 guineas to Sir Robert Hudson of Hill Hall in Essex. 

Sir Robert died in 1927 and Hill Hall went on to house prisoners-of-war, and later became a women’s prison. 

Where the score for Utopia Limited went is a mystery. 

‘It’s probably out there’

Colin Jagger is convinced it has survived and is sitting on a shelf somewhere, telling the BBC: “We have no idea where it is now.”

“It could be in a loft or it could be on a shelf. The title is Utopia Limited. It’s very thick, a bit bigger than A4, not quite as big as A3, and it’s hardbound in leather and handwritten.

‘It would be awful to think it had been thrown away. 

“So I think it’s probably out there but somebody maybe doesn’t know they’ve got it or they might not know who Gilbert Sullivan are.”

Mr Jagger has asked that anyone with any information about the missing score contacts him at cjagger99@gmail.com.

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices
Categories
English History

ENGLISH HISTORY: WATCH BBC2 8PM TONIGHT: Mysterious medieval cemetery unearthed in Wales

@acenewsservices

AceHistoryDesk – A rare, early medieval cemetery has been unearthed in Wales and it has left archaeologists scratching their heads.

@acenewsservices

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Jan.04: 2024: By Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis : BBC News Science: You can see more on the medieval cemetery on Digging for Britain on BBC 2 at 8pm on 4 January. The full series is already available on iPlayer.TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Skeleton in medieval graveyard
The skeletons are remarkably well preserved given their age

It’s thought to date to the 6th or 7th Century and 18 of the estimated 70 graves have been excavated so far.

Some of the well preserved skeletons have been found lying in unusual positions and unexpected artefacts are also emerging from the site.

The dig is starting to reveal more about this ancient community – but it’s also raising questions.

The cemetery lies in an unremarkable field in the grounds of Fonmon Castle, close to the end of the runway at Cardiff airport. 

Over two summers, a team has been busy carefully removing the thin layer of topsoil to expose the graves that were carved into the bedrock so long ago. 

BBC/Kevin Church

The front teeth from one of the skeletons are very worn

Summer Courts, an osteoarchaeologist from the University of Reading, says the skeletons are in good condition despite being around 1,500 years old.

She points to a skull that’s just been excavated, which is providing clues about how these people lived and worked. 

“We have some teeth that are very worn in a kind of a funny way that might indicate the use of teeth as tools,” she says.

“Maybe for textile work, leather work or basketry – they’re pulling something through their front teeth.”

But some of the skeletons are posing a puzzle – they’re lying in a whole variety of positions. 

Some are flat on their backs, normal for the period, while others are placed on their sides, and a few are buried in a crouching position with their knees tucked up against their chest. 

The archaeologists aren’t sure what this means. Was the cemetery used over a long period of time as burial practices were changing? Or were some people being marked out as different? 

BBC/Kevin Church

The team thinks there are about 70 graves at the site – 18 have been fully excavated so far

The items being found around the graves are also surprising and they show how life in the middle of the first millennium was very different from now.

Fragments of dishes and cups have been found, and splinters of animal bone that have been butchered and burnt. One item really brings this community to life: a tiny carved peg that may have been used as a marker for scoring in a game, perhaps something like we use in a cribbage board.

BBC/Kevin Church

This small carved peg is made from animal bone and may have been used for a medieval gaming board

Dr Andy Seaman, a specialist in early medieval archaeology from the University of Cardiff – who is leading the digging team – says unlike cemeteries now, this doesn’t seem to be just a place to dispose of the dead. 

“We tend to think of graveyards as sort of enclosed spaces that we don’t really go to, but they probably would have been quite central to life in the past,” he explained.

“And it’s not just a place for people being buried, but it’s a place where communities are coming together: they are burying their dead, but they’re also undertaking other forms of activity, and social practice, including eating and drinking – and feasting” 

BBC/Kevin Church

A tiny shard of glass imported from France was found in one of the graves

Most perplexing though is that the artefacts being discovered here suggest these people were far from ordinary. 

While we’re at the dig, an excited shout goes up: “I’ve just found a piece of glass.”

It’s lying in one of the graves. 

“It’s a rim shard, an ice-cream shaped cone vessel – very fine material, very fine glass… it’s a really nice find,” Andy Seaman says as he admires the fragment.

He thinks it’s from the Bordeaux region in France – and it’s not the only imported item, the team has also found pieces of pottery, possibly from North Africa.

BBC/Kevin Church

The team will carry out a DNA analysis of the bones to find out more about this community

The quality of these finds suggests that the people there were of a high status.

Tudur Davies, from the University of Cardiff, says: “The evidence we’ve got here is that the people have access to very high quality imported goods, that you can only get through trading or exchange networks, with people with a lot of wealth, to bring it here. 

“What exactly is going on? Who are these people being buried here?”

BBC/Kevin Church

The artefacts suggest that the people buried at the cemetery may have been of high status

Further research is needed to get a more precise date for when the graveyard was in use, and DNA analysis will reveal more about the skeletons buried there. 

The cemetery will provide a snapshot in time of both each individual and the community as a whole helping to shed more light on an era that we still know very little about.

But the questions about who actually lived and died here may take a lot longer to answer.

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you

@acenewsservices
@acenewsservices