I'm listening to the drama series on King Arthur of the BBC right now. The first few episodes were written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (yes, I did have to look up the spelling, and the iMac checker still doesn't believe me) - he of the brilliant 'Pilgrim' series - but they seem to have switched writers mid-stream. By the way, Baczkiewicz is pronounced Bonskayovitch just in case you hear it in the future.
I imagine that Sebastian (I refuse to type it out again) has Polish roots. I had a Polish extract friend at art college called, Anthony Zajac - pronounced Zionz. They do like making life difficult for non-Polish speakers.
Anyway, the point is that it got me thinking about the Dark Ages after the Romans left Britain and all the little kings of all the little tribes spent a few hundred years in regional power-struggles until Edgar was crowned King of all England at Bath Abbey in 959 AD. The 'AD' bit is quite important, because Christianity took a few hundred years to take hold in Britain, and it took a few hundred years for the Romans to finally leave, during which time Christianity took hold in Rome.
I wondered how real King Arthur was and how much he was a figment of Norse-style ballad-saga poets who entertained people around fires during the troubled times of Saxon raiders. There are many sites around Britain which are mentioned as being under the control of Arthur during his reign - like Tintagel in Cornwall, Silbury hill and Stonehenge.
The iPlayer picture that heads the series is a photograph of everyone's idea of King Arthur - a hefty looking man with beard and a simple crown on top of his shoulder-length hair. I looked at it this photo this morning and was sure that I had seen the man somewhere before, but not as an actor.
Then I thought I recognised him. In any event, he is a dead-ringer for the man in the photo above, who has taken the modern-day Druid's attempts to be taken seriously one step further by insisting that he is, in fact, King Arthur returned as foretold in order to save Old Albion from disaster.
Well he hasn't made a very good job of it so far.
Come to think of it, abandoning the E.U. for the sake of independence is producing the same trouble as abandoning Pax Romana, and the fall-out is going to last for hundreds of years as well. What did the Europeans ever do for us?
ReplyDeleteSomeone says in this latest Arthur series, "The Romans were interested in Trade, but the Saxons are only interested in rape, murder and pillaging." How true...
DeleteWe let them in, the Saxons, and then they started to take advantage.
DeleteSAME OLD STORY!!! FUCKING SAXONS!!!!!!!
DeleteFUCKING NOTHING BUT SAXON TAXI DRIVERS ROUND HERE. I BLAME FUCKING ÜBER. THATS A FUCKING SAXON COMPANY.
DeleteGive 'em an inch and they take a fucking mile.
DeleteThats more inches per mile than your average London cabbie. Bring back Boudicca is what I say.
DeleteWhen I bought my house in Brighton in around 1985, I phoned Hank's (Zajac) house to meet up, and was informed that he'd died of a brain tumour.
ReplyDeleteYes. I heard from the ex Mrs Heavenstone when I ran into her in Bath. Sad.
DeleteHe's got to be kidding. THAT guy thinks he's Arthur? The guy who made the fatal fashion choice to accentuate his beer gut and wears a cross even though he's a Druid? Wait...was Arthur a moron? In that case then, yeah, that guy's Arthur.
ReplyDeleteHe could be Arthur King. I know of an Elizabeth Queen.
DeleteI like the story of King Arthur and saving us from the Saxons.
ReplyDeleteAlfred did the Danes but Harold fucked up with the Normans.
DeleteI have an old pre 1066, French, illuminated manuscript in my possession containing early European philosophy. It is called, 'Norman Wisdom'.
DeleteI had always imagined King Arthur to be rather dashing and dark-haired.
ReplyDeleteI once knew a guy from Slovakia. Although I don't remember how his last name was spelled, I remember that it was pronounced 'shit-nik'.
How do you envisage Jesus? Short, fat Jewish bloke or tall Gentile with good skin?
DeleteSkinny. And sandals. Definitely sandals.
DeleteSkimpy loin-cloth too?
DeleteDoes the new King Arthur guy have a magic wand?
ReplyDeleteWe all have one of those, but not all of them work.
Delete'My wand is magic' is a common chat-up line around here.
DeleteWasn't there a Welsh connection with King Arthur?
ReplyDeleteEveryone South of Carlisle claims him as their own - even the Cornish. The Welsh have the highest incidence of Druidic genocide on record, so they probably have more claim than most. He got around. Anglesea was the last stand.
DeleteI love Uber ..... I signed the petition. XXXX
ReplyDeleteI hate Uber, but I hate our local taxi drivers even more. I love the London Cabbies who have done The Knowledge, but Uber have their headquarters in Silicone Valley, right next door to The Valley of the Dolls. Only this morning I followed a Bath taxi driver to a hotel and berated him for almost running me over.
DeleteI lover the Eastern European taxis drivers and waiters/waitresses, though. They are lovely and charming people.
DeleteI, too, love the London cabbies but they won't take me home to Hertfordshire when the trains have stopped. I admire them for The Knowledge but technology has moved on with satnav, not as good as having The Knowledge but, it's there.
DeleteI chat to the Uber drivers throughout the journey { I bet they love me !!! } and have learnt so much from them about their countries and culture.... they have all been lovely. Isn't there room for everyone ? XXXX
I have nothing against the drivers, it is the organisation that I dislike. Yet another American company exploiting the poor of other countries in an attempt at global monopoly in every field of business. All they have to do is create an app and get the drivers to agree to their terms and conditions - once it is set up it is close to money for nothing.
DeleteIt is quite late and I am - having been out for a little meal in our local Cote - half-pissed. Still, I am not as bad as some of the people outside. I have just witnessed some arsehole getting hit by a car as he shouted at another car for driving past him as he staggered across the road shouting, 'Cunt!' at it. Sadly, he was not badly hurt.
ReplyDeleteOh FFS that's Arthur Pendragon. He is a local Salisbury eccentric. Out of 'Druid' gear he rides a motorbike. He's OK. He lives in the same electoral ward as me and when I was 'telling' for the last general election he came by in his leathers and the Greens teller greeted him like an old friend. He fights English Heritage so might have some ideals in common with you, Tom.
ReplyDelete