Archive for April, 2013

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An Anglo-Saxon view of the Norman invasion

Posted in Historical articles, History, Invasions, Literature on Monday, 29 April 2013

This edited article about the Norman invasion originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

Pillaging Normans , picture, image, illustration

Normans began to plunder and destroy the Anglo-Saxon villages by Michael Godfrey

Eldred was awake early to find that the wind had changed and blew now from the south-west, bringing with it a fine drizzling rain. Horga was sheltering beneath an outcrop of rock a little way distant, and appeared to be asleep. Eldred got up from where he had been lying, and walked over to the other man.

As Eldred was standing over him, Horga stirred. After a hurried breakfast they were ready to start walking towards the forest.

They walked quickly through the rain all morning, and towards the middle of the afternoon they reached the scrubland immediately before the forest. They picked their way between the small bushes, and as these became more numerous and more trees grew from the stony ground, Eldred could see the forest clearly for the first time.

When they reached the edge of the forest itself, Horga, after looking from left to right as though searching for a remembered sign, walked quickly along the edge of the forest until he came to a shallow trench which had been scraped in the earth, and which ran out at a right angle from the trees. Kneeling down, Horga crawled along the trench, and then slid through the undergrowth and out of sight. Eldred followed him, and found himself inside the forest. He turned round but could see no sign of their place of entry.

Horga set out resolutely down a pathway immediately ahead of them. Eldred followed him quickly, unwilling to be left alone.

They walked for some time, occasionally stooping to pass beneath the low branches of the trees. Around them, the undergrowth seemed to grow more thickly, and the dampness in the air weighed upon them heavily. To Eldred, the forest became more evil the further they walked, and he looked from side to side fearfully, alert for any danger.

Shortly after they had scrambled over a fallen tree which lay across their way, the air was suddenly shattered by the howling of wolves. The cries seemed to come from near by. Horga, on hearing the first howls, had forced his way through the bushes, and was already climbing a tree. He signalled Eldred to follow him and, when they were safely hidden, he took a pouch from his cloth bundle and sprinkled some powder from it on to the ground beneath them. Concealing themselves with branches and dead leaves, they waited.

Soon, they could hear the sniffing and yelping of the wolves close by, and, within a few minutes, the first of the beasts appeared. It was soon joined by three others, who snapped and snarled at one another. The first one was evidently the pack leader for they did not go near him.

The leader sniffed around the base of the tree, and drew back snarling. Eldred clung tightly to his branch, and looked fearfully at the animal, afraid to breathe in case the wolf should hear him.

But the beast obviously did not like what he could smell on the ground, and he circled away, leading the others down the path along which Eldred and Horga had come. The two in the tree waited some time before they descended.

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Dragonflies are aggressive defenders of their territory

Posted in Insects, Nature, Wildlife on Monday, 29 April 2013

This edited article about the dragonfly originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

dragonflies, picture, image, illustration

Various types of dragonfly

One of the largest insects in Britain today is the dragonfly. Today’s dragonflies are, however, mere dwarfs compared to some kinds which lived in the past and grew to a wingspan of as much as 30 inches.

Nonetheless, modern dragonflies are in many ways like their ancient ancestors in both shape and way of life. For example the larva, or the “nymph” as it is usually called, still does not go through a resting or pupal stage before changing to the adult state.

Another curious thing about dragonflies is that, although they all have four wings, these are not used as two pairs together, as in more recently evolved insects, but as separate pairs.

Although some of the big species can fly faster than most other insects, they beat their wings rather slowly – about 14 times per second. The rustling noise made as they fly is caused by the wings brushing against each other.

At one time, their size and the noise of their flight made people fear dragonflies. An old country name for them is “Horse-stingers”, but in fact they never attack any creature which they cannot catch in flight and carry away.

At the edge of a stream or pool in summer the small dragonfly-like insects called damsel-flies can sometimes be seen. Usually these have a rather weak flight, and when at rest they are able to fold their wings over their backs.

Dragonflies’ wings are not “hinged” in this way, but are held stiffly at the sides at all times.

Dragonflies and damsel-flies start their life in water, where they hatch from eggs usually laid on water plants. The nymph is not the beautiful creature that might be expected from its name, but a dull brown insect. They breathe through gills, which are internal in the dragonfly but look like three little fan-shaped tails in the damsel-fly.

These creatures should not be put into aquariums with small fishes or tadpoles, for they are fierce hunters and will eat any small animal or insect they can catch. They do so by lurking in water weed until some small creature comes close enough, and then shooting out their mouthparts, which work rather like a moveable arm or “lazy tongs” to grab and hold their prey. After the meal, the mouthparts are folded back against the head again.

The nymph stage may last for two or more years in some dragonflies, but finally, when the insect is fully grown, it climbs out of the water on to a waterside plant and sheds its skin for the last time. What emerges is the adult dragonfly. At first the wings are crumpled, but they dry and harden within an hour.

Most dragonflies are rather pale-coloured at first, but darken later. They often leave the water for the first part of their adult life, to spend some days or weeks feeding on insects. When they are ready to breed, they return to the water.

An adult dragonfly hunts by sight. Its antennae are tiny and its sense of smell poor, but its eyes are huge, and it can see very well. It is particularly good at detecting movement. It will fly after other insects, which it grabs and holds with its hairy legs, to eat them in flight.

A dragonfly can often be seen flying up and down a regular “beat” over the water. This is its territory, which it will defend against others of the same kind.

Damsel-flies have much the same sort of behaviour and, as their territories are very much smaller, they are easier to watch. Many damsel-flies have a sort of warning behaviour, for if another damsel-fly approaches one which is at rest in its territory, the owner of the area will raise its body as if for flight. As the body is usually brightly coloured, often with contrasting bands near the tip, a damsel-fly of the same species will be warned that the area belongs to somebody else. If it does not fly away, it will be driven off by the owner.

One of another species will usually be left alone by the territory holder, for the two species have slightly different needs, and will be able to fit in together in the same area. If the sun should go in, the dragonflies and damsel-flies will all stop flying and go to roost in waterside plants.

Although the dragonflies are large and strong predators, only a few of their eggs survive to maturity. The reason is that they have many enemies, which include water beetles, newts, fishes and birds.

The Vicar of Bray was the archetypal turncoat

Posted in Customs, Historical articles, History, Music, Politics, Religion, Royalty on Monday, 29 April 2013

This edited article about traditional British songs originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

Battle of the Boyne, picture, image, illustration

William III at the Battle of the Boyne by Kronheim

Many of you will have sung a song at school called The Vicar of Bray. It was written in about 1720 by someone who evidently knew the way in which the loyalties of clergymen had been severely tried during the previous half-century. Yet any clergyman who wanted to keep his job between the years when the Commonwealth rule ended in 1660 and Queen Anne came to the throne in 1702 must have had to change his views almost as often and as completely as did his forefathers between the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The ‘Vicar of Bray’, whether real or imaginary, was just such a person, for the chorus states

‘That whatsoever king shall reign,
I’ll still be the Vicar of Bray, sir.’

Charles II revived a belief strongly held by his father and grandfather; ‘Kings were by God appointed’ as the Vicar of Bray dutifully taught his flock. In his reign laws were passed which made it very difficult for anyone to worship except in accordance with the ways of the Church of England. The ‘Five Mile Act’ for instance, passed in 1665, forbade any clergyman to come within five miles of any city or large town unless he had taken an oath not to try to alter the government of either Church or State. This law was enforced with equal severity on Roman Catholics and Non-Conformists, as the Puritans were often called.

James II, who succeeded Charles II in 1685, was a Roman Catholic, and naturally tried to make things easier for his fellow-believers. He produced a ‘Declaration of Liberty of Conscience’ which he ordered to be read in all churches. (This is mentioned in verse two of our song.) But the leaders of the Church of England opposed this, and joined with politicians who were planning to replace James by William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant prince. The final battle between their forces was fought in Northern Ireland where the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants (still known there as Orangemen) remains strong, even in modern times, and comes to a head every twelfth of July, the anniversary of James II’s defeat in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne. According to our song, the Vicar of Bray abandoned loyalty to James II and kept his position by swearing allegiance to William! Doubtless many like him would have said

‘With this new wind about I steered’.

From that time onward the Established Church of England seemed secure; it could keep both Roman Catholics and Non-Conformists at a disadvantage by barring them from many privileges, such as entry to the Universities or becoming Members of Parliament. Its own fortunes were increasingly tied to the political parties of the day; to gain advancement in the church it was essential to support the party in power. So we find the Vicar of Bray was a Tory in Queen Anne’s reign and a Whig under George I, quite content to say:

‘And George my lawful King shall be
Until the times do alter’.

C S Forester’s genius created the heroic Horatio Hornblower

Posted in Adventure, English Literature, Historical articles, History, Sea, Ships on Monday, 29 April 2013

This edited article about C S Forester originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

Hornblower, picture, image, illustration

Hornblower by John Millar Watt

If Cecil Scott Forester had written of no other character than his indomitable seaman Horatio Hornblower, he would have found a firm place in the annals of English literature. Many great men have thrilled to Hornblower’s exploits, including Sir Winston Churchill, who said: “I find Hornblower admirable, vastly entertaining.”

Forester was a writer with few fancy frills and a very straightforward style. He was first and foremost a story-teller, specialising in tales of naval adventure.

Forester was born in Cairo in 1899, the son of a government official. After coming to England, he went to Dulwich College, and later studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital, which he left without qualifying. Turning to writing as a career, he wrote Payment Deferred, a thriller which was considered a mature achievement for a young man of 24.

With his first wife he went on an inland voyage in a dinghy through England, France, and Germany, the logs being published as The Voyage of the “Annie Marble” and The “Annie Marble” in Germany. In 1932 he was offered a Hollywood contract as a scriptwriter, and four years later worked as a war correspondent for The Times in Spain during the Civil War.

During this time he turned out a number of well-received novels, including Brown on Resolution, The Gun, and the first of the Hornblower books. At the outbreak of the Second World War he entered the Ministry of Information, and then sailed with the Royal Navy to collect material for The Ship.

The success of this novel encouraged him to voyage to the Bering Sea to prepare a similar book on a ship of the United States Navy, and it was on this trip that he contracted the disease which crippled him. Despite this affliction he produced a number of additions to the Hornblower saga, including The Commodore, Lord Hornblower, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, and Hornblower and the Atropos.

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Norman Hill flight-tested the first helicopter winch-rescue

Posted in Aviation, Historical articles, Transport on Monday, 29 April 2013

This edited article about helicopter rescue originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

helicopter rescue, picture, image, illustration

helicopter rescue at sea

At the signal “Go” the slim man slipped gently from the helicopter to find himself dangling in mid-air at the end of a cable that seemed all too slender. For a fleeting instant he forgot all the details of the experiment that had been discussed so earnestly for weeks. The reality now struck him as utterly unreal.

The machine from which he hung suspended was real enough – a Westland-Sikorsky which a few weeks before had thrilled Londoners by settling down as naturally as a pigeon on Horse Guards parade.

But the present mission called for infinitely greater precision. The dangling man was out to prove to the world that stormbound or sick lighthouse keepers need never be cut off. They could be reached at any time, in any emergency, by helicopter; a doctor could be flown to them; a sick man could be taken off, swiftly and safely.

Now that actual performance replaced theory, it seemed doubtful that anyone could be lowered accurately on to a pencil-point target. That was how Dungeness lighthouse appeared at the moment – a pencil pointing sharply to the sky. The man himself had the uncanny sensation that he had shrunk.

He was Norman Hill, a flyer who had thought and dreamed helicopters ever since he had thrilled at his first glimpse of an autogiro in 1933, the invention of that brilliant Spanish mathematician, Juan de la Cierva.

Hill had lost little time in qualifying as a pilot, and had found his way instinctively into the Rotary Wing Squadron of the R.A.F. in the Second World War.

Staying with helicopters afterwards, he helped to plan regular maintenance service for seamarks under Trinity House. This present lighthouse experiment, for which he had dressed casually in slacks and sweater, stemmed naturally from the experience thus gained.

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Owls can be both birds of ill-omen and symbols of wisdom

Posted in Animals, Birds, Nature, Superstition, Wildlife on Thursday, 25 April 2013

This edited article about the owl originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

Barn owl, picture, image, illustration

Barn owl in flight

The Ancient Greeks revered the owl. They made it the companion of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The modern city of Athens has an owl as its symbol.

But owls have not always been given so high a place. In this country, in the Middle Ages, they were birds of ill-omen, whose hooting foretold death.

Now that we know owls better, we can see why there are these contrasting points of view.

Owls hunt mainly at night, for small animals such as mice, for birds and insects, and even, at times, for fish. By night they are eerie, mysterious birds. Their flight is silent, due to the thread-like filaments edging their flight feathers. They seem to come from nowhere and disappear to nowhere yet, in the spring, the still night air resounds to their weird calls.

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Why is some behaviour considered beyond the pale?

Posted in Historical articles, History, Interesting Words, Language on Thursday, 25 April 2013

This edited article about interesting expressions originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 233 published on 2 July 1966.

Moat builders, picture, image, illustration

Above the moat men are erecting a pailsade around the stronghold like the one which has been built around the town

Ireland in the early centuries, divided among warring clans, did not attract much interest even from land-hungry rulers of nearby states. But in 1167, a group of Anglo-Norman adventurers made for the Irish coast at the request of an Irish chief who was unsuccessful at war with his neighbours.

With better fighting techniques and equipment, the newcomers soon carved out lordships for themselves which formed the basis of later English ambitions in Ireland. King John was sufficiently interested to establish royal administration in Dublin – the centre of an earlier Viking settlement – and put the colonists under English law.

The section of Ireland subject to English rule became known as the Pale, from the word’s original meaning as a palisade or fence around a stronghold. The Pale existed for more than two centuries, but it was never more than a coastal strip extending 10 miles south of Dublin, 50 miles north and 20 miles deep.

The English government was anxious to preserve the English character of the Pale and of the Anglo-Norman lordships around it. The great lords were gradually becoming integrated into the community. Many Anglo-Irish nobles were adopting Irish names and language. The English government wanted to stop this tendency and tried instead to force the Irish within the Pale, to conform to English ways. In trying to keep the two peoples distinct, the Statute of Kilkenny (1366) forbade marriage between English colonists and native Irish and prohibited the adoption of Irish laws, customs or manners by the English.

But Irish and Anglo-Irish alike found it was really to no one’s advantage to abide by these rules and in general they were disregarded.

Newcomers, and representatives of the king were the only ones who really considered that life outside the Pale was savage, uncultivated and unacceptable, or, as we might say, “beyond the pale”.

Edward III’s great naval victory at the Battle of Sluys

Posted in Famous battles, Historical articles, History, Royalty, Ships, War on Thursday, 25 April 2013

This edited article about the Battle of Sluys originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 232 published on 25 June 1966.

Sluys, picture, image, illustration

Scrapbook of the British Sailor: Slaughter at Sluys in three vignettes by Eric Parker

Following the naval battle of Sluys, fought on June 24, 1340, England became undisputed mistress of the English Channel and made of the seas around her coasts a sure shield against invasion.

In October, 1337, Edward III had laid claim to the French crown, and his first campaign followed a savage French attack in 1338, when French troops landed on the south coast and ravaged Sandwich, Winchelsea, Rye, Hastings, Southampton and Portsmouth. The French then began congregating a fleet of 200 warships and transport ships in the River Sluys on the Flanders coast. By the beginning of June 1340, a mass attack on the coast of England was imminent.

The French commander openly boasted that he would destroy every English ship before he returned to France. In reply, Edward III gathered a motley fleet of 190 ships. Only a few were warships: many were little bigger than rowing boats. Setting sail on June 20, Edward III’s small fleet was badly buffeted by a gale. As the ships drifted on the flood tide into the River Sluys on the morning of June 24, the English King could see “so great a number of ships that their masts seemed like a great wood”.

There the proud French fleet lay, the ships lashed together along the bank of the river . . . unable to manoeuvre. The French were taken by surprise, and although the crews and troops fought desperately, the English destroyed ship after ship. When the day ended, 30,000 French were dead, and of the 200-strong fleet, only 24 ships survived. With this great victory behind him, Edward III was able to keep control of the Channel for several years.

Germany prized her vital waterway, the Kiel Canal

Posted in Engineering, Historical articles, History, Trade on Thursday, 25 April 2013

This edited article about the Kiel Canal originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 232 published on 25 June 1966.

Kiel, picture, image, illustration

Pre-war Germany shows her military strength in Kiel Bay where the Kiel Canal ends, by Graham Coton

On June 19, 1895, a procession of 80 warships representative of the world’s naval powers passed for the first time through the Kiel Canal, which links the North Sea with the Baltic.

This official opening by Kaiser Wilhelm II made a 500-year-old dream a reality.

Since the expansion of North European trade in the 12th century, the great peninsular of Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein had formed a land barrier between the North Sea and the Baltic. Ships bound from the North Sea ports for those in the Baltic had to make the long, difficult and often stormy passage round the north coast of Denmark; a voyage of 646 miles. A seaway cutting across the peninsular from Hamburg to Kiel, would cut the distance to 121 miles.

Suggestions about cutting a canal all came to nothing on account of cost and the jealousies of local rulers. Then, in 1870, Germany became a united Empire of which Schleswig-Holstein was a part. For Germany, ambitious to become a naval power, it was essential that warships could be moved quickly and safely between the North Sea and the Baltic. To do this, a canal had to be built. It took eight years.

From the estuary of the Elbe on the North Sea to Kiel Bay on the Baltic, the canal is 53 miles long. The canal, which was widened and deepened in 1909, was invaluable to Germany in the First Great War but it was heavily bombed in the Second World War. It is now an International Waterway.

The Kiel Canal has been increasingly used by merchant ships: over 60,000 of them, totalling 30,000,000 tons, now pass along it each year.

The end of Napoleon III’s puppet Emperor, Maximilian of Mexico

Posted in Historical articles, History, Royalty on Thursday, 25 April 2013

This edited article about Maximillian, Emperor of Mexico originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 232 published on 25 June 1966.

Emperor Maximillian, picture, image, illustration

Last Moments of the Emperor Maximilian

One of the briefest empires in history ended on June 19, 1867, when Maximilian, Austrian-born Emperor of Mexico, was executed by a firing squad.

Since becoming independent of Spain in 1822, Mexico had been borrowing huge sums of money from Britain and France, on which the interest was never regularly paid. In 1861, when Mexico was in the throes of a particularly bloodthirsty revolution, her president, Juarez, announced that payment of all foreign loans would be suspended.

Determined to force Mexico to fulfill her financial obligations, Britain, France and Spain combined to land troops in Mexico in 1861. But Napoleon III of France was secretly planning to establish a great French-controlled Empire in Mexico under Maximilian, brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph.

Although this plan destroyed the original purpose of the campaign, the British Government was not altogether displeased. If Napoleon III was occupied in the affairs of far-away Mexico, he might leave Europe free from his interfering foreign policy. Both Britain and Spain withdrew their troops.

Supported by the French army, the new Emperor conquered a large part of Mexico. But when, in 1866, the United States protested at a European power meddling in the affairs of a country on its borders and the French army withdrew. Maximilian was left stranded and an easy target for the plots of those who wished to see Mexico a republic.

Defeated in battle, Maximilian was besieged in the town of Querataro. The town was betrayed to the republicans and the Emperor Maximilian taken prisoner, tried and executed.