Today is the 487th anniversary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth I, a woman known as Gloriana, Good Queen Bess, and the Virgin Queen, and whose reign has been known as a Golden Age.
The iconic monarch who ruled England for over 44 years was, of course, the daughter of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII and a woman who was executed for high treason after being accused of adultery with four men, incest with her brother and plotting with all five men to kill her husband, the king. It’s amazing, and wonderful, that the daughter of Anne Boleyn grew up to be a queen, and a queen whose portrait is still recognised the world over.
I can’t wait to co-lead the Elizabeth I Experience Tours next year with my dear friend, Philippa Lacey-Brewell. The September tour is sold out but there are still a few spaces available on the July tour. Click here to find out more right now, or scroll down to read a bit more. I need my history fix after the year that 2020 has been!!
Here is the video I did last year on Elizabeth I’s birth and then my Elizabeth I playlist for you to enjoy.
Elizabeth I Experience Tour
Date: 24th – 29th July 2021
Place: Historic Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and Hever Castle in Kent.
Elizabeth I, arguably the most successful Tudor monarch, was the leader of a Golden Age in England.
Visiting key places, with top historians, we will tell the story of the life & times of Elizabeth. Covering her relationship with Robert Dudley the man she called her “eyes”, her patronage of the arts all the way from her birth in 1533, her accession to the throne in 1558 through to her death in 1603 and the end of the Tudor dynasty.
If you are an Elizabeth I admirer then this is the tour you’ve been waiting for!
Explore:
- Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, the Bard, and a playwright during the Golden Age.
- The romantic ruins of Kenilworth Castle, home of Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and the place where he planned to propose to her through lavish entertainment.
- The tombs of Robert Dudley, his wife Lettice, and their little son, ‘the noble impe’, in Warwick.
- Hatfield, the estate Elizabeth knew as home for many years and the place where she found out she was queen and where she held her first council meeting.
- Hever Castle, family home of Elizabeth I’s mother and maternal grandparents, and home to a huge collection of Tudor portraits.
- Penshurst Place, a place Elizabeth knew well and where she was rumoured to have danced La Volte with Robetr Dudley.
- Historic Greenwich, where Elizabeth I was born in 1533, and Westminster Abbey, where she was laid to rest in 1603.
Not only can you learn more about Elizabeth I through listening to expert guides at these stunning historical places, and chatting to Claire and Philippa, you can also hear expert talks on Elizabeth I from historian and Elizabeth I re-enactor Lesley Smith, and me (Claire Ridgway).
All that, plus staying at a castle (squeal! I never get tired of that!) and talking Tudor with like-minded people.
I do hope you can join us! Click here to find out more about this tour.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH
I wish her mother could have seen what her daughter became. I know that the scene in the movie Anne of the thousand days is not real and never happen when Anne and Henry confront each other while she is in the tower and she makes the declaration that her daughter will become the greatest monarch that England has ever seen. I still like to think about it though and would like to know what Henry would have thought of Elizabeth becoming Queen considering her mother was a woman personally destroyed. She was by no means perfect, she was very much a human being with the same flaws we have but it’s nice to see if this dynasty was going to end it ended on a high note.
I really hope the tour goes ahead next year without any hitches, especially after the way things have been this year. It sounds like a very impressive set of events and visits. I am sure you will enjoy.
These days the image of Elizabeth is more mixed than that imagined by what was a very impressive well managed propaganda machine, and when you strip away the mythical portraits and songs and poems you meet a woman you can admire. Behind the mystery of the Virgin Queen, Gloriana or even Good Queen Bess is a real woman of courage and who struggled to keep her male courtiers at bay when they would literally do anything for her attention, not always for the better. She was a successful monarch for 44 years, certainly there was much to be admired, but for many it was far from a Golden Age, let alone the birth of the British Empire. Having said that the Age produced a flourish in dramatic entertainment, in the theatre and in romantic and poetic literature. The Age of Discovery was most certainly born or expanded and there was another flourish in grand houses. Elizabeth was an excellent politician. She had watched and learned from her father and her siblings, the good, the bad and the ugly and learned how to use the best to her advantage. It was most surprising indeed that Elizabeth became Queen because at her birth that wasn’t her perceived destiny.
Elizabeth wasn’t the much-needed and widely predicted son and heir that King Henry Viii, her father and Queen Anne Boleyn, her mother had hoped for. However, she wasn’t the dire disappointment numerous historians claim her to have been. Of course Henry was disappointed. He was probably embarrassed as well. He had after all turned the world upside down to get a second wife and married her before his annulment was completed because he believed Anne was carrying his much anticipated son and heir. Of course the pressure had been on Anne to keep her word, and remember it was believed that the woman was responsible for the sex of the child as well as its health, but the arrival of a healthy child was the main thing. Anne and Henry put on a brave face and they were not as disappointed as is claimed and greeted their daughter with celebrations and bravado. The only thing cancelled was the tournament, which was for a son. The elaborate baptism went ahead in Greenwich, the free wine flowed in the streets, fireworks were let off, the bells rang and Henry expressed his delight that his daughter was healthy and the hope that sons would follow. There was no reason to doubt that this would happen and he and Anne were still merry together after her confinement was over.
Anne herself was a hands on devoted mum and took Elizabeth with her to receive ambassadors and councillors in audience. She made certain her little daughter had plenty of clothes and Elizabeth was now treated as Henry’s heir. She was made so by decree. Elizabeth ate under the Canopy of State, had royal rockers, a wet nurse, her own household and was paraded about by a very proud father. Henry apparently dotted on his golden haired Princess. Unfortunately, her arrival now moved Princess Mary out of the line of Succession and Henry’s attitude changed towards her. Up to now he had let her be, but now she was sent to wait on her new half sibling and was demoted to her servant. Mary refused to accept her status and that brought trouble. Elizabeth and her sister would eventually have a good relationship until the time of the latter’s reign but at first it was natural that the seventeen year old Mary was apprehensive and sad for her future, separated from both parents, forbidden now to see her mother and now replaced by her step mother and her new brat. To Mary this wasn’t a time to rejoice, it was a time to cry. Her own courage would be tested to the limit.
It was from the background of this and the way her father suddenly turned on her mother, whose tragic failures to have more children, especially boys, resulted in her brutal execution before Lady Elizabeth was three, the ups and downs of four step mothers and the dangers of being seen as a rival by her sister and brother, that Elizabeth would emerge at 25 to finally and still unexpectedly find herself on the throne. It was her destiny maybe to go down in history as one of the great monarchs of British history, just as it is to emerge from the mists of mythology as a strong and real human woman, who battled through a man’s world, and who is much more interesting than the image of a Goddess her public image makers created. Elizabeth could be funny, angry, antagonistic, entertainment, clever, sometimes she was frail and afraid, others courageously roaring like the daughter of a lion, she could put her foot down or keep one waiting for months for an answer to a question from an envoy, she could manipulate or have a hissy fit, but one thing is certain she ruled England her way and nothing was going to stop her.
Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth I.
Today was also the Wedding Day of Charles Brandon and his fourth and final wife, young and wealthy heiress, Lady Catherine Willoughby, his former ward. The bride was about fourteen and the much married groom, 49. The marriage was also at Greenwich and was only about eight weeks after the death of Princess Mary, Henry’s sister, his third wife. The marriage caused a stir as Catherine had been betrothed to Brandon’s son, but due to the failing health of Henry, Earl of Lincoln, who actually died the following year, it was decided that Catherine would marry her benefactor instead. The marriage brought Charles much-needed wealth and land and two more sons and was actually a success. As his first son by Catherine was born in 1535 with Cromwell as a God father, it can be assumed that he waited some time before consummation of the marriage due to the age of the bride. Charles would prove useful for Catherine and her mother, the close friend of Queen Katherine of Aragon, Maria de Salinas, because he helped them to gain their inheritance and widows rights. The marriage also put the Duke somewhat in the same camp as the former Queen. He was already anti Anne Boleyn, although he had conformed to her marriage to Henry, but now Chapuys saw him as something of a contract through which he could complain of how Katherine was treated.
Hi BQ. Did you see the three part series on Elizabeth hosted by Dan Jones and Suzannah Lipscomb from 2016? Lily Cole played Elizabeth for most of it. I thought it was quite well done. I watched it when it came out and just found it on YouTube a few nights ago and watched it again.
Yes, it was good. They used the background sources very well to get an accurate reconstruction. Dan Jones likes the blood lust of history and Suzanne is the voice of reason. They work well together. Suzanne did an excellent two part series on Nicholas and Alexandra through the letters to each other, of which there are several hundreds. I think it was on either PBS or Yesterday. There has been a three part series with Tracy Boreman on Henry Viii and His Men on one of the many historical channels. I think it’s on a new channel tonight.
Jones and Lipscomb also did a series on The Great Fire of London in 2016. Hour by hour, very detailed.
I watched that Michael it was very enjoyable.
As I said earlier I just watched that documentary for a second time and I had misremembered something from the first time I saw it. I had said that Samuel Peyps buried his parmesan cheese under the floorboards of his home. No, he buried it in his garden!
The best documentary on the Great Fire, it really investigated the truth, they even did new archaeology through geo thermal imaging and worked out exactly where the bakery actually was, a few hundred feet down from the monument. You can go up the monument on a tour. It’s over 300 feet high. The old plaque stated that the fire was started by a mad French/Flemish sailor who was hung for admitting it after he was tortured and he was probably mentally retarded in any case. Another plaque was added in Victorian times telling the truth that it was an accident which began in the bakery of Tom Farriar and his family. An apology was sent by the Guild of Bakers to the Guild of Rope Makers which the wrongly accused man belonged to. Everyone knew it was nonsense but pressure was put on the Government to find a scapegoat because people had lost so much, so an easy target was chosen. The deposition against him was signed by the Farrier family. The documentary told a few individual stories. One interesting after story by the Museum of London when looking for archaeology was to find these tokens that were given to businesses in order to keep trading afterwards. One victim was a shoe maker who was not very good but made doo. She lost her shop in the fire and gained coupons from the Fire Court in compensation. Three coupons with her name and trade mark on them have been found and are in the Museum. I felt sorry for the book sellers who put their stock in the crypt of Saint Paul’s Cathedral which then blew up and brought the whole old magnificent Saint Paul’s down. Here Queen Elizabeth worshipped and gave thanks after the Amarda, here Prince Arthur, the first Tudor Prince of Wales was married to Katherine of Aragon, here so many great events had been witnessed by history and now it was gone. On the programme they went down underneath the modern London to see remains of the Medieval Cathedral. Another man gave the King money to help restore London and also left his goods at Westminster. He never saw the money or the goods again. Samuel Pepyes gave us the famous first hand account of it all and buried his precious cheese in the backyard for protection because it was worth a fortune, or rather ordered his wife to do it. The Mayor was just as effective as modern ones and refused to make fire breaks from homes even when ordered to do so, saying a woman could (blank) it out. It was only when James, Duke of York and later the King took personal control, getting hands on to help that proper fire breaks of two houses were used to stop it after almost four nights. The Tower of London held all the gunpowder and weapons and under no circumstances could that be allowed to go BOOM.
Jones and Lipscomb the hottest historians in the West lol.
Not just bakery was located. The ovens were located. I don’t know about Jones but I certainly don’t mind watching Lipscomb.
Dan Jones certainly is.
Jones and Lipscomb sounds like something out of the Hole in the Wall Gang lol.
If you had a favourite Queen Elizabeth on screen who would it be?
Happy birthday good Queen Bess, Gloriana the faerie Queen, just one of many names she was called during her long reign, her face stares out at us from her large ornately carved and gilded framed portraits, she is an icon like her father, just as fascinating colourful and baffling as he was, born to Henry V111 and his second queen, the enigmatic Anne Boleyn her birth was seen largely as a disappointment but both parents doted on her and her father hoped sons would follow, he and Anne were young Elizabeth was healthy, proof that Anne could bear children, named quite possibly after her maternal and paternal grandparents she was recognised as her fathers heir and soon left court to establish her own household, fussed over and brought up in a cocoon of royal privilege, her world came crashing down when her mother was sent to the scaffold and she was reduced in status to merely kings bastard, unlike her unhappy half sister, Elizabeth was too young to suffer the loss of her mother and position, she resided in Hatfield chiefly but had other residences in the country and now and then would come to court, her father married his third queen whilst she was taking tentative steps around the long gallery at Hatfield and on his orders, every trace of Elizabeth’s mother was being removed from the palaces and other royal buildings around the country, it has been said that Elizabeth was forgotten about by her father who was ever busy with his extra marital affairs to bother much with both her and Mary, but it was noted he was always very affectionate towards her and never gave any impression that he never believed she was not his daughter, Henry V111 loved all his children and his pride and joy was his son Edward, Mary and Elizabeth once both in turn his legitimate heirs were merely his bastards, he had rejected both their mothers and his third wife he saw as his one true queen, his son Edward his only legitimate heir and both daughters must have thought their chances of being queen was very remote, Elizabeth pushed down in the line of succession must have pondered she would never sit on the throne, but her destiny was to become England’s greatest monarch, something which her disgraced mother would have been enormously proud of, after her fathers death her teenage years became fraught with danger and she had to survive suspicion and plots and the unwelcome attentions of her stepfather, imprisonment in the Tower and then, house arrest for a whole year before finally coming into her own, one misty November morning in the year 1558, Edward V1 her brother had died young without begetting an heir after fallen victim to a wasting disease, her sister Mary, Mary 1st had died lonely and sad after failing to give the kingdom an heir and that left Elizabeth, the fiery daughter of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was tall for a woman with the Tudor red hair and white skin of her father, she had his long slightly hooked nose and her mothers long narrow face and heavy lidded dark eyes, she had inherited both her parents fiery tempers and all of their brilliance, never considered beautiful she was nevertheless called handsome with a straight back and slender build with long slender fingers, her ornately embroidered gloves on display at Hatfield House are testament to their exquisite delicacy, all her life she was very proud of her long tapering fingers and would delight in bringing attention to them, her reign was said to be a golden age and whilst it was for some, it was not for many, plagued by troubles in Ireland and the dilemma of her imprisoned Scottish cousin, she was also under pressure from her council to marry and provide an heir, without an heir her position was seen as rather weak and the country vulnerable, but she never married and although being attracted to men, she was a flirt like her mother, she declared the married state was not for her and she modelled herself on the Virgin Mary, she was wedded she said to her country, and as she grew older her look became ever more strange and iconic, she wore thick white lead on her face more so after she fell ill with the smallpox and was disfigured with scars, and had numerous dark red wigs, they were crimped and curled and her dresses became more elaborate decorated with precious gems and hung with rows of pearls, her ruffs became huge as the fashion decreed they were a sign of high status, she was elevated to the status of a goddess an immortal being, her subjects adored her and she was seen by them as this divine being who would live forever, her catholic subjects hated her and often rebelled against her, since her birth they had never recognised her as legitimate, according to them her mother was merely the wh*re and Elizabeth a bastard, Elizabeth tolerated them for some years but began to treat them harshly when rebellions were carried out in Mary Stuart’s name, then they were persecuted, her execution of Mary has been seen as a blight on her reign and it was one of the reasons why Spain sent the armada to England, the defeat of the armada added to Elizabeth’s iconic status, she was seen as a strong ruler throughout Europe and she had as her advisers the ever wily William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham her spymaster, one European monarch declared had he and Elizabeth married, their children would have ruled the world, she would go on tours around the country where the common folk would run out to her and curtesy, to them she was all gracious smiles, but to her ladies who served her she could be a very difficult sometimes cruel and terrifying mistress, in her old age when her hair was grey and wispy and her teeth were blackened stumps she still kept up the illusion of youthful beauty, one foreign ambassador was amazed when he was admitted into her presence and she wore her gown so low cut her breasts were exposed, gone was the youthful girl who once ran in the gardens at Sudeley with her hair loose, she was seventy when she died a good age at the time and it is often speculated what she died from, lead position has been suggested because of the thick white make up she wore, she had caught a chill at winter and had been ailing for some time, it was probably pneumonia which can follow a bout of bronchitis in the elderly, her death was described as a ripe apple falling from a tree, pneumonia is described as a most peaceful death, she was not the longed for son who could have saved her mothers life, she was not really meant to be queen although her father made her his heir, he hoped she would have brothers, death stalked the corridors so frequently in the Tudor court that what was once seen as impossible suddenly became a very real possibility, she in a way personifies all that is English, like Shakespeare and the green fields of Wordsworths England, voted England’s most popular monarch she exists in the mind of that of a golden monarch of a long lost golden age, many actresses have played her from Bette Davis to Flora Robson, Glenda Jackson and Cate Blanchett, down to Dame Judi Dench who won an Oscar incredibly for just a five minute appearance, Elizabeth certainly is a legend and just like in her own lifetime, she continues to enjoy an iconic image.
I would say Glenda Jackson. Though I have not seen Elizabeth R I have seen her performance in Mary Queen of Scots and thought she was fantastic in that role. Ask for a comedic spin on Queen Elizabeth I you can’t beat Miranda Richardson’s Queenie in Blackadder.
I loved Betty Davis but Glenda Jackson in Mary Q, of Scots and Elizabeth R was fantastic. Elizabeth R was more rounded than the usual Gloriana nonsense. What people forget is while the lucky escape of the Amarda and Gavalines may have been a victory and the weather came to the rescue the Counter Amarda or English Amarda cost the lives of 20,000 English sailors and soldiers, three times as many as the Spanish lost trying to get home. It was an embarrassing disaster. The war dragged on for another seventeen years being ended by a treaty made by James vi and i. Half of those who survived the Amarda were dead from hunger or disease by the end of 1588 and Elizabeth was increasingly unpopular. She might have a great image but reality was very different. Elizabeth R is probably the best and only really balanced drama of Elizabeth and even documentary stories hide the truth. I am not saying she didn’t achieve a lot but perhaps it was her mythology that is her real legacy.
Yes Miranda Richardson was a scream in Blackadder, I loved Bette Davis in the Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex, Davis herself said she felt an empathy with Elizabeth whilst portraying her, Errol Flynn was Essex and Davis didn’t want him but Tyrone Power, Flynn obviously failed to charm her like he did so many of his co stars, Glenda Jackson was brilliant in Elizabeth R, the BBC sadly do not make great period dramas like that anymore, though they are good with 18thc dramas like adaptations of Jane Austen novels, Helen Mirren also played her a few years ago, but I was not keen on that adaption, I am sure Elizabeth herself however would have loved to have seen these actresses some who are dead portray her, I think with some portrayals she might have been insulted some bemused, with some she may have merely laughed out loud.
Hi Christine. I saw the Helen Mirren movie and was not that impressed. She was excellent as always but the way the writers interpreted Elizabeth I did not like. The scene at Tilbury where she gave the speech was really odd. Walking around her troops sounding a bit flight and talking in an almost sing songs voice. When I read or here that speech given convincingly it is quite powerful but in this movie it was boring and flat.
Yes she was mounted on her horse in armour, she was not walking around and in some adaptions the writers alter the speech she made, she was fifty six at the time as well, no youthful girl with flowing red hair like Cate Blanchets representation of her, she had grey hair by then and so would have worn one of her red wigs, she must however have still looked regal rather like a latter day Boudicea, her speech called the Tilbury speech was certainly inspiring, she was a good orator like her father and her presence there was meant to stir up hope the will to succeed, it did the trick but most of the victory was down to our unstable weather, which caused the choppy waves in the coast around Devon and Cornwall to capsize the heavy Spanish galleons, some of them still lie at the bottom of the sea now, their unfortunate victims who drowned with them long gone, Elizabeth’s name lives on however just like the famous sea battle, her image woven eternally in the famous victory even though most of it is myth.
I enjoyed Elizabeth and Elizabeth the Golden Age but the films had what I call modern meddling. The writers tried to sexualize everything. I did think the Man U footballer, Eric Cantona was great as the French Ambassador though. The vision of Elizabeth was wrong but the way she was on horseback correct. I think the movie was meant to show the icon rather than the reality underneath. She did inspire the troops even if they were not needed and would be dismissed soon. I am sure they would appreciate the fact that Elizabeth was there. The speech itself is disputed but it really doesn’t matter, its the sentiment of the woman as brave and strong which it conveyed that matters. The Lionesses made the Tilbury Speech as their media campaign in the World Cup and unlike the men actually got a medal. The young girls were an excellent inspiration for others wanting to follow them and play football. That is probably the best legacy of our Queens in the past, modern women and girls are still inspired by the courage they showed and determination to rule, no matter what. I would extend the inspiration to both Mary and Elizabeth because they were both discarded and Edward tried to stop them. They were both to fight and probably have a lot more in common than history claims. A number of great female rulers were maligned because they were female, but they still ruled. They may or may not have been the best choice but the fact that they ruled is something to admire. It was after all believed that England and others would sink into the abyss if a woman ruled. Well I think Elizabeth and Mary and some of the other rulers have proved otherwise.
As highly as I regard Elizabeth her unwillingness to pay her sailors and soldiers after the Armada campaign is unbelievable. I know she was frugal but this was not the place to scimp.
I’m watching ba 4 part Dan Jones series called Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty about the Plantagenets. I had not not seen it before. Quite good.
I think it also exposed the fact that the government of Elizabeth I wasn’t as wealthy as the people believed. She might float about carried on poles in fine clothing and have a good time, but her treasury was obviously empty. I think Elizabeth ran out of money and made sacrifices, the sick and injured were casualties of her spending elsewhere. The regime didn’t exactly inherit a full chest and they were dependent on money from official piracy, taxation and expansion of trade. War took a huge chunk of the crown’s revenue and the government had suddenly been made to build more ships and long-term defences. Ireland was a drain on the economy and so was any kind of patronised exploration, the rewards of which was always a gamble. Elizabeth took a healthy chunk from the riches brought from Spanish colonies and ships which to her credit was partly invested in education and industry at home, but an even greater chunk ended up in the personal chest of the crown or in war. The government simply ignored the soldiers and sailors of the Armada because it had no money. The way Elizabeth treated the men who had saved her kingdom is dreadful and in deep contrast to the many wonderful paintings she commissioned to celebrate the victory and the Queen. Elizabeth was a very good political spin doctor. She knew that she was fading and was unpopular so she went out and about and showed herself. Personally she drew great affection and could put on her charm offensive and people loved a good show. She was a patron of the arts personally and encouraged the theatre as public entertainment. In some ways that was a good division for ordinary people with the opening of several theates but it still didn’t do much for the poverty, the famine and the casualties of war. Here we do see the government intervene towards the end of the reign with the Great Elizabethan Poor Law 1601. In 1562 some relief in the parish had been granted but now for the first time on a national scale an effort was being made to relieve the poverty and famine, to divide people into categories and to make each parish liable for their own poor, sick, beggars and fallen women. It was only a small beginning but the fact that the government took some responsibility for the mess it had created was a huge leap forward. There is a duality to Elizabeth’s England and its the negative part we have forgotten about in the haze of Amarda fever, great pageants, fine dressing, beautiful house building for the rich, the entertainment and flowering of drama and theatre, the public speaches, the art of painting an image which was unique to Queen Bess who did much to project a goddess type image of herself which is a tribute to the cleverness of Elizabeth and her spin doctors. However we must not forget the neglect of her sailors and the famine and wars or the persecution. The myth of the golden age is just that a myth but the fact we still think about it shows the power of the image of Elizabeth which still exists.
Robert Hutchinson, in his book on the Armada writes about an incident where one of Elizabeth’s naval commanders pays his crew out of his own pocket and she becomes livid. Why, jealousy? embarrassment?
Elizabeth was known to be stingy like her grandfather Henry V11, the brave seamen who saved England from the Armada did not receive their just rewards from the Queen it’s true, those who died their families were not compensated either, it could have been embarrassment that was the cause of her reaction, she expected loyalty from her subjects but she treated the poor sailors disgracefully, she thought nothing of spending a fortune on jewels and fine gowns however.
It was my 60th birthday yest had a great time, now I will be eligible for a free bus and train pass, and free prescriptions plus some concessions in restaurants and reduced prices in entry to historic buildings – yay!
Happy Birthday Christine! I have a little bit to go. I just had my 59th last month
Happy Birthday Christine and welcome to the freebies club. I get concessions on the disability pass but Steve is a pensioner. Have a cake and glass of wine for me.
Thank you to you both, I had hoped to hire a hall but due to Covid restrictions not possible, I will be having a little celebration however on Saturday, I am pushing the boat out with balloons and a banner and have ordered a huge birthday cake in the 60 number from Waitrose, made by Fiona Cairns the royal wedding cake maker, she made Kate and Williams cake, cost me £55 but it’s a special birthday so why not?
Sounds like a fun do.
Enjoy yourself on Saturday. Two weeks until we go on holiday. At least we don’t have to self isolate as its on home turf. Arnside is in its own self contained bay with mountains and natural sands. Its a place of natural outstanding beauty and known for its River Boar and the local Bittern, a larger version of the heron, wild flowers, limestone pavements, woodlands, coves, interesting walks and the Arnside Knot with views over the River Kent. Cumbria is another very old and historical area, with several families having land in the region of note. For example the Stanley family had land there as did the Neville family and the Regional name originally was Cumberland, although Lancashire overlaps much of it. Arnside is opposite Grange Over Sands with an old Victorian viaduct and train service. Historic houses of note are the home of the Strickland family, Catholic rebels and they have relics connected to Bonnie Prince Charlie and his followers, the Quakers have many connections to the area and George Washington had ancestors in the area. Several famous religious houses existed in the area, including Furness and our favourite place of all, Cartmel Priory. Furness was one of the last houses to surrender but Cartmel suffered the loss of ten local martyrs to whom there is a small monument. Cartmel is also known for the fact the Scots came over the border to raid the place called the Steel Bonnets, through the fourteenth century gate. Levens Hall is Tudor and very beautiful, although not open at the moment save for tours, but the beautiful Topiary gardens are operating with cream teas. Our escape place is called the Willowfield and is a beautiful old early Victorian house with family rooms and double bay windows over the bay. We have the ground room now because of my mobility problems and I can’t wait to say hello to Uncle William, the model waitor you order your breakfast from or the various dogs. The dogs are kept out of the guests areas and we eat in the beautiful wide conservatory, which is light and airy. It’s like we are going home. Ten days peace and quiet and I really can’t wait.
Again, enjoy the day on Saturday, Christine. Happy 60th Birthday.
You are right there. Elizabeth didn’t build any new palaces, just stayed in the house of her courtiers and that was expensive for them. She loved Richmond and Nonsuch and she visited Kenilworth four times, the last one Robert D gave her a good time, with his fireworks and banqueting. The entire Court stayed for several days. It was a very good honour but I think I could do without the honour.
There is a huge treasure chest in the museum of London with jewellery and jem stones, full to the brim, one of several found after the death of Elizabeth. I am sure she was a sight to see and worshipped but like other monarchs she must have been well apart from the reality of life.
She has always appeared to me rather eccentric particularly in her later years, I mentioned the story of the foreign ambassador, he was quite repulsed at the sight that met his eyes, her gown was so low her saggy shrivelled breasts were revealed, very odd for a monarch to thus expose herself so, the trouble is it is a fact, that we cannot see ourselves as others see us, the great Gloriana was obviously just as guilty in this very human failing as the rest of us.
Hi BQ. I also enjoyed the 2 Cate Blanchet films. Great casting for all of the major characters but your right, a bit modernized and hollywooduzed but the Tilbury speech was presented correctly in that which I appreciate.
There was a reconstruction of the fireworks and the banquet, made of sugar, which Robert Dudley gave Elizabeth I in the 1570s at his revamped home at Kenilworth, traditional seat of the Earls of Leicester, that had a huge dragon and other large displays and the historians had to make traditional fireworks from gunpowder and other explosive devices and find a method of not blowing the guests sky high. It was very impressive and the banquet looked beautiful, very rich sugars though. It had a sugar castle and moat. It was wonderful to see the guests all dressed in Elizabethan costume and Queen Elizabeth was one of the guests. Robert was hoping to have one last go at asking Elizabeth to marry him. It was the most expensive marriage proposal in history, although we don’t actually know if he did ask or if he got the message and just didn’t. He would of course marry her cousin, Lettice Knowels and cause friction between the two women. Kenilworth is well worth a visit if you are in Warwickshire sometime and Warwick Castle is not far away. Tip, book online and get the two for one discount. If you go as a pensioner or disabled person you can take a friend as a carer or companion free. You save a fortune. Both very busy places but well worth the effort and very impressive. Lots of history. Sudeley is also in the area and Stratford is not far away. You are also in Father Brown country, the Cotswolds. Its a great bit of historical England, houses full of priest holes, standing stones, castles and Tudor or Medieval connections. If you don’t like London, the Midlands are the better alternative. Here you will find many of the places of intrigue, the wars of the Roses, Tudor progresses and the country of the Bard, the Gunpowder plot and grand Tudor homes. It was fantastic seeing how they made those fancy firework displays but oh boy the bill must have been enormous. Thankfully Dudley was never really out of favour for long and could spend a lot of time at Court at royal expense. Royal favourites could eat and drink at Court on the King, but if you upset him he sent you the bill. Oh the joys of living close to the Monarchy lol.!
I heard that Elizabeth would suddenly decide to visit one courtier and then his or her whole household was thrown into pandemonium, preparing the rooms, the floors had to be swept and clean linen had to be put in the beds, warming pans and sachets of herbs to sweeten the laundry, the kitchen staff had to suddenly prepare banquets for the queen and her retinue, the stables had to be accommodated also for the extra horses, the cost of catering for the monarch and her huge retinue must have put a huge dent in the purse, of course it was considered an honour to play guest to the queen but it must have made many a noble lord and lady grumble into their scented posies.
I seem to remember reading about a courtier who found out Elizabeth was coming to his place and he didn’t want to fork out what it would cost to host her and possibly go bankrupt. She found out and he lost all favor. Do you or BQ know who I’m referring to?
Hi BQ. Your vacation stop sounds beautiful. That’ll be a nice respite from all of the bad stuff going on for the last few months. Here in Oregon We have wildfires burning. That isn’t unusual but the problem is the temperature has not cooled down yet and we are getting a wind from the East. A couple of nights ago We had smoke blow into the area where I am. It must have been at a fairly high altitude it made everything hazy but I was still able to open up my windows and not smell it or have my eyes and throat irritated. It’s cleared out now. I’m hoping the temperature will drop in this will all stop it’s quite annoying and affecting a lot of the state.
Goodness me, wildfires are more and more becoming the norm as a result of global warming.
The progresses of Elizabeth I were more extensive than most of her predecessors and the cities and towns she visited put a lot of effort in their greeting, with banners and flowers and pageants. She was fond of Bristol apparently, visiting a particular church there often. While a visit to the home of a courtier was planned well in advance, on some occasions the visit came as a shock and the burden was too much. Lord Percy of Petworth left the area when Elizabeth arrived because he was a secret Catholic. I didn’t actually class know the answer to your question, so I did some research. It was actually Sir Henry Lee who was so shocked that he wrote to Sir Robert Cecil and begged to be excused. He managed to escape the visit but the old Queen, now 67 was none too pleased. Several courtiers almost went bankrupt but put on a good show as favour was more valuable to the family and their future than personal fortune. Even worse was the occasion when a grand house was prepared and the Monarch didn’t ever come which happened at least once at the home of Bess of Hardwick, not Hardwick but Chatsworth. Several others missed out, they were prepared for a visit, but it didn’t happen. Maybe they had a lucky escape if the sums spent are anything to go on. One house was transformed so quickly that the foundations were unsound and collapsed soon afterwards. 25 extensive tours outside of the South were arranged by Elizabeth, who enjoyed them immensely, as indeed did her subjects who took pleasure in the sight of their Queen and the entertainment which accompanied her.
Thank you BQ. Henry Lee is exactly who I was thinking of. and I do remember reading about the other incident where someone had spent a lot of money in preparation of her arrival and she didn’t show. That would have been painful and heartbreaking. As to the wildfires here in Oregon the fact that we have them is Not Unusual. We get them every year and we’ve had them for as long as I’ve been alive and much longer. There was one on the coast back in the middle of the 20th century they did a lot of damage. What the problem is now is because of the party that is in power in this state logging and thinning of the forest is no longer allowed so there is an awful lot of Deadwood That is helping to ignite all of these fires and to make them much more dangerous than they used to be. We’re really fighting to try to get it legal to clear-cut and tooth in the forest again in order to protect people and livestock and property but it’s a real uphill battle. I should probably give you this piece of information that a majority of Oregon is covered in forest. And a lot of that Forest is east of the Cascade Mountains which one north to south and it gets very hot on those side of the mountains in the summertime and that’s where the wildfire start. And you also get hot dry winds which egg a lot of his stuff on.
The Earl of Lincoln also refused the visit by making certain he was out and left Lord Howard to pretend he had urgent business and to provide a meal for her. I am not sure I would have been around afterwards just in case the royal temper let loose. Elizabeth had a habit of boxing ears and even stabbed a lady who brushed her hair too hard with scissors in her hand. She was left outside the gates of this house and probably none too pleased.
Bush fires sound dangerous if they get out of control. Remember the disaster in Australia last year? Believe it or not we have them in Lincolnshire which is still covered by forests although they rarely get out of control for long. We had some problems back in May. Never had anything like in America or Canada or wide areas of forest or bush. You see them on the TV and they look terrifying. Wild fire played a part in the Great Fire of London and were out of control. They built houses outward as well as up for more space and so housing was too close and fire jumped from one side to the other very quickly. Its said that in some places you could go upstairs and literally shake hands across the road because the house stuck out on the upper floors that much. You can still see old Medieval or Tudor homes practically on stilts above the street in old towns. It was a way to extend the house without taking room in an already narrow road and so older houses had several floors, jutting out further and further. Topsy-turvy housing.
I agree with you BQ. Elizabeth certainly had her father’s temper and although she may not Lop off your head it would probably still be a fairly unpleasant experience to hang around if you stood her up like that. The smoke rolled in about 4 hours ago. It’s about 10 p.m. now. It’s supposed to be cooling down but it’s stuck at 81° and we’re supposed to be 94 tomorrow. I turned on the radio for a few minutes and heard something rather disturbing: people have been caught purposely starting fires! I don’t know what to say about that I think that’s just unconscionable. And yes I do remember that terrible fire in Australia last year which appears to have been Arson which is horrible. A lot if land destroyed and wildlife needlessly killed.
Hi, Michael, it’s dreadful if people are making things worse with arson. I once met someone in an institution as part of my job who was up before the law on an arson charge burning her house down. She was completely loopy and it didn’t take the psychiatrists with me to tell that. She was either the best actress in the world or she was totally detached from reality and that was without the drugs. I have to admit that putting her in prison would be a waste of time. Some people are really evil and they don’t care, others really are mentally ill. All this poor girl was on about was cups of tea. She didn’t even know what she had done. The psychiatrists knew her well. It’s a real shame as her doctor said she was very intelligent and a lovely lady before her mum died and then she was on something and her mind was now damaged. It was very sad. She was very pleasant and happy but very away with the fairies. His recommendation was for help in a mental health service. I did a follow up on my own authority and she was getting help. I am glad she didn’t go to prison. Starting wild fires is totally irresponsible as many animals and people can be killed. I don’t know, is the world going mad?
Hi BQ. Fortunately that incident I told you about seems to be a one-off and is not widespread. By the time I got up at 4am temperature had only dropped a couple of degrees so it was still very very warm. The forecast temperature for today is 91 degrees but the smoke over the city is expected to keep the temperature down to 86. When the sun came up this morning, and it hasn’t changed, the sky was yellow and the sun very, very red. Amazingly though I still can’t smell the smoke. Five towns in Oregon have been destroyed and there were two lives lost in this state a 12 year old boy and his grandmother. And in California there have been 13 lives lost. One of the counties next to my own, Clackamas, is in a stage 3 alert , the highest alert which means when you are told to leave you leave immediately. Did you hear about the winds in Utah yesterday? Some clocked up to 100 miles per hour that were tipping over semi trucks on the freeway. And there was also some footage of turf being ripped out of the ground which according to storm experts those are winds that have to be a hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. What is going on? This is terrifying. As things develop I’ll keep you posted as best I can. Thank heavens no threat to my area as of yet. Hopefully that will remain the case.
Sorry to report that I just heard the names of 4 people arrested for arson. All different incidents. Another fatality in Oregon. A 1 year old. The parents escaped with 3rd degree burns.
So sorry for the loss of life there. Stay safe and in touch. Very sad about the little baby, devastated for the poor parents. Terrible. Take care. Praying for you all there.
Thank you for that BQ. It’s most welcome. I just took a look outside it is now 2:30 p.m. and it’s very hazy and the atmosphere and sky are still yellow and when I opened the window up I got such a whiff of smoke that I had to immediately close it. There’s no wind, and we have a smoke advisory in effect from now until monday at noon. The temperature only went up to 79 and is now back down to 77 so it’s not too uncomfortable.
I have a historical question. Since I’m stuck indoors I’m watching Elizabeth The Golden Age. My question has to do with the Spanish reaction to their losing the Armada. Both England and Spain we’re very serious in their religion and of course both believed that God was on their sides. Now we know that after the Armada was defeated England celebrated and praised God but I have never run across a Spanish account of how they felt at losing that campaign. Have you ever read anything about how the Spanish felt afterwards?
When Philip got the letter from Medina Sedonia he reacted in a very odd way, he was actually quite accepting as if it was fate. He said it was the will of God and went off to pray. Reports are that he became withdrawn for a time but one third of the fleet returned and was fully repaired. He was soon planning another go. The Counter Armada the following year got a right hammering with the loss of 20,000 English lives, something that was not immortalised in art. It was a complete disaster and it was a hair brained scheme anyway. Philip had well and truly strengthened his defences in both Spain and Portugal and other territories. An attack on the Azores and then Portugal failed with great loss of life. Philip obviously wasn’t as depressed as he was thought to have been. The initial reaction though was one of shock, the fleet was supposed to be invincible and the Spanish believed that they were going on a Holy Crusade. Life on the ships reflected that with strict discipline and Mass every day. The Armada didn’t greatly outnumber the English fleet, but she was in tight crescent shaped formation. It was very hard to break it down. However, when the fire ships did their damage and it was scattered, as it went home around Ireland and Scotland, no fleet, no matter how well armed it is, is immune to the storms in the North Sea. Most of the damage was done there and many sailors were killed as they sheltered on the Irish Coast. The Spanish were in shock. King Philip was remarkably calm and accepted the defeat as meant to be. His letters all show this but he was soon prepared to strike again or repel a counter strike. He was totally obsessed with paperwork and did everything himself. The bureaucratic legacy he left behind is a historians dream. His biographer Geoffrey Parker could not believe the amount of paperwork Philip left behind. There were several new Armada and Counter Armada encounters over the next ten years or so, in different territorial areas, all disasters. In fact Drake was killed during one of them, a raid in the Indies that went horribly wrong and he was injured and then got a tropical disease and died. The Spanish were anything but totally destroyed in 1588 and they certainly didn’t go into decline in their Empire which covered more than half the globe. The British Empire didn’t exist and it really didn’t make any headway until the seventeenth century and eighteenth century. Yes we had colonies, we had planted in America and what would be Canada and bits and bobs, but other than that we were busy stealing treasure from the Spanish but little else. I am not saying we were not making new discoveries but it was a far cry from establishing or even founding an Empire. The Spanish had conquered far too much territory to be overwhelmed by England. The defeat in 1588 stopped an invasion and turned back the Armada, it didn’t end the ambition or ability of Spain as a sea faring Empire. The war also dragged on for another eighteen years and neither side really achieved anything further.
Thank you very much BQ. I didn’t know any of that. What’s the definition of insanity? To repeat the same thing over and over again and get the same result. Philip reminds me in this instance an awful lot of Henry in regards to siring an air. Both claim to obey and accept God’s will but continue to do their own thing. thank heavens for all for all of the paperwork that Philippa left behind. Really does make a historian’s job easy.
Well, I have an update on the smoke. It was really hugging the ground all day yesterday until the sun went down and then a bit of a breeze picked up. At about 9 p.m. I was able to open up my bedroom window and I had a fan pulling cool air in and my sliding door in the living room and had a bigger fan pulling warm air out and there is no Smoky smell in my place at all. And I just looked outside By the way it’s 3:30 a.m. I just looked outside and the smoke is high but other than that at lower altitudes it’s clear it’s completely clear on the ground. But when the sun comes up and it warms up I’m guessing we’ll end up with the stagnant air and the Smoke On The Ground again. firefighters Bill to get this stuff under control.
Hi Michael, the BBC News was reporting to the fires in Oregon and California and the skies looked bright orange and red. You can see the flames and the smoke in the atmosphere from above. It looks like the apocalypse. There wasn’t any mention of the arson but of course its the BBC so only reporting what it’s told, but they were saying how bad it was for ordinary people who are getting the smoke and fumes because of the winds blowing up the fires and making it worse. I always wonder what if anything is going on to put them out. I may be thinking thick here but it seems to me that several aircraft dropping several gallons of water and drenching the flames early in the process might help prevent a disaster. The authorities never appear to do anything until its too late. I know battling with weather is a problem and moving that amount of water isn’t easy but they must be able to do something. It’s all very nice blaming globel warming and saying its unprecedented but hey we have had global warming for years now with freak weather so why isn’t there a global warming freak disaster response plan for these fires and freak flooding, our curse? Freak weather events and freak flooding or fire has been around for years as well. Arnside is a flood area with a wide range of plans in place. Barrow was cut off a few years ago for several weeks after flooding. Several times in the past decade the same areas flood
and government says they have spent a lot more money on water defences. I don’t see any evidence. There are parts of the country you can’t get home insurance even though you are 20 miles away from the river. A river cannot go up hill and yet even then you can’t get insurance. There needs to be a nationwide plan for weather conditions and fire and flood and storms. Freak weather is here to stay. We need to prepare for it. I hope that they find an answer soon for you in the fires and it is soon put out. Take care, Michael.
Hi BQ. Yellow atmosphere again this morning but the smoke is not ad thick near the ground. Temp is only forecast for 80° today at right now at 9:30am it’s only 60. I heard that there has been a total of 16 deaths. I pray no more fatalities. The specific area where I am does not seem to be in any danger. Sure hope it stays that way.
As to flooding the rules her in the States at least used to be but I don’t know about now that you could build in a flood plain as long as you didn’t mind paying sky-high insurance premiums.
A piece of Portland history to wiki is Vanport. Built for the war effort and gone before I was born. I think you’ll find it interesting.
Cheers for the information, Michael, I will check it out. Again stay safe.
Not much to report. Hazy and yellow but the smoke didn’t hug the ground like it did yesterday. The forecast temperature for today was 78 degrees and above the smoke it may have actually gotten that warm but right here it only got up to 64 degrees. We had had a long stretch of very warm days even in the 90s so I welcome this cool off. I also heard that the governor and officials of the state of Oregon knew about these fires in early August and didn’t start doing anything about them until they were a thousand times larger! I’m not a big fan of bureaucrats and government officials.
Hi all. Today was pretty much like yesterday except a lot of fog this morning. Once that burned off the smoke came back in but stayed high though you could see it. The atmosphere still has a yellow hue but not as intense. The forecast hi for today was 80° but it only got up to 64. Tomorrow’s is 78 but with this smoke covering that’s doubtful.
Hope you had a fun Birthday celebration Christine. I’ll let you know of any changes.
Thanks Michael I hope your staying safe and well, smoke is nasty, in England the temperature’s risen and from Monday we are going to enjoy a heatwave with degrees of 29 and 28 Monday and Tuesday, then it’s going to drop as usual, from Monday no more than six people will be allowed to meet up because infections have risen, it was bound to happen, at least pubs and restaurants are still open, they won’t risk another lockdown because the economy has already been damaged, we have had some regional lockdowns just hope we don’t have one where I live.
Yes I had a great time party went well, everyone had a slice of cake, quite a few turned up, some stayed away, one friend because his son has diabetes which I can understand and some neighbours of mine were wary because they are quite vulnerable, one guest stayed away because she goes to bed at nine, lightweight or what? but it went well, I’m thinking of having a big bash next year as I couldn’t this year, hopefully by then everything will be back to normal.
I may sound mad now but I don’t believe that infection has risen, I believe more people will be detected because of the increase in testing. There hasn’t been anything like the number in hospital or taken seriously ill. This means that the infection is low and not as strong. The Government wants to protect the economy and is being too cautious. That’s a good thing but I am nervous as our mayor was practically willing Liverpool on the watch list. I go away in two weeks, I will need to break a potential lock down and am hoping he is talking nonsense. A rise on the Wirral could put the whole of Merseyside at risk of a needless lock down. This is totally ridiculous as Merseyside is a huge geographical area and the Wirral is over the water. Manage the Tunnel and the Bridge and contain it without putting everywhere in lock down.
Sorry, I forgot to say that it’s great you were able to have a great day and a party for your 60th Birthday. Congratulations and I wish a good week.
Thanks BQ my Greek holiday was cancelled because the hotel closed down, it will re open next year, but I had to wait three weeks for my refund and I had to ring three times, that was with Tui, not very impressed with them, the first guy I spoke to said I would have to pay a cancellation fee of £200, he obviously was not trained very well, because they state if your holiday is cancelled due to Covid you are entitled to a refund, anyway get that at last, we were all disappointed because we had got a good deal, but I have been to the sea side three times, once to Southend and then to Walton On The Naze, and spent the weekend in Clacton last weekend, so have been out and about, I don’t feel the summers been completely wasted, I enjoy myself on these little seaside breaks each time had lovely weather, which is after all what makes it.
Sorry about your holiday to Greece, it has happened a lot with Covid and the rules changing from week to week and country to country and it being confusing. If it was cancelled via the lockdown period, you are quite right a refund should have been automatic but these companies always try it on. Actually, three weeks isn’t too bad in the circumstances, many people have had to wait months. Glad you got there in the end.
No the Summer hasn’t been a right off, we have had a number of local walks, although we haven’t actually left Liverpool yet this year. The six weeks of lockdown Steve was recovering from major surgery anyway, so he couldn’t drive for three months. Looking forward to getting away, though and escaping at last. The local visits to the seaside sound like fun.
No one truly knows what the future may bring a child. Interesting that the three female monarchs Elizabeth 1, Victoria, and Elizabeth 2 were the daughters of second sons. Their fathers were not “born” to be king but came to the throne through twists of fate – though Victoria’s a bit different as her father never sat on the throne. All three of these woman rose to their duty and brought honor and respect to the crown. People the world over admire them.
Hi Christine. Sorry you missed your trip. That would have been a nice break from a lousy year. I agree with BQ about the covid reporting. we had an incident in one of the counties here in Oregon a couple of months ago where people from the county were invited to a local church to have Covid tests taken. About 150 people were discovered to be positive. The way it was reported was that 150 people in the church were tested positive for covid. This was a hundred and fifty people from the county not from the church but it wasn’t reported that way. And I think the state Governments do the same kind of thing. Rather than look at percentage overall they simply look at numbers and then start to panic and start closing things down again. That’s certainly what they’ve done here in Oregon. Changing the subject we’ve had 33 deaths from this Wildfires so far. The wind has changed direction from east to west and the dense smoke advisory is ending tonight at 11 p.m. instead of noon on Monday. And we’re supposed to have rain in the next couple of days so that should help. When I got up this morning the fog was so thick I couldn’t see more than about 25 yards. When it burned off there was smoke in the air and there was a slight yellow hue but not as intense as it had been. Forecast high for today was 73 degrees but it only got up to 62. Loving the cool but not the reason.
Hi Michael, saw the news with the orange and yellow fog like smoke everywhere. It looks like something out of a nuclear fall out. The bush looked very deadly and scary. Some parts have been evacuated it said, other parts people were walking around with masks on as it was much better. A lot of damage has been done and so many people killed. Its very sad but hopefully the end is near. Its a tragedy on top of everything else. Stay Safe.
The dense smoke warning has been revised again. Now to 6pm tonight. Also another dense fog alert.
I hope all this leads to some forest management changes. We’ve always been prone to wildfires simply because of the amount of forest we have and there are a lot of lightning strikes. They weren’t usually this destructive in the past because dead trees were removed and the forest was thinned and undergrowth removed so there wasn’t so much fuel. Also all of this burning is releasing tons of Co2 into the atmosphere which I thought was something we were trying to mitigate. Our forests were beautiful and healthy. Not anymore. You may remember a huge fire in Southern California last year. It was caused by high tension power lines rubbing against trees and brush in high winds. The power company wanted to cut the trees and bushes to prevent a fire from occurring. The authorities said no. The result was utter devastation. The people in charge of the BLM (Bureau of land Management) at least here in Oregon are no longer experts in how forests work. They’re bureaucrats who have no idea what’s going on and make poor decisions based on nothing. There is a science to keeping the forests safe and healthy and those in charge have no idea.
On a lighter note I’ve found some Time Team episodes I’ve never seen and have really been enjoying those. Much more fun than going outside.
Thank god for television, you mention the fog Michael, when I was a child in winter we were sent home from school a number of times because the fog was so thick and dense, we don’t get that now but it was proper old fashioned fog, like how Hollywood depicted the city of London back in the forties, I hope the smoke and fog goes there’s nothing worse than smoke, especially in the heat, today it’s 27 and Tuesday going to hit 30, I do not like it that hot so glad I kept my floor standing fan downstairs.
It was much hotter here today than expected as well as it will be tomorrow. Quite pleasant but far too hot for a mask. Well its about time we had some warmer weather. President Trump was blaming California for their own fires on TV this evening, saying they are poor forest management. Whether that’s true or not, that’s not very helpful, nor was telling them to pay for the damage themselves. Until there’s an enquiry, I would imagine the full causes are probably unknown and the Government should be helping, not criticising. It shouldn’t be political, its an environmental emergency and people have lost lives, homes and families and property. I am sure poor management is part of it, but so is weather, the fact that fires happen a lot with heat and dry weather and a number of other factors, but if there is a state of emergency with the West Coast of America being on fire, especially California and Oregon, one would think the priority would be to send in help to put those fires out, to save lives and protect property, help to evacuate and re house people and after an investigation, then to put things right to correct mistakes for the future. If this happened in Britain, the Environment Agency and Forest Commission, both central Government agencies would provide assistance and financial assistance, regardless of the causes. I know Government works differently in America, but surely the Federal Government has a moral obligation to help States in the case of a natural or environmental emergency? No Government response is ever adequate and it always comes when things are out of control, but emergency assistance is the duty of every Government. Even if the poor management of forests that obviously does go on, especially from your own descriptions and I know how it is here when we have rare fires, blaming the State of California for their own disaster by a President before sending assistance is hardly compassionate or the mark of a good leader. It’s more like something out of the Victorian Age when the poor were blamed for the diseases which killed them rather than the terrible living conditions they lived in.
Hi Christine. The temps your getting are what we were forecast for originally this past week but the smoke has kept it about 20° cooler. I think the fog is also caused from the smoke. We get thick fog but usually no sooner than Nov/Dec.
Where I’m from North Bend/Coos Bay (it’s named North Bend because it’s at the north bend of the Coos Bay), 235 miles south there can be thick fog any time of year because of the bay and there is a sharp turn on highway 101 that runs through both cities and inevitably there will be an accident on that curve if there’s fog. Usally a local and seldom serious. You would think they’d never driven in this stuff before.
BTW, Coos Bay, up until about 30 yrs ago was the largest chip shipping port in the world. It’s a fairly small city however and now both Coos Bay and North Bend are dead. Ever since Weyerhauser lumber mill closed.
Britain does tend to get your weather later on, I agree the fog does cause accidents, drivers are impatient they don’t seem to realise speed kills, it’s vital to go slow when there’s dense fog but you always get someone who cannot wait, they maybe a bit late for work or meeting their friends at the bar, the answer is to start out earlier, I’m glad the weathers cooler for you.
A man was arrested last night for setting several fires along a local freeway. He was released 8hrs later and arrested again this morning. Lovely.
Should never have been released, it seems that your police are just as daft as ours over here at times.
It’s not the police. It’s the Multnomah county District Attorney.
A stat I just heard regarding the state of Oregon: Between 1957 and 1987 no forest fire ever got larger than 10,000 acres. The frequency of fires wasn’t less than today, just that during that time the forest was being managed and kept healthy, something that was banned in the late 1980’s. What’s done with them now is to leave them alone. You can see what happens.
Hi BQ. Trump is absolutely right just as Oregon is responsible for our fires. California is doing the same thing we are. The forests grow wild, they’re not thinned,the dead trees aren’t removed, the undergrowth isn’t cleared and so there is unlimited fuel and once a fire starts it is impossible to control. Doing all of these things also helps prevent the trees from getting diseased. We have far fewer trees and less healthy trees than we did 30yrs ago when things were managed efficiently and correctly.
The dense smoke advisory that was supposed to expire at 6pm Monday has now been extended to 5am Wednesday.
Six people have been arrested in Oregon for setting fires yet the Oregon government is saying it’s a waste of time to speculate that the fires could have been human caused. The media is echoing this message. This is so frustrating. And by the way, the fires stop at the Canadian border. That does not sound natural.
I remember years ago when Australia had dreadful bush fires that raged out of control, it went on for a long time and we had relations living in Geelong at the time, my aunt sent us a book published about the fires, I believe they were some of the worst they had suffered, so many people lost their homes as well as the dreadful loss of lovely wildlife, in 1976 we suffered a drought where we had no rain from the end of March through to October, the land was brown and arid, parched yellow grass- no more green and pleasant land, there was a dreadful fire which started near the stables and many beautiful pedigree horses lost their lives, tragically they were all in foal the fireman tried to get them out but they were not trained in handling horses, and the frightened animals stayed in the stables and so died, my sister who used to go horse riding said they should have thrown blankets over their eyes as the dark would have calmed them down, days afterwards I walked past the spot and the smell of the smoke was dreadful, there is nothing worse than fire and the total destruction it causes, you could still smell the smoke for weeks afterwards especially because we had no rain, when the rain finally came in autumn it was a blessed relief, never was rain more welcome in Britain as it was then, they believed the stables fire was caused by a cigarette end tossed carelessly on the ground, an investigation revealed no cause of arson, people never learn, you have a smouldering cigarette end, parched dry bracken, a soft wind and before you have it, you have an inferno, I can never think of 1976 without thinking of those beautiful animals that suffered and died needlessly.
It’s so frustrating when natural forests are not managed properly and the same goes for the flood defences. Our government spends millions on flood defence every year but its up to the local authorities to maintain them. I accept the rain is a lot worse than a number of years ago and its more unpredictable but maintained defence plays a part. For example when Furness was flooded a stone bridge of 200 years old collapsed cutting access across the Kent. Furness floods regularly, its supposed to flood in parts to divert the river away from the towns and villages. A natural barrier helps but new defence walls were built and its been several years since the Kent flooded but the Environment Agency have taken precautions. The locals blamed the Government for unpredictable weather. However, the reports showed that the work had not been done by the local authorities to lower the level of the river. The bridge was last maintained in the last century probably but its never collapsed before. The height of the Kent is measured and warnings go off. Its a river famous for its boar and its tides so flooding is common but controlled. The fields flooded one June with freak storms but in Silverdale the roads didn’t because the fields are meant to flood and then drain. In other parts of the country the roads were flooding. We had to stay on holiday until it passed. It was such a hardship. We were well looked after. The motorways were flooding. However, the tiny roads around Cumbria were clear. In Arnside if there is a flood risk you put the car around the back, not on the front as it will be under water but the siren goes long before then. The Government still had to pay for the damage and probably will have to again and they provided assistance. Local authorities often fail to carry out work on time. It’s frustrating.
I think it is the same with forest areas. Ancient woodland is making a come back and our parks are well maintained but for 30 years we have had some problems. In Scotland it was seen as a good idea to plant fur trees, not natural pines. The Forest Commission thought that was good management and for a time it was but the ancient trees started to die off as the furs took over. Scotland was going to lose one of its treasures, large natural forests. That was no good and the Scottish National Party has a policy of mixed forests again and national trees are back. The forest there is very well maintained. I did hear there was a fire somewhere yesterday but I think its under control. There is so much needless loss of life when arsonists start or fires and floods happen. It really does sound like something out of the Book of Revelation. However, unlike the end of the world, much of the damage could possibly be prevented by better management and maintenance.
Your analogy to how the flooding was dealt with is spot on. I have nothing to add.
I remember when the river Severn burst its banks a few years ago, it was dreadful for the poor locals whose homes were flooded, you saw the villages where the water level had risen to the doors of the buildings, god knows what Londoners would do if the Thames flood barriers were to break suddenly.
I remember watching a documentary about that not long afterwards. It was terrible too see the destruction and loss of some livelihoods as a result
I meant to share the program on BBC 2 last night, Britain’s Biggest Dig. A huge two years archaeology project has been digging up and moving the 60,000 burials from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Saint James Gardens in London, near Picardilly which is to make room for the H2 project. All of the burials will be moved to Surrey. Anything of historic interest will be carefully preserved and studied. There were some stunning breast plate markers on the very well preserved coffins. The clay ground is wet so the organic materials and wood are well protected. The stories behind some of the people, from the rich in Georgian homes to the poor packed in like sardines and the extra protection from the Resurrection Men or body snatches was very moving and interesting. It was the first of four parts, Tuesday 9pm BBC 2.
That sounds interesting I will watch that on the iPlayer, I think it’s a shame they have to move bodies though, 60.000 is a huge amount, I’m sure those long departed souls would not be too happy about being unearthed and moved to Surrey, but when they decide to build new things if old cemeteries are in the way, they inevitably have to go.
Your analogy to how the flooding was dealt with is spot on. I have nothing to add.
Thank you for the information on that program. What an incredible undertaking. I’d love to see that.
I agree but at least the deceased are being shown some respect. The alternative is to do what has been done in many places in the past including here, building on top of them.