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Forgotten History

I wonder whether that's the documentary I saw a while ago. There used to be PBS America and the Smithsonian channel on Freeview but the latter isn't there now.
 
Just started Daniel James Brown's "Facing the Mountain" the story of the Japanese in America at the time of Pearl Harbour and beyond. Interesting social and military history.. Review here:

https://www.washingtonindependentre...y-of-japanese-american-heroes-in-world-war-ii
facing.jpg
 
All this talk of the solar eclipse and the end of days that weren't reminds me of the almost forgotten story of the time way back in 1976 that a clairvoyant predicted that a tsunami would destroy the city of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.
Then premier Don Dunstan declared this a load of bunkum and proceeded down to the seaside at the predicted time to do a King Canute and turn back the sea (just in case the psychic was right).

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...6/news-story/e11935a6d44b5281a47bbfdd65b2dc2d
 
Erinaceus said:
I wonder whether that's the documentary I saw a while ago. There used to be PBS America and the Smithsonian channel on Freeview but the latter isn't there now.
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Sounds like it. It was Nazi Town, USA, part of the series American Experience on PBS. It included footage of the German American Bund rally at the old Madison Square Garden - quite startling if you've never seen pictures of it.

It's on YouTube for free right now, at least in the U.S.
 
So many questions...

For instance, what is 'Rising of the Lights'? And 'Planet'? And is 'Tympany' death by percussion?
 
Steven said:
So many questions...

For instance, what is 'Rising of the Lights'? And 'Planet'? And is 'Tympany' death by percussion?
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Some quick research yields:

'Rising of the Lights' - a variety of coughing/poor breathing/choking illnesses.
'Planet' - Planet-struck, i.e. stricken by astrological forces.
'Tympany' - Digestive bloating causing a hollow, drumlike sound if tapped.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Interesting that cancer and wolf are lumped together…
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“Wolf” was another name for a type of cancer:

“Cancer was, then, a much feared disease, worthy of the apprehension of an eminent practitioner such as Dionis. Further, he pronounced,

'Tis a Disease which attacks not only the Breast, but several other Parts, on which it is not less outrageous: It sometimes assumes different names; when it comes on the Legs, 'tis called the Wolf, because if left to itself, 'twill not quit them 'till it has devoured them; when it fixes on the Face, 'tis called a Noli me tangere, because that touching irritates it, and makes it a greater Ravage: Authors also observe, that there are besides Tumours and cancerous Ulcers in several parts of the Body, which I shall not mention to Day.”
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https://academic.oup.com/shm/article/27/4/632/2337871?login=false

maximus otter
 
This was also on today's Quora, a few posts below the London deaths.

Rule Britannia!

The curious tale of how the horrific ordeal of an 11 year-old Cornish boy led to the creation of the famous patriotic song.

Thomas Pellow was born in Penryn Cornwall in 1704. In 1715, he was in the care of his uncle John, the captain of a cargo ship, transporting goods between Plymouth and Genoa. What should have been a routine sea voyage, albeit rather an exciting one for an 11 year-old boy, was soon to become an absolute nightmare.
On the return journey, somewhere in the Bay of Biscay, Pellow’s ship was attacked by Barbary Pirates (aka Ottoman Corsairs). Thomas and the surviving crew were seized and taken as slaves to the Sultan of Morocco in Rabat. Thomas was subject to daily beatings until he agreed to convert to Islam. His treatment improved after that and, as the years passed, Thomas learnt to speak fluent Arabic and his obvious intelligence resulted in him gaining a status somewhat above the other slaves. Thomas gained the rank of slave-soldier and was placed in control of other slaves. In his late teens, a marriage was even arranged for him, as the Sultan knew this would likely tie him to his control and would, hopefully, provide offspring to become the next generation of slaves. Whilst away on his duties, his wife and child died from disease and, with nothing left to live for in Morocco, Thomas decided he had to escape. After at least two failed attempts, he finally succeeded some 23 years after being captured when, disguised as a travelling doctor, he reached the coast and boarded an Irish ship that took him to Gibraltar. With his full beard, Moorish clothing and dark tan, at first the British authorities didn’t believe he was the long-lost Cornishman. Eventually though he persuaded them as to his identity and returned to Britain. He made his way back to Penryn, where he received a hero’s welcome and was reunited with his family. He did find it hard to readjust to life in Cornwall though and, in an attempt to exorcise the traumatic memories of the past 23 years, wrote his memoirs “The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow”.
On reading this remarkable 18th century best-seller, Scotsman James Thomson was inspired to write his poem “Rule Britannia”, which often repeats and concludes with “Britons never will be slaves”. The poem was set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740.

So, next time you hear Rule Britannia being sung at the Last Night of The Proms, remember that it was designed as an exhortation to the British Navy to prevent Britons from being enslaved by pirates and, had Britain not “ruled the waves”, the Royal Navy would not have been able to enforce the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act passed by parliament in 1807.
Finally, spare a thought for Thomas Pellow, who was just one of well over a million Europeans enslaved in North Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries.
 
Wonderful:

After 101 years – and a $20 find at a yard sale – Clara Bow’s lost film premieres

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'A century after she first began to turn heads, Clara Bow is “It” once more. The iconic flapper of the silent film era inspired Margot Robbie’s character Nellie in Damien Chazelle’s Hollywood epic Babylon, is namechecked on Taylor Swift’s forthcoming album The Tortured Poets Department, and yesterday at the San Francisco Silent film festival, one of her earliest films was shown for the first time since the days of bathtub gin.'

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...-car-boot-sale-clara-bows-lost-film-premieres

Clara sounds great. A breath of fresh air compared to the more snobbish Hollywood stars of that era:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/fi...-bow-wild-child-hollywood-history-silent-film
 
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I love music. However, I can't sing and after much practice and attempts ... I can't play a musical instrument.
In fact, as I say - "I couldn't carry a tune with a fork lift truck!"
I'm like Baldric in the opening credits of BA4 - I can make a triangle sound out of tune.
 
Stormkhan said:
I love music. However, I can't sing and after much practice and attempts ... I can't play a musical instrument.
In fact, as I say - "I couldn't carry a tune with a fork lift truck!"
I'm like Baldric in the opening credits of BA4 - I can make a triangle sound out of tune.
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Listening to me singing along with the Eagles is 'painful', so I'm told.
 
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