Love the Land, Live the Life
It would make such a great slogan for our Wessex. It is in fact already taken, as the English-language slogan of the Normandy Tourist Board. There is such a thing,…
Our Silent, Supine Cities
It’s been a good week’s viewing for fans of Wessex history. On Monday the BBC ran a repeat of Michael Wood’s portrait of Alfred the Great, warming up for Neil…
Anchoring the Future
Popular history has it that the Royal Navy was founded by King Ælfred the Great. It’s not quite accurate – his father, King Æthelwulf also had a fleet of some…
Serfs For Sale?
“Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1738)If you’re going to keep on repeating lies, the risk isn’t that others will…
Non Homo Insula Est
No man is an island. The famous words of John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s in London. Written in English, translated here into Latin.Why Latin? A cloud of celebrities ranging…
Good Works, Bad Shouldn’t
"Þæt is nu hraðost to secganne, þæt ic wilnode weorðfullice to libbanne þa hwile þe ic lifede, and æfter minum life þæm monnum to læfanne þe æfter me wæren min…
Mortgaging Democracy
“Will the Tamar Bridge be sold?” That was the question posed by the Western Morning News earlier this month. And not just the bridge. Torquay’s Torre Abbey was mentioned too,…
Bonfire of the Inanities
Should we have a new archbishop? Not just a new archbishop of Canterbury, but a new archbishopric. Of Winchester.Wales separated from Canterbury in 1920 and there is a similar demand…
Happy King Alfred’s Day
Australians are often characterised as having little time for monarchy but there are folk down under who celebrate King Alfred's Day. If they can do it, why do we in…