The White Hare: Notes

Notes for The White Hare

The Eagle of the Ninth was published in 1953 - Rosemary Sutcliff's first Roman Britain book. She hadn't realised that there was no archaeology at the time that supported the idea that Exeter had a Roman occupation, and was delighted to find out, later on, that 'traces of the Second Legion were being dug up all over the city'.

Snag is, it turns out now that a lot more excavating has been done that the Second Legion occupation of Exeter was in the first century, not the second, when Eagle of the Ninth is set. It looks like the Second Legion campaigned successfully in the Southwest, then left. By the time Marcus was supposed to be posted to Isca, they had moved elsewhere, leaving their huge legionary fortress on the Red Mount largely empty, and Isca Dumnoniorum was a city served by an aqueduct (although exactly how developed it was is not entirely clear, because of medieval ground clearances which have removed a lot of the Roman bits).

( Read more...and more... and more! To the point of mild monomania, possibly. )

Election Leaflets!!!

I love election leaflets. We've just had our first one arrive for the European elections. It's a LibDem one.

According to the leaflet, the LibDems are against Paedophiles and Organised Crime, and for Protecting Local Jobs. They are also in favour of Real Jobs for Real People (not like those fake people that the other parties are all about) and Making the EU Work Better For You. Those are the headline things. From the paragraph text, they also seem to be fans of Big Piles of EU Cash For All.

In subliminal messaging, all the people in the photos are white, and all look over forty. Most are male, although three are women (one lady appears three times! She must be important.) The other two women are Back of a Head, and Face Obscured By Flyer. The LibDem team have a photo of themselves taken with the Britannia Inn in Saltash (that's the one with a giant Union Jack painted across the entire building). They get a gold star for putting my name and full address on the leaflet, all spelt correctly. They clearly enjoy wearing hi vis jackets in either yellow OR orange.

I am looking forward excitedly to the promises of other parties, delivered in digestible leaflet form.