It'll end up as...

1. A present for me...breifly

2. Followed by snack time for Bristol's No.1 wildlife killer!

*sigh* John Dunham, shall I tell Timmer, or should you?

Y'know, zombies, underwear, etc...

It's ironic, I come out of one subterrainian area, my bomb shelter (for the belated apocalypse of the late "? for PeterK") and now I come out of another underground place.
Hey, crow, what're ya doing here? HEY! Stop pecking at my face, dammit! I am not a food product, nor am I to the point of death and/or decomposition where state law consdiers legal consumption! OW! That's my ear!

Apologies for taking so long to respond to your recent postings. Last week I was in Gloucester and Birmingham lecturing on refuse collection, I then spent several days in Dublin on Cromwell Society business, before enjoying a few days of peace at Snow Meadow Barn, my mountain retreat in remotest Wales.

I have now returned to my Somerset farmstead and base of operations near the historic town of Glastonbury.

I have recently undertaken an extensive botanical survey of my Somerset farmland, in conjunction with English Nature and the Environmental Agency. Much of my property has attained SSSI (site of special scientific interest) status, owing to the rich flora and fauna, and the historical value of the land.

Nearby are two excavated lake villages that predate the Roman occupation of Britain by several centuries. Glastonbury Tor, a hill with a ruined church tower, rises to 522 ft above the Vale of Avalon, and is not only a familiar landmark to the people of Somerset, it is also a world-renowned focal point of paranormal activity (ha, ha). Indeed, the first church on the site was founded in the 1st century by Joseph of Arimathea. Legend has it that he brought the Holy Grail to Glastonbury. The ruins of the Benedictine abbey built in the 10th and 11th centuries by Dunstan and his followers were excavated in 1963 and the site of the grave of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere has been identified. And of course, perhaps the world's largest pop festival is held near to Glastonbury most years in June.

BRITONS WITH BALLS - part XXI

Gary Cooper

Born May 7, 1901, Helena, Montana, as Frank James Cooper
Died May 13, 1961

English-American who became a Hollywood legend by epiomizing all that was 'American' in numerous classic movies.

As Cooper once said - "Dad was a true Westerner, and I take after him". Dad was Englishman 'Charles Henry Cooper' who left his native country at 19, and when in America became a lawyer and later a Montana State Supreme Court justice. In 1906, when Gary was 5, his dad bought the Seven-Bar-Nine, a 600-acre ranch that had originally been a land grant to the builders of the railroad through that part of Montana. In 1910, Gary went to England with his mother and stayed there until the United States entered World War I. Gary and his older brother Arthur stayed with their mother and went to school in England for seven years. Too young to go to war, Gary spent the war years working on his father's ranch. "Getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning in the dead of winter to feed 450 head of cattle and shoveling manure at 40 below ain't romantic", said the man who would take the Western to its pinnacle in High Noon (1952). So well liked was Cooper that he aroused little envy when, in 1939, the U.S. Treasury Department said that he was the nation's top wage earner.

Gary Cooper espoused English virtues of honour, gallantry and integrity, mixed with simple, smalltown, backwoods American values throughout his movie career, virtually inventing the word 'yup', thereby epitomiziing American literature at its most erudite. His many classic films include LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936), SERGEANT YORK (1940) (Academy Award), and of course, HIGH NOON (1952) (Academy Award), which was also blessed with my favourite movie-score, provided by Dmitri Timokin. Tiomkin also provided the breathtaking score for a great Cooper melodrama, 1953's BLOWING WILD, also starring Barbara Stanwych and Anthony Quinn.

In 1960, Gary Cooper received a special Academy Award for his lifetime contribution to cinema (and to the English language).

A truly great Briton, who naturally became an American icon.

You said - "H.P. Lovecraft had more balls than Poe, and Americans rule."

You make it sound like some sort of competition, and if you are looking to compete, then I'm afraid there is no contest. Without the great British explorers, adventurers, pioneers, philosophers, scientists, generals, religious leaders and political geniuses, Americans would not 'rule' as they do today.

As much as some politically-correct filmmakers and head-in-the-clouds trendies might try to convince us otherwise, Britain started America.

By pioneering and colonizing North America, the British people were able to do there what they were unable to do in their own country, owing to the volatile see-sawing political and religious climate in the 'mother country'. The American War of Independence saw the British-American colonists strive for independence from the, at the time, autocratic British crown. The war began as a civil war within the British Empire, and was British versus British. But, with independence won, the great British-American political leaders, such as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams were able to put into practice the political philosophies of such great Englishmen as Thomas Paine and John Locke, on whose work the American Constitution is based.

Even so, the majority of the great pioneering scientists, literary masters and political philosophers of the past five hundred years, such as Newton, Locke, Stephenson, Rutherford, Darwin, Brunel, Wilde, Shakespeare and Faraday emanated from Great Britain, or from within the British Empire. Indeed, Newton was the first scientist in the Western World to produce a scientific paper that did not make any reference to God, and although he was a devout Christian, Newton rejected the idea of the Holy Trinity.

The literature of England is one of the highest achievements of a great nation. It should not, however, be read simply as a national expression. It is a body of significant statements about abiding human concerns. The language in which it is written has evolved over hundreds of years and is still changing. Many nations, including Canada, the United States, and Australia are indebted to England for their literary heritage.

Despite Britain's turbulent history over the past 500 years, conditions were remarkably stable in comparison to virtually every other part of the world, including continental Europe. Such relative stability allowed the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Coalbrookdale, central England during the early 18th century, that quickly spread to the rest of Great Britain, and then slowly to the rest of Europe and North America.

Not only did the British people start the United States of America, but the modern mechanized world that we all take for granted today began in Great Britain with the Industrial Revolution.

Unlike you Wedge, I tend to concentrate my responses on the issues at hand.

You, on the other hand, almost invariably overlook the main issues that are raised, such as the proof of evolution, the wisdom of abortion, why the bible is largely a work of fiction, and why there is no reason to believe in God, and desperately attempt to deflect the course of the conversation by trying (vainly) to undermine my arguments with trivialities and technicalities.

Your last dozen posts at this thread have been more concerned with the style of my postings, rather than their content. This puts me in mind of our past discussions about Jerry Goldsmith's output, in which you never actually explained why, in your opinion, Goldsmith's work (1993-1998) is anything more than the half-hearted and dismally conservative musings of a once versatile and accomplished film composer. Likewise here, you spend an awful lot of time telling me I'm wrong to believe God doesn't exist, without actually explaining why you believe your alternative opinion to be the right one.

You said - " ? FOR PETER K: What do the messageboard rules say about plagiarism?"

Wedge, this very discussion contravenes many of the message-board rules for a variety of reasons, including its 'off-topic' nature.

You said - "Daniel2 has a history of trouble with content: he got banned from the FSM board for altering the content of a private e-mail, then making it public…."

I was banned from the FSM board after The Big Baby ran crying to mama because he couldn't take my dose of realism that shattered his romantic illusions about Ireland.

And, if it makes you feel better Wedge, go crying to Mama Peter…..get me banned. But, whatever happens to me, just as Ireland and the Irish remain an integral part of British culture, so God will remain non-existent.

You said - "…you are copying ENTIRE PASSAGES of text and posting them….."

So, it's okay for Chris to copy 'ENTIRE PASSAGES' from the bible, but wrong for me to publish existing factual evidence of Lewis Carroll's life that appears in a thousand different places on the internet or at the local library. So, Wedge, what is the information in the Encyclopædia Britannica entry for Lewis Carroll that is unique to that publication? The answer is nothing. Everything included in my Lewis Carroll entry can be found at a thousand alternative locations.

It really does betray your misguided nature that you question my use of reliable information for my "BRITONS WITH BALLS" series, and yet remain silent when it comes to the whimsical and largely discredited fiction that one finds in the bible. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a thoroughly reliable, authenticated and prestigious publication that discusses verifiable facts, whereas the bible is a massively embellished and distorted version of some actual historical events.

You said - "….such as finding myself arguing with a PLAGIARIST? I don't care to SOIL MYSELF by engaging in serious conversation with intellectual PIRATES!"

Surely 'plagiarism' at a message board that discusses movie music is wholly appropriate anyway? You seem to be characterizing the plagiarist as some kind of criminal - "I don't care to SOIL MYSELF" - and yet plagiarism is a fundamental attribute of what constitutes successful film music. Film composers are regular plagiarists, and it is often the case that the less a composer plagiarizes, the less successful his film music is. Your criticism of plagiarism is an insult to the film composer, and the soundtrack enthusiast.

You said - "I feel the same threat-level from you that I do a warm breeze."

Judging by the paucity of relevance and substance to your arguments, a warm breeze is all that is needed to completely obliterate your puerile theological philosophies.

You said - "ABSOLUTELY He is an exhibitionist! He's a Red Sea parting, burning bush speaking, corpse raising, water walking SHOW-OFF! He'll do whatever it takes to get our attention, because of His great love. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and God will do everything that He can to gather as many of His children into His arms as possible."

You've certainly changed your tune, as is your wont. A while ago you were telling me that God only 'proves himself' to those who have faith….now you claim he indulges in all manner of parlour tricks to gain followers.

And Chris, even if one is to believe the Old Testament's fanciful fiction, I'm afraid that the Red Sea is a simple mistranslation. An 'e' was missed out in the conversion of the original texts, and it was actually the Sea of Reeds that is described in the bible, an area of water far shallower and narrower than the Red Sea. The 'parting of the sea' is now attributed to an approaching tidal wave (or, a 'seismic ocean wave', if you want to be Marian Schedenig).

You said "Daniel2 equates Him (God) with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, and it seems to me that a comic book approach dampens the credibility of the Bible…."

Although I believe the bible to be about as credible as a fairy tale, I only equate God with the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny insofar as all are equally improbable.

Please allow me to quote one of history's best known Christians -

The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfil God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated.

For God's will gave men their form, their essence, and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will.

Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

NP -- Sound & Voice of Movie Music

BRITONS WITH BALLS (honorary) - part XXII

Brigadier General Tecumseh

Born 1768, Mad River, Ohio
Died 1813, Ontario, Canada

Tecumseh was the last of the great Indian leaders, and as a Brigadier-General in the British army, fought along with the British Empire to prevent further American westward encroachment onto Indian lands. Under British control, Tecumseh raised the most formidable army of native North American Indians ever assembled.

The most dramatic of the Indians' struggles to hold their lands against the white man was the one led by the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh. From his earliest childhood he saw suffering brought to his people by the American colonists.

Although Great Britain recognized the independence of the new United States on January 20, 1783, the Ohio frontier continued to flame. Britain maintained control of the Ohio territory for many years after the end of the American War of Independence, and the British continued to sell guns and ammunition to their Indian comrades in the American mid-west. In an attempt to counteract British influence, the US proposed to build a fort on the Maumee River.
In 1791, what was then the entire US army - under 2,000 men - marched toward the river and was ambushed, suffering 900 casualties. Among the victorious Indians was Tecumseh, now a full warrior.

In 1808 Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, a religious leader called the Prophet, established a village in northern Indiana. They persuaded the Indians there to avoid liquor, to cultivate their land, and to return to traditional Indian ways of life. The village came to be known as Prophet's Town.

Meanwhile Tecumseh was forming a defensive confederacy of Indian nations, traveling throughout the East and Midwest. "Our fathers," he said to the Indians, "from their tombs, reproach us as slaves and cowards." He won the allegiance of many tribes.

At that time William Henry Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory. He induced a number of individual tribes to give up great areas in the region that is now Indiana and Illinois. At a council in Vincennes in 1810, Tecumseh demanded that land be returned to the Indians. Since it belonged to all of them, he argued, individual chiefs did not have the right to barter it away. His demand was rejected. He then traveled to Canada to consult the British and afterward to the Southwest to enlist support of Indian tribes there.

Governor Harrison undertook an expedition against Prophet's Town during Tecumseh's absence, in September 1811. On November 7, after a fierce battle, he destroyed the village. This defeat scattered the Indian warriors.

When the War of 1812 (1812-1815) between Great Britain and the United States broke out, Tecumseh offcially joined the British as a brigadier general. In the first land battle of the war, Tecumseh led 70 warriors and 40 British soldiers under Captain James Muir against 600 men under Major Thomas Van Horne and defeated them decisively. The British commissioned Tecumseh a brigadier general, and he called on all his allies to join him. In Illinois, Americans at Fort Dearborn and the village of Chicago were massacred. Fort Detroit surrendered.

When Tecumseh became a brigadier-general in the British army, he became the highest ranking North American Indian in the history of the Army's history. Tecumseh met General Brock, Commander of the North American British Forces, at Amherstburg. Brock wrote to friends in England - "A more sagacious or a gallant warrior does not, I believe, exist".

However, Tecumseh was killed by American forces at the battle of the Thames in Ontario on Oct. 5, 1813.

The War of 1812 (1812-1815) between Great Britain and the United States was inconclusive in itself, despite the British capture and destruction of Washington DC in 1814. However, the war saw the end of British and Indian hopes of preventing the westward expansion of the USA, particulary when the Creek Indians of the south east, who were also allied to the British, were finally defeated.

You said - Alas, it came...

Yes, the truth about the crimes of Christianity, the phoniness of the bible, the hypocricy of many 'devout' Christians, and Britain's overwhelming influence on the development of North America is difficult for some to accept.

Sometimes the truth does hurt, but in the long run enlightenment is a salutary experience that benefits us all.

Believe me, John, in time, you'll feel better for it.

BRITONS WITH BALLS - part XXIII

Sir John A Macdonald

Born Jan 11, 1815 Glasgow, Scotland
Died June 6, 1891, Ottawa, Ontario

The first premier of the Dominion of Canada, Sir John A Macdonald held that office from 1867 to 1873 and again from 1878 to 1891, and in 1873 founded the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He had a genius for leadership and was guided throughout his life by his loyalty to the British Empire and his burning desire to maintain his country's independence from the United States. He expressed his feelings in the words, "A British subject I was born; a British subject I will die."

John Alexander Macdonald was only 5 years old when his family moved to Canada. He was able to attend school only to the age of 15, but continued reading on his own. He found work in a law office and was admitted to the bar at 21. Eight years later he was elected to the Canadian Assembly. Almost at once he became one of the leaders of the Conservative party, winning a cabinet position within three years.
Macdonald's political tact made him the leader in the negotiations that in 1867 brought about the establishment of the Dominion of Canada. He also was largely responsible for the adoption of the principle of centralization, whereby all powers not specifically conferred on the provinces are reserved to the central government.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the 'Mounties', was the British Empire's way of taming Canada's 'wild west', and has become one of North America's most recognisable symbols. Though Canada's 'west' was just as rowdy and wild as the United States' western territories, America's 'west' was tame in comparison to parts of 1890s British South Africa when the world's largest deposits of diamonds were discovered. 40,000 prospectors and pioneers set up home in and around Kimberley, and at one point the bars and saloons were witness to 16 shootings a day.

A few years after its creation in 1867, the British Dominion of Canada acquired a vast empire in the northwestern interior, and for a country of four million people, maintaining control of a territory the size of Europe promised to be a heroic venture. It was clear to prime minister Macdonald that in could not be done in the American manner of letting government follow settlement. That process, observed by Canadians with critical attention, had produced a lengthy series of wars with the native Indians. Macdonald was acutely conscious that in 1869 alone these conflicts cost the US government about $20 million.
Canadians believed fervently in their moral superiority to Americans. Yankees (derived from the native Indian's pronunciation of the French for 'English') might be prepared to establish title to their west by casual slaughter, but Canadians, as befitted representatives of Queen Victoria's enlightened empire, had to find a more humanitarian way. The English Canadian political mentality, founded on a rejection of American revolutionary ideals, abhorred an administrative vacuum and instinctively waged war on anarchy.

There would be no Wild West in Canada and the Mounties would be the principal instrument for preventing it. Macdonald modelled his police force on the Royal Irish Constabulary as well as on British police forces in India. They went west with a powerful sense of mission involving a determination to show the world that Canadians could manage their continental empire better than the Americans.
The police were key players in the successful negotiations leading to the signing of treaties with the Cree and Blackfoot Indian peoples. The Mounties have also served corageously overseas in defence of the British Empire. During the South African War, 1899-1902, members were represented in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and Lord Strathcona's Cavalry, and, in all, over 250 members served in the Canadian contingents and in the South African Constabulary. During the First World War, 1914-1918, cavalry squadrons were provided for overseas service, "A" Squadron (England, France and Belgium), "B" Squadron (Siberia). During the Second World War, 1939-1945, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Marine and Air Section personnel transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force.

Because of his work in achieving federation, Sir John A Macdonald became the dominion's first premier. He was also knighted by Queen Victoria. In 1870 he was one of the British commissioners sent to Washington, DC, to settle the Alabama claims.

Sir John A. Macdonald was the Dominion of Canada's first prime minister. He was the most important Father of Confederation, who was able to bridge the gap between English and French Canadians to found a federal constitutional monarchy, stretching from Atlantic to Pacific.

Canada still needs his national vision today.....

You said - "You continue to insist on arguing...."

I'm not arguing about anything.....I am merely stating generally accepted fact, whether it relates to the overwhelming evidence that exists to support the theory of evolution or the fact that the bible is full of contradictions, fabrications and superstitious fallacies.

Whether you choose to accept or reject such scientific evidence is entirely your decision. But if you are to publicly disagree with my opinions at this forum, the least one can expect is a genuine presentation of your reasons.

You said - "....you have no intention of accepting anyone else's opinions."

But all of the opinions I have expressed here are shared by the vast majority of the scientific community and society as a whole.

You said - "....what you are REALLY doing is (get this!) PREACHING!"

Being an apparent Christian, John, who is quick to denounce the theory of evolution and equally willing to accept the existence of a 'divine being', I am afraid that the 'art' of preaching is very much the preserve of the unenlightened and religious, such as yourself.

BRITONS WITH BALLS - part XXIV

Ben Thompson - English Gunfighter

Born 1842, Yorkshire, England
Died 1884, Texas, USA

Ben Thompson was one of the many famous British gunfighters and pioneers of the 'Old West'.

Bat Masterson once described the English gunfighter Ben Thompson, thus, "Others missed at times but Ben Thompson was as delicate and certain in action as a Swiss watch."

Born at Knottingly in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1842, young Ben and his younger brother Billy emmigrated to the United States with their parents in the summer 1849 but not before they were instilled with the county's unofficial motto of "If theau does owt for nawt, do it fer thissen" or " If you do anything for nothing, do it for yourself."

The senior Mr. Thompson settled the family in Austin, Texas where he was able to continue his trade as a printer. Young Ben was apprenticed out to a New Orleans printer in 1856. Although he quickly found a job working for the New Orleans Picayune. It was his time in New Orleans that set Ben Thompson off on the path of violence and gunplay.

Ben began to spend most of his free time and all his paycheques in the notorious Latin Quarters of New Orleans. In 1859 an aristocratic Creole of French descent took offense at Ben's taking liberties with an unnamed lady (although Ben always claimed it was the other way around) and the Yorkshire lad killed his first man, leaving the blood of the Creole aristocrat on the blade of his Bowie knife.

Thompson fled through the labyrinth's of the Latin Quarter until he had escaped back to Texas. When the Civil War had been underway for more than a year Ben joined the Confederate Army. As a Civil War soldier his fiery temper made him more of an asset to the Union than the South. By the time he had killed a mess sergeant and wounded an officer Ben went AWOL or "joined out" to use the English expression.

Over the next few years Ben and his brother Billy frequented the gambling halls of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo just across the Mexican border. Ben put his Mexican contacts to good use in 1865. Mr. Thompson was arrested for killing a man named Coombs but escaped from jail before he could be tried and fled across the border. While in Mexico, Ben joined Maximillan's army as a mercenary. The Mexican revolution was good to Ben; he was awarded medals for bravery and promoted to the rank of colonel. In June of 1867 the emperor Maximillan was captured by Juarez's soldiers and executed by firing squad. Ben was forced to flee back to the US to save his life.

Back in Texas, Ben Thompson was rearrested for murdering Coombs; tried, and acquitted. In 1868 he was charged with "Intent to Kill" assault and this time he was found guilty and served two years behind bars. Upon his release Ben moved up to Kansas to relocate with his brother Billy. In Abilene, Ben Thompson met an old Army buddy by the name of Phil Coe and the two men became business partners in The Bull's Head Tavern and Gambling Saloon. Although the name of the business was rather reminiscent of a proper English pub the sign was not respectable; featuring an exaggerated part of the bull's anatomy in graphic detail. The sign soon became known as "The Shame of Abilene". Sheriff "Wild Bill" Hickock was sent by the respectable elements of the Kansas cowtown with a bucket of whitewash to correct the sign. There had been previous bad blood between Coe and Hickock over some gambling irregularities at the Bull's Head and the whitewash incident soon developed into a feud.

On October 5, 1871, Phil Coe stood outside the Alamo Saloon and began firing his pistol. This was a breach of the town ordinance which forbade carrying firearms on the city streets. Wild Bill came rushing out from the saloon, described by Denis McLoughlin as "his moustache heavy with beer suds and his silk sash heavy with guns". Phil Coe explained that he had "jest been shootin' at a dawg". Phil Coe then aimed his pistol in Wild Bill Hickock's direction and fired two badly aimed shots. Wild Bill fired two shots of his own and neither missed, ending the life of Phil Coe.

Ben Thompson had been out of action while much of this drama took place. He had been showing Mrs. Thompson the sights of Kansas City when his buggy overturned and broke his leg. Thompson vowed loudly to everybody in sight that he would extract vengeance upon the lawman for the death of his business partner once his leg had healed. The day finally came when the cast was removed and Wild Bill was hiding from no one.

The promised showdown never took place as Ben soon vacated for Ellsworth, Kansas.

Ben reunited with his brother Billy in Ellsworth and the two English lads opened up a gambling concession in the back room of Brennan's Saloon. The two brothers enjoyed the good life for a time; decked out in fine clothes and partaking of the menu at The Grand Central Hotel. Trouble was not far behind however and on August 18, 1873, Ben's younger brother Billy shot Sheriff C.B. Whitney. Billy was able to escape only because his protective older brother looked out for his sibling's interest by holding off the lynch mob with a shotgun. Ben was fined twenty five dollars in a court of law for aiding and abetting his brothers escape.

Ben next appeared in Dodge City where he participated in several notorious scrapes. One of these involved Bat Masterson. Masterson was involved in a romance with a young lady who was considered to be the property of the local sheriff. When the sheriff found out he interrupted the young couple while they were dancing cheek to cheek in a local saloon. The sheriff challenged Bat Masterson to a gunfight and Masterson shot the sheriff dead. It was Ben Thompson who intervened and held off the lynch mob until Bat Masterson could escape. Thompson also took part in the Royal Gorge War, a battle between competing railroad lines. The Royal Gorge War involved the Sante Fe and Denver and Rio Grande Railroads, both of whom wanted the lucrative contract to ore rich Leadville. The Santa Fe bought several hired guns from Dodge City, including Ben Thompson, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday. The forces met for battle on June 11, 1879 when the Santa Fe contingent led by the hired hands from Dodge City barricaded themselves in the telegraph office and the roundhouse, bracing themselves for a siege.

The Denver and Rio Grande mercenaries stormed the telegraph office first where the numbers were to their advantage. Shots were fired and one of the Dodge City volunteers; Henry Jenkins, fell dead. The outnumbered Santa Fe forces quickly surrendered.

The battle for the roundhouse looked much more even. For one thing, Ben Thompson had stolen a cannon from the local state armory and had it trained on the attackers. It looked like a standoff and the two sides agreed to a parley. The Denver and Rio Grande Officials showed Bat Masterson a court order which demanded they reclaim possession of the railroad. At the time Masterson was the sheriff of Ford County, Kansas and he always claimed that as an officer of the law he was forced to accept the legal decision. Detractors of Mr. Masterson have always claimed that a $25,000 bribe played a prominent role in his decision to order the Dodge City soldiers to surrender the roundhouse.

Ben Thompson returned once again to his Texas home of Austin where acquired a liking for Three Star Hennessy and acquired the concession to operate the faro tables upstairs at the Iron Front Saloon. The Englishman's next incident of gunplay took place on Christmas Eve, 1879 when he started some horseplay while a member of the audience in Mark Wilson's Senate Saloon and Variety Theater. When Wilson tried to evict him, Thompson killed him with four well aimed shots. When a bartender rushed to his bosses aid, Thompson shot him too; with a fifth shot which fatally wounded his victim. The citizens of Austin were not only too frightened of the English psychopath to convict him but after the jury voted for acquittal the citizens of Austin, Texas made him the sheriff.

As sheriff, Ben Thompson liked to strut around town in fine clothes and fancy uniforms; a dangerous dandy. By all accounts he scared most of the other troublemakers out of town. In fact, the only lawlessness to curse Austin during this period was the sheriff himself who like to get drunk on occasion and shoot out all the street lights. Ben Thompson left his badge and his uniform hanging in the closet during a visit to San Antonio when he was intent on stirring up trouble. He visited the Vaudeville Variety Theater to do some drinking and some women ogling. The Vaudeville Variety Theater was run by a one armed man named Jack Harris who had heard of Thompson by reputation. When Thompson arrived the one armed man fired first; blasting off a round of his shotgun. Unscathed, Ben filled the one armed man with three slugs from his .45.

Because the one armed man fired first Thompson was once again acquitted of all charges but the ensuing scandal forced him to resign from his post as City Marshall of Austin. Thompson still considered himself a proper member of Texas high society as this one incident proves. In 1884 a lawyer friend of Thompson's, L.E. Edwards, was snubbed without an invitation to a banquet of the Texas Livestock Association. Inside of Simon's Café in Austin a Texas Ranger was sitting atop the back of his chair giving a humorous speech while 20 cattleman were laughing and whooping it up. A cattle baron named Shanghai Pierce bellowed for someone to pass him the turkey drumsticks and as he was ignored he just climbed onto the table; spilling plates and glasses, and crawled towards his turkey destination. It was at this moment that Ben Thompson burst into the room with his six shooter in his hand and shouted "Show me the rascal that don't like L.E. Edwards!"

The cattleman exited the room suddenly. Shanghai Pierce dove out an open window. Only Thompson and the unarmed Texas Ranger were left in the café. Satisfied that he had made his point, Thompson turned and left.

In 1884, the Yorkshire native met his end in Texas. Thompson and a companion, the nattily dressed gunfighter John King Fisher, returned to the Vaudeville Variety Theater in San Antonio. William Sims and Joseph Foster, business partners of the late, one armed Jack Harris had vowed revenge on the gunslinger. Sims and Foster confronted Thompson and Fisher within minutes of their arrival. Ben Thompson attempted to bully and bluster the theater owners but the security officer grabbed the gun by the cylinder – mechanically preventing it from firing. Seconds later all hell broke loose, rifles and handguns appearing from behind darkened curtains. Sims and Foster whipped out pistols and when the smoke had cleared Ben Thompson was filled with nine pieces of lead. The balding English gunfighter who had once blackened his tongue sucking pomfret cakes in his native Yorkshire lay dead, survived by a wife, son and daughter, and little brother Billy who was killed shortly after in the street of Laredo.

quote:

---

Originally posted by DANIEL2:By the way Al, it almost goes without saying that HP Lovecraft was of British extraction.

---

Kindly stop speaking to me. I don't want to be addressed by you again. I'm sure you'll interpret this as a resounding victory -- your mountainous waves of wisdom finally crushing my insubstantial philosophy and characteristically weak psyche into submission. If that's the way you want to interpret it, go right ahead. You can even go tell other people that that's what happened. I don't care. Just don't tell it to me. Insult me from a distance all you want (and I'm sure you will.) I don't expect you to respect my wishes in this matter, but I'm asking anyway. Publicly, just so there's no confusion as to where I stand. Which is that this "conversation" has crossed the line too many times. I disagree with atheism, but you don't see me drafting pages of vicious, nasty dialogue about why they're evil and stupid and will all burn in hell. You certainly don't see me taking that attitude and dumping it on individual people. That may float your boat, but I'm done with it. I'd say it's been fun, but it hasn't. So I'll just say farewell.

BRITONS WITH BALLS - part XXIV - Addendum

Ben Thompson - English Gunfighter

Of course, apart from the fact that the majority of 19th century American pioneers were of British descent anyway, Ben Thompson was just one of many Britons who made their mark on the 'wild west'.

What is commonly overlooked however, especially in 'western' movies, is the enormous impact the British aristocracy had on the development of the 'old west'.

Thanks to the largely fictional representation of 19th century America in the 'western' movies, when one thinks of the Old West, images of cowboys, saloons and rustlers come to mind, but one tends to overlook the fact that the British aristocracy played a huge part in the pioneering of the old west.

During the mid 1800s, the first meat cargo from the American west was sent to England on the steamer Strathleven using mechanical refrigeration. This opened British eyes to the concept of large-scale ranching. While there were many Englishmen ranching already in the American west, once the beef reached England, this provided an incentive to invest in American business.

Investing in the United States wasn't new to Great Britain. Since the advent of railways in the 1840s, Britain funded many of the railroad developments in the American West, and the British Empire was further establishing itself in its Canadian and Central American territories.

This wasn't the first time the British nobility visited the west, either. The British aristocracy was passionately devoted to the hunt and this devotion had brought them to the American west right from the early years of the 19th century. Some gentlemen were attracted by the lucrative cattle business even then, but often preferred to run their ranches from England. They invested in a cattle business and organized their companies, then hired ranchers to run the business in the U.S. while they went back to England. Back in England, the boards of directors of these cattle companies included the aristocracy....dukes, earls, barons, and even British royalty.

Not all Englishmen came to the American west for the sole purpose of ranching, though. Some came for health reasons, to escape the cold, damp climate of the British Isles. Others, like Oliver Henry Wallop, younger son of an earl, realized the need for horses when the Boer War broke out in British South Africa. So he went into partnership with a Scotsman, Malcolm Moncrieffe, son of a Scottish baronet. They ran a 2700-acre ranch in Wyoming and brought the first thoroughbreds to that part of the country. In Colorado, a British earl ran a ranch and resort near Estes Park.

And not all of these British ranchers lived on the range like nomads. Some of the wealthier ranchers had decent living quarters. Moreton Frewen, who married Clara Jerome, elder sister of Jennie Jerome (Winston Churchill's mother), built a large house for his new bride, including papered walls, English woodwork, a piano from Chicago and telephone lines.

The British also owned ranches farther south in Texas, and Texas became a notable focal point for Scottish immigrant pioneers (hence, the fictional Ewings in Dallas, although Jim Davis as Jock Ewing was somewhat miscast, Davis being clearly of Welsh/English descent). There, the Scottish and English ranchers went through the expense of fencing their land. It was prohibitively expensive to fence in one's property, especially on that grand a scale. But by fencing in one's property, they had restricted use of watercourses and feed.

This immensely important and successful period of British taming of the US's wild west made a lasting impression on the development of the American west. The British started and refined the idea of ranching, and provided the technology and science of animal husbandry, and because they bred their cattle carefully, the pedigrees were improved upon in leaps and bounds.

However, not all of the many English ranching enterprises thrived. The British aristocracy had been schooled for leadership and great enterprises, so they aimed high. The risk was greater, the annual rewards higher, but if failure did come, they often had nothing left but their title. The regular Scottish and English western pioneers were more adaptable, they cut costs, adjusted to the new environment, and turned their cattle companies into land companies. Nevertheless, even those British aristocrates who did fail, were then able to fall back on their training as leaders, often beginning military and parliamentary careers within the British Empire.

So, next time you see a Hollywood western with John Wayne, remember he was probably working for a real English duke.

I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed our coversations and appreciated your input into the discussion.

You said - "Sure, there are British influences all in America, but like in the case of Lovecraft, America took these good ideas and made them even better."

quote:

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Originally posted by DANIEL2:

[b]Wedge

I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed our coversations and appreciated your input into the discussion.

[/B]

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Funny ... I got a different impression. That said, I will reach out here and state publicly that I apologize for anything *I* have said that might be construed as a personal attack. (I will not retract one criticism: I still think you should, at the least, credit your sources when you transcribe material verbatim -- which may or may not be legal or ethical.)

and in the end, nothing will make sense...or will it? No it won't, yes it will Hey shut up I am on my soap box why that is not a soap box but a sloosh of C4 skanked on top of dynomite he said with a quite resemblance.

You said - ”I apologize for anything *I* have said that might be construed as a personal attack. “

No apologies are necessary. How could I possibly take offence at anything you have said?

Indeed, as I said earlier, I have thoroughly enjoyed our discussions over the past few weeks.

All the best,
Daniel