The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Turbulence in the Tushery

Now that the Great War centenary rah-rah has died down a bit, we can of course look forward to a good deal of eightieth-anniversary rah-rah for round two. Given the Conservative Party's present mood, the rah-rah for the Battle of Britain, when Mr Churchill held off the might of the Luftwaffe with no help at all from either Hugh Dowding or some refugees from Europe, will doubtless be particularly edifying in its own quiet way. Nevertheless, the British Petroleum Museum has plans to commemorate a quite different anniversary, from a time so long ago that the royal family and even the English church were still interesting. The killing of a troublesome politician, as a result of high words during high tea before some over-zealous flunkeys, may or may not have resonances for the present day; certainly the Museum's parade of pageantry will be a good deal more glamorous than any which might have accompanied (to take a random example) a centenary remembrance of the chastisement of Cork by some zealous servants of Mr Churchill.

As with many events of particular Britishness, the aftermath of Becket's killing was briefly witnessed by the denizens of the nation's only time-travelling public house. This and other exploits have been chronicled in paperback and PDF for anyone prepared to brave the hangover.

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