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Welsh Bluestones
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It was 11 (and nearer 12) years ago, Candy. How time passes!See https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
But of course S doesn't mention stonehenge explicitly; it was the idea that Milford Haven must have been the starting point of the sea-journey of the blustones to a dropping off point on the River Avon, not the Avon on Stratford but in Wiltshire. The documentary was most interesting. Bits of the story have been told in the British press, but it was good to see it tied together in the film. The connection between the archaeological find and the legend in Geoffrey of Monmouth seems to go beyond chance, as Geoffrey writes a legend of the dismantling of a monument in a land to the west and its transport to England, and the belief by the chiefs in the west that it could not be done. And now it is known there was a dismantling of a monument, and we still puzzle over how it was taken to Wiltshire.
But as usual, the research creates new problems, as the site in Wales is so far from Milford Haven that they think the stones must have been dragged overland anyway.
Now here is something else really interesting, and quite new: Judy Dench reacting to the discovery that she had ancestors at Elsinore. The whole program is worth watching. It is on BBC iPlayer if you can get it in Chicago,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzbVO...
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Oh my god how time passes!!! Thats carazy 11 years ago.
I've watched this episode twice its so wonderful.
Okay...let me look at Judy Dench now if I can...
Mod
I think it is amazing.The play Hamlet repeatedly mentions Denmark, with comparisons to England thrown in. That sounds obvious, but actually S's foreign countries and towns are more usually just a backdrop to action that might have occurred anywhere (History & Roman plays excepted), e.g. Measure for Measure, set in Vienna, but it could have been in any European City. S also gets the royal palace name, Elsinor, and knew it was an elected monarchy.
So I think S must have had some connection to the place, even if it was only to hear Will Kemp's stories of his time there.
Like you, I found it so good, and surprisingly moving. Did you get to see the whole program? I so liked her distant Danish relation also being an actor.
Mod
I did not find the whole episode but I will keep looking .
It is so fascinating. All I can think of is...Denchs' family must have had an acceptance of acting. Perhaps some family anecdote that got lost over the years but had created a sense of value inher great great grandparents...? Her family was open to the arts by accounts in Wikipedia and she started out very young.
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You can see some pics here at my blog...
http://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/2024/...
We discussed the value of myths to embed histrical or scientific knowledge. Whether that was a valid means of "knowing" facts.
Well...I just watched a fantastic episode of "Secets Of The Dead" on public television. A dig over ten years of research not only found the bluestones came from Wales...but they were actually an ORIGINAL monument IN Wales...moved to current site wth additions relating to the original bluestone configurations. So amazing!
the oral history in Merlin and Shakespeare is just that...an oral history!
I think thie following link will work for US viewers.
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-first-c...