The winner of my Look of Love souvenir button is…..
Jane Bigelow
Jane, email me at diane@dianegaston.com with your mailing address.
Diane
The winner of my Look of Love souvenir button is…..
Jane Bigelow
Jane, email me at diane@dianegaston.com with your mailing address.
Diane
Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Nelson. On October 21, 1805, Horatio Nelson, the 1st Viscount Nelson, was in command of the British Navy fleet and defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, thus securing Great Britain from invasion. The Battle of Trafalgar is considered one of Great Britain’s greatest naval victories.
While engaged in the battle, Lord Nelson was hit by a sniper’s bullet fired from the rigging of the French ship Redoutable. After being hit he said to his captain, “Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last…my backbone is shot through.” He died four hours later, his last words being, “Thank God I did my duty” and “God and my country.”
Lord Nelson was beloved by his men and revered as a great naval commander by his country. His funeral was an event with much pageantry and he was interred in St. Paul’s Cathedral. By 1809 monuments in Dublin and Montreal were constructed. Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square was completed in 1843.
Everyone knows that Nelson’s body was preserved in brandy until transported to England, and everyone knows of his affair with Lady Hamilton. In fact on his deathbed he begged that his country take care of her and that his belongings be given to her, but these requests were ignored. She was not even allowed to attend his funeral. But did you know:
That his famous dispatch was originally requested by him to read England confides that every man will do his duty? His signalman suggested substituting the word expects for confides because expects was in the Signal book and could be represented by one flag while confides would have to be spelled out.
That before the battle, Nelson was advised to remove the decorations from his coat so he would not be so easily identified by snipers? He refused saying they were military orders and he did not fear showing them to the enemy.
That you can see Lord Nelson’s bloodstained breeches and stockings at the National Maritime Museum in London?
That you can see Lord Nelson’s famous hat at Locke and Co., hatters since 1676? Locke and Co. remains a family owned business, the oldest family business in existence as well as the oldest hat shop in the world.
Do you know any interesting facts about Admiral Lord Nelson? Did you ever see That Hamilton Woman with Vivian Leigh and Lawrence Olivier?
Good morning/afternoon everyone. I’m recycling a blog post from October 25, 2007 today, the anniversary of two major battles, neither of which have anything to do with the Regency period.
In 1415, Henry V won the Battle of Agincourt, one of the attempts by England to get a foothold in France (and am I the only person who prefers the Olivier version over the Branagh film?).
And in 1854, thanks to bungled orders, political infighting among officers, and the famed stiff upper lip, the Charge of the Light Brigade took place, when the 13th Hussars charged directly into enemy guns during the Crimean War. As a French general commented, “C’est magnifique mais ce ne pas la guerre.” (Roughly translated as: it’s magnificent, but not war. Well, it sounds better in French.)
I’d hazard a guess that we remember these events by the two poets who immortalized them rather by the history. Here’s an excerpt from the famous St. Crispin’s Day speech by Shakespeare:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
Tennyson, another master of the soundbite, immortalized the Charge of the Light Brigade, a peom that, if you are an English person of a certain age, you had drummed into you at school, or at least the more quotable bits of it:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
I wonder if we would remember these two events–the English tried for a couple more centuries to claim bits of France, but failed; and the famous Charge was a tactical blunder of monumental stupidity–if it weren’t for the poets.
And a reminder that the contest to win one of my books about Jane Austen as a vampire is still open at Dark Jane Austen. Now I must go and write. What are you up to today?
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I just got the second proof copy of the Print-on-Demand version of Lady Dearing’s Masquerade. The first copy had a few problems, which I’ve fixed and this copy looks great! Even though I believe e-books are real books, having a copy I can hold in my hands is still really, really cool.
So now I am looking at this proof copy. Susanna’s post last week, Trouble with Titles reminded me of how I’ve been struggling with a title for my balloonist story. The connection: I’d be delighted to give away this copy in exchange for some help brainstorming.
Note: this is just brainstorming–I’m going to pick a winner at random, not based on who gives the best title advice. I won’t necessarily use any of the names we come up with. I still have a few months’ work to finish the story, so the Perfect Title Fairy might still deliver.
Just tell me what you think of my ideas so far and let me know if any new ones come to you.
To give you an idea of the story, here’s the tiny blurb I currently have up on my website, which sounds kind of trite (quick pitches are another thing I struggle with).
My hero, Gil, is a Waterloo veteran turned aeronaut. Not trusting the future, he lives for the moment, while my heroine, Emma, is a village schoolteacher so weighed down by past tragedies she has forgotten how to enjoy life. Together they deal with ghosts from their pasts, a saboteur and a passion that won’t be denied.
My initial working title was Heaven Sent. He crashes into the meadow behind her cottage and changes her life. Clever, huh? Not so much. There are at least eight books on Amazon with that title, mostly romance in various sub-genres but also one book that was religious in nature.
I decided I was not in love with that title anyway.
So I took out my journal and trusty blue gel pen and started brainstorming:
The Angel and the Aeronaut — too traditional Regency! Too much sex in this book for that title.
Then I thought of playing with Flight of …. something. Flight of Fancy? Flight of Passion? But I also found a few books with titles like that.
OK, maybe The Height of something? Folly? Passion? Desire?
Or something to do with rogues–my hero seems like a bit of a rogue and rogues are sexy, right? Rescued by a Rogue? Or does that sound too Regency again?
That’s where my brainstorming petered out. So for the chance to win the final proof copy of Lady Dearing’s Masquerade, let me know what you think of these title ideas. New ideas warmly welcomed!
I’ll announce the winner next Friday.
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene
www.twitter.com/ElenaGreene7
Today in the mid-atlantic states and the northeast we will be having a hurricane. Not just any old hurricane, but a storm such as has never been seen before. It looks like New Jersey and New York city will be hardest hit. The Washington D.C. area where I live will be on the outskirts of the storm, but, even so, the federal government is closed, the subway and bus lines will not run, schools are closed and we’ve been warned for two days to be prepared.
I’ve been to the grocery store twice and purchased all the essentials. Toilet paper. Cat food. Kitty litter….and food and drink for the people in the household. If we have electricity, I’ll let you know how we are faring during the day. If not, I’ll be back when I can.
Meanwhile, here’s a snippet about a hurricane in England, March 23, 1822.
And one from October 18, 1812, and another from October 19 and 20 that same year.
If you are in the storm’s path, I wish you good luck. Stay safe.
Any advice for weathering a storm? What should I read, if I need to read by candlelight?