Monday 30 November 2020

Quote Of The Month

DumbJon tears BBC's favourite historian a new one:  

But you read on and find out that she has Captain Hook's grasp of history:
Worsley said that Wellington's first cable back to London all but whitewashed their involvement
"Cable".
In 1815.
Did he follow it up with a Livechat on Youtube?
And it gets better:
She said: 'The European allies referred to the battle as the Belle Alliance and saw it as a European collaboration, but from the earliest dispatch sent back to Britain after the battle, Wellington was calling it the Battle of Waterloo after the place it was fought, playing down the collaborative nature of the victory.'
Yes, he called the battle after the place it was fought, the fiend!
Wait until someone tells her the Battle of Jutland didn't actually take place on the Jutland peninsula.

7 comments:

Dr Evil said...

The Iron Duke was the commander. It was indeed his victory and Blucher was late!

Anonymous said...

and he was Irish, as in born in Dublin...

Doonhamer said...

The Royal Navy talent spotted at school sports events and "recruited" the best runners to serve, nominally, as cabin boys but really as messengers.
Classified messages were dispatched in sealed metal cylinders secured to the messenger's torso by a rope harness held shut by a padlock which could only be opened by a key held by the admiral's head of security and another held by the Admirality in London.
The poor cabin boy was set ashore and had to make his back to some port and thence to London, where he would be released from his harness with message delivered.
This dispatch of a runner with a message bound to his body with rope was known as "Sending a cable."

Longrider said...

DumbJon is being over pedantic. See Doomhamer's point above. Also, if it wasn't for the Prussians (albeit late to the party), the battle was in the balance. It is a matter of historical fact that the Duke played down the allies' efforts. This was to be expected - the victor writes the history after all, which was Worsley's point. Her point was substantially true here.

Anonymous said...

Any the BBC worth every penny they screw out of our pensioners. Who could argue with a compulsory tax on TVs to fund this s**t.

Anonymous said...

Christ was born in a stable, but he wasn't a horse!

JuliaM said...

"It was indeed his victory and Blucher was late!"

Who says blogs are educational? 😁

"This dispatch of a runner with a message bound to his body with rope was known as "Sending a cable.""

Gosh! I've learned something today!

"DumbJon is being over pedantic. "

Maybe. Cracking post, though!