Week 4
Hello all, this week I am taking a departure from my usual factual historical figure and I am featuring my first fictional British person, John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke also known as Tarzan is a fictional man raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he makes a trip back to Britain in his adult life only to reject civilisation and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Tarzan was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and he first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes in 1912, since then he has appeared in 25 sequels, and countless other books, films, shows and even a musical.

Week 3

Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester to politically active parents, from the age of 14 she was made aware of the women's suffrage movement and spent her life fighting for the cause. Emmeline Pankhurst's campaigns were often seen as militant however the work she did eventually allowed women to have the vote and in 1999 she was named as one of the top 100 most important people of the 20th century, She is now commemorated with a statue in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Houses of Parliament.

Week 2

Alfred the Great is one of only 2 kings to have the word great in his name, it was added to his name in the sixteenth century, why? well basically because he did great things for Britain.
For starters he defended Britain against many viking attacks, most notably the Battle of Edington in 878 where he made an agreement with the Vikings eventually converting the Viking leader to Christianity.

Alfred was a well educated and level headed man, he pushed education across his kingdom and moved the teachings from Latin to Anglo Saxon, without Alfred the great there would be no England as we see it today, and there would be no English language.
There is no evidence to suggest that the legend of King Alfred burning the cakes is true, in actual fact the story is thought to be based upon an older Norse tale.

King Alfred died in 899 and was eventually buried in Winchester.

Hello all, I have started yet another new Project, the theme for 2020 is Famous British Characters from History and Literature

First up is this chap, just like me he was born in the city of Portsmouth, he once got a coin stuck up his nose and he had to invent a machine to dislodge it.
Brunel built tunnels, railways, ships and many other things during his lifetime changing the landscape of Britain forever. He was one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history.

Hi All

So I have a few things I would like to share with you all at this event, but is there anything anyone would like to see me show/explain? if there is then please let me know

Rob

Congratulations Graham,

The Salmon of Knowledge

This week for my series of Myths and Legends I have decided to look at a wonderful story introduced to me by my friend Hazey who lives in Ireland, thanks Hazey.

There was once a water well surrounded by 9 Hazel trees, one day the 9 trees dropped 1 hazelnut each into the well where they were washed into a nearby river and were consumed by an ordinary Salmon, by this act the salmon gained the worlds knowledge and the first person to eat the salmon would in turn gain the knowledge. News of the legendary salmon spread and many people went out to try and catch the fish but after 7 years it was caught by a poet called Finn Eces. Finn was eager to gain the knowledge of the world by eating the salmon but wanted to do the job properly so he gave the fish to his servant Fionn telling him to cook the salmon but what ever happens he must not eat it.

Fionn being a loyal servant did as he was told, slowly turning the fish so that it was cooked all the way through, just to check if it was done he pushed his thumb onto the fish to check it was ready but instead he got burnt on some searing hot fish fat, Fionn quickly sucked on his thumb to ease the pain, Little did he know that all of the knowledge of the world had been concentrated into that small drop of oil and Fionn now possessed the knowledge. 

When Finn was presented with the fish to eat he could see a spark of knowledge in Fionn's eyes, He asked what had happened and when he realised that Fionn now possessed the knowledge Finn allowed Fionn to eat the rest of the fish. From that moment on Fionn could draw up the knowledge of the world by merely biting his thumb, he eventually became leader of a warrior group called the Fianna and became one of the most famed mythical heroes of Irish History.  If you are in Belfast then you can see a ceramic sculpture of the Salmon of Knowledge on Donegall Quay.

I made this for the Eric Weinstein Master Classes

Brownies and Boggarts

This week I continue my series of myths and legends with this little chap called a Brownie, for anyone who is a Harry Potter fan you may find some of this sounding familiar. Brownies are usually found all over the UK, in Scotland they are known as Broonies, they are household spirits, usually male and if treated right they are useful around the house. At night while the home owners are asleep they will come out of their hiding places to perform various chores and sometimes even farming jobs.

The humans who live in the house should leave a small offering for the resident brownie, something like a saucer of milk or some cream will suit the brownie perfectly. It is hard to say what a Brownie looks like as they are rarely seen, In Roman times it was thought that they were human sized but in more recent times it is thought they were smaller, very ugly and could turn invisible or shape shift into different animals as a disguise.

Here is where it may sound familiar to Potter fans, The Brownie will happily continue doing the various chores IF they are looked after however there are several ways to lose your Brownie, If a person attempts to present a brownie with clothing then he will leave forever never to be seen again. You must never criticise your Brownie or the work that he does, If you do he may fly into a rage and destroy any of the work he has done.

If your Brownie gets too enraged then he will turn into a Boggart, as you can imagine this is a very mischievous spirit and difficult to remove from your property. Thankfully most Boggarts now live in the north of England in places such as Boggart Bridge in Burnley,  at the Boggart Stones on Saddleworth Moor and at Boggart Hole Clough in Blackley, Manchester.

So everyone, please let this be a lesson to you all, treat your Brownie with respect and feed him his saucer of milk every night.

Heracles captures Cerberus

For 11 years Heracles had travelled the Mediterranean completing 11 horrifying labours to clean him of his sins, it was now time for the 12th labour and Heracles stood in the palace of King Eurystheus and received the most terrible of all the labours. King Eurystheus was at the end of his tether, he wanted Heracles dead and Heracles had survived every single task so far. There was only 1 solution, to send Heracles somewhere where only the dead could go, to the underworld to capture the dreaded three headed hell hound Cerberus.
Heracles made his way to Athens to find the entrance to the underworld, not really knowing how he would complete the task, on arrival Heracles was surprised to find Hermes and Athena waiting for him. Hermes and Athena both agreed that Heracles had been tricked into sinning by Hera (see the first task for the full story) and offered to guide Heracles into the underworld.

As the trio entered the underworld they slowly descended deep into the earth to find the beast Cerberus, on the way they met many doomed souls along with a few other heroes including Theseus who had been captured by the god of the underworld Hades (more about Theseus in a future post).  Eventually they reached the great halls of Hades where Heracles was granted an audience with the god of the underworld. Hades luckily also hated Hera and agreed to allow Heracles to take Cerberus on condition he did it bare handed.

In a dramatic fight Heracles slowly tired the beast and eventually subdued it, leading the drooling and snarling monster to the surface by a massive chain. On arrival at the palace King Eurystheus was so scared he promised to release Heracles of any future labours if he would release Cerberus back to the underworld which Heracles did.

Heracles lived to have many more adventures but his famous 12 labours had made him a true hero and a celebrity all across the world. Next week I am moving away from Greece for a while to visit some other myths and legends but we will be back to see more Greek adventures soon.

Heracles steals the apples of the Hesperides

When Heracles first set out on his labours he was told he only had to do 10 of them, King Eurystheus who was setting the labours had decided that two of the labours Heracles had completed were now null and void, Heracles needed help to defeat the Lernean Hydra so Heracles didn't complete the task on his own, secondly Heracles received a payment of cattle for cleaning the Augean Stables which rendered this task as a failure. The horrible King Eurystheus had 2 more labours ready for Heracles to complete before he is set free.

King Eurystheus really wanted Heracles die, and so the labours became more and more difficult, the king thought he had found a labour to finally defeat our hero, It was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides.

The Hesperides were the daughters of the Titan Atlas, Atlas was the god given the punishment of holding up the heavens on his shoulders and the Hesperides lived in a garden which was home to the legendary golden apples, apples that only a god could pick.
After a long complex journey Heracles arrived at the garden, Heracles was mortal and knew that he couldn't pick the apples from the branches, he did however know Atlas was nearby holding up the heavens. Heracles asked Atlas if he would pick the apples for him and so Heracles swapped places with Atlas taking the weight of the heavens on his shoulders while Atlas went to pick the apples.

Atlas soon returned with the apples but refused to take his place under the heavens again, so Heracles asked Atlas to deliver the apples for him, Atlas agreed and Heracles asked Atlas if he could just take the weight of the heavens for a moment so he could re-position his shoulders and get comfortable, the moment Atlas took his position Heracles dashed away leaving Atlas stuck with the weight of the heavens on his shoulders once more. Heracles delivered the apples and Atlas remains holding up the sky to this very day.

Hercules obtains the cattle of Geryon

For the last 9 years Heracles had managed to complete every single task given to him by King Eurystheus, it had been a long and difficult 9 years and when Heracles first set out on completing these tasks there were originally just 10 of them to complete, in next week's post we will find out why this was not the last of the labours. For now Heracles was getting ready to do the last of his labours and he makes his annual visit to King Eurystheus for news of his next Labour, to Obtain the Cattle of Geryon.

Geyron was a fierce giant who lived on an island far to the west of the Mediterranean Sea. There are many descriptions of what he looked like, one account says that he had huge wings, another version gave him 6 arms and 6 legs, one version gave him 3 bodies, the Geyron I have chosen to make has 3 heads, I also gave him a massive club which he can use as a weapon.

Heracles had a long trip to obtain the cattle of Geyron, first he headed south to the coast of Africa and crossed the Libyan desert, it was here that the heat really got to Heracles and he shot an arrow at the sun in anger. Helios (god of the sun) admired the courage of the hero and decided to loan Heracles his chariot for the rest of the journey.

On arrival at the island Heracles encountered the 2 headed dog Orthrus, this beast was soon dispatched with. Next up was Eurytion the herdsman, again Heracles dealt with him and upon hearing the commotion Geryon came to see what was going on. Heracles shot a single arrow at the giant and because it was coated with poison from the Lernean Hydra the giant fell dead straight away leaving the cattle free to take back to King Eurystheus in Greece.

Heracles Obtains the Girdle of Hippolyta

King Eurystheus was starting to get very angry, for the last 8 years the king had sent Heracles off on his labours with the intention that Heracles would be killed and not return however Heracles being the son of Zeus was more than just a normal man and has succeeded in every one of the tasks so far, the king however still wanted Heracles dead and so he was trying to think up more and more impossible tasks for Heracles to do.

Far to the east of Greece lived a tribe of warriors called the Amazons, this tribe was the creation of the God of War Ares and it consisted completely of women, they were much feared as like their father they lived for nothing but war. The tribe was ruled by one of the most feared women in the world, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Hippolyta was given a magical girdle by her creator and father Ares, this Girdle gave Hippolyta the power to rule over the Amazons.

King Eurystheus had heard about this girdle and the terrifying tribe, he knew that any man who went anywhere near the tribe would be killed instantly but he thought the girdle might be a nice gift for his daughter, it was a win win situation for him, either Heracles gets killed OR the Kings daughter gets a gift, and so Heracles set off to get the girdle (or die trying).


On arrival at the land of the Amazons Heracles was expecting trouble but instead word of his arrival had travelled ahead, he was met by Queen Hippolyta and she had heard of his exploits. Queen Hippolyta was very impressed by the stories she had heard and Heracles and Hippolyta got to know each other, after many months they fell in love. Hippolyta knew of the task to collect the Girdle and so she eventually offered it to him freely. The nasty goddess Hera saw what was happening, she hated Heracles and so she spread a rumour in the tribe that Heracles was going to kill them all, the tribe attacked Heracles giving him the impression that Hippolyta had turned against him, so he killed the Queen and escaped with the girdle back to King Eurystheus

The other day I was delighted to be asked to provide some balloon decor for a good friends Wedding, The brief for the wedding was anything Disney, anything related to the Navy and the colour Blue . . . . My friend is also a magician so I figured the Sorcerers Apprentice would cover the Disney and the Magic, and then a nautical themed archway would cover the rest. I am pretty pleased with the results.

Heracles steals the Mares of Diomedes

The 8th Task of Heracles was to steal four horses that belonged to King Diomedes, this King was the ruler of a war like civilisation on the coast of the Black Sea, not a lot more is known about King Diomedes apart from the fact he owned four horses called Podargos, Lampon, Xanthos and Deinos. King Diomedes being the nasty man he was has trained these four horses to only eat human flesh,  they had been driven mad by this and they would feast on anyone who strayed onto the kings land.

There are several versions of how Heracles obtained the horses but they all end up the same way. The version I prefer is that Heracles dug a trench around the four horses and filled it with water leaving them stranded on an island, King Diomedes wondered where his beloved horses were and went to find them only to be ambushed by Heracles who killed him with an axe.

Heracles threw the kings body onto the island where the Horses quickly feasted on the King thus curing them of their madness and their taste for human flesh. Heracles was now able to lead the four calm horses back to the palace of King Eurystheus where they were released into the wild where they never harmed another person again.

I have just four more of the Labours of Heracles to do and then I will be moving on to some other Myths and Legends around the world, do you have a favourite that you would like to see me cover? Please do let me know with a message of comment.

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