High Treason
Posted on December 12, 2011 by James Riley“…Benjamin Merrill, be carried to the place from whence you came, that you be drawn from thence to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged by the neck; that you be cut down while you are yet alive…” Without dispute, the greatest news story of 1771 in the American Colonies would have […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past | Tagged Benjamin Merrill Courage Gruesome New Hampshire Punishment Regulators Treason | Leave a comment
The Very Idea Of It
Posted on December 10, 2011 by James RileyIn the BBC adaption of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, Wives and Daughters, a rumpled country Squire Hamley played by Michael Gambon, anxiously makes a bid for the help of Miss Molly Gibson (Justine Waddell) in the care of Squire Hamley’s ailing wife. Unfortunately, Miss Gibson’s step mother, using Molly as a chess piece, insists the […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past | Tagged Benjamin Merrill Courage Gruesome New Hampshire Punishment Regulators Treason | Leave a comment
Island at War II
Posted on December 9, 2011 by James RileyWell, shoot. The next four episodes of Island at War, though very good, seem to err in the Desperate Hausfraus direction. Sleeping with the enemy, of course, is a dramatic staple. It’s the very stuff of espionage films and there can’t be anything more poignant than losing in battle and knowing the enemy has taken […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Production | Tagged Courage Equipment Film Michael Gambon New Hampshire Story TV Wives and Daughters | Leave a comment
Island at War
Posted on December 8, 2011 by James RileyRedeeming the Time on Netflix So far, this series, a fictional story set during the World War II occupation of the British Channel Islands, is just stunning on all levels: the performances are compelling, the art direction is gorgeous, and the light! It certainly seems divine, since it has that breakfast-in-an-Irish-cottage quality, where everything feels […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past | Tagged Courage Island at War New Hampshire Review | Leave a comment
Raise the Militia
Posted on December 7, 2011 by James RileyReprinted from the New Hampshire Gazette, July 5, 1771 As no nation or people can be secure from their enemies and preserve their independency without the military art, it must give great pleasure to every friend to his country, and the British nation, to see the present revival of military discipline in this and the neighboring colonies. […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Production | Tagged Courage Masterpiece Theater New Hampshire Philip GlenisterIsland at War | Leave a comment
What do we do about PIRATES?
Posted on December 6, 2011 by James RileyWatch our procedural, bureaucratic Admiral Mullen talk about pirates and then re-visit an age of moral clarity on the matter: Reprinted from the New Hampshire Gazette, June 21, 1771 New York, June 10: Extract of a letter from Kingston, Jamaica, April 10. “The 18th of March last was tried and convicted at a court of […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History | Tagged Brigadier Courage Drum General Militia Music New Hampshire | Leave a comment
“The Gliegendorfs Are Here..”
Posted on December 5, 2011 by James RileyDo people still call on each other at Christmas? Drop by for a visit? I’m not sure, post-Facebook, whether this is still done, but if they do, you need a gift-giving strategy. It could happen: you could be upstairs, just out of the shower, toweling off, when your eleven year old yells out, “heah, […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past | Tagged Courage Execution hanging Mullens New Hampshire Pirates Samuel Long Zachary Day | Leave a comment
She Comes Only With Her Shift
Posted on December 5, 2011 by James RileyFrom Kalm’s Travels into North America we find this observation about marriage customs in the colonies: “…There is a very peculiar diverting custom here, in regard to marrying. When a man dies, and leaves his widow in great poverty, or so that she cannot pay all the debts with what little she has left, and that, notwithstanding […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Production | Tagged Christmas Courage Gifts Gliegdorfs New Hampshire | Leave a comment
Hannah Snell, Amazon Maiden
Posted on December 4, 2011 by James RileyReprinted from the New Hampshire Gazette, April 19, 1771 London, January 2, 1771: Friday last a press-gang was very busy at Newington-Butts, and having impressed a poor countryman from his wife and children, the distressed woman followed her husband with lamentations, which induced many women to sally from their houses. Among the Amazons was the […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History | Tagged Courage Debt Marriage New Hampshire Shift | Leave a comment