Augustus Caesar

Yes it has NN!! The trees have grown a bit!! I distictly remember seeing that one on the left - it was half the size back then! Sorry guys - just thought I would poke my nosey in here.... Great pic mind... is there more to this ruin or is that what we see - its entirety?

I think a map and compass can be arranged So long as the map doesn't point anywhere near China ay? What gives me the idea that our American cousins think we drink a lot? And the fact that Gaius thinks we cannot guide him even if we do - well, oh ye of little faith Gaius!! If we are a nation of drinkers then it is through a lot of good hard practice that we can find our way home after several pints of the good ale. So a tour of the Wall? DODDLE!!!!! Crumpets are lovely with butter on - and I am on about the toasted ones!!!

Have no fear about the dates in September, they are decided. Scroll back on the "new thread" http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showto...amp;#entry63096 Yep, the dates are definite and the Romans are trembling in fear! Our Emperor of the North here, Terriblus Horriblus, is quaking in his proverbial boots at what should be a massive invasion force of UNRVers. NN's bike will be roaring through the hills and down the grassy banks of Housesteads fort and then probably rolling over in the vallum coz he's a speed junky!! Seriously, anyone wanting to go to this meet should take the advice of Pertinax and follow the link provided. It's gonna be great fun. Better than York? Come along and "Make it so!!".

Yes, rather boringly it is one of the biggest cities here. Birmingham is classed as the second city apparently. This is a rather genuine deal us Geordies in Newcastle have done in that we allow those cities to be classed as the second city here whilst it really is Newcastle!!! We ask for nothing in return for this generous favour though!! Newcastle Airport has grown to be one of the busiest in England outside of London and is constantly growing at a very fast rate. It's all those wise folks who want to come here for a visit and see all its history that do this... as well as those exiled Geordies who come home every weekend for a beer or two coz no-where else serves good alcohol!!! Now before you all flay me for that - let me run away first!!! Seriously though - Newcastle is an excellent choice for flights but being made to fly to London first at $200 extra is a bit much. It is therefore cheaper to fly to Manchester and travel by train from there. Not a fantastic amount though but it is still a lot less. You could always hire a boat you know!! Go on - save your dollars and come over... you will never ever regret it!!!! We are so friendly up here and folks are made so welcome and the Wall is just beckoning you now!!! Can't you hear it???

The travel via plane to England from the US does not need to be to Manchester. Our airport in Newcastle is huge and takes flights from your own country Doc. Remember, Newcastle is only a couple of miles from the Wall area itself. Manchester is a lot further south. Of course, the choice is down to cost and your own personal taste. But Newcastle Airport is another option for you to check out. Hiring a minibus is OK but would it be self drive? We would have to pay per mileage and a guy here may let us have it on the cheep as he is known to Flavia (my good lady) through her neice who holidays with them frequently. The guy has a minibus at Manchester Airport and his company is Premier Transport. He may allow us the use of that minibus so I will ask Flavia to check this out next time she sees her sister who will call him up. Do keep checking into this though as this is by no means a cert. If he is agreeable to us having the minibus then it could be used from Manchester. Failing that we could have everyone meet in Newcastle and hire another of his buses from here to keep all the sharing of costs even. There's a lot to sort here so let's have some further debate.

I must thank you all for the comments re the report. This is a first for me and it obviously went down well!! Hurrah!!!! A bit like that muffin it seems!! "Take up thy muffin and walk!!"... FANTASTIC!!!!!!! I clean forgot all about putting that in the report!! Flavia will forgive me though. Yes, you are so right Augusta we must do this all again! Arrangements are being made on the other thread for this so everyone check in there... myself and NN are going to be organising this one. I think I maight hire a silk toga for this one!!! Then again maybe not!! BTW... pick up thy muffins and travel will be a rule for all meets in York from now on!!!! By order of the honourable Flavia....

Well, I thought this was a cool thing until I went to download the video!! All I got was a blank page. Is this the April fools joke extended into the latter part of the month of April and normal service will resume in May? I was hoping I could say something positive but when a simple link is not working... well...!

Well I know Pink Floyd played live at Pompeii in the theatre... it wasn't them was it? Nah, maybe not!!!

There's lots of sites supposedly selling Chelmsford 123 or have it available on DVD but no-one has stock or it is just not for sale!! It must have been deleted and awaits a new lease of life. Just like the Roman Empire!!

It's a shame that the service has been so massacred by the changes. It is no longer fitting of the title Hadrian's Wall Bus as far as I am concerned. Sally would be a great guest at the annual meet. How would you involve her though? I know she does a lot of practical stuff when she 'tours' the forts etc but would we just invite her for the instructive talks as opposed to the showing of her skills? Either way I think an honoured guest would be excellent. In a future meet on the Wall (this one may be too close to call in September) we could ask the main guy himself, Dr David Breeze. If all went well I could ask him personally as I have direct numbers and his address to get in touch. This first meet on the Wall should be taken as a chance to learn at our pace then maybe next time ask Mr Breeze to come along to give a more informed talk. That way we can give a lot more notice etc. How does that sound? A long way away but time flies as they say....

Brilliant!!! But then so's every part of that film!! Thanks for the comment about the report - I appreciate that very much. It's a long one but I didn't want to miss anything out!!!

As an addition to the above... here's a link to YouTube for a clip on Chelmsford123. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RolAzUgbutk...ted&search= There are several others to be seen also but this is 3.17minutes in length and is very funny!! It seems to me that the DVD's are not available as there is no link to buy them on Play.com..... I'll search around and see what I come up with.

Don't you just hate it when that happens? I found this last night on Play.com as I buy all my DVD's etc from there. But... I forgot to add my post here about it! Now NN ( ) takes the credit!! Ah well, anyone looking for another Roman series? I, Augustus or Up Herculaneum or something?

Gaius... "Right, you're in!!" It'll be good to meet another member of this esteemed forum. At anytime please let us know what your intentions are as per accomodation and when you are likely to arrive and leave. No hurry for this but it will give us something to work around and if enough come on Friday then we can maybe get a small item on our schedule. Feel free to come up with suggestions... that goes for anyone coming along. Just remember, nothing is set in stone apart from the dates now. We won't be changing those. NN... Received your PM and have sent reply reciprocating numbers etc. I look forward to our chat. Well, the wheels are in motion and are running well so far... let's make the meet as successful as the York one.

Word for word the scene is as follows after Augustus tells Claudius one can be so wrong about people... Augustus: "You give everybody the impression you're a bit of a fool. No point in mincing matters.... but you're not such a fool - are you?" Claudius: "I hope (stutter) not." Augustus: "Germanicus told me about you." And there you have it. That's a great scene and one of many many more!!

Wow!!! I don't know how I have missed this thread before now!! The Wall is only five minutes from me at Segedunum and having been on staff and a founder member of the Friends of Segedunum I can say a little here. David Breeze's and Brian Dobson's book has been fully revised and updated for 2000. Buyers should go for this issue. The Embleton books are many and I do have some still unpacked from our last house move a couple of years back!! No shelf space!! His illustrations are first class and are well regarded in the archaelogical circle. David Breeze is a really nice guy. I have met him a few times and asked him formally if he would do us the honour of becoming Patron to The Friends of Segedunum. In his own shy way he asked me '.. why me?' to whit I answered there would be no greater honour that could befall the Friends if he accepted because of his knowledge and stature within these hallowed circles. He stood for a short while and smiled and accepted with grace. What a really genuine guy he is. Brilliant. I was most honoured. Anyway, I digress. The book Hadrian's Wall will give anyone who has a wish to know the ins and outs of the Wall and its construction all they would want to study. It also includes the Antonine Wall as this played a major part in Hadrian's Wall history. Some of these books by Embleton can be found in a second hand book shop. We have one in the market in Newcastle City Centre which often gets some really excellent stuff from years gone by and especially Roman to boot.

Well, it seems that these dates are settled then. After a chat with Pertinax it seems myself and Northern Neil will organise this event and the dates for a more settled approach would be Friday 28th to Sunday 30th September. I say this to allow long distance travellers the chance to get there so a bright early start can be made on the Saturday morning. There are several forts and museums to visit and maybe not all will be perused at this one meet. Anyone who still wants to travel on Saturday can of course do so but must really set out early in order to catch up. The Wall in terms of length was originally to be 76 Roman miles (just over 70 British miles). Of course the extension to Segedunum was to make it 80 Roman miles (approximately 73 British miles). The length of the stretches we may cover at this stage can run up to 35 miles or so at a rough guess. This will be refined but it gives a sense of perspective early on as to the distances we may yet cover. NN can take one or two people in his van and Pertinax may have room in his car. So anyone who can bring a car and has room for a few more will be worshipped like Gods!! My wife and I usually travel via the Hadrian's Wal Bus but this won't be an option so we would be relying on someone to help us out. The AD122 service has been dramatically changed too so it is even harder to travel their via this one service. Having said that, don't let it put you off as there are other ways to get there. Trains to Hexham and transport by one of our kind drivers will surely see us through. Accommodation is plentiful along the Wall although I cannot personally recommend anywhere as yet because I have not used them. I will dig around the sites and post any interesting ones I find here. I will not post those that are deemed too expensive. We will need our monies for souvenirs and plenty beer etc!! So, let's get going on this now and let us all know if you are definately coming or not. Those dates are now fixed as of today. Friday 28th (if you want to be there ready for an early start on Saturday) to Sunday 30th. You can arrive and leave at will of course. That's not written in stone. A good night in a local on Friday to get us going as it did in York sounds like a good start point!! Only trouble is there are no curry houses nearby so bring a carry out!!!!! I have emailed Comitatus and Pertinax has stated he may do the same. I have not had a reply as yet though it is still early doors. I have tried to get Hadiran too but he's busy on another frontier. Emperors ay??

'Little marmoset'? I can't resist this one... Herod to Claudius...... upon a little moment of endearment. Go on Drusus... answer that one I gave The Augusta!! I hold no fears of this fine lady as I am a long way up the road!!!! (I now cower behind my desk etc awaiting a word perfect answer!!!)

"Titter ye not!". Up Pompeii was a great series but quite camp. It was watched by millions and really made Frankie Howard the household name he became. He was already popular with the women even though he was gay. But none of that mattered then or now. Another great comedian of his time. Chelmsford123 was excellent and I never even gave this a thought when looking for DVD's etc. Maybe I should give this a shot. If I find it NN I'll let you know!! Certain programmes from the past cannot be sold or repeated because of complicated contracts but whether this one is part of that I do not know.

Er hello!!! A trench of 15 metres by 1 metre.... how did they not see what was going on within the first few inches? And was the driver possessed?!?!?!? When a dig is done with a trowel stuff is spotted straight away and you would think this would be the case here also. 15metres? Good grief!!!!

Ooooh now Augusta... show us the metal of your sword then... What did Augustus say to Claudius when he realised his 'play acting' was not for real during their friendly little chat? Word for word now mind Augusta... you know the script!! (And no cheating by searching the scenes!!!!!!!) Take your time now...... no hurry....

In a Geordie nutshell? "Wey aye man!!"

Quite right Caldrail. This comes across in interviews the likes of Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed give. But no-one has noted that most of the top actors/actresses were all Shakepearean that played in this series. The quality was extremely high. When the Beeb tried to do another series of this sort in the Borgias they used lesser known actors and the series failed miserably. They were extremely adaptive and put their own slant on things at times. What makes this far superior to Rome is that it used little poetic license to deviate from the true stories as opposed to the more modern saga. However, having said that I do think Rome is brilliant in its own right. I do not see how we could truly compare them anyway. I have yet to see the second series as we in little ol' England are being subjected to the grossest tortures the Beeb could dish out and will soon compare to the Romans themselves if they do not put this out this year at some stage!!!! Come on Beeb......

Hi Augusta A great review of a series I hold dear in my memory banks. I watched the original broadcasts of these shows and also the repeat of each which was broadcast in the middle of the week following the first showing. I also watched the subsequent repeats on the Beeb and then bought the original videos when first released. Those videos I passed on to my brother in 2002 when the DVD box set came out on 5 discs. I have watched these right through a few times over. The team chosen to act in the series was a very good one. Derek Jacobi as Claudius - brilliant!! Brian Blessed as Augustus (my hero) - absolutely fantastic!! John Hurt as Caligula - awesome!! Sian Phillips as Livia - incredible (knew how to put fear into someone)!! Patrick Stewart as Sejanus - menacing!! Many others too I could mention but the list is long. The series was done on a shoestring, yes, and some of the scenes could have been a tad better but the whole idea was an excellent one. It succeeded where many other productions of this ilk about Claudius simply failed or went unfinished. Indeed the DVD set includes the 70 minute documentary narrated by Dirk Bogarde "The Epic That Never Was" on disc 5. This includes some of the scenes from lavish sets and some of the acting left a little to be desired to be honest. But that was the style for then and maybe that's why I, Claudius to some now would look very weak. However, I don't really care. This is what got me into Roman History big style and in particular the period it covers. It did quite literally bring it all to life for me. Of course I do have other interests in Roman History, in particular Hadrian's Wall as I ive only a few minutes from the easternmost end of it, but there are other areas. I do however, hark back to those halcyon days on the Beeb when I looked forward to the start of the theme tune both when it aired originally and its repeat a few days later. Why CAN'T we turn back the clock sometimes? We'd all be stuck in times we remember and would never progress in the future!! Ah well, thank goodness for DVD's etc!!!!

I'm afraid I would not be able to get to an annual meet anywhere near Bath as it is very difficult to get to for us. York seemed ideal. Or maybe just further south of that so wherever it may be it is in the middle for everyone. If the Wall is not for September I would need to alter other schedules to get further south and I cannot see it being so at this stage. Travel costs may also be a problem. Sally Grainger was mentioned by myself Andrew. As you'll know she is an excellent choice. She is extremely skilled at what she does and makes things very interesting. I like her choice of ingredients for her Roman bread!! Have you ever tasted it? No matter where the meet Sally is sure to be a superb choice of 'star' guest. I will sit out this choice process until something definite is chosen as I do not want to influence anyone just because I may not make it down south or until a definite number can go to the Wall either/or...