GhostOfClayton

I sort of touched on German in school. The way we learned it was the old-fashioned way where we were taught the grammar (you would have approved). A couple of years ago, my company asked if I would do tours of Vienna the next season, so I had to go to night school. They taught little grammar - the focus was on making yourself understood, even if what you said was technically incorrect. I prefer the grammar, though you understood me, (even if I mistyped 'sitzen' - does 'setzen' mean 'to put'? ) Anyway, the holiday was cancelled after my first tour of duty, so I only ever got to use all my new found German skills once!

Aha . . . didn't spot that one, though it is available on Demand 5.

Was that on The History Channel, Melvadius? (I'm hoping not, as I am either too tight to buy a Sky subscription, or have refused it for reasons of principle - even I don't know which).

Nice little quote from Jimmy Carr last night. Lightens the mood, but does have a serious point behind it. "A lot of people have been concerned that Egypt's finest and most valuable historical artefacts are being looted and vandalised. But don't worry! I've been down to the British Museum, and they're all OK."

What I did notice a few years ago was the rise of the 'lower budget' historical documentaries of the type you see on The History Channel, and what is currently being aired on Channel 5 ('Rome Unwrapped', previously seen as 'When Rome Ruled' on Nat Geographic). They are a departure from the previous historical documentaries (the BBC ones, say), in that very little money is spent on recreating scenes, props, etc. But they do seem keen to use good and appropriate 'experts', who tend to overlay the cheap/inaccurate sets/costumes with balanced and accurate historical commentary. Lets face it, a history Professor is significantly less expensive than a film set!

Why do they do it? Simple: in any conversation between someone with a d

I think you're right! Well spotted.

Wilkommen ins meinen Blog! Setzen sie alles bequem? Also . . . . . I may have mentioned it before, but I chair meetings of the 'Aquis-of-the-Romans Residents Association'. The social committee had decided that it would be a good idea to hold a sort of Easter F�te at the local Club, and so held a meeting for all interested parties to plan it out. It was decided that, in order to amuse the kiddies of the village, someone should dress as the Easter Bunny and hand out Easter Eggs, judge the Easter Bonnet competition, that kind of thing (and presumably a lot of hopping). "So", the meeting chair said, "all we need is a volunteer to wear the bunny costume." To my horror, all eyes turned to me expectantly. I went into a cold sweat, and panicked a little, before remembering my Get-Out-Of-Jail free card. "OK", I said, relieved to have the trump card in the deck, "if you can find a costume that will fit me, I'll wear it." Being 6'2" and massively overweight, I knew myself to be in a winning position � no fancy dress costume would fit. The ladies of Lark Rise (an outlying hamlet to Aquis-of-the-Romans) looked at each other with a knowing smile, and then back to me. "We'll make you one." I'm not sure, but I think I might just have done a little bit of sick in the back of my mouth! So now, here I am, trapped. I'm not sure exactly when it was that I started living in a sitcom.

In order to make up for my previous tardiness with Channel 5's "Rome Unwrapped" series, this one is still so far ahead, there's very little information on it. I'll keep my eye open for more as it appears and add it here. 'Julius Caesar: Rome Unwrapped' Country: UK Channel: Channel 5 Date: Thursday, 10th Feb (also Saturday the 12th on HD) Time: 2000 GMT for 60 mins Episodes: There will probably be more in the 'Rome Unwrapped' series. Watch this space Link: To follow More info when I have it.

You have my sincere apologies that this one passed me by and was on before I had time to post here. It is available on Demand 5 (follow the link below). I don't know for how long, but I have it recorded. Contact me for a copy: 'Gladiators: Rome Unwrapped' Country: UK Channel: Channel 5 Date: Tuesday, 1st Feb Time: 2000 GMT for 60 mins Episodes: More than 1 (to be confirmed) Link: Channel 5 I was pleasantly surprised to find that our old friend Adrian Goldsworthy was one of the major contributors to this documentary.

Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to reading his views. I dug about in the archeological reports quite deeply when I researched my Wikipedia articles for the milecastles and turrets (I must finish that job - it's getting embarassing). You soon find that the nice, simple layout/story that's suitable for telling to the tourists is very unsatisfactory when it comes to matching with evidence on the ground (or under the ground), particulalry (but not exclusively) in the east. Fascinating stuff!

Thanks to Melvadius for bringing this book to my attention - it looks right up my particular street. Shame it's not available for Kindle. Nice photo of Turret 44B on the cover. How sad am I that I now recognise them all and can cite their number?

Interesting . . we await the outcome with baited breath. I'm sure you'll let us know.

. . . and also a new clip from the film.

I suppose there has to be a distinction between 'learning about history' and 'learning from history'. I just made up that little sound bite to sound cleverer than I am, but bear with me, I'm going somewhere with this. For the puposes of differentiating the two, I see 'learning about history' as doing it for pure intelectual curiosity, and 'learning from history' as having the whole 'not repeating mistakes' business as a primary reason for doing it, in other words influencing behaviours based on outcomes of research. The trouble with 'learning from history' is that at best it has a tendency to be subjective and open to wide interpretation. In other words with no clear cut, black and white scientific result that you can point at and say (for example) "Caesar did this and look what happened to him, so let's not do that!" At worst it is used where the desire to influence behaviour exists in advance, and a spin is put on history, or individual events cherry picked/taken out of context purely to bring about the desired change. There's never a right answer. That being the case, my tendency is towards 'learning about history' because I am a curious fellow (in more ways than one). I'll leave 'learning from history' to the naive, the politicians, the religious nutcases, and the students who are trying to impress the person marking their paper.

Funny, Vindolanda seems to have a certain cach

Should anyone plump for this holiday (and can I say it looks good to me - they're probably working on an area of the vicus, if I had to guess) please allow yourself plenty of time to explore the area. There is so much Roman stuff to explore, a week is not enough!

Sadly, when the (seemingly very thin) veneer of civilisation breaks down, museums are seen as easy and lucrative targets from those elements that already had little respect for the aquisition of knowlege. Those same elements seem also to be the ones who are first to react, usually with violence. I have nothing but the highest respect for those who chose to try and defend the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, but would have feared very much for their safety, being most probably of a non-violent nature.

Honestly, you guys never cease to impress me!

I'm guessing the '4OD' service isn't available to watch outside of the UK. Can't really think of a way round it. No doubt someone with more computer-nouse than me could think of a way to get at it using some kind of Virtual Private Network. Let's hope they bring it out on DVD.

So we're ruling out Britannia yet again . . .

The one redeeming feature about Freeview is that you get a TV channel called 'Dave'. I honestly feel proud to be the member of a nation, one of whom realised it'd be a good idea to call a TV channel 'Dave'. Nobel Prize-winning genius! Ok, they lacked the subsequent imagination to schedule anything on it apart from QI and Top Gear, but still . . . . 'Dave' . . . . eh? Wow!

I guessed at 'pabillus', which was then confirmed by wiktionary. Is it worth a separate thread for discussion of 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day'? (Rather than the original notification post)

It's here, but in Latin. it seems to refer to a single word somewhere in this:

He seemed to do a good job with the interlocking frameworks that constituted the windows, especially considering he started with a log, and didn't use a saw. Best quote was once again from the Geordie plumber: "We've already got Shrek, now we've got the donkey." I really must go to Ephesus!