GhostOfClayton

Not really a 'Coming Up next . . . ', beacause it has come and gone. Mastermind - Test Your Knowledge of Mark Anthony A brief opportunity (6 days, probably) exists to watch a contestant on Mastermind answering questions on our roister-doistering hero, Mark Anthony. See if you can beat the guy (bet you don't - he's good!) You have to watch it on the BBC iPlayer, and wait for the second contestant to go. I beat him on 2 questions.

You may be many things, Caldrail, but 'dull' certainly isn't one of them!

Careful with this one. There already exists the excellent Ordance Survey Map of Roman Britain. Most UK-based Romanophiles will have one on their bookshelves. Although it isn't in the form of a poster, there would be an element of competition there. I like having the UNRV Roman Empire Map on my wall, but its main use for me is as a reference guide. If I see that such-and-such a battle took place in the province of Badiddlyboing Odawidahonia, I would be able to look up the exact location on the map and see how far from Rome it is, how far from the nearest Limes it is, East, West, etc., etc. This is all stuff that I would use my O.S. map for, so would I buy a UNRV map of Britannia? Yes, but only to impress my friends.

21 again? Happy birthday. Do something special, and then let us know what it was (but remember, children read this!)

I don't believe in all that Astrology mumbo-jumbo. We Geminis are all like that!

Interesting! Off topic a little, I know, but are you refering to purely Jewish prayer, or are there any pagan/cult origins/influences?

Some trivia for you Hello, and welcome to the GhostOfClayton twice fornightly blog. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin. . . . The club in our village runs monthly quiz nights during the 'off-season' months. Each month they have a different 'guest host' (a bit like Have I Got News For You? does, since Angus Deayton's little 'ahem' adventure with a prostitute and some cocaine.) Anyway, to cut a long story short, I do the Christmas and Easter ones, and I've made a start on setting the questions for the Christmas bash. A couple of questions may be of interest to this forum (one that you should all know the answer to, and one that, hopefully, may cause you to exercise your brain cells.) Q1. What was known to the Romans as the Mare Nostrum? (Shame on you if you don't know that one!) Q2. Which modern word derives from the Roman practice of posting news items at a junction of three roads? Later addition: Q2a. What was the name of Frankie Howerd�s character in �Up Pompeii�? Answers in the next GhostOfClayton twice-fortnightly blog. Exciting, huh? Another (non-Roman) question: Q3. Which English electronic 'new wave' band formed in Sheffield, in 1977, and had hits with (among others) "Don't You Want Me?", "Mirror Man", and "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"? I'll tell you the answer to that one now. Human League. Why did I ask? Because tomorrow night, I shall be going to Sheffield City Hall to see none other than Human League. Exciting, huh? (the answer to that question, by the way, is 'Yes', though 'Not Half!' is also acceptable.) Update (Wednesday 1st December) It seems my dream of seeing Human League is fated to go unfulfilled. The little village of Aquis-of-the-Romans is under half a metre of snow, and it's still falling. The Ghostmobile is stuck at the end of the drive at OfClayton Towers, able to move neither backwards nor forwards. Curses! Weekly stuff Only 73 more days to go until The Eagle of the Ninth. Asterix book of the week is 'Asterix The Gaul'.

La mulţi ani, Kosmo.

Just to blow a little bit of a smokescreen over Crispina's little 'memory incident'. A thought struck me today. It may not have aired over in the states, but in the UK we had a brilliant TV cop series that gained itself quite a cult status. It was called "Life on Mars", and the sequel was "Ashes to Ashes". The common character between these two was a so-called 'old-style' copper called Gene Hunt. Although M. Didius Falco is, thankfully, nowhere near as 'old-school' as Mr. Hunt, I can't help seeing parallels between the two. I would say that, had Gene Hunt found himself in Ancient Rome, he would have made a cracking Private Informer. Anyone from this side of the pond care to comment?

The startling fact is that 11% of Postgraduates still aren't willing to accept Darwin's theory. Then again, facts are clearly the work of Beelzebub!

Which can be seen here.

Sorry . . . maim (meaning injure), not mame (or name!). My spellling is awful.

The trouble with Americans is that they all take dim views on sweeping generalisations made about their country! Seriously though, Ursus. Get it watched! It's a great film. PS The trouble with Brits is that none of them can spell 'generalizations'.

The advice comes with two conditions, RelPel. You must promise: (.a.) Not to maim yourself/anyone else with it (there are con-sid-er-able forces involved!) (.b.) To post photos of it on this forum when it's complete.

I can't help agreeing with Melvadius and Nortern Neil. It's very easy to cite various improvements during the (so-called) Dark Ages and say 'were they really that dark, because So-and-So painted Such-and-Such, and Watt Dabney invented the Inverted Firkin. However, if you were, say, the Sean Connery character from Highlander, and you'd lived through them, you'd probably look back on that whole post-Roman, pre-Rennaisance part of your life as being a bit grim.

I'm about halfway through Venus In Copper. The goat turned up at the start of Shadows in Bronze, though I can't remember it being given a name. He also 'came by' a racehorse called 'Little Sweetheart' at the end of Shadows in Bronze. No sign of a dog yet, though. It's quite a menagerie he has going. In Venus in Copper, he's just been introduced to a parrot that keeps repeating "all men are bastards!" - I wonder if that will end up joining the throng?

. . . and I'm thankful that I read your very nice blog (it left me feeling quite a bit more cheerful than Lord Caldrail's normally do!) Happy Thanksgiving, Doc.

. . . and how fortunate for Cameron et al that the students' rightful ire seems to be directed towards Clegg et al. Whilst Clegg et al do seem to deserve said ire (for those who haven't been keeping up with UK politics, the 'Clegg et al' part of the governing coalition were all photographed smiling beside photos of their signed statements that they wouldn't raise tuition fees . . . and they've done it), I can't help thinking that the ire would be best aimed squarely at the 'et al' with the real power, i.e Mr Cameron. And yes, (again to the non-UK residents) I did say RAISE tuition fees! We already have to pay for it. When I went to college, education was largely a fundamental right. Do I sound like a raving leftie?

It'd be quicker to list the ones that didn't have incestuous affairs.

Romulus Augustulus was barely out of nappies! Does that count as a negative trait?

And it's even got Mr Jacobi in it (though this time, taking the role of Brian Blessed!!): "House of Claudius" Country: UK Channel: Radio 4 Date: Sunday, 28th November Time: 1500 GMT for 60 mins Episodes: 6 Link: Radio 4 As usual, this one will be on iPlayer for non-UK TV Licence fee payers (I still haven't been offered that beer yet!)

Falco in Huaxia "Last heard of having a hard time with the locals in Parthia, the Legio XXXV Magna Victrix seems to have vanished from the face of the known world, and the Emperor Vespasian isn't happy at all. And when the Emperor isn't happy, he usually calls for Marcus Didius Falco, Imperial Agent, and Rome's foremost investigator-for-hire. So Falco has a mission like none he's undertaken before. Risking dragons, Monkey Gods and strangely androgynous holy men, he must travel the mysterious Silk Road in search of oriental wisdom and an entire Roman Legion. Oh, . . and silks for Helena Justina."

Also, what evidence do we have that Commodus went 'bad' before M. Aurelius' death? With the sensible and stoic hand of the older, wiser man on his tiller, Commodus would have had much less in the way of absolute power. Could it be that once he was sole ruler, that power corrupted him, in the same way as it probably did with Nero and Caligula? Ok, if you watch 'I, Claudius', Caligula was probably well off his trolley from an early age, but I believe Nero was corrupted by the power.

I really, really doubt anyone would march an entire legion THAT far into relatively unknown and hostile territory with no idea of the distance involved, whether they could get there and back in a season, etc. And what would they have to gain? Nipping over the border to occupy and/or plunder is possible, but to occupy distant and non-adjacent teritory? Plunder only what could be carried back? No way Jos

Welcome k08el01. Catchy name! You may want to also post to this thread.