Remembering PRESTAGS

September 22 - Feast of Saint Maurice and Companions

Happy name day to Python!

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Maurice and Companions.

Maurice was an officer of the Theban Legion. There are two things that set this legion apart from other Roman legions of the time. First, the high number of legionnaires, and second it was made up exclusively of Christians. It was called the Theban Legion (Alkateeba al Teebia) because the men were Egyptian Christian Copts recruited from and stationed in Thebes in Upper Egypt. The leaders of the Theban Legion were Mauritius (St Maurice or St Moritz), Candidus and Exupernis (Exuperantius).

The Thebean legion was one of those which were sent by Dioclesian (who was co-ruler with Maximian) out of the East to compose his army for his expedition into Gaul. The Theban Legion reached Maximian’s army in Gaul to engage the Bagaude by way of the St Bernard’s Pass in the Alps. Here in AD 286  Maximian, fearing religious dissent, organized a universal sacrifice, in which the whole army was required to participate and swear an oath of allegiance, as well as promise to assist in the extermination of Christianity from Gaul. Maximian was uncompromising: he organized the un-Roman rite of adoratio (proskynesis in Greek), which was the Persian rite of worship to the Shah-I-Shah as a living god, translated over to the Roman emperor. Worshippers were obliged to prostrate themselves before the emperor three times, ironically and poignantly for the Christians, as it was just as Satan had asked of Jesus

Maurice and his fellow legionnaires refused to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods as ordered by the Emperor to insure victory over rebelling Bagaudae. When they refused to obey repeated orders to do so and withdrew from the army encamped at Octodurum (Martigny) near Lake Geneva to Agaunum (St. Maurice-en-Valais), Maximian had the entire Legion of over six thousand men put to death.

The entire legion refused point-blank to sacrifice or take the oaths, incensing Maximian, whoordered the decimation of the legion at Martigny. It was not to be any ordinary decimation. When every tenth man had been butchered, the survivors bucked the trend and enthusiastically reasserted their Christian faith, further enraging Maximian; 666 more soldiers then met their deaths, their blood turning the Rhone and its flood plain crimson. This was repeated until all the soldiers were dead. To the end they were encouraged in their constancy by Maurice and two fellow officers, Exuperius and Candidus. Not all the members of the legion were at Aguanum at the time of the massacre. Some were posted at various points along the military road linking Switzerland with Germany and Italy. These were systematically martyred wherever they were found.

From Father Alban Butler “Saint Maurice and His Companions, Martyrs”. Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints, 1866:

"The emperor sent forth fresh threats that it was in vain they confided in their multitude; and that if they persisted in their disobedience, not a man among them should escape death. The legion, by the advice of their generous leaders, answered him by a dutiful remonstrance, the substance of which was as follows: “We are your soldiers, but are servants of the true God. We owe you military service and obedience; but we cannot renounce Him who is our Creator and Master, and also yours, even whilst you reject him. In all things which are not against his law we most willingly obey you, as we have done hitherto. We readily oppose all your enemies, whoever they are; but we cannot dip our hands in the blood of innocent persons. We have taken an oath to God before we took one to you: you can place no confidence in our second oath, should we violate the first. You command us to punish the Christians: behold we are all such. We confess God the Father, author of all things, and his Son, Jesus Christ. We have seen our companions slain without lamenting them; and we rejoice at their honour. Neither this extremity to which we are reduced, nor any provocation hath tempted us to revolt. We have arms in our hands; but we do not resist, because we had rather die innocent than live by any sin.”

This legion consisted of about six thousand six hundred men, who were all well armed, and might have sold their lives very dear. But they had learned to give to God what is God’s, and to Cæsar what is Cæsar’s, and they showed their courage more in dying than they had ever done in the most hazardous enterprises."

Python loves a good statue:

Interestingly, in relation to Python's second name (and no offense to Alexander the Great), there is a Saint Alexander in the story of the Theban Legion.

Alexander of Bergamo is said to have been a survivor of the decimation of the Theban Legion who escaped to Milan, where he was recognized and imprisoned until he renounced his Christian faith. Nevertheless, Alexander escaped and fled to Como, only to be captured again and brought back to Milan where he was condemned to death by decapitation, but during the execution the executioner’s arms went stiff. He was imprisoned again and once again managed to escape, ending up in Bergamo. Alexander was yet again captured and was  decapitated on 26 August AD 303, where the church of San Alessandro in Colonna now stands.

From the Weapons and Warfare Website:

"Saint Maurice is one of the most popular saints in Western Europe, with over 650 foundations in his name in France alone. Five cathedrals, countless churches, chapels and altars are consecrated in his name all over Europe. Aguanum (Saint Maurice en Valais) has always remained the capital city of veneration of the Thebans and a major pilgrimage resort. An all-night vigil on the night before the feast is regularly attended by up to 1,000 people. On the actual feast day, they carry the relics of the martyrs in the ancient silver caskets. Over seventy towns bear the name of Saint Maurice. In the monastery carrying his name in Switzerland, the vigil ‘Tasbeha’ has been chanted continuously twenty-four hours a day without stopping for more than 500 years now. On 19 July 1941, Pope Pius XII declared Saint Maurice patron Saint of the Italian Army’s Alpini Mountain Infantry Corps".

The Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum (French: Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune or Saint-Maurice-en-Valais) is a Swiss monastery  which dates from the 6th century. The abbey  is best known for its connection to the story of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion, its original practice of perpetual psalmody, and a collection of art and antiquity:

There is also the famous Saint Maurice Cathedral in Angers. Here are two shots (notice also cleverly getting a moon into this post):

 

On the road again

After an awesome drive from Brisbane to Toowoomba, and back, I find myself pining for the open road again. This time my animal magnetism was overstretched, and I had neither man nor dog as companion. I did have a beast though!

Although it looks much the same as the Thrifty (best car hire firm ever!) beast, this one was noisy. I had forgotten how much noisy it makes. And Thirsty. For this journey, I used my entire quarter's fuel allowance for the Prius. Old tech, I suppose.

Spring was showing on the road with the wattles just starting to burst.

I stopped at a rest area and found some Rosellas and Grass Parrots enjoying a midday feed.

I had all these lenses in the car, but the trouble with those is by the time you have them all set up, the target has gone!

Just before jumping into the car again, I checked out the name of the reserve.

I can just image the Germans saying "There is a mad Aussie down there chucking grenades. Let's decamp." Thomas Derrick did inspire me though: next time I'm with my mates, I'll spend some time chucking grenades around.

Road Trip Stage One is a success, and Blust is in the Black.

Now I wonder if I will get a turn. The again, if John Michael Young wanted a turn, he had to invent a whole game. I just have to be patient, I suppose.

Vale Deano

Our dog Deano died today, quite expectedly for everyone, including him presumably. He had noticed a bit of grass eating without vomiting this week, but he did a good walk on Friday night and Saturday night. This morning he was struggling to walk. We carried him to the vet where they thought he had Pancreatitis, and put on a hydration drip with a methadone shot. He was looking better at 2 and at 2:30 the vet noticed he was struggling to breathe. He went into cardiac arrest soon after and could not be revived.

We rescued Deano from the pound just over three years ago to be a support dog for our previous dog, Pip. Here they are on the car drive home. Pip is the only dog Deano was not wanted to kill.

Pip died a 14 months later and Deano became the top dog, taking over he duties with enthusiasm, like helping me sort my laundry on Saturday mornings.

He loved family occasions (as long as no other dogs were invited)/

In the last 12 months he had become much more of a smoocher, and was permitted on the sofa on a towel between us while we watched TV (and waited for a turn). Give an old dog an inch and he takes a yard: He could tell when I was going to bed of an evening and would try to get comfortable first.

He will be missed, but I understand "needs a good home" web sites are being scoured as I write this.

Live Long and Prosper

I was very saddened this morning to wake up and learn that Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) had died, aged 83.

His character Mr Spock, which came into being in 1966 and continued throughout the 1960s (original TV series) and 1970s (movies) and into the 1980s, became one of Science Fiction's greatest characters. And a PRESTAGS era character at that. While I was never a hard core 'Trekie', Star Trek was part of my growing up and Spock was always my favourite character. In some ways, he reminds me of the Python.

I am pleased to see that the media is highlighting some of his great quotes, both as the actor Leonard Nimoy and as the character Spock.

- "Without followers, evil cannot spread." (Spock)

- "My folks came to the US as immigrants, aliens, and became citizens. I was born in Boston, a citizen, went to Hollywood and became an alien." (Nimoy)

- "Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them." (Spock)

- "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end." (Nimoy)

- "I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question." (Spock)

 

In later years I came to recognize some subtle themes in the Star Trek universe which I didn't like, a kind of masonic utopian humanist morally relativist view of things, and a reinforcement of some of society's current trends concerning human behaviour and acceptance of deviancy with no reference to God or higher values. But the show was still very enjoyable science fiction.

 

 

Look at Dr McCoy's oufit in the photo below and tell me this is not the PRESTAGS era!

 

More reasons to like John Michael Young

I was perusing John's article in Moves #13. In it, he reviews the games created in 1973; the good (Musket and Pike), the bad (Lee Moves North) and the ugly (Scrimmage). The big trouble with reading these, is that I suddenly need to own them all, including the out of print one!

This article he does a very good analysis of the balance between play-ability and realism. I was particular amused by his analysis of the "Fall of Rome". In it, he said "I'm sort of the resident expert on Roman history, mostly because of my Roman Catholic background." I suppose that means you know your legate from your pro-consul.

He concluded the article with a fun description of how games are created. Reading between the lines in his other comments suggest his preference is to be the developer. Certainly you can see from Prestags that a complex topic can be polished down to a playable game with recognizable historicity.

 

John Young debates a military historian

John's debating style is young (no pun intended) while conceding some points, I think he misses the key difference between history and simulations. History is to find out what happened, and what the participants thought about it. Simulations are to put the participants into a similar situation to better understand it. A likely historical result is important, so generalisations are allowed where it achieves a playable and not impossible outcome.

 

I score it as 6-3 in favour of the historian.

By the way,  I love the quote about abandoning a hopes. 

 

Errata for Paul’s "albatross"

I found this article this morning waiting for the cricket to start.

John Michael Young

The Python, ever the determined researcher, has gone back to the early Strategy & Tactics magazines and found John Young's death notice (S&T 69), and an interesting reference to John in Notes From Underground (S&T 66). I reproduce these:

I share at least three things with John Young: a degree in history, experience with water pistol fights, and a love of wargames (especially ancient era ones). Thanks again Python for finding these references.

A Very Sad Discovery

When this Blog first commenced it recognized the brilliance of John Michael Young, the designer of PRESTAGS.

I never knew until today that John Young (born 2 September 1947) died in May 1978, aged only 30. This was only three years after PRESTAGS was published. I will have a Mass offered for him.

Below are two photographs from early SPI days. In the first photo, John Young is standing next to Redmond Simonsen and his face in hidden. In the second photo, John is sitting down and having a smoke while playing a wargame.

John Young was employed as SPI's accountant and he designed games in his 'spare time'. I read in boardgamegeek that he was assigned to pre 19th century wargame design although he also seems to have designed one American Civil War game and a World War I game.

The games for which he was the primary designer include at least the following:

1. Chariot
2. Spartan
3. Legion
4. Viking
5. Yeoman
6. Borodino
7. Austerlitz
8. The Fall of Rome
9. The Marne
10. Lee Moves North
11. Musket and Pike
12. Rifle and Saber

I pray that John Young is at the great wargame convention in the sky, enjoying a game.

Still No Answers. Still No Justice.

911 Remembered this Thursday.

Still no justice.

In the case of a murder, there is normally an extensive enquiry using the whole spectrum of forensic tools. With 911, a mass murder of over 2,900 people, there was no thorough and painstaking forensic investigation, there was a political commission of enquiry.

In the case of a murder, all of the evidence is preserved, even after the trial. With 911, a mass murder of over 2,900 people, the remains of the world trade centre were shipped off to China for disposal as fast as possible.

In the case of a murder, statements are taken from every possible witness and incorporated into the investigation. With 911, a mass murder of over 2,900 people, the 911 Commission did not hear all possible evidence, including evidence from firefighters on 9/11  that secondary explosions occurred immediately before the collapse of the twin towers, and how bombs were going off in the lobby of WTC1 as they were staging to move up the building, and how after two explosions in the lobby, a third went off and the whole lobby collapsed.

In the case of a murder, if evidence emerges after trial the case is re-opened, and if the jury or judge subsequently disclose errors and irregularities, there is a further investigation. With 911, a mass murder of over 2,900 people, even when commission members from the 911 Commission have come out and made statements which cast huge doubt on the Commission's findings, there is no further investigation.

Thirteen years later and still no proper investigation. At least more and more people are waking up.

 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK)

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK). He was the 35th President of the United States of America. Kennedy was born on 29 May 1917, and assassinated on 22 November 1963.

In my humble opinion the United States went downhill after President Kennedy was killed, and this decline continues to this day. I think the assassination of Kennedy was a coup in the true sense of that word, ie the sudden and illegal use of violence by a small organized group to remove a head of state and change the course of the governance of a country without reference to its citizens. When I say that Kennedy's assassination was a coup you will recognize that I do not hold with the 'official' theory that a lone gunman murdered the President.

Who do I think was responsible for Kennedy's assassination, and for the coup? All I am going to reveal in this post is that I believe  one of the following motives was behind the assassination, and you already know that it is not the first one:

1. The individual motives of a lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. (In 1964 the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy).
2. The Mafia motive, because of Attorney General Robert Kennedy's attacks on organized crime.
3. The Cuban Exiles and the C.I.A. motive, because of President Kennedy's failure to support the Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs.
4. The Secret Service cover up motive, because secret service agent George Hickey allegedly accidently shot the President.
5. The Military-Industrial-Complex motive, because of President Kennedy's support for the 1963 Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
6. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Military-Industrial-Complex motive, because of President Kennedy's plan to withdraw from Vietnam before the end of 1965.
7. The Vice Presidential motive, because President Kennedy was going to drop Vice President Lyndon B Johnson from the Presidential election ticket in 1964.
8. The Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit motive, because the secret agency (successor to the IPU) that was aware of the recovery of alien spacecraft in the late 1940s and of alien technology, wanted to prevent President Kennedy's access to and probable publication of UFO files following Kennedy's request for these files on 12 November 1963.
9. The International Bankers motive, because of President Kennedy's monetary policies and his efforts to transfer power from the Federal Reserve to the US Department of the Treasury.
10. The Secret Service cover up motive version #2, because the presidential limousine driver, secret service agent William Greer, allegedly shot the President.
11. The Cuban Government motive, in retaliation for attempts by the C.I.A. to assassinate Fidel Castro.
12. The Israeli Mossad motive, because President Kennedy planned to prevent Israel from obtaining nuclear weapons.
13. The Texas Oil Men motive, because President Kennedy was considering removal of the oil-depletion allowance.
14. The Texas Rascist Billionaires motive, because of President Kennedy's active civil rights policies.
15. The Soviet KGB motive, because the Kremlin had targeted a number of international leaders for assassination, and the Soviet union had been maneouvered into backing down during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
16. The New Orleans Right Wing Extremists motive, because of President Kennedy's attempts to obtain a peace settlement in both Cuba and Vietnam (investigated by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison in 1966).

President Kennedy was a great orator. He was a far better orator than the current sham President Obama, who does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as President Kennedy. My favourite five quotes from JFK are:

1. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable".
2. "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on".
3. "Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought".
4. "Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. we all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal".
5. "Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder".

I wonder how different the world would be today if President Kennedy had not been assassinated in 1963.

Remembrance Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

Australia is covered with war memorials, most in remembrance of the First World War and the Second World War. In a Burwood park next to one of the main shopping centres near my home is a war memorial that was opened on Remembrance Day 1922. That is 91 years ago. This memorial now remembers 9 wars up to Vietnam.

Even on my own street, a few minutes walk from my house, is a row of olive trees that is actually a war memorial to the Rats of Tobruk. Most people would drive past these trees without realising what they signify.

I remember.

Known Unto God

One of the first things Tony Abbott's new government did has not received much publicity, although it was an excellent decision.

In the dying days of the former labor government, the governing council of the Australian War Memorial (led by the War Memorial's director, former liberal leader Brendan Nelson) decided to remove the words "Known Unto God" from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. These words were to be replaced with words from a speech by former labor prime minister Paul Keating: "He is one of them, and he is all of us".

Our new prime minister Tony Abbott, and the new Veterans' Affairs Minister Senator Michael Ronaldson, intervened and there will now be no change to "Known Unto God".

I would like to see Brendan Nelson and every member of the council that attempted to remove the reference to God sacked immediately. I have had an absolute gutful of the political correctness (which is a tool of the evil that never sleeps) editing out God at every opportunity, and even creeping into sacred places like the War Memorial.

The stupidity of this whole episode is that the words "Known Unto God" were written by Rudyard Kipling and chosen by the generation of diggers themselves. Although the words were added in 1999 these are the words the diggers had placed on thousands of crosses around the world to mark the graves of their comrades who were unable to be identified.

The Australian War Memorial exists through the efforts of First World War veterans and their vision of how to remember their mates: "Here is their spirit, in the heart of the land they loved; and here we guard the record which they themselves made" (Charles Bean, 1st World War Official Historian). Precisely. Who are we in our modern corrupt pathetic society of 2013 to change the way the war veterans themselves want to be remembered.

I agree with radio broadcaster Michael Smith's view about the current governing council: "The people who made the plan to remove the historical words used by our diggers are vandals. They have no place as stewards of our most sacred national memorial".

I grew up in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and one of my favourite places was, and still is, the Australian War Memorial. These days the ACT is a hotbed of leftist extremism, perversion and social engineering. The War Memorial has had a narrow escape, although no doubt the God haters will be back. Perhaps they will try and remove actual items from the War Memorial that offend their evil master, such as the Long Tan Cross.

I have never had much time for Paul Keating, and his words have no place in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Hall of Remembrance. However, Keating did use words in parliament once that I believe are a good description of the vandals and anti Christians that wage a continuous assault on our nation: "Scumbags of dog's vomit; sleazebags of pigswill; maggot-infested buckets of pus; crims; grubs; boudoir bandicoots; box-heads; liars; lice; maggots; in and out of a cat's arse; like a dog returning to it's vomit". Yes, that was our former prime minister speaking. He had a turn of phrase, but was not Rudyard Kipling.

 

Robert E Lee

Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert E Lee (19 January 1807 to 12 October 1870).

Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War (1861-1865) and one of my favourite generals.

An Interesting Start

On the eve of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, through Secretary Francis Blair, offered Lee command of the Union Army. Lee was opposed to secession and considered slavery evil. However, Blair’s offer forced Lee to choose between his strong conviction to see the country united and his responsibility to family, friends and his native State of Virginia. After a long night at Arlington, searching for an answer, Lee finally came downstairs and told his wife Mary that he could not lift his hand against his own people. Lee replied to Blair that “…though opposed to secession and a deprecating war, I could take no part in the invasion of the Southern States.” He resigned his commission and left his much beloved Arlington to “go back in sorrow to my people and share the misery of my native state.”

Always Outnumbered and Outgunned

The website of Stratford Hall, a home of the Lees of Virginia, has a great little summary which captures the reasons why I admire General Lee: On June 1, 1862 Robert Edward Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia in the Confederate capital of Richmond. Not until February 1865 was he named Commander in Chief of all Confederate forces, but the leadership throughout the war was undeniably his. His brilliance as a commander is legendary, and military colleges the world over study his compaigns as models of the science of war. That he held out against an army three times the size and a hundred times better equipped was no miracle. It was the result of leadership by a man of exceptional intelligence, daring, courage and integrity. His men all but worshiped him. He shared their rations, slept in tents as they did, and, most importantly, never asked more of them than he did of himself.

Battles

The victories achieved at the command of General Lee included the famous battles of Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Spotsylvania  and The Wilderness. The losses included Gettysburg, and Antietam (in which Lee  fought a much larger army) was inconclusive although a strategic union victory.

General Lee (nicknames The Grey Fox and Marble Man) had the benefit of two outstanding corps commanders, James Longstreet (nicknames Old Pete, Lee's War Horse and Bull of the Woods) and Thomas Jackson (nicknames Stonewall, Old Jack, Old Blue Light and Tom Foot).

Credited his Troops

General Lee always gave credit to his troops. On 10 April 1865 when Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia he issued General Order No. 9 to his army which  was his farewell address: After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them. But feeling that valour and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your Country, and a grateful rememberance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

General Lee had a horse called Traveller, who survived the war and remained with him. Lee on traveller is a well known monument that was erected at the Gettysburg battleground.

A Great Eulogy

In an address before the Southern Historical Society in Atlanta, Georgia in 1874, Benjamin Harvey Hill described Lee as:

... a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression, and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbour without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was a Caesar, without his ambition; Frederick, without his tyranny; Napoleon, without his selfishness, and Washington, without his reward.

Guardian Angels

Today is the Feast Day of the Guardian Angels.

The tragedy of war has many ripples. During World War II over 300,000 soldiers were trained at Camp Swift near Bastrop in Texas. The camp was built in 1942 to accomodate 44,000 troops and reached a maximum strength of 90,000 troops. Camp Swift included at times the 95th, 97th and 102nd infantry divisions, the 10th mountain division and the 116th and 120th tank destroyer battalions.

Lots of wives travelled to Bastrop to be near their husbands, and some of these women lost babies and were too poor to arrange a funeral and burial. Many of these babies ended up being buried for free in space donated in the Fairview Cemetery. Because most of these mothers returned to their hometowns these graves were abandoned and the children buried at Fairview remain nameless. A guardian angel statue was erected to watch over these forgotten babies.

I wonder how many fathers of these babies also lie in a nameless grave,  in forgotten battlefields in Europe and the Pacific. And without a statue of a guardian angel to mark their resting place.

See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

    (Matthew 18.10)

For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways.

    (Psalms 90.11)

A PRESTAGS' Best Friend

We extend our best wishes to Thygocanberra and his family on the loss of their loyal dog Banjo. Our family also has many fond memories of this kind natured cattle dog. I remember Banjo would always sit on your foot for the human contact.

As A. B. Banjo Paterson would say, he is now "on his way":

A Dog's Mistake (1933)

               He had drifted in among us as a straw drifts with the tide,
            He was just a wand'ring mongrel from the weary world outside;
            He was not aristocratic, being mostly ribs and hair,
            With a hint of spaniel parents and a touch of native bear.

            He was very poor and humble and content with what he got,
            So we fed him bones and biscuits, till he heartened up a lot;
            Then he growled and grew aggressive, treating orders with disdain,
            Till at last he bit the butcher, which would argue want of brain.

            Now the butcher, noble fellow, was a sport beyond belief,
            And instead of bringing actions he brought half a shin of beef,
            Which he handed on to Fido, who received it as a right
            And removed it to the garden, where he buried it at night.

            'Twas the means of his undoing, for my wife, who'd stood his friend,
            To adopt a slang expression, "went in off the deepest end,"
            For among the pinks and pansies, the gloxinias and the gorse
            He had made an excavation like a graveyard for a horse.

            Then we held a consultation which decided on his fate:
            'Twas in anger more than sorrow that we led him to the gate,
            And we handed him the beef-bone as provision for the day,
            Then we opened wide the portal and we told him, "On your way."   

In Memoriam: J R R Tolkien

There have been a number of posts recently about my favourite author, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE.

Today is the anniversay of Tolkien's death. He died 40 years ago, on 2 September 1973, aged 81.

Both PythonMagus and Thygocanberra are also fans of Tolkien, and of his great books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The trilogy consists of "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". Much has been written about Tolkien and his works, and I have read most of it. On this day I offer some random thoughts about Tolkien and my life.

When I was a young boy I used to travel to Albury to visit my grandparents. One of my oldest and happiest memories is staying in bed all morning, reading "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time, while my grandfather brought me cups of tea and bread & butter.

I also remember as a boy being intrigued by the Middle Earth alphabets in the appendices at the end of "The Return of the King". My favourite was the Dwarvish runes - the Angerthas - and I had hours of fun writing messages using these runes. I can't resist now grabbing my old copy of "The Return of the King", yes my original 1974 edition with a nice musty smell, and providing a copy of The Angerthas from Appendix 3 for any budding students of Dwarvish languages.

The world of Middle Earth created by Tolkien is so deep and so vivid that it remains in the mind like a real memory. Whereas the contents of other books fade, my imagining of Middle Earth still lives in me as fresh as it ever was. Perhaps I prefer Middle Earth to the world we live in now, and perhaps I keep Middle Earth alive by visiting it frequently in my mind.

Tolkien is one of the lucky soldiers who went to the trenches in World War I and returned. He created a code he could use in correspondence with his wife Edith to avoid the British army's postal censorship. This is pure Tolkien. He went on to invent entire languages and alphabets for the races of Middle Earth. When one thinks of the creative energy and achievements of Tolkien, only one returned soldier, the enormous tragedy of the loss of 10 million military personnel comes into perspective. The total number of casualties including wounded and civilians exceeded 37 million.

My father is an avid reader but he has never liked Tolkien's works. I wonder whether Tolkien is an author that you either love or hate. Or perhaps it is the fantasy genre that you love or hate. Tolkien has been described as the father of 'high fantasy' but I don't even know what that is. I have always been much more of a science fiction buff than a reader of fantasy novels. To me, Tolkien's creation is so unique that it deserves a category, even a genre, all of its own.

I have always admired the 'Catholicity' of Tolkien's works. For over two decades now I have attended the Traditional Latin Liturgy (the Tridentine rite, now the Extraordinary Form) and fought the good fight against modernism, and other heresies and uglinesses in the Catholic Church. Only recently I found out that Tolkien's grandson Simon Tolkien had offered the following recollection: "I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right". This is fantastic: Tolkien was a traditionalist like me!

When I was at university in the 1980s I rembering thinking how great it would be if there was a movie of "The Lord of the Rings", but I thought it would be impossible to ever translate the book to the screen. I was wrong. Special effects and computer graphics and Tolkien fans rising in the ranks of movie making all came together in 2001-2003 when Peter Jackson released the amazing trilogy of Lord of the Rings movies. Jackson was, in my opinion, largely faithful to Tolkien and he managed to capture the magic of Middle Earth. The casting, the music, the cinematography, the script - it was all amazing and most Tolkien fans were not disappointed.

The Lord of the Rings movies depicted some things exactly as I had imagined: Strider / Aragorn, Gandalf, the inside of hobbit holes, and the Argonauth. I'm sure every Tolkien fan has their own list. There was only one chapter in the whole "The Lord of the Rings" that I never really warmed to, being chapter VII in "The Fellowship of the Ring": 'In the House of Tom Bombadil'. Jackson left this out of the movies and I agree with this decision. However, I don't agree with leaving out chapter VIII of "The Return of the King": 'The Scouring of the Shire'. This is one of my favourite chapters.

Last year Peter Jackson released the first of the Hobbit movies, 'An Unexpected Journey'. While it was not as serious as the Lord of the Rings movies (and neither was Tolkien's book) the movie was great fun.

Just as Tolkien interesects with many happy childhood memories, so the movies intersect with newer happy memories. I remember seeing 'The Fellowship of the Ring' with my sister on one of her rare 10 year home visits from her religious order. My memories of 'An Unexpected Journey' are associated with my daughters, and a new generation of Toklien fans.

Tolkien was happily married to Edith for over 50 years, and they had four children. Tolkien and his wife share a grave in Oxford, which includes the inscription 'Edith Mary Tolkien, Luthien, 1889-1971' and 'John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892-1973'. In Middle Earth lore, Luthien was a princess who forsook her immortality for her love of the mortal warrier Beren.

Tolkien lives on, in his great books, and in the movies.