Cornucopia

Lord Lovat’s Piper

Bill Millin was just 21 years old when he stepped off his landing craft on D-Day, wearing his father's First World War kilt and armed only with a ceremonial dagger.

In 1944, Bill was the personal piper to the eccentric Lord Lovat, the commander of the newly formed 1st Special Service Brigade which landed at Sword beach on 6 June 1944. It was Lovat who asked him to play the pipes on the beach.

It was against the rules to play the bagpipes on D-Day. Military bosses were worried about the level of casualties at the landings.

When Bill reminded him of the rules, the peer replied: "Ah, but that's the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn't apply."

And so The Road To The Isles, a tune about the hills of Skye, rang out in France.

By some miracle - and perhaps the fact that German snipers would later say they avoided shooting him because they thought he had gone mad - Bill survived D-Day and his story became legend.

In the midst of war, the trill of his bagpipes raised morale and was an echo of home for his comrades on that fateful day.

Bill returned to Normandy for key commemorations and in 1994 was reunited with Josette Gouellain in the town of Ranville.

Fifty years earlier, Josette, then a little girl, had asked him to play her a tune and he obliged with The Nut Brown Maiden in reference to the colour of her hair and eyes.

In 1995, he played the lament at Lord Lovat's funeral. Bill died in 2010.

Lord Lovat’s brigade went ashore under fire near Colleville. His Commandos had discarded helmets at the last moment and donned their distinctive green berets, complete with their regimental cap badges. Lovat led the men off the landing craft, and Piper Millin knew because the commander was over six feet tall, it would show how deep the water was.

As Millin floundered toward the beach, his kilt floating, Lovat shouted, “Give us ‘Highland Laddie,’ man!” Shivering and waist deep in the water now, Millin put the mouthpiece to his lips and started playing as he struggled through the surf.

The pipes heartened Lovat, who turned and gave Millin a thumbs-up signal because the tune was a favourite march of his old regiment, the Scots Guards.

When he reached the water’s edge, Millin could hardly believe his ears when his commander, standing on the sand with the brigade major, asked him if he would mind piping the rest of the Commandos ashore with “The Road to the Isles.”

Millin strode back and forth along the beach, skirling while men streamed past him. Most of the astonished soldiers on the beach cheered and waved when they heard the pipes, a time-honoured morale booster in British Army

Lovat then turned to Millin and told him, “Right, Piper, start the pipes again and keep playing as long as you can until we get to Benouville. The Airborne are at the bridges there, and when they hear the pipes, they will know we are coming.”

Millin started skirling “Blue Bonnets Over the Border,” and the Commandos marched on.

An 80-metre woollen depiction of D-Day went on display, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and has been on tour

Created with guidance from professional historians to be accurate, each scene has been selected by the creator to depict the story of this momentous day in history.

In short time, the notion of a commemorative display spread far and wide, with knitting groups in Britain, France, America, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland all getting involved.

In total, 80 different groups contributed to the hand-crafted scenes for the ambitious display including the legendary piper.

Part 2 of this display is currently at Peterborough Cathedral

Catherine of Aragon’s speech at the Legatine Court of Blackfriars on 21st June 1529 is a pivotal moment in history.

Henry VIII was determined to marry Anne Boleyn and was in search of any means available to extract himself from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Catherine, being the proud daughter of the Catholic Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand, would be her own most staunch advocate.

Henry had asked Pope Clement for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. But before he could do this, in May of 1527, Rome was sacked by the Imperial troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was Catherine’s nephew.

The Pope was to spend the rest of his life avoiding conflict with Charles. He was compelled to make decisions that would not offend the Emperor even though this resulted in reducing the power of Papacy. Also, according to church doctrine, a valid contractual marriage could only be dissolved by death. The Papacy had issued a dispensation for the marriage of Henry and Catherine. It was not in the Pope’s power to annul a marriage where an impediment had already been dispensed.

In April of 1528, Pope Clement issued a papal bull giving Cardinal Wolsey the authority to handle the King’s Great Matter in England. He also dispatched the aging and ailing Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio to England to look into the claims. However, the Pope had instructed the Cardinal to delay any decision as long as he could so as not to offend the Queen’s nephew, the Emperor. Campeggio’s journey took many months. A Legatine Court was finally convened in June of 1529 to hear the arguments regarding the annulment.

Both the King and Queen were in attendance on 21st June. It appears that Henry made his arguments first and then it was then Catherine’s turn to speak. We can imagine how long she worked and prepared for this moment to plead her case to the public and in front of the king. She placed herself on her knees in front of Henry and spoke:

“Sir, I beseech you for all the loves that hath been between us, and for the love of God, let me have justice and right, take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman and a stranger born out of your dominion, I have here no assured friend, and much less indifferent counsel: I flee to you as to the head of justice within this realm. Alas! Sir, wherein have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I designed against your will and pleasure?

Intending (as I perceive) to put me from you, I take God and all the world to witness, that I have been to you a true and humble wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did anything to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein ye had any delight or dalliance, whether it were in little or much, I never grudged in word or countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontentation. I loved all those whom ye loved only for your sake, whether I had cause or no; and whether they were my friends or my enemies. This twenty years I have been your true wife or more, and by me ye have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no default in me.

And when ye had me at the first, I take God to be my judge, I was a true maid without touch of man; and whether it be true or no, I put it to your conscience. If there be any just cause by the law that ye can allege against me, either of dishonesty or any other impediment to banish and put me from you, I am well content to depart, to my great shame and disparagement and if there be none, then here I most lowly beseech you let me remain in my former estate, and received justice at your princely hand.

The king your father was in the time of his reign of such estimation through the world for his excellent wisdom, that he was accounted and called of all men the second Solomon; and my father Ferdinand, King of Spain, who was esteemed to be one of the wittiest princes that reigned in Spain many years before, were both wise and excellent kings in wisdom and princely behavior. It is not therefore to be doubted, but that they were elected and gathered as wise counsellors about them as to their high discretions was thought meet. Also, as me seemeth there was in those days as wise, as well-learned men, and men of good judgement as be present in both realms, who thought then the marriage between you and me good and lawful.

Therefore is it a wonder to me what new inventions are now invented against me, that never intended but honesty. And cause me to stand to the order and judgment of this new court, wherein ye may do me much wrong, if ye intend any cruelty; for ye may condemn me for lack of sufficient answer, having no indifferent counsel, but such as be assigned me, with whose wisdom and learning I am not acquainted. Ye must consider that they cannot be indifferent counsellors for my part which be your subjects, and taken out of your own council before, wherein they be made privy, and dare not, for your displeasure, disobey your will and intent, being once made privy thereto.

Therefore, I most humbly require you, in the way of charity, and for the love of God, who is the just judge, to spare the extremity of this new court, until I may be advertised what way and order my friends in Spain will advise me to take. And if ye will not extend to me so much indifferent favour, your pleasure then be fulfilled, and to God I commit my case!”

During her speech, Henry tried twice to have her rise off her knees. She never wavered. When she was finished, she did not go back to her original seat but walked out of the court on the arm of Master Griffith, her General Receiver.

Henry demanded she be called back into court. The crier called out “Catherine Queen of England, come into the court”. Master Griffith turned to Catherine saying they were calling her back into the court. Her response was “On, on, it maketh no matter, for it is no indifferent court for me, therefore I will not tarry: go on your ways”. And Catherine departed never to appear in any court again.

Catherine did file an appeal to Rome as she promised. On 28th June, John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester delivered a speech saying Catherine and Henry’s marriage was holy and good and could only be dissolved by God. This speech would eventually cost Fisher his life.

Campeggio offered no definitive judgement and dissolved the court on 31st July, saying it would meet again in October. The court was never reconvened. Catherine’s dramatic speech had won the battle in the short term but she lost the war. Becoming exasperated with Rome, Henry eventually broke with the Catholic Church and declared himself the head of the church in England, allowing him to annul his own marriage to Catherine and wedding Anne Boleyn.

George Cavendish (Wolsey’s gentleman-usher and then biographer) recorded the speech she gave.

June 6 marks the day Allied forces stormed Normandy for the counter-offensive that laid the foundations for the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376),[1] known as the Black Prince,[a] was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father, and his son Richard II therefore succeeded to the throne instead. Edward was one of the most successful English commanders of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). He was regarded by English contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one of the greatest knights of his era.

Edward was made Duke of Cornwall, the first English dukedom, in 1337. He was made Prince of Wales in 1343, and knighted by his father at La Hougue in 1346. That same year, Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy. He took part in Edward III's 1349 Calais expedition. In 1355, he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Gascony, and ordered to lead an army into Aquitaine on a chevauchée, during which he sacked Avignonet, Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Narbonne. In 1356, on another chevauchée, he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry, though he failed to take Bourges. The forces of King John II of France met Edward's army near the city of Poitiers. After negotiations between them broke down, the Battle of Poitiers began. Edward's forces routed the French army and captured John II.

In 1360, he negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny. He was made Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1362, but his suzerainty was not recognised by the Lord of Albret or other Gascon nobles. He was directed by his father in 1364 to suppress raids of the English and Gascon free companies. He made an agreement with Kings Peter of Castile and Charles II of Navarre, by which Peter covenanted to mortgage Castro Urdiales and the province of Biscay to him as security for a loan; in 1366, a passage was secured through Navarre. In 1367, he defeated Henry of Trastámara, Peter's half-brother and rival, at the Battle of Nájera. After waiting several months—during which, he failed to obtain either the province of Biscay, or liquidation of the debt from Don Pedro—he returned to Aquitaine. Edward persuaded the estates of Aquitaine to allow him a hearth tax of ten sous for five years in 1368, which alienated the Lord of Albret and other nobles.

Prince Edward returned to England in 1371 and resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1372. He led the Commons in their attack upon the Lancastrian administration in 1376, before dying soon after.Further information: Hundred Years' War, 1369–1389

Some time after he had returned to Aquitaine, the free companies, some 6,000 strong, also reached Aquitaine, having passed through Kingdom of Aragon. As they had not received all the money Edward had agreed to pay them, they took up their quarters in his country and pillaged the countryside. Edward persuaded the captains to leave Aquitaine, and the companies under their command crossed the Loire and greatly attacked France. This greatly angered Charles V, who retaliated by encouraging to the Gascon lords to disaffect.[68]

When Edward gathered his army for his Spanish expedition, the Lord of Albret agreed to serve with 1,000 lances. Considering, however, that he had at least as many men as he could find provisions for, Edward wrote to him on 8 December 1366, saying he could only have 200 lances. The Lord of Albret was angered at this, but was restrained by his uncle, the Count of Armagnac. The nonetheless incident began his and Edward's mutual hatred.[68] The Lord of Albert was also angered by the non-payment of an annual pension Edward had granted him. Around this time, he agreed to marry Margaret of Bourbon, sister of the Queen of France. Edward was annoyed at this, and became aggressive to both Margaret and Albret. However, Charles offered the lord the pension which he had lost, and thus drew him and his uncle, the Count of Armagnac, altogether over to the French side.[75]

The immense cost of the late campaign and his constant extravagance had brought Edward into financial difficulties, and as soon as he returned to Bordeaux he called an assembly of the estates of Aquitaine (Parliament) to meet at Saint-Émilion to obtain a grant from them. It seems as though no business was done then, for in January 1368, he held a meeting of the estates at Angoulême and there persuaded them to allow him a hearth tax of ten sous for five years. An edict for this tax was published on 25 January.[76] The chancellor, Bishop John Harewell, held a conference at Niort, at which he persuaded the barons of Poitou, Saintonge, Limousin, and Rouergue to agree to this tax, but the great vassals of the high marches refused, and on 20 June and again on 25 October, the Counts of Armagnac, Périgord, and Comminges, and the Lord of Albret laid their complaints before the King of France, declaring that he was their lord paramount.[77] Meanwhile, Chandos, who strongly urged Edward against imposing this tax, had retired to his Norman estate.[76]

Charles took advantage of these appeals, and on 25 January 1369 sent messengers to Prince Edward, who was then residing at Bordeaux, summoning him to appear in person before him in Paris and there receive judgment. He replied: "We will willingly attend at Paris on the day appointed since the King of France sends for us, but it shall be with our helmet on our head and sixty thousand men in our company".[76] Edward had the messengers imprisoned; in revenge for this, the Counts of Périgord and Comminges and other lords set on Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell,[78][b] the high-steward of Rouergue, killed many of his men, and made him flee. The prince sent for Chandos, who came to his help, and some fighting took place, though war was not yet declared. His health was now so poor that he could not take part in active operations. By 18 March, more than nine hundred towns, castles, and other places signaled their support of the French cause.[80]

Prince Edward had already warned his father of the intentions of the French king, but there was evidently a party at Edward III's court that was jealous of the prince's power (probably including the prince's younger brother, John of Gaunt), and his warnings were slighted. In April 1369, however, war was declared. Edward III sent the Earls of Cambridge and Pembroke to the prince's assistance, and Sir Robert Knolles again took service with him. The war in Aquitaine was desultory and, though the English maintained their ground fairly in the field, their hold on the country weakened every day the fighting dragged on.[76]

On 1 January 1370, Prince Edward sustained a heavy loss in the death of Chandos. Several efforts were made by Edward to conciliate the Gascon lords,[81] but they were fruitless and can only have served to weaken the prince's authority. It is probable that John of Gaunt was working against him at the English court, and when he was sent out in the summer to help his elder brother, he came with such extensive powers that he almost seemed as though he had come to supersede him.[76]

In the spring, Charles raised two large armies for the invasion of Aquitaine; one, under Louis I, Duke of Anjou, was to enter Guyenne by La Reole and Bergerac, the other, under John, Duke of Berry, was to march towards Limousin and Quercy, and both were to unite and besiege the prince in Angoulême.[82] Though he was ill, Edward gathered an army at Cognac, where he was joined by the Barons of Poitou and Saintonge, and the Earls of Cambridge, Lancaster, and Pembroke.[83][82] The two French armies took many cities, united and laid siege to Limoges, which was surrendered to them by the bishop, Jean de Murat de Cros, who had been one of the prince's trusted friends.[82]

14th-century illustration of the Siege of Limoges in 1370

When Prince Edward heard of the surrender of Limoges to the French, he swore that he would have the place again, and make its residents pay for treason.[82] He set out from Cognac with an army of about 4,000 men. Due to his illness, he was unable to mount his horse, and was carried in a litter. During the Siege of Limoges, the prince was determined to take the town and ordered the undermining of its walls. On 19 September, his miners succeeded in demolishing a large piece of wall which filled the ditches with its ruins. The town was then stormed, with the inevitable destruction and loss of life.[84]

Historians John Froissart and William Hunt write that when the bishop was brought before Edward, he told the bishop that his head should be cut off (Lancaster stopped him from doing this) and that the city was nonetheless pillaged and burnt, and 3,000 persons of all ranks and ages were massacred.[84] However, modern scholarship, drawing on a wider range of evidence, places casualties much lower than Froissart does – around 300 garrison soldiers and civilians in total.[85] Edward returned to Cognac; his sickness increased, and he was forced to give up all hope of being able to direct any further operations, and to proceed first to Angoulême, and then to Bordeaux.

George Hutchinson, Mary Jane Kelly, Jack the Ripper and Eltham.

If we are to accept the views and research of some Ripperologists it is here in leafy suburban Eltham, at number 4 Roper Street we would, in 1881 have found one of the most significant and controversial witnesses in the Whitechapel murders and indeed for many a Jack the Ripper suspect. In 1881, George William( later to adopt Topping into his name) Hutchinson was just 14 years old, a scholar living with his 54-year-old father George and elder sister Jane. Roper Street named for Eltham's many connections to the daughter of Saint Thomas More, Margaret Roper, who if I recall correctly is buried with her venerable fathers head, which she had kept hidden throughout her life after his execution. Eltham at the time (1881) still had one foot firmly in Kent and the countryside and was still largely rural in character but gradually was expanding to become the busy suburb I grew up in from the age of eleven. Yet we are expected to believe that in just a few short years from this 1881 snapshot in time, George had become acquainted with possibly the most well-known unfortunate of the Victorian era and victim of Jack the Ripper, Mary Jane Kelly; ‘Hutchinson will you lend me sixpence?’. It is Hutchinson who provides us with the most detailed and colourful description of Jack the Ripper. Hutchinson, claimed to have known Kelly for three years, meaning that at 17 years old he had become familiar with the depravity of St George in the East, perhaps of Breezers Hill, Pennington Street and the Highway. It is of course possible, no doubt many young men and elder boys may have had their first sexual encounter with an unfortunate .Take the Mary Kelly and Mary Williams reported in the London Evening Standard on the 10th October 1887 who had been observed near the Poplar hospital behaving indecently, the K division officer reporting, ‘He saw there Williams behaving in an improper manner with a lad about 14 Years of age, while Kelly was screening her and he took them both into custody'.

From a glass negative in the collection of the National Army Museum;-

19th (Princess of Wales's Own) Hussars, Troopers, c.1895

"The trooper on the right in this image wears full dress uniform, with the Egyptian War Medal and the Khedive's Star on his left breast. This was awarded for service when the regiment served in Egypt and the Sudan in 1882 and 1885. The tunic is made of blue cloth and is highly decorated with yellow worsted looping cord and brass ball buttons. He has a white leather pouch belt and another cross strap which possibly carries a haversack.

The full dress cap (busby) was inspired by Hungarian uniforms and made of black beaver fur; a type of fur that was highly desirable in Eastern Europe. The caplines, bag lace and front boss are of yellow worsted cord, with the bag itself and the plume being white. He wears dark blue pantaloons with a double yellow stripe down the outside seam tucked into black riding boots with spurs attached. He also wears white gloves and his white leather sword belt (but no sword).

The trooper on the left wears stable dress. This comprises a blue stable jacket and a pillbox cap which has a yellow band around it and a yellow lace design and button on top. He wears the same dark blue pantaloons, riding boots and white gloves. Both men are holding a carbine.

George Hutchinson, Mary Jane Kelly, Jack the Ripper and Eltham.

If we are to accept the views and research of some Ripperologists it is here in leafy suburban Eltham, at number 4 Roper Street we would, in 1881 have found one of the most significant and controversial witnesses in the Whitechapel murders and indeed for many a Jack the Ripper suspect. In 1881, George William( later to adopt Topping into his name) Hutchinson was just 14 years old, a scholar living with his 54-year-old father George and elder sister Jane. Roper Street named for Eltham's many connections to the daughter of Saint Thomas More, Margaret Roper, who if I recall correctly is buried with her venerable fathers head, which she had kept hidden throughout her life after his execution. Eltham at the time (1881) still had one foot firmly in Kent and the countryside and was still largely rural in character but gradually was expanding to become the busy suburb I grew up in from the age of eleven. Yet we are expected to believe that in just a few short years from this 1881 snapshot in time, George had become acquainted with possibly the most well-known unfortunate of the Victorian era and victim of Jack the Ripper, Mary Jane Kelly; ‘Hutchinson will you lend me sixpence?’. It is Hutchinson who provides us with the most detailed and colourful description of Jack the Ripper. Hutchinson, claimed to have known Kelly for three years, meaning that at 17 years old he had become familiar with the depravity of St George in the East, perhaps of Breezers Hill, Pennington Street and the Highway. It is of course possible, no doubt many young men and elder boys may have had their first sexual encounter with an unfortunate .Take the Mary Kelly and Mary Williams reported in the London Evening Standard on the 10th October 1887 who had been observed near the Poplar hospital behaving indecently, the K division officer reporting, ‘He saw there Williams behaving in an improper manner with a lad about 14 Years of age, while Kelly was screening her and he took them both into custody'.

69 years ago today, June 6, 1957, the final original episode of The Lone Ranger aired on ABC, concluding its run that began September 15, 1949 and ended June 6, 1957.

The series starred Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto, becoming one of early television’s first major hit Westerns and helping establish ABC’s early identity as a competitive network.

During the original run, Moore was temporarily replaced from 1952 to 1954 due to a contract and salary dispute. He had sought higher pay as the show’s popularity grew, but production management declined, leading to his replacement by John Hart. Hart was cast to maintain continuity under the mask, but audience reaction strongly favored Moore, and Hart’s episodes were rarely reused in later syndication. When the property changed ownership to Jack Wrather in 1954, Moore was brought back to the role.

The series was produced by George W. Trendle and later Jack Wrather, with extensive location filming across Utah and California, including Iverson Movie Ranch, which helped define its iconic Western visual style.

“Who gets the extra-dry Martini?”

Elmer Atkins

Haggis is, in practical terms, a solution. Scotland for most of its history was not a wealthy country, and the traditions that grew from that fact were often rooted in the same principle: nothing that could be eaten would be wasted. When a sheep was slaughtered, the offal — heart, liver, lungs — was the part that would not keep. It had to be used immediately. Mixed with oatmeal, suet, onion, salt, and pepper, packed into the animal's own stomach and simmered low for several hours, it became something that could feed a family through a winter day in the hills.

The earliest written recipes for haggis in Scotland date to the early eighteenth century, though the dish almost certainly predates this in practice. It was recorded in household and farming accounts as an ordinary food — the kind of thing eaten without remark, the kind of thing made without instruction because everyone already knew how. It was not considered a delicacy. It was considered dinner.

What transformed haggis into something more than a practical meal was Robert Burns. His 1787 poem, Address to a Haggis, elevated the dish with such generous celebration — calling it the "great chieftain o' the puddin-race" — that it became permanently attached to Scottish identity in a way that had nothing to do with its origins. The Burns Supper tradition that followed, taking root across the nineteenth century, turned a farmhouse staple into a national ritual, eaten every January with a formality its original cooks would likely have found baffling.

The traditional haggis was made by the butcher, not bought from a supermarket shelf. In towns across Scotland into the mid-twentieth century, this was a skilled occupation — the preparation of offal, the seasoning by hand, the tying and presenting of the finished product. Every butcher had his own ratios, his own preferences for how much pepper, how much oatmeal, how firm the final casing. Customers had loyalties accordingly.

🌹Natalia Osipova (at that time in the Bolshoi Ballet) as “Kitri”, “Don Quixote”

🌹Natalia Osipova (at that time in the Bolshoi Ballet) as “Kitri”, “Don Quixote”

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