Suzanne
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Basic Facts
My name is Suzanne. I come from Oxford, England. It's a beautiful city with much history. I now live in Wiltshire

I started this page about 11 years ago as just wanted to see if I could make a web page, then I added more things over time. I haven't really changed it much for a while, apart from adding a few new pictures. I don't really get much time to play around with web pages at the moment, but maybe if I'm really bored I will have an overhaul.

Street in Wootton Basett, Wiltshire
On a rainy June evening
Anglican church in Wootton Bassett
Cottage in Tockenham, Wiltshire
I love poppies
Miles of countryside
9.45pm Midsummer
There's nothing at the End of Rainbow - View from my house
Full size rainbow
When I saw Elton John at Swindon football ground

Fields of Gold

Song by Sting about the fields where he lives in Wiltshire.

See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in the fields of gold

Lawrence of Arabia          
    Film link

The real T E Lawrence

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle -- Part 1: A.D. 1 - 448

Map of ancient Angli and Saxony              

Basic Anglo-Saxon English

The Origins of Old English

Anglo-Saxon studies

Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain

Danelaw of England 700-1100 A.D

When half of England was Viking

A Viking English Dictionary

Middle English (after Norman invasions)

The domain of the Picts  was what we consider today to be Scotland. The terms "Picts" and "Pictland" were used in speaking of the inhabitants and the area up until 900, when the country began to be called "Alba." The Picts took their name in their own tongue from their painted bodies; this is because, using sharp iron tools and ink, they are marked by tattoos of various shapes.

Woad Body Paint  One reason many people are interested in woad is to make a paint to paint themselves in the fashion of the ancient Picts of British Isles as described by the Romans that were there

MacAlpin's Treason: The End of the Picts, a retelling of the story of the massacre of the Picts

Starting in the mid-300's, people from Ireland began to settle in the Argyll area of Scotland. They spoke a language that later developed into Gaelic. These people, called Scots, joined the Picts in more intensive raids on the south. The Romans withdrew from Britain in the 400's, and Anglo-Saxon peoples invaded the country. The Angles entered Scotland. By 600, they had taken over the area around Edinburgh, formerly controlled by the British Votadini. The remaining Britons formed the kingdom of Strathclyde in the west.

European Union Online  

The Future of Europe – Debate

BBC NEWS

Oscar Wilde Poem

Church of England, Book of Common Prayer
XXXVII Of the Civil Magistrates.
The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England.

Britain identified in the Pages of the Bible
Historical scholars discuss the history of the British and their role as god's chosen people.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits

Graduate of Oxford University, England, Tim Berners-Lee designed the World Wide Web. He loosed it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it open, nonproprietary and free. With a background of system design in real-time communications and text processing software development, in 1989 he invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing, while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

James Chadwick His findings revolutionised the understanding of the atom, and the nuclear structure, and lead to the atomic bomb, and the nuclear reactor. In 1935 he encouraged a programme of the accelorator construction, which lasted for thirty years.
After the Qubec agreement in 1943, he was appointed Technical Advisor , and Head of the British Mission in Washington. He played a key part in the Anglo American collaboration, and in 1945 he produced the 235U, and the 239Pu bombs.

John Locke  (1632-1704), was an English philosopher. His writings have influenced political science and philosophy. Locke's book Two Treatises of Government (1690) strongly influenced Thomas Jefferson in the writing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, who later became the first Earl of Shaftesbury. The two men became close friends. In 1679, the earl became involved in plots against the king, and suspicion also fell on Locke. The philosopher decided to leave England. In 1683, he moved to the Netherlands, where he met Prince William and Princess Mary of Orange. William and Mary became the rulers of England in 1689, and Locke returned to England as a court favourite. Until his death, he wrote widely on such subjects as educational reform, freedom of the press, and religious tolerance.

A few more great Britons
Isambard Kingdom Brunel  Victorian engineer
Frank Whittle  Inventor of the Jet Engine

IBM World Book

The English people have a long history of freedom and democracy. Their democratic ideas and practices have influenced many other countries, including Australia, Canada, India, many European countries, and the United States.

...

A poem commemorating the signing of Magna Carta

Runnymede, Surrey, June 15, 1215

At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Oh, hear the reeds at Runnymede:
'You musn't sell, delay, deny,
A freeman's right or liberty.
It wakes the stubborn Englishry,
We saw 'em roused at Runnymede!

At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at Runnymede.'

And still when mob or Monarch lays
Too rude a hand on English ways,
The whisper wakes, the shudder plays,
Across the reeds at Runnymede.
And Thames, that knows the moods of kings,
And crowds and priests and suchlike things,
Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings
Their warning down from Runnymede!
Rudyard Kipling

 By the 1870s, Britain was responsible for producing one third of the world's industrial output. Some people became fantastically rich from  the profits. But for many more people, the changes brought misery. The new cities were overcrowded, dirty and full of disease. Men, women and children worked up to 16 hours a day for low wages and in dangerous conditions.

 Two new movements were developing in the 19th century. Workers' organisations, like the Chartists in 1840s Britain, paved the way for  socialism and the international trade union movement. Socialism called for a just distribution of wealth, with equal rights and decent  working conditions for all.

 Charles Dickens   .   Lord Byron   .   Percy Bysshe Shelley  

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

...

Norman and Saxon

"My son," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying, and you will be heir
To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for share
When he conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand this:--
"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow--with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.
"You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your Picardy spears;
But don't try that game on the Saxon; you'll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They'll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise, you will yield.
"But first you must master their language, their dialect, proverbs and songs.
Don't trust any clerk to interpret when they come with the tale of their own wrongs.
Let them know that you know what they are saying; let them feel that you know what to say.
Yes, even when you want to go hunting, hear 'em out if it takes you all day.
They'll drink every hour of the daylight and poach every hour of the dark.
It's the sport not the rabbits they're after (we've plenty of game in the park).
Don't hang them or cut off their fingers. That's wasteful as well as unkind,
For a hard-bitten, South-country poacher makes the best man-at-arms you can find.
"Appear with your wife and the children at their weddings and funerals and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops; be good to all poor parish priests.
Say 'we,' 'us' and 'ours' when you're talking, instead of 'you fellows' and 'I.'
Don't ride over seeds; keep your temper; and never you tell 'em a lie!"

The legend of Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, Somerset.

Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph was the Biblical figure who took Jesus' body after the crucifixion. According to some legends he was actually Jesus' uncle, and had visited Britain years before with Jesus in the pursuit of his interests in the tin trade. It appears that there actually was a strong Jewish presence in the west of England at that time, and many of the tin miners may have been Jewish settlers.

At any rate, when Jesus died, Joseph thought it prudent to flee Palestine, and after many travails he came to Britain with a company of followers. He brought with him the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Some versions of the legend have it that the Grail contained two drops of blood captured from Jesus' side when he was wounded on the  cross.

When Joseph came to Britain he was granted land at Glastonbury by the local king. When he arrived at Glastonbury, Joseph stuck his thorn staff in the earth, whereupon it rooted and burst into bloom. A cutting from that first tree was planted in the grounds of the later Glastonbury Abbey, where it continued to bloom every year therafter at Christmas time.  There is still a thorn tree in the Abbey grounds, of a variety native to the Holy Lands, and it does indeed bloom around  Christmas time.

Joseph was said to have established the first church in England at Glastonbury, and archaeological records show that there may well have been an extremely early Christian church here. What happened to the Holy Grail is another matter. Some legends have it that Joseph buried the Grail at the foot of Glastonbury Tor, whereupon a spring of blood gushed forth from the ground.

There is a well at the base of the Tor, Chalice Well, and the water that issues from it does indeed have a reddish tinge to it,  from the iron content of the water.

Other legends have it that the Holy Grail was interred with Joseph when he died, in a secret grave. The search for the mysterious Grail emerges again and again in the tales of Glastonbury.

Further legends tell that the church founded by Joseph continued for many years. Eventually it became a monastery, and one of the first abbots was the future St Patrick, who was born in the west country.

 THE CAMELOT PROJECT THE HOLY GRAIL

 Bill Glenn's Photo Archive  Atmospheric photographs of Glastonbury, South-West England and natural themes

 Avalonian Doorway: Glastonbury online

Jerusalem
(aka And Did Those Feet In Ancient Times)
Words by William Blake (1757-1827)

Click on play to hear the music.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountain green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
British Anthems

_______________________________________________________________________  This is a link for an amusing song I heard called: "L'Anglais avec son sang froid" - The Englishman and his usual bloody cold. There'll always be an England! _______________________________________________________________________ Chav Culture Big hoopy earrings, to baseball caps. A Humorous Guide To Britain's Burgeoning Peasant Underclass You have just got to see these videos: http://fat-pie.com/chavs.htm See Dazza 1 dance and say: You don't want pills, are you f***ing gay? It might not work on the AOL browser so you will have to open page with separate browser such as explorer. Celebrity Chavs Have you heard the phrase, 'you'll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator'? This is why a lot of celebrities try and appeal to the Chav population and to that they naturally act like rich Chavs would! There are a core of entertainers who were Chavs before they became famous and have stayed Chavs. Queen of the Chavs Victoria -Jade Tweedy Chav role model who chavs aspire to be like. Get in a rubbish manufactured band and have false boobs and orange skin , to attract a footballer with your same IQ, so you can sell boring stories about yourself and him every week to a celebrity magazine, acting as if you have class just because you have money, to brag about what you've spent fan's money on, for idiots to buy. They'll even be fooled you're posh, if you stand on a ski slope in skis with a massive Chanel written on them, so they don't miss they're Chanel. She might be a millionaire but you too can get the same look for 50 pence down the market with cheap fake tan and nickel hoopy earrings. Not including bodged up fake boobs With her chav crown. Bigger the hoop earrings, the more high up in Chav society. Chav Theme Tune Post your picture to see if you're a Chav or Not _______________________________________________________________________

This is a link for a page I'm making with a few miscellaneous subjects I'm interested in: Miscellaneous

View and sign my guest book

Anthony Payne
Talented yet controversial English painter.
I like his work as it makes a change to see real talent instead of the trash called modern art.

United Kingdom Animated Flags
United Kingdom flags

In a free country we're supposed to have consumer choice and buy things based on if they're worth the money we pay for them, so why is it we can't have a TV without having to buy a the BBC, or be threatened with a 1000 fine even if we don't watch the BBC? Abolish the TV license

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Gorgeous is worth it

Some words from Jesus of Nazareth.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'

"How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye"