10 Royal Places

Arnoprepa1, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

1. Royal Leamington Spa

"Royal" prefix Civil parish with town council 1838, 1974, 2002

Spa town established in late 18th century. The town received the title of "Royal Leamington Spa" in 1838 following a visit by Queen Victoria. Royal Leamington Spa was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1875, and on the borough's abolition in 1974 charter trustees were formed. The charter trustees were themselves abolished when a town council was formed in 2002.

2. Royal Sutton Coldfield

Historic town, now a civil parish within the City of Birmingham. Honour bestowed by Henry VIII 1528 3. Royal Tunbridge Wells

Unparished area 1909, 1974

Spa town, incorporated as a municipal borough in 1888. In 1909 Edward VII allowed the prefix "Royal" in recognition of the town's connections with the royal family since the Stuart dynasty. The Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells was abolished in April 1974, and charter trustees were briefly appointed to preserve the mayoralty of the town. The trustees, who were themselves abolished in December 1974, obtained letters patent reauthorising the prefix "Royal" to the name of the town.

4. Royal Windsor, also known as New Windsor

Municipal borough council From reign of Henry I in early12th century

5. Royal Wootton Bassett

Civil parish with a town council 2011 - Repatriation of military personnel

6. Royal Port of Barrow

"Royal" prefix Port 2025

Construction of warships and nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy

7. Royal Greenwich

Royal borough. London borough council 2012-  To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Also birthplace of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

8. Royal Kensington

Metropolitan borough council 1901 1965. In memory of Queen Victoria, born at Kensington Palace

9. Royal Berkshire, royal county

Location of Windsor Castle

10.Kingston Upon Thames

Municipal borough council in Surrey-Ancient prescriptive right, confirmed in 1927.1965 Coronation place of King Æthelstan in 924–925. Æthelstan described Kingston as royal town in a charter, as did Eadred later in the 10th century. In 1927 the mayor of Kingston upon Thames petitioned George V for the right to use the title of "royal borough". In reply to the petition the king declared that Kingston was entitled to the status, having been described as a royal borough since time immemorial.

Day Off Week 51 2025

Had another reading day last Tuesday. I read the various books that I am reading day by day at the moment. With those I also read a book called Entitled about Andrew and Fergie. It is rather a depressing book in many ways as it describes, I think fairly accurately, the lives of two once married individuals and the excesses that they have given themselves to down the years. I don't suppose they are very different to the average Jack and Jill but because they have been exposed to so many temptations and have so often given in, we end up with a pretty discouraging state of affairs, to the extent, in Andrew's case, that he appears to be guilty of punishable crimes. Not at any point in the book do they seem to have come under the sound of the gospel and they do not seem to realise the need to repent and find forgiveness in Christ, which is their only hope. We do not know how it will all turn out before they die but it would not be a surprise if more came out. Andrew Lownie has thoroughly researched the story. He presents quite a different version of how the infamous interview with Andrew came together and appears to be quite convinced that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself. He is also quite convinced that Andrew is guilty of sex crimes.

10 European countries that still have a king

1. Andorra
2. Belgium
3. Denmark
4. Liechtenstein
5. Luxembourg
6. Monaco
7. The Netherlands
8. Norway
9. Spain
10. Sweden

Birthday Books

One of the joys of a birthday is that kind people buy you books. Above is my haul for this year. Mostly history as you see. I tipped off my wife about the first one and the second is from my first son who has cornered the market in Nazi themes (one of my favourite subjects). I first saw the book on Africa in Kenya and have bought with money kindly given by family.

Day Off Week 5 2024

Today's day of was a bit different becasue I had arranged to meet someone and the gas engineer had to be here to fix our boiler. I did manage to get out of the house to wonderful West Hampstead, where I bought some cheese (haven't done that for a while) and picked up a secondhand book I have had my eye on since it came out. Anopther book came by post (Days of Glory). I am also reading a fascinating book on Charelmagne one of my sons bought me for Christmas. In th evening we watched the final episode of The Crown and very moving it was too. Not a bad daydespite a major computer problem.

10 British Kings Not Born In England

Henries, National Portrait Gallery; George, Workshop of Godfrey Kneller,
All Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1. William I (and II) - Falaise, Normandy
2. Henry II - Le Mans, Maine
3. Richard II - Bordeaux, Aquitaine
4. Edward II - Caernarfon, Gwynedd
5. Henry V - Monmouth
6. Henry VII - Pembroke
7. James I - Edinburgh
8. Charles I - Dunfermline
9. William III - The Hague, Holland
10. George I (and II) - Hanover, HRE

(Also, Stephen - Blois, Edward IV - Rouen, Normandy)

Two Days Off Week 38 2022

As we have I think mentioned, it is good to take two days off sometimes if you can in the ministry. That opportunity came last week as last Monday was the bank holiday. Like many others I spent much of the day watching the funeral. A lot of it was not to my liking but you hope some gospel broke through. The thing about it that struck me most was how just when you think this isn't a "Christian country" any more, it turns out it is - sort of. In the evening we watched some less demanding TV. The next day I read a chunk of Moby Dick which I'm not funding easy to get through, mostly because it's long rather than uninteresting. I also watched Catch me if you can a 2002 feature film I'd never seen for some reason. (I have a vague plan to record and watch films I happen never to have seen. I've watched recently High Noon, Twelve angry men and Vertigo).

Beginning of the reign of Charles III

I read somewhere a rumour that Charles did think of dropping the obvious title (George VII may be). He has not done that and so links his name with those of a beheaded man and a lecher. Hopefully he will be far better than those two in the short time he has.

The White Book, Kings and Queens and Fortunate Son

I saw The White Book the other day and was immediately attracted. I'd never heard of Han Kang but I like that whole eastern minimalist thing and snow (which features in the book, of course). Now one part of me feels I have been had. When you pay £9 for a book called the white book and you realise that half of it is white because there is no writing on many pages, you have to be suspicious. Along with the poorly executed black and white photographs there is plenty to complain about. On the other hand I did enjoy the series of prose poems that focus on things white and tell the minimalist story of a girl from Korea whose older sister and brother died when her mother miscarried and who travels to the west. It made me want to read more.

Having read Andrew Gimson's book on prime ministers I was attracted to his one on kings and queens too. I feel I ought to know such things. I am well up on about half the monarchs in this book but there were plenty of gaps in my knowledge and it was good to fill them in. It's a good book.

I have also recently read the biography of John Fogerty Fortunate son. I have two albums of the best songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival and am aware of some of Fogerty's subsequent material and most of the book was news to me. It was more than I really wanted ot know about the man really but it is(ghost) written very well. Fogerty is an admitted perfectionist and control freak and an obsessive. He speaks frankly about his alcohol abuse and other faults. He was clearly badly treated by Saul Zaentz with whom he signed a contract as a young man. He has not a good word to say for his drummer and bass player. He is slightly superstitious and also turns out to be a pantheist. When I read a book like this I tend to feel - so your life has been a bit of a mess too, I wish you knew what I knew.

A day off for reading, etc

I kept my usual day off this week, a Tuesday. Monday was tough for some reason, a typical minister's Monday. I was glad to have a proper day out, therefore. My main thing today was reading. I finished three books - a book on British Kings and Queens which I have been reading for a while, the biography of John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival on kindle and a novel by the Korean writer Han Kang The white book. I'll write more about them another time. I didn't do much walking (I failed to do 10000 steps) just sat and drank coffee. Practically, I also arranged a plumber to come and do a job for us and started measuring for some blinds I need to buy. I did a little blogging too and in the evening Eleri and I watched a TV drama for an hour.

10 Unpopular things that I believe in

It is easy to feel isolated and unpopular to some extent. I suppose some of us should expect this considering what we believe. Here are ten unpopular things that I basically line up with. Not many of you will agree with me on all ten, I guess.

 

1 The inerrancy of Scripture

2 Six day creation

3 The independency of the local church

4 The baptism only of believers

5 An educated ministry

6 The sanctitiy of the first day of the week

7 The priesthood of all believers

8 Male headship in the home and the church

9 The preferability of a republican state government

10 The disestablishment of the Church of England

10 Cognomina of English Monarchs

We've all heard of William the conqueror but what about,

1.  "Edward the Confessor"

2. "Ethelred the unready" or "No-Counsel": Ethelred II (OE: Æþelræd Unræd; ME: Ethelred the Redeless)

3. "Edmund the Magnificent" Edmund I (OE: Eadmund Glenglic)

4. "Edmund Ironside”: Edmund II

5. "Harold Harefoot": Harold I

6. "William the Red": William II (Latin: William Rufus)

7. "Henry Beauclerk" or "Beauclerc" (French, "Good Clerk"): Henry I

8. "Henry Curtmantle" (ME, "short cloak"): Henry II [or “Henry Fitzempress"]

9. "Richard the Lionheart": Richard I (French: Richard Cœur de Lion)

10. "John Lackland": John (French: Jean sans Terre)

(Also "Edward Longshanks" Edward I)

New Saudi King encourages Charles

Sandringham

The first two days of our four away we spent in King's Lynn, which it turns out is six miles from Sandringham, where the queen has one of her residences set among 7000 acres. It is very difficult for some of us to grasp how very rich indeed the Royal Family is. It is clear just from the evidence on show at Sandringham that they are fabulously wealthy. All very interesting, nevertheless and it was good to put some context to a well known place.

Royal Wedding

This has appeared in our street. Are you having a party next week?

Kenya and the outside world

President Obama is, of course, famously linked with Kenya. The name Obama has become very popular there though I met none with the name. i saw an advert for Kenyan TV's broadcast of the royal wedding next week with the tag line "it started in Kenya". William evidently proposed in Kenya.

The King's Speech

Last night Eleri and I went to see the film everyone is talking about. It is brilliantly done and absolutely fascinating on many levels (politics, providence, how little we know about the recent past, stammering, etc). I had not realised that in one or two sections there are strings of profanity and so the film needs to be approached with caution.