The Old Straight Track

 

Rating: ★★★★★

The Old Straight Track (1927) by Alfred Watkins

My casual interest in ley-lines stems from my teenage years, when I, like others, found it possible to connect ancient sites on OS maps in the way Alfred Watkins describes. I found it worth investigating, and discovered ‘The Old Straight Track’ to be far more coherent in explanation of ley-lines, and related features, than much of what has been written since.

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Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets

 

Rating: ★★★★★

Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets: Study of Assyrian Tables of Israel (1985) by E Raymond Capt

As I am not a British Israelite, what can I say about the core belief, that peoples descended from the ten tribes of Israel, taken into captivity by the Assyrians, eventually settled in the British Isles? Since in a general sense, we accept a Near-east origin of civilisation..

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America BC: Ancient Settlers in the New World

Rating: ★★★★★

America BC: Ancient Settlers in the New World

In 1976, Professor Barry Fell summarized the evidence that Columbus was not the first to cross the Atlantic, rather, settlers and traders from Egypt, Libya, Carthage, Iberia and Ireland all left tangible remains on American soil.

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March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

 

Rating: ★★★★★

March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

I read this book with great interest, not simply as a history book, but as describing an aspect of mankind familiar to all, the ability to act in a way contrary to any possible self-interest. If you define wisdom as `the exercise of judgement acting on experience, common sense and available information’, it is clear we often behave in the opposite fashion.. 

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Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

Rating: ★★★★★

Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

‘Out of the Flames’ is prehaps the best popular introduction to Michael Servetus and the world of the Reformation currently available. It is much more than the story of a rare book. For example, Servetus’ historical and Biblical studies led him to the conclusion that Christianity had become corrupted following the first century…

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Kingdom of the Ark

 

Rating: ★★★★★

Kingdom of the Ark: That Startling Story of How the Ancient British Race is Descended from the Pharaohs

There is a problem with prehistory. By definition, there is no evidence of a cast iron nature. Hence, when the lay reader surveys the literature, we tend to start with the Von Daniken style ‘Aliens’ theories, and end up in the dry as dust academic papers. They may convince the specialist, but they don’t sell millions.. Continue reading Kingdom of the Ark

Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery

Rating: ★★★★★

Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery – And the Greatest Criminal Cover-up

This is an awe inspiring book, not simply for the time and effort that went into researching it. Twenty-two pages of close-typed sources, plus an additional seven page bibliography give a small indication of the through contribution to the cause of truth contained herein. The writers have sifted fact from fiction to provide the answers to some interesting questions..

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Tichborne Claimant-1998 DVD

Rating: ★★★★★

Tichborne Claimant 1998 [DVD] John Kani, Robert Pugh, Stephen Fry, Robert Hardy and Sir John Gielgud

“Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.” – Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

 

The Tichborne Claimant affair was the celebrated 19th-century legal case of Arthur Orton, who claimed to be the missing heir Sir Roger Tichborne.  In April 1854, Sir Roger Charles Tichborne was homeward bound from South America, when his ship was lost at sea.  When the news reached her, Roger’s mother refused to believe he was dead. She inquired all over the world, and in November 1865, heard from a Sydney lawyer claiming that a man fitting the description of her son was living in Australia.

The supposed Sir Roger was actually Arthur Orton ( Note: there is some evidence he could have been the illegitimate son of Roger’s father James). Aside from a superficial resemblance to Tichborne, he did not fit the description well; however Lady Tichborne was desperate enough to accept him as her son and sent him money to come to her.
Orton was seemingly reluctant to go at first, however, a former family servant, Andrew Bogle, accompanied him on his trip to Britain. He arrived in London, December 1866 and visited the Tichborne estates. When he travelled to the Paris hotel where Lady Tichborne was living, she recognised him as her son. She even handed him Roger’s letters from South America, and she gave him an allowance of £1,000 a year.
After Lady Tichborne’s acceptance, other members of the Tichborne family were outraged,  and unsurprisingly declared him an impostor. They found many discrepancies when Orton tried to fit his own South American experiences to those of Sir Roger.
When Lady Tichborne died in March 1868, Orton lost his most prominent supporter. It was unfortunate also for the cause of truth, for she died before she could testify  in the witness box. By this time, Orton owed a significant amount of money. (He sold “Tichborne Bonds” in music halls to pay the legal costs when he tried to claim the inheritance.) The rightful heir at the time, Henry Doughty-Tichborne, was only two years old. The claimant, in the eyes of the public, had become a `cause’..

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The Holy Kingdom: Quest for the Real King Arthur

Rating: ★★★★★

Unlike so many books published on Arthur and Britain’s prehistory, this is an accessible and comprehensive read. Casual criticism is less than fair when it is clear how much research has gone into this work. To fully understand the theories of Baram Blackett and Alan Wilson you have to go on and read the more detailed books. If you are in a position to visit any of the sites in South Wales discussed, you will be impressed by their interpretation. Apart from the chapters on Arthur, the discussion on Roman Britain and Wroxeter, the origins of Mercia, and Christianity in Britain, are refreshing and thought provoking. I noticed that the spurious arguments about the name Antun etc. are discussed. In any case, we all know how fluid spelling was in the pre printing era. I fully agree with the authors concerning the neglect of early Welsh history, and not just because I live in Wales. Continue reading The Holy Kingdom: Quest for the Real King Arthur