I love in "Black Adder" how no one wants to be the Archbishop of Canterbury because the King keeps having them executed.

Talking about Henry VIII's wife problems:

"If Father gave her a hat for Xmas, we knew she'd probably be all right..."

Congratulations! But as a Stealth Atheist in the vicinity of an Archbishop, did anybody notice the fire and brimstone smoke coming out of your ears?

Keeping the convo elevated and hi-toned, here's an alternate use for a butt...argh, the WORD "butt," dammit! I'm not talking about butts. Elevate!

From famous dead old privileged Euro white guy William Shakespeare - Richard III, who allegedly had his brother drowned in a butt (barrel) of Malmsey wine:

but he had moved on to another table by then.

With 25% of the population of England checking the "none" box,
I doubt he would have batted an eye!

The tea: English Breakfast Tea by Bigelow

And I did NOT pull THIS stunt:

but that cup is too thick for tea. Should be bone china

Anyway, he's just (finally) been buried.

Videos from the Smithsonian documentary, "The King's Skeleton: Richard III Revealed."

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/the-kings-skeleton-richard-iii-revealed/0/3381029

Usual OT meandering...

I always wondered about the "ugly hunchback" stories. Several women wrote about dancing with Richard. At least during his lifetime, nobody seems to have mentioned him being especially hideous or handicapped.

The Countess of Desmond not only said he was a good dancer, but described him as "the handsomest man in the room except for his brother Edward."

That was King Edward IV, a sort of 15th-century Bill Clinton. Who unfortunately married into a sort of 15th-century version of the Bush family, those greedy grifters the Woodvilles.

We have so few formal occasions in this country where one can model a beauty like this:



or this:




Of course some British men aren't any less fashion conscious:

sure miss Elaine Stritch.

oh... look....

Late 18th century hat, modeled by Marie Antoinette. Whose fashion critics eventually decided the hat should go, along with everything under it.

In your hat pix...I hate to be rude (HA). But the second pic looks like she's wearing a giant blue vagina on her head.

I hear that's what vermin do.

I was very gracious!

You're supposed to be rude and condescending.

By the way, I just spent the day working in church. I didn't get much work done though. It took too long to vandalize the place first.

Vermin and vandals! Verminous vandals!