Glad you got into the spirit of the thread Keith !tut!
There are enough 'Brit bashing' threads already. In fact, if this board was bashing any other country, as much as it does Britain -on a daily basis- it would be cast as a bigoted & racist board!
Isn't there 'any' Brit you feel worth your praise, for you to contibute to the thread?
The scorn you've poured on Darwin, Shakespeare & Newton's works, makes you sound extremely French! Are you indeed 'French' Keith?
Who's 'YOUR' favourite Brit of all time?
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Sam Slater
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Re: Who's 'YOUR' favourite Brit of all time?
[i]I used to spend a lot of time criticizing Islam on here in the noughties - but things are much better now.[/i]
Re: Who's 'YOUR' favourite Brit of all time?
If the death camp you are talking about is Auschwitz, British bombers could not reach there without returning via the Soviet Union and refuelling there and, allegedly, Stalin would not allow this. In any event many German railways were bombed and very quickly repaired. Closing the extermination camps simply was not a priority at the time.
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Sam Slater
- Posts: 11624
- Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am
Re: Who's 'YOUR' favourite Brit of all time?
Didn't Darwin only recant his theories on his death bed with a priest there? I have vague memories of this but I'm sure thats correct. Anyway, I wouldn't believe this story as the priest had more to gain from the 'recanting' than Darwin himself. Lets say that Darwins recantment served the chuch very very well at the time! I think church spin has more to do with this story than anything else.
Newton was indeed a strange fellow. Didn't he once refuse to see anyone but his butler for 4 years? Whatever, his theory on gravity led him to the mathematics behind momentum & force which led to other things by other physicists. He didn't do everything on his own, but his ideas laid the foundations for others to build.
As for Shakespeare. I think you totally misunderstand my point. His techniques on 'gripping' an audience, and getting them on the edge of their seats, are the same techniques used today in tv drama & Hollywood blockbusters. He not only entertained, but played on an audiences emotions to bring a play to life. Something that's so obvious these days, and I've never studied his works in depth at an academic level, but I appreciate his cleverness & creativity. What other playright or director since Shakespeare has his skill?
As for my 'French' remark. I wasn't implying that the French were inferior so you can put that retortment of yours back in the cupboard! The French have been notorious for pouring scorn on British academics for years. Even Dawkins's 'The Selfish Gene' was presented in French bookshops with a bowler-hatted man, with a wind-up key, stuck out of his back -indicating a wind-up doll- on the front covers of the French version of the book. They were of course refering to Dawkins's analogy, whereby he likened animals as 'gene carrying machines', which is basically what we are. Because our DNA is a blueprint to the life of the living thing it lives inside, he likened the genes to a 'computer programme' where all information is pre-programmed before operation begins. These are of course analogies, and very good ones. French and German academics poured scorn on Dawkins and the book covers were a dumb attempt at mocking his work. Nowadays of course, their own biologists use Dawkins's theories as the basic rules of natural selection, and the starting point for their own theories!
Thank you for your contibutions by the way !wink!
Ps. Try and watch more Shakspearian plays (not on TV!) You'll enjoy it, and if you have a good cast, you'll see my points, regardless of the language & phrase problems!
Newton was indeed a strange fellow. Didn't he once refuse to see anyone but his butler for 4 years? Whatever, his theory on gravity led him to the mathematics behind momentum & force which led to other things by other physicists. He didn't do everything on his own, but his ideas laid the foundations for others to build.
As for Shakespeare. I think you totally misunderstand my point. His techniques on 'gripping' an audience, and getting them on the edge of their seats, are the same techniques used today in tv drama & Hollywood blockbusters. He not only entertained, but played on an audiences emotions to bring a play to life. Something that's so obvious these days, and I've never studied his works in depth at an academic level, but I appreciate his cleverness & creativity. What other playright or director since Shakespeare has his skill?
As for my 'French' remark. I wasn't implying that the French were inferior so you can put that retortment of yours back in the cupboard! The French have been notorious for pouring scorn on British academics for years. Even Dawkins's 'The Selfish Gene' was presented in French bookshops with a bowler-hatted man, with a wind-up key, stuck out of his back -indicating a wind-up doll- on the front covers of the French version of the book. They were of course refering to Dawkins's analogy, whereby he likened animals as 'gene carrying machines', which is basically what we are. Because our DNA is a blueprint to the life of the living thing it lives inside, he likened the genes to a 'computer programme' where all information is pre-programmed before operation begins. These are of course analogies, and very good ones. French and German academics poured scorn on Dawkins and the book covers were a dumb attempt at mocking his work. Nowadays of course, their own biologists use Dawkins's theories as the basic rules of natural selection, and the starting point for their own theories!
Thank you for your contibutions by the way !wink!
Ps. Try and watch more Shakspearian plays (not on TV!) You'll enjoy it, and if you have a good cast, you'll see my points, regardless of the language & phrase problems!
[i]I used to spend a lot of time criticizing Islam on here in the noughties - but things are much better now.[/i]
Re: Who's 'YOUR' favourite Brit of all time?
David - you said it wasn't a priority - I think our government were in denial. They didn't truly believe Auschwitz was actually a death camp, although when they did finally realise what was happening they choose to ignore it!
I have signed the Official Secrets Act so I can't tell you anything else! lol
If into reading try Kitty Harts "Return to Auschwitz" a truly wonderful book of a woman's experience in the death camps (a true story)
On a lighter note and in no way intellectual like some contributors to this thread I announce my best brit awards to:
Dawn French - For continuously making me laugh even when i am really depressed and for being happy being big and not dieting, ever!!!!
John Hannah (it count's he's scottish!!) - For playing a straight guy in Sliding Doors and letting me drool over him at last, couldn't in Four Weddings as he played a gay guy and didn't do it for me then!!
The person that invented cricket - (it must of been an englishman surely - "mad dogs and englishmen" and all that) - just so i can get rid of half my family for a whole day of peace - wars have been won quicker than a game of cricket!!
Well I told you it was on a lighter note!!
I have signed the Official Secrets Act so I can't tell you anything else! lol
If into reading try Kitty Harts "Return to Auschwitz" a truly wonderful book of a woman's experience in the death camps (a true story)
On a lighter note and in no way intellectual like some contributors to this thread I announce my best brit awards to:
Dawn French - For continuously making me laugh even when i am really depressed and for being happy being big and not dieting, ever!!!!
John Hannah (it count's he's scottish!!) - For playing a straight guy in Sliding Doors and letting me drool over him at last, couldn't in Four Weddings as he played a gay guy and didn't do it for me then!!
The person that invented cricket - (it must of been an englishman surely - "mad dogs and englishmen" and all that) - just so i can get rid of half my family for a whole day of peace - wars have been won quicker than a game of cricket!!
Well I told you it was on a lighter note!!
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