Only connect…

After the distraction of the Referendum, I promised that my next blog would explain what links a pair of identical twin harpists, the Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden, historian Terry Brighton, the number of the Beast of the Apocalypse, a bottle of beer — oh, and the Charge of the Light Brigade. 

To start with, here are the identical twin harpists, Camille and Kennerly, The Harp Twins:

“The Harp Twins, the identical twin duo of Camille and Kennerly who have done dazzling renditions of metal classics from bands like Metallica, Nightwish and Megadeth, are back with another all-time classic: Iron Maiden’s The Trooper.” [Link: http://loudwire.com/the-harp-twins-cover-iron-maiden-the-trooper/?trackback=tsmclip%5D

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Brexit – another Charge of the Light Brigade, with David Cameron as Lord Raglan?

When I got up  this morning, I firmly intended to  write about what connects Light Brigade-historian Terry Brighton, the number of the Beast of the Apocalypse, the Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden, a pair of identical twin harpists, and a bottle of beer.

But you’re going to have to wait for that one because I got distracted by, yes, the Referendum.

 

In the last month or so I’ve noticed that “Charge of the Light Brigade” has been the metaphor-of-choice for describing the EU Referendum (so much more sophisticated than Turkeys voting for Christmas or  Frying Pans and Fires).

Here’s one, from Inside-Poland.com:

As Great British Cock-ups Go, Brexit is on a par with the Charge of the Light Brigade

 

“As own goals go, Brexit was a classic. Not since Lord Cardigan pointed his handful of troops at a heavily defended Russian artillery unit and gave the order “up and at ’em, lads” has there been such a spectacular cock-up in the name of ‘defending British interests.’ “

(“As Great British Cock-ups go…”)

The final word on Wikipedia’s “James Bosworth” epitaph?

 

Finally, after many months, we have some firm evidence about the alleged epitaph to the station-master “James Bosworth” who, according to the Wikipedia article on The Charge of the Light Brigade, had been run over and killed by a railway engine: “In his younger days he was one of those who had fought at the Battle of Balaclava and survived.”

I wrote about this rather sceptically last year, after which Nick Miller got in touch with some very useful info: “James” was in fact “John”, and he certainly wasn’t in the Charge, but he had fought in the Crimea, had been a Station Master, and had indeed been killed by a train. But it still remained to be seen whether his gravestone (which Nick had tracked down to a cemetery in Southampton) did in fact say:

Though shot and shell flew around fast,
On Balaclava’s plain,
Unscathed he passed, to fall at last,
Run over by a train.

Nick has written once again to say that he has now visited the grave.