"Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? Brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and close the boozers at half past ten! Is all this to be forgotten?" - Tony Hancock, getting it all wrong.
It is the 800th birthday today of Magna Carta, the document that significantly altered the power-balance between monarch and subjects in King John's "Merrie England", and in doing so steered our country slowly but surely away from feudalism and towards democracy.
Its influence throughout history - from republicans to revolutionaries, many across the centuries (and across the world) have cited it - is legendary.
And the chaps at Horrible Histories know a song about that!
HM The Queen is attending a glittering regatta and ceremony to mark the occasion at historic Runnymede today. Pageants, glitter and gold - the monarch's life is not so bad for all that..!
I like Tony's version better. It makes more sense.
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Indeed. And more impassioned than most of the speeches we've heard today! Jx
Deletegonna use this in class!
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of service, dear... Jx
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