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"The one thing everybody knows about Berwick is that it is still at war with Russia.
According to the legend, this began because Berwick, being officially of the kingdom of England, but not in it, was always mentioned separately in laws and proclamations. The Crimean War was declared on behalf of Britain and Berwick, but, so the story still goes, the Peace of Paris in 1856 missed out Berwick.
'Peterborough' in The Daily Telgraph in December 1935 recorded it was in October 1914 that the British Foreign Office hastily signed a peace treaty with Tsarist Russia tidying up this oversight. Unfortunately this was not true, the Foreign Office consulted in the 1930s and in 1965 could find no trace of this 'treaty.' Also, the documents relating to the declaration and peace do not separately mention Berwick, because by the Wales and Berwick Act of 1746 all references to England in Acts of Parliament were deemed to include Berwick, and Wales.
But the story still persists, as only a good urban legend can, and Berwickers would not have it any other way."
Can it be that the Crimean War really did last 132 years, and when times were put back in joint the ChronoGuard forgot to erase the memories of people in Berwick? I think we should be told.</HTML>
<HTML>All things are true, for a given value of "truth". In this case, it is entirely true that many people believe the tale about Berwick on Tweed having been at war with Russia since 1853, but as the above story (taken from the Berwick History Society's website) states, it doesn't appear to be true in the sense of it actually ever happening.
Still, from a Nextian perspective, it's a good story, isn't it?</HTML>
<HTML>er...yes, I have, but Terry has used this phrase before, I believe. (I found Night Watch rather disappointing, I must say. Not much fun and a lot of deja vu. More jokes next time.)</HTML>
<HTML>Is this a little bit like Chester, where it's supposed to be legal to shoot a Welshman after four on a Sunday afternoon, if there's a light drizzle and he's on the other side of the river wearing a red hat?
Or Evesham, where everybody who's drunk is supposed to be outside the town gates by sunset (not actually a problem as we melted them for scrap years ago, and people can just wonder back when they feel like it)</HTML>
Have been keen observer of Fforum for a while now, and have wanted to 'chip in', wasn't quite sure where to start chipping...so just thought I'd say 'Hello, I'm here'. There you go, that's me officially here then. Excellent.</HTML>
<HTML>Hello Woolly Hat! Love the name! I will get the bad jokes out of the way (I have a reputation as a complete dag to uphold!) and ask about your brothers Bowler, Slouch and Ten Gallon!</HTML>
<HTML>I'm no longer allowed to be in a committee since the last one I was on ended up all having to be commited themselves, but anyway, I'd like to say to his Wooliness, welcome!</HTML>
<HTML>and on the topic of Pratchett's latest work (it's in this thread somewhere, you'll just have to look..), I quite enjoyed it. Interesting insight into Vetinari.
for example where he's discussing his concealment class with his aunt...
aunt: 'you never attended concealment class'
vetinari: 'i did, religiously'
aunt: 'your teacher said he never saw you'
vetinari: 'your point being?'
admittedly, the gems are fewer than in previous tomes, but I did think it was a better plot...
<HTML>Indeed, hello to all persons of a woolly nature. We're a friendly bunch and only eat people occasionally.
Dave; in re Night Watch I will defer final judgement until I've read it again (my dad's got it at the minute). But can I point out that the concealment gag is essentially the same as the one about Mycroft's memory erasure device.
Dave; in re Night Watch I will defer final judgement until I've read it again (my dad's got it at the minute). But can I point out that the concealment gag is essentially the same as the one about Mycroft's memory erasure device.