HI folks! Just a quick note to update you on a few things.
1. First of all, let me thank EVERYONE who has supported TPN's Pledge Drive! We appreciate your support for indy media and helping us stay alive.
2. David Markham has written all INS members a letter outlining his new role as President following the passing of INS Founder Ben Weider. You can read a copy of his letter here.
3. Finally, David and I have scheduled time to record new episodes of both our Napoleon and Biography shows for next week! So stay tuned!
Victor Sheely again comes up with the goods - he sent me this link to a handful of Napoleon's chess games. I just played through this game between Napoleon and Bertrand on St Helena in 1820 and it's a SHOCKER. I'd always heard that Napoleon wasn't a very good chess player but, seriously, my kids would have kicked his ass if he played like this. And they are only 8. Mind you, as we discussed on the show, Napoleon was probably riddled with arsenic at this stage so I guess I should cut him some credit.
Today I received the below letter today from Eric Weider, son of the late Ben Weider, advising me that his father's wish was for J. David Markham to assume the role of President of the International Napoleonic Society. I'm sure you'll agree with me that there isn't a better person to assume the role of promoting the awareness and study of Napoleonic history than David. He has given his time, knowledge and energy freely to helping me produce this podcast over the last few years and, as a result, tens of thousands of people have been introduced to the history of Napoleon who may otherwise have missed out on learning about the fascinating man and period of history.
So on behalf of all of us, I would like to congratulate David! Salute!
PS would one of you like to update David's profile on Wikipedia? I'm been slapped on the wrist by the Wikipedia moderators for updating David's profile in the past. Apparently I'm not an objective source.
You know that we spend a LOT of time producing our shows for you.
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Now, we know that paying for online content is probably new to some of you. You are used to getting it for free.
However, we do ask you to think about the idea of the people funding their own media. We all know that if corporate advertising is the main source of funding for the media, it influences the kinds of media that is produced and the messages they carry. We don?t want that kind of media to be the only kind out there. We want an independent media, run by the people and for the people.
If you want to support our efforts to bring you intelligent and entertaining content, please consider one of our donation plans listed here at the TPN Pledge Drive page.
One of our listeners, Victor Sheely, sent me a link to this song "Waterloo" by Florida-based heavy metal band Iced Earth. The video uses footage from Bondarchuk's famous 1971 film "Waterloo" and if you are trying to work out the lyrics, you can find them here. Thanks for the link Victor!
We have our first entry to our Napoleon competition as mentioned on episode #46! This entry is from Simon Walter from Duesseldorf who writes:
My name's Simon, I'm 20 years old and studying History and English in Duesseldorf (which is - of course - where Heinrich Heine, who was a great admirer of Napoléon, was born); aside of my studies (I just started one month ago) I'm totally into poetry and if there's any chance to establish my passion as financial basis of my life, I'll certainly go for it. My first play ('Menschenfelder' - only available in german so far) was published in August and I'm storing alot of stuff on my blog (http://simonjustuswalter.blogsport.de - mostly german too). How I got into Napoleonic History, I cannot really recall; we didn't cover the subject in school (or at least I don't remember anything) but I internalized the idea of Napoléon as a great and positive force for human history very early in life. When I was 18 I got hold of two biographies and even though they were obviously intended to be critical of Napoléons career, they encouraged me to research this mysterious' mans life further and I eventually ended up discovering your podcast (around episode ~30); since then I've been nothing but enthusiastic. I've not been to France yet but one of my primary goals in life is to visit Paris and in fact follow the very route Napoléon took after his return from Elba, before my 30th birthday; I have however read a tremendous amount of literature on Napoléon and visited Schloss Arenenberg this summer (which is where Hortense and her son, the later Napoléon III. lived - they have a very nice museum up there and are rebuilding the beautiful park at the moment), getting more and more absorbed into this outstanding and unique life. What fascinates me the most - finally getting to the subject; no idea whether I've already crossed the 200-words-line) is Napoléons steadiness. I think you, Cameron, defined this feeling once as the constant question "What would Napoléon do?", which, for myself, is not bound to concrete situations, but in fact a greater scheme to approach life successfully. When I wrote my play during the last three years I'd often encounter moments where I felt like "Man, you are just 18/19/20, what's it all about? Go out and have some fun" or "Nobody will read it anyway, why don't you spend your time on more practical matters?" and always I somehow found myself confronted with the image of Napoléon and knew I had to stay firm. It's not like "Oh, I don't know what to do - What would Napoléon do?" but in fact a way of mastering the everlasting doubts of life; his career, his accomplishments, his glory tell me, that everyone has the power to make his very dreams come true, that everyone can accomplish whatever he or she is aiming for, as long as one stands firm and doesn't lose trust in him-/herself.
Napoléon will always be there; in fact I'm surrounded by four images of the emperor right now (no originals obviously; all printed out and framed by myself) and when I celebrated my namesday (no idea whether this is common in Australia) on Tuesday, my parents presented me a little golden bell, showing an ancient battle scene, the emperor standing on top in his familiar gesture. I could write so much more about the ideas Napoléon granted me, about the way he has influenced my lyrical projects and will do so in the forseeable future, about how I decided to learn french as a tribute to his input to my life or how his quotes use to touch and inspire me.
However, I think this has gone far beyond the intended 200 words (600+, I just checked) and I'll therefore come to an end; I just want to add how very grateful I am towards David and you for putting so much time and passion into an excellent show; I've never really contributed on the website and this is the very first e-mail I write to you, so obviously I have to make up for quite a bit. Keep up your good work and may the imperial eagle protect you.
Hi folks. As you'll have seen in my last post, Ben Weider, President and Founder of the International Napoleonic Society, passed away on October 17, 2008. As Ben was a major influence in Napoleonic circles, a tireless promoter of the Emperor's achievements, and, not least, a very close friend and colleague of David's, we wanted to share with you some thoughts on Ben. I was at David's house in Olympia this last weekend, shooting video of his AMAZING Napoleonic collection for our upcoming DVD pack, and we sat down to pay homage to Ben. This interview also features a chat with our friend Sean Richarz, composer of the musical ?Les Cent Jours De Napoleon? (The 100 Days of Napoleon) that I mentioned when we were in Ajaccio last July and an opportunity for you to win one of five free signed CD's of the music from the musical! Listen to the show to find out how to enter the competition.
On behalf of David and myself, I want to sincerely THANK YOU ALL for going on this journey with us over the last couple of years. It's been a highlight of my podcasting career to be able to produce this for you. Of course I need to thank the one and only J. David Markham for giving us all so much of his time and knowledge freely and willingly over these last couple of years. I really do believe he has not only taken us all on a wonderful journey, but has also left a benchmark in podcasting and education.
Have you bought a copy of David's new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, yet? Let's make it the #1 History book on Amazon!
This show is based on David's book "Napoleon For Dummies". Click on the image below to purchase a copy!
I know David was a very close friend of Ben's and I'm sure he'll want to talk a lot about him and his contribution to Napoleonic history when I catch up with him for dinner on the weekend. I'll shoot some video for the site.
I consider myself very fortunate to have received my Legion of Merit certificate and medallion in July, both signed by Ben.
For those of you who aren't aware of Ben's achievements, here's a short list from his profile on Wikipedia:
- He was the co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) along with brother Joe Weider;
- He co-authored a book, The Murder Of Napoleon, with Sten Forshufvud which promoted the view of Napoleon's death from arsenic poisoning;
- Weider also founded the International Napoleonic Society, of which he was the President;
- In 1975 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 2006.
- In 2000, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.
- On October 12, 2000, he received the French Legion of Honor.
- Weider was also a 1984 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize
- The Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution at the Florida State University History Department has recently created the Ben Weider Chair in Revolutionary Studies.
- From 1998 to 2005, Ben Weider was Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 62nd (Shawinigan) Field Artillery Regiment, RCA. In 2005, he was promoted to be the Honorary Colonel of that military unit. In October 2006 Ben Weider unexpectedly retired as president of the IFBB.
- In 2008, he was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the Arnold Classic 2008.
On behalf of all of our listeners, I'd like to thank Ben for his enormous contribution of the memory of Napoleon and send our sincere condolences to his family. My thanks also to Larry Bertoia for bringing the news of Ben's passing to our attention.
What do you give loved ones who are also Napoleon buffs?
When I was in Ajaccio in July, I stumbled upon a wonderful store selling unique Napoleonic gifts - t-shirts, etc. All of them were custom designed and of a very high quality. Unfortunately, they don't have a site I can link you to.
I have, however, found these wonderful Napoleon-themed gifts on Etsy.
Well.. here we are folks. The end of the chronological part of our story. It's been two-and-a-half years in the making. Sometimes I never thought we'd get here. In many ways, I wish we hadn't. But it had to happen - and so - on today's episode, the Emperor - dies.
We discuss his last two years on St Helena, without a decent doctor to attend to his increasing illness - which, of course, we believe to be symptoms of arsenic poisoning - his death and then his subsequent return to Paris, many years later.
With the end of our chronological story, we might take a rest. Fear not, however - the show isn't over yet. We'll be back to do some epiloguecasts, fulfilling some of the requests you've made over the last couple of years for us to drill down into some of the other characters in this most amazing story.
On behalf of David and myself, I want to sincerely THANK YOU ALL for going on this journey with us over the last couple of years. It's been a highlight of my podcasting career to be able to produce this for you. Of course I need to thank the one and only J. David Markham for giving us all so much of his time and knowledge freely and willingly over these last couple of years. I really do believe he has not only taken us all on a wonderful journey, but has also left a benchmark in podcasting and education.
Have you bought a copy of David's new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, yet? Let's make it the #1 History book on Amazon!
This show is based on David's book "Napoleon For Dummies". Click on the image below to purchase a copy!
On today's episode, David and I talk about Napoleon's struggles with Hudson Lowe, the theory that he was slowly being murdered while on St Helena, poisoned by someone in his own retinue, his sexual escapades with Albine de Montholon, and whether or not he had a "foxhole" religious conversion.
Have you bought a copy of David's new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, yet? Let's make it the #1 History book on Amazon!
This show is based on David's book "Napoleon For Dummies". Click on the image below to purchase a copy!
The story of Napoleon's years on St Helena is dominated by one man, whose name is infamous in Napoleonic history - Sir Hudson Lowe, Napoleon's "jailer".
The Duke of Wellington later said that he was "a very bad choice; he was a man wanting in education and judgement. He was a stupid man, he knew nothing at all of the world, and like all men who knew nothing of the world, he was suspicious and jealous".
On today's show we discuss the arrival of Lowe to St Helena and Napoleon's forced move to new premises, Longwood.
Longwood today. Photo by G.Wilson (see the Travelling Historian site for more great photos of Longwood.)
We also talk a bit about Corsica and Paris! Keep an eye out for the DVD pack which I'll hopefully have ready in a few weeks.
Have you bought a copy of David's new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, yet? Let's make it the #1 History book on Amazon!
This show is based on David's book "Napoleon For Dummies". Click on the image below to purchase a copy!
Sorry folks - David and I just wanted to apologize for the longer-than-usual break between shows! We've both been crazy busy since getting back from France, with lots of interstate trips in our schedules and it's been hard to get together. We've got one scheduled for the week of the 18th!
In my last post I mentioned Nicholas Stark, the 17 year-old student who joined us in Paris for a few days (he was actually there for two weeks, soaking himself in Napoleonic history). Well, with my encouragement, Nicholas has set up his own blog about Napoleon. From our conversations in Paris, I know he intends to pursue a career in history and I advised him to start building his brand with a blog. I'd like to encourage each of you to check out his writing on Napoleon (see link below). I've found him to be quite knowledgeable and passionate about the subject.
Hey folks! Well I'm back in Australia after an AMAZING two weeks in France. The above photos, and a number of others you can find in the Napoleon 101 Flickr Group, was taken by our new friend Nicholas Stark, a 17 year-old student from the US who joined us for a couple of days in Paris.
On July 14, Bastille Day, we shot some video at Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe and Les Invalides. David provided some commentary of Napoleon's tomb, the Arc, and various Napoleonic paintings and exhibits at The Louvre. This video, along with the audio and video recordings from the INS congress at Ajaccio, will be available on the DVD pack I'll be putting out asap.
By the way, in the Flickr Group you'll see a couple of photos taken at Changi Airport (Singapore) of the Legion Of Merit medal I was presented with, by David, at the Gala Dinner at the end of the Congress. It was a great honour and something every button pusher aspires to. David was also presented with the Medal Of The City Of Ajaccio by the Mayor of Ajaccio during a cocktail reception held at their city hall, beneath an original painting of Napoleon in his ceremonial robes from the coronation. There will be photos of that, and much much more, going up in the Flickr group over the next week or so, so keep an eye out.
We're having an UNBELIEVABLE time over here, with a terrific group of Napoleonic scholars and historians, drinking chestnut whisky, smoking Cuban cigars, lying on the beach, and, of course, discussing Napoleon!
One of the highlights of the Congress will be the performance of several musical numbers from ?Les Cent Jours De Napoleon?, a musical about Napoleon's Hundred Days written by Seattle composer Sean Richarz and performed by Sean, Christine Dunaway and Craig Schell, who are both also from Seattle. Check out the site for the musical, have a listen to excerpts from it, and look forward to it coming to a concert hall near you soon!
Just a quick note to let you know that we'll be recording a new show next week! Stay tuned!