This is a monologue by the late, great Lord Bernard Miles. He was a much-loved actor and all-round jolly good chap. I was lucky enough to hear him give talks in St. Olave's Church in London where I sometimes spent my lunch hour when I was a civil servant.
Bernard Miles was a great raconteur. His anecdotes and monologues were unique. I wanted to let you hear one of them and the only way I could work out how to do this was to treat a recording of his as 'music' on a video!
Now I'm probably doing it the 'hard' way. That's not untypical of me. However, as I was driving home via Kelso I thought I'd show you how long part of the wall of Floors Castle is. So, my wife held the Flip video gizmo whilst I drove past part of the wall. I then chose to add this Bernard Miles monologue and cut out the sound of the video itself (which was mainly the sound of the car engine!). Towards the end of the video the monologue begins again; I don't think it's posssible for me to stop it, but never mind.
This extensive castle wall was said, by some, to have been built by Napoleonic prisoners of war, in the early 1800s. There were some 100,000 French POWs in the UK at one time and it would not have surprised me if some of them were made to do such building works - but I think this is a myth as far as Floors Castle wall is concerned. What the video shows is probably only half of the wall!
It's certainly a well built affair and it is still as solid as when it was was first constructed.
6 comments:
What fun! He is very entertaining.
I was freaking out just a bit - the cars are on the wrong side of the road! I remember learning to drive on the left when I was in Zambia. The parking lots were the worst - but once I learned the trick I was golden: when you're the driver, you're always in the middle of the road.
Love the video... but you're driving on the wrong side of the road ;) I love the very accented Englilsh.
Excellent entertainment! Your missus is a very long-suffering lady to do your filming for you like that, our thanks to her. Really enjoyed the trip! The estate at Floors must be huge!
Quite a story teller. I thoroughly enjoyed your video. Well done!
Quie a wall! It was a bit difficult for me with the accent of the storyteller, but I managed to follow the tale and enjoyed the song.
This is so good, thank you for posting. I was also a Civil Servant in the city and in my lunch hours would go to the weekly concert or recital at St Olave’s. It was always a real treat if Bernard Miles was giving a recital. Very fond memories, thank you.
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