The Crown Jewels thief
QUESTION On May 9, 1671, Thomas Blood attempted to steal the Crown Jewels. Why did Charles II pardon him?
Thomas Blood was born around 1618 in Co. Clare, Ireland, the son of a well- to- do blacksmith. he was an incorrigible rogue, a turncoat in the English Civil War, backing the Roundheads when it became clear Cromwell was going to win.
In 1653, Blood was made a Justice of the Peace and granted a large estate, but in 1660 upon the restoration of Charles II, he fled to Ireland with his wife and son.
he turned his hand to thievery in 1671. disguising himself as a parson, he befriended Talbot Edwards, the keeper of the jewels at the Tower of london.
after persuading Edwards to show the jewels to a ‘nephew’ and two ‘friends’, Blood knocked him out cold, and he and his accomplices set about making off with the crown, orb and sceptre.
The crown was flattened and put into a bag, and Blood concealed the orb down his trousers. he was apprehended trying to escape from the Tower.
after his arrest, Blood refused to talk to anyone but the King, believing that Charles’s fondness for bold scoundrels would stand him in good stead.
The King asked Blood: ‘What if I should give you your life?’, to which Blood said: ‘I would endeavour to deserve it, sire!’
so Blood was pardoned and given back his Irish lands, which had been confiscated after the Restoration, and began to serve as an informer thereafter.
he was involved in various dark transactions, including an effort to blackmail the duke of Buckingham. Brazenly, he frequented the court. John Evelyn, the diarist, met him at dinner and found him an impudent, bold fellow with ‘a daring but villainous unmerciful look, a false countenance, very well spoken and dangerously insinuating’.
Peter Charmian, Sherborne, Dorset.
QUESTION Did any other countries suffer killer smogs similar to London’s Great Smog of 1952?
BRITAIN has long been affected by mists and fogs, but these became more severe after the Industrial Revolution. The Great smog of 1952 killed thousands over the weekend of december 5, 1952.
Usually, smoke rises into the atmosphere and disperses, but an anticyclone was hanging over london. This created a temperature inversion and a layer of warm air high in the atmosphere trapped pollutants and smoke.
Particles and gases emitted from factory chimneys, and from heavy domestic coal burning due to the cold winter, combined over london with pollution that had blown across from the continent.
Recent estimates suggest that as many as 12,000 people died in the smog.
a similar phenomenon had occurred at least twice before.
Between december 1 and december 5, 1930, a temperature inversion trapped a thick fog over the area around liege, Belgium, one of the most heavily industrialised regions in Europe.
hundreds of people in the villages of the meuse valley, between the towns of huy and liege, suffered respiratory illness, and at least 60 people died.
In 1948, a wall of smog killed 20 people and made 7,000 ill in donora, Pennsylvania, a mill town near Pittsburgh.
along with coal particulates, hydrogen fluoride and sulphur dioxide emissions from U.s. steel’s zinc works and its steel and wire plant were trapped at low atmosphere. The event is commemorated by the donora smog museum.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
QUESTION Which country has the most Bank Holidays?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, I was based in Colombia for most of the sixties and seventies.
If a public holiday fell on a Tuesday or a Thursday, Colombians would take off a
puente (bridge), and the added monday or Friday would turn the public holiday into a long weekend.
In some years, this could boost the number of holidays by three or four days. I believe the practice was common in other latin american countries. Joseph Alexander, Sheffield.
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