I did a posting a little while ago on a scientific discovery that might, just might, signal the theoretical possibility of time travel. Then Duchess Wylie of Kinson suggested in a comment that I should do a TT of events in history I’d like to visit. So, here they are:
Thirteen Visits To The Past I'd Like To Make
1. It would be a brilliant idea to travel into next month just long enough to pick up a list of winning lottery numbers, then hop back to the present. Then all my problems would be over. Or, if only travel to the past is possible, then I’d like to meet my grandfathers, without revealing my identity of course, to try to persuade them to invest every penny they had in brand new, unknown startup companies like Xerox or Polaroid, and then I could return to the present day and find that there is a huge family fortune to which I am the main heir.
2. Victorian London has always fascinated me, so I’d love to go back and just walk about, maybe taking a Hansom cab for longer distances. 1851 would be a good year to choose, when the Great Exhibition was on, and the Crystal Palace had just been opened.
3. The best way of finding out exactly who built Stonehenge 5000 years ago, and how they did it, would be to go and have a look. I’ll have my camcorder with me. We tend to lump all of ancient history together in one period, but of course Stonehenge was built millennia before the time of ancient Egypt, where I would also want to visit. It seems to me that in ancient Egypt the sun always shone and I expect it almost always did. I don’t know enough about the various dynasties to choose which period to visit. Any of them would be fascinating.
4. I have read accounts of how the North American plains once were covered from horizon to horizon by huge herds of buffalo, before they were slaughtered in the 19th century and almost wiped out by human greed. I’d like to see that sight for myself.
5. I’d like to see Napoleon step ashore at St. Helena into exile for life in 1815, after being defeated at Waterloo. I’d really enjoy seeing that cruel, destructive, self-centred, jumped-up little runt finally realising that he had lost everything.
6. The years between the two world wars were they heyday of the luxury liners that crossed the north Atlantic, and also were the brief period when the passenger airships flew. I’d like to cross one way on a luxury liner (first class, naturally) and the other way on the Hindenburg (but not, of course, on her final journey).
7. I have a deep and abiding interest in the First World War so I’d like to take my chances and spend a few days in the trenches in, say, 1917. It would not be enjoyable so much as interesting and possibly traumatic, but if it were possible it would be an experience I would not pass up.
8. When the Monarchy was restored in 1660 after the eleven disastrous years of Cromwell’s republic, Charles II, the Merry Monarch, led a procession through cheering crowds who were delighted to celebrate the end of Puritan rule. I’d like to be part of it.
9. I would like to witness Cleopatra’s entry to Rome, to see if it was as spectacular as it has been depicted in films, or maybe it was even more so. And while I’m there, I’d drop in on a Roman orgy. Everyone unashamedly bonking everyone else in a festival of pure pleasure and a celebration of lust. And the occasion fully catered. I wouldn’t join in of course, I’d just watch. (Yeah, right!)
10. By all accounts, Queen Elizabeth I’s speech to her troops at Tilbury at the approach of the Armada in 1588 was a tour de force, which inspired them to victory. I’d like to be there with a hidden tape recorder. And while we’re on the subject of monarchs, I do wonder if Richard III was really the villain history has remembered him as. Was Shakespeare’s portrait of a hunchbacked murderer accurate? Best go see for myself
11. Magnificent, cruel, awe inspiring, brutal. But something one never sees today. From a distance, I would be fascinated to see a cavalry charge. The Scots Greys at Waterloo perhaps, or maybe the Battle of Omdurman.
12. I’ll stand quietly in the background as the German generals come to General Montgomery’s HQ on Lunenburg heath to surrender and bring World War Two in Europe to an end in May, 1945. As each one saluted and introduced himself, Montgomery replied: “Never heard of you!” I’d try not to applaud.
13. Let me try my hand at riding a horse, or even a mule, as a member of Chaucer’s group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Yes I know it was fiction, but I want to go anyway!
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I would love to see who built Stonehenge. I was there over 25 years ago before they stopped allowing people to touch the stones -- it was a shame how people were defacing those magnificent pieces of architecture! It was an incredible experience -- one I'll never forget!
Great TT!
Posted by: Lara | September 05, 2007 at 07:16 PM
I'd definitely join you in watching Cleopatra, I'm sure it would have been an amazing sight.
Posted by: PJ | September 05, 2007 at 07:32 PM
Interesting list, really made me think: where would I want to go..? Perhaps I'll do a TT about it one day!
Thanks for visiting my TT about Robbie's lyrics. Don't take my word for it, check him out! ;-)
Posted by: Tink | September 05, 2007 at 07:36 PM
Oooh, I'd love to see these myself. What a fun time!
Posted by: Joely | September 05, 2007 at 08:09 PM
Wow! If someone had asked me where I'd like to travel into the past I'd probably have a big duh...response before I could think of anything. But reading all these-I'd totally want to see them all. Another excellent list-how do you think of these? Have a fantastic weekend!
Posted by: Joanne | September 05, 2007 at 08:29 PM
Love your #3. What would you do with the information about Stonehenge when you got back to our millennium? I'd like to stay right here in the Chicagoland area, but go back to the 1860s. Because we're called The Land of Lincoln, that time period has always seemed especially romantic to me. I wouldn't want to stay long, though. No air conditioning, no central heat ...
Posted by: The Gal Herself | September 05, 2007 at 08:34 PM
I would love to travel back to the time Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner. :)
Or, the lottery ticket one would be great too! LOL!
http://www.chelleyoung.com/index.php/archive/thursday-thirteen-74-thirteen-things-about-my-mom/
Posted by: Chelle Y. | September 05, 2007 at 09:02 PM
This is a really interesting list and concept (and wow - what research)!
Posted by: WorksForMom | September 05, 2007 at 09:40 PM
Great list and what a cool idea. I'd love to travel back in time and experience history firsthand.
Happy TT!
Posted by: Nicole Austin | September 05, 2007 at 09:56 PM
What a fabulous idea for a T13! And I thoroughly enjoyed your list -- LOLOL @ your characterization of Napoleon as a "jumped up little runt" (I agree). And I, too, would love to hear the speech given by Queen Elizabeth I!
Happy T13, and thanks for visiting mine. :)
Posted by: Thomma Lyn | September 05, 2007 at 10:18 PM
That Wylie's one smart cookie, huh??
Brilliant idea about Stonehenge. But to be honest, if I could pick only one, I'd go for the bison. All that great meat!!!
At any rate, take great pictures on the trip (optimistic, aren't I?). I'll bring some wine or something when you're ready to share the films.
Posted by: Susan Helene Gottfried | September 05, 2007 at 10:20 PM
I would love to see those. May I join you for # 3 please?
Posted by: The Nononsense | September 05, 2007 at 10:44 PM
A fascinating list as always. I'm with you on travelling on a luxury liner (#6). Kudos to both you and Wylie.
Mine's up too - after a two-week absence from the TT world.
Posted by: Christine | September 05, 2007 at 10:55 PM
Very interesting and thought-provoking! I'd like to be there for Stonehenge, also, and the Canterbury pilgrimage. I'd like to have been there when Guy Fawkes was caught on a barrel of gunpowder.
Posted by: Judy Callarman | September 05, 2007 at 11:22 PM
Wonderful post, N! Interesting, thought-provoking and imaginative. I'd like to be in that stable when Jesus was born. Just to see if it really happened that way.
And offer the poor girl and epidural.
Posted by: Wylie Kinson | September 06, 2007 at 12:15 AM
What a wonderful list! I'd join you for #'s 2,4,and 8. Aside from a little backdated Microsoft stock, I'd like to have a time lapse view of a cathedral going up!
(And Boggle IS awesome, just not on emailed spreadsheets...)
Posted by: Jennfactor | September 06, 2007 at 12:46 AM
Another great TT. I'd like to see the pyramids being built first hand. :)
Posted by: pussreboots | September 06, 2007 at 12:54 AM
The late Middle Ages and Renaissance Europe. The Middle Ages for the pageantry and the Renaissance for the wonder of the arts. Oh, and I'd like to be very rich while I'm there. Preferably royalty. No sense in going back as a serf...
Posted by: Robin from Israel | September 06, 2007 at 01:32 AM
It would be very interesting to see the past as it truly was, but there isn't any place I'd personally want to visit where I wouldn't stand out as some strange and exotic skinned creature from afar. That rather goes against the scientific stance of observing without directly interferring.
I could do Egypt, just before, during, and after the Nubian rule. Pehaps Spain after the Moors swept through. Everyplace else would have to be observed through a telescopic lens. *grin*
Great list, glad I stopped by before heading to bed.
Happy TT
~X
Posted by: Xakara | September 06, 2007 at 07:47 AM
Seriously, that's the best TT I've ever read. Shows how stupid I must seem, I only did 13 LOLcat pictures.
Great writing Nicko! (But I'll bet it's because you are British.(Or is it English?
) the British always seem smarter to me. must be that accent!)
Posted by: Ash | September 06, 2007 at 09:03 AM
Victorian London is some place i'd love to go! Being here in NY you don't get much history. Some places but no where near as much as England.
Posted by: busy | September 06, 2007 at 09:30 AM
Very interesting list. I think I'd like to go back to the 18th century and see what things were like during the revolution.
Posted by: Uisce | September 06, 2007 at 09:55 AM
I'd join you in Elizabethan England. I'd also like to see the buffalo. As for charges, do you just want a cavalry charge or would Pickett's Charge do?
My aunt, a history teacher, also is fascinated with WWI. She gets angry that now it is pretty much glossed over as a "act 1" of WW2.
Good list.
Posted by: Journeywoman | September 06, 2007 at 09:58 AM
WOW...what a creative TT idea! I'm with you on 1-4,and 6! I'm going to have to do a back-in-time post...great fun!
Posted by: Sheryl | September 06, 2007 at 03:45 PM
I'd love to go back in the past and see all those things too! I recently started finding history more interesting than I did when I was so much younger. Great list!
Posted by: kaykayzowie | September 06, 2007 at 03:49 PM
What a neat list. Definitely something to think about. I'd like to hear Abraham Lincoln speak and I think I'd rather see Nefertiti and her husband than Cleopatra. I wouldn't mind going back to see Moses part the Red Sea too.
Happy TT!
Posted by: J. Lynne | September 06, 2007 at 04:02 PM
Oh I just love coming here every week. You have the most interesting posts. I really like this one and there are quite a few I'd like to see for myself. Excellent TT. Have a great day. :)
Posted by: Comedy Plus | September 06, 2007 at 05:33 PM
I would really like to see how stonehenge was built.
Posted by: Dorothy | September 06, 2007 at 06:16 PM
Oooh. I want to see The Charge of the Light Brigade. Yes, I know it ended miserably, but I still want to see it.
And, I want to be in Vienna when the future Empress Elizabeth arrived - and also to see if her MIL was as bad as the press she got said she was.
I'd also want to tour the Crystal Palace Exhibition.
Some great stuff here.
Thanks for visiting my TT!
Posted by: Denise Patrick | September 06, 2007 at 06:24 PM
Great TT - I think Victorian London would be neat as well - as long as I didn't get sick or need any medical attention whatsoever. lol
Posted by: mom not mum | September 06, 2007 at 06:34 PM
Good answers... I did a "meme" once like this and was too much the realist and ended up saying that I'd only like to be a distant observer of the past... and realised, in some ways, I already am.
Posted by: Matthew James Didier | September 06, 2007 at 07:15 PM
Awesome list ! Great T13. Really.
Thanks for stoping by ! :-) Happy T13 too !!!
Posted by: Laurence | September 06, 2007 at 08:21 PM
What a great idea for a TT. Love #3 and would be interested in finding that one out myself. Happy TT!
Posted by: Joy T. | September 06, 2007 at 08:46 PM
Fantastic TT ... I'm with you on Stonehenge and Chaucer.
Thanks for stopping by my comments educators wish they could use.
Posted by: cajunvegan | September 06, 2007 at 08:51 PM
Excellent list, Nicholas...one of the best yet! I'm fascinated with history and have always been intrigued with time travel. Of course, I'd want a guarantee that I would be perfectly safe and that I could come back to the present any time I wanted! :)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my TT.
Posted by: Cindy Swanson | September 06, 2007 at 09:41 PM
Wonderful, wonderful TT! I just got done reading a book about time travel, too. :)
To Lara: you have been able to go in amongst the stones for a while now.
I have two TTs: one as above, and one here:
http://www.markeroni.com/blog/
Posted by: Linda R, Moore | September 06, 2007 at 10:44 PM
What a fantastic list! Victorian London, Stonehenge.. there are quite a few there that I'd like to join you on.
Posted by: tanabata | September 07, 2007 at 12:22 AM
great list! i'd love to see victorian england too..thanks for visiting my blog :)
Posted by: deegee | September 07, 2007 at 03:10 AM
I love this list!! I particularly love that you have a real sense of these times - how very, very cool of you! :)
I know it's very, hrm, "American" of me, but I don't think I could tolerate the SMELL of most of the places you picked. Fairly pathetic, I know - but true. When you go, send me a post, eh?
Posted by: Open Grove Claudia | September 07, 2007 at 09:46 AM
those were all so clever and gave me much food for thought. :o)
I would love to be there both to see the builders of Stonhenge and the Pyramids.
The "roaring twenties" would be another place to visit for a moment. I would love to be one of those flapper girls. Boop boop di boop.
I was quite surprised to see that you would have like to see the inside of a trench during WW1. What an adrenaline rush that would be!
I don't think I shared this, but when I lived with my ex-husand way out in the countryside of Pennsylvania, we lived near a field where the Historical Society would do WW2 re-enactments!(Sp?) I would walk over a lot of times to watch. They had a German and American side. When they were not there I would go down into the trenches and look around.
The German barracks were very realisitic. Some of the reenactors had left some German beer cans behind. Too cool. I noticed there as some graffiti written in German. Barbwire was strung between the two sides. It was just awesome. These guys would even do this in the rain or snow. They sometimes had bombers going over. It truly made you feel like you were back in time. I thought you would enjoy this memory of mine.
Take care. Again you have one of the best T13's out there.
Posted by: Titania | September 07, 2007 at 07:22 PM
I would like to go out into the void and watch the evolution of our planet from the very begining of time. Of course I'd have to stay longer to see what secrets each century holds. That would be exciting.
Mary Emken
Posted by: Mary Emken | September 08, 2007 at 09:28 AM
What a list! Great historical events to visit. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Posted by: Karen | September 08, 2007 at 01:20 PM
Hi,
Thanks for stopping by. I have a love of historical moments as well. Ones I thought about as I read your post include a visit to ancient Crete, one to Mycenae, observing Boudicca resist the Romans and understanding from close observation what really went wrong between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Half siblings can be so difficult. :)
Posted by: darkdaughta | September 08, 2007 at 09:14 PM
46 FREAKING COMMENTS?! With no cat pictures?
Well bloody done, my friend... :)
Wylie (who's taking complete credit *g*)
Posted by: Wylie Kinson | September 08, 2007 at 09:23 PM
I would definitely like to see Victorian London and the buffalo. Neat list.
Thanks for stopping by my list.
Posted by: Jendi | September 08, 2007 at 09:53 PM
Thanks for replying to my comment. Besides the lunch,cards,and scrabble, I would have to keep a camrera rolling. You know what thay say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Mary Emken
Posted by: Mary Emken | September 09, 2007 at 01:01 AM
I'm only about three days behind on my TT's...and maybe four days behind on my life...but it's fun!
Michael Crichton wrote Timeline...not one of his best...about time travel. If I recall right (which I probably don't), they guy could travel back to medieval times, but the problem would be that he could just appear in the middle of a jousting match or something and get killed. Something to think about if you do end up attaining this ability.
The Time Traveler's Wife is a more personal depiction of time travel...the time and place aspect is confusing, the the story is well-done.
If you are suddenly a gazillionaire, I guess we will all know that you were successful in convincing one of your grandfathers to invest in IBM or whatever!
Posted by: Di | September 09, 2007 at 07:33 AM
Thanks for vising my TT. I enjoyed your TT. I would love to visit some of the places on your list especially Victorian England and Stonehenge.
Posted by: Alasandra | September 13, 2007 at 04:17 PM
This is one of the most interesting T13 lists I've ever read Nicholas and it's just fabulous! I should do my own version soon.
Posted by: Sophisticated Writer | September 16, 2007 at 09:51 AM