The above image is from the 2003 seafaring movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The film is set during the Napoleonic Wars, and follows the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew on the high seas as they play cat-and-mouse with a French privateer. It's based on the series of books by Patrick O'Brian and stars Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and Aubrey's friend/conscience. In the above scene, Aubrey has granted Maturin some time on the Galapagos Island to observe the wildlife and collect specimens. Unfortunately, while collecting, Maturin spots the Acheron- the ship they've been chasing- in a cove on the far side of the island. He must leave his samples behind and rush to inform Captain Jack that they've located the enemy. |
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The above image is from the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, which is a heist/comedy movie based on an actual historical event: the theft- or retrieval, depending upon how you look at it- of the Stone of Scone (also known as the Stone of Destiny). The Stone of Scone is a block of sandstone upon which the monarchs of Scotland have traditionally been crowned. It was brought to Scone from the island of Iona in 841 AD by Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scotland. It was eventually housed in Scone Abbey, which was built in the early 1100's. Then, in 1296 during the First Scottish War of Independence, Edward I of England (alias The Hammer of the Scots) took the Stone of Destiny as a war prize and brought it to Westminster Abbey in London where it was fitted into a wooden chair which is now known, not too originally, as King Edward's Chair. After this, all the monarchs of England- and then Great Britain- used the chair in their coronations. It was last used in 1953, during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, but for a while this was in doubt. Three years earlier- on Christmas Day, 1950- four Scottish university students stole the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey and managed to get back over the border into Scotland with it, a not unimpressive feat as it weighs some 335 lbs. They managed to keep the Stone hidden for about 4 months, aided and abetted by several conspirators including a Scottish National Party politician, but the police were slowly closing in. Investigating the case, they discovered among other things that one student at Glasgow University- Ian Hamilton, the ringleader of the Stone plot- had checked out all of the library's books on Westminster Abbey. Knowing that they were about to be caught, the students took the Stone to Arbroath Abbey on April 11, 1951 and left it on the altar there. Once the police were informed of its whereabouts, the Stone of Destiny was returned to Westminster Abbey... or was it. Rumours exist to this day that a replica of the Stone was put in Arbroath Abbey and that the real one is still out there, somewhere. The photo above is from the scene in which the conspirators have crossed the border into Scotland with the Stone; they pour whiskey on the Stone as a welcome home gesture. This actually happened, although there were only three of the group there at the time. Of course, as a British history wonk, this story has always fascinated me. I've also seen both King Edward's Chair in Westminster Abbey and the Stone of Scone, in Edinburgh Castle where it has resided since 1996. It's amazing to gaze upon these two items and think about all of the royal rumps that have sat upon them, and all of the history they've been witness to... the theft of the Stone of Destiny in 1950 is part of that history.
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