rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - Zulus! Anglo-Zulu War Celebrity Speaker Day

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:09 pm

Sounds like another excellent event was enjoyed by all. Sadly I couldn't make this one due to prior family commitments which meant I was in Aberdeen all weekend!

Perhaps if another Zulu Weekend at Brecon is arranged this year...?

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:58 pm

Hi Mark

I woindered where you'd got to !!!

A Brecon event ? We are provisionally looking at 16/17 June 2012 - more details in a few weeks time.

Bill

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:57 pm

I'm glad the event went well.

A bit disappointed if Ian's talk 'Hero or Villain ?' ended in a half-answer, much like awarding someone 5 out of 10, or 10 out of 20, that way not really committing themselves to scoring the person good or bad, but middle-of-the-road, which doesn't really answer the talk's heading.

I do understand a historian should remain impartial and go by primary sources alone, leaving it to others to decide, but the talk heading gave a bit of an inkling that Ian might have put forward a more definite answer, as in, adding his own opinion on the matter, instead of remaining somewhat neutral.

However, I guess it is a question that can never truly be answered as fact.

Coll

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:15 pm

A Brecon event ? We are provisionally looking at 16/17 June 2012 - more details in a few weeks time.

Bill[/quote]

Bill
It's a few years since I managed to get to Brecon, so it's high time I came back to see what you've done to the place! I should be free for all June, July and August.

All I need is to arrange a lift with Martin

Mark

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:06 pm

Bill has asked me to post these photos taken at the NAM

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:21 pm

Who's who, Mel? And what's the import of the rifle? It's obviously an Enfield and possibly a Snider conversion, but who's holding it and why? Is that Ian Knight with a 'stache and spec's?

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:55 pm

Left to right - Ian Knight, Paul Bryant-Quinn, Katie Stossel, Bill Cainan, John Laband, Craig Appleton.

Someone else will confirm the firearm, a flintlock adorned with Zulu wirework and beading.

Peter

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:05 am

Thanks Peter. Curious how none of them (except IK) look a bit like what they're supposed to look like. Surprised

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:37 am

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:24 pm

I mean that "the minds eye" can be pretty imaginative creating faces (and physiques) to give to people we've never met but have often "heard". When we finally do meet them or see a photo of them it can be pretty surprising how far off the mark our imaginary picture was. You, for example Paul, never had facial hair until just now! Surprised

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:32 pm

Sawubona

Yes. I think we all tend to have an image in mind of how people look from the forum.

It does make you wonder how other members imagine yourself appearance-wise. Shocked

Coll

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:30 pm

It does that, Coll. Do you really have sandy blond hair somewhat on the longish side and wear spectacles? Smile

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:41 am

As an aside to all of this, whilst I knew that guest lecturers are not paid for their contributions, I have been made aware post factum that the policy of the National Army Museum is not to defray their expenses either. Apparently this prestigious institution - which, as you know, charges top dollar to attend its 'celebrity speaker' days - considers that the privilege of giving a paper is in itself ample reward.

I am not a 'celebrity', of course; but should you ever be invited by the NAM to lecture there, and unless you happen to live in SW3, my advice to you would be to check your bank-balance first. It's going to cost you.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:04 pm

Rather dismayed to learn that, Paul - though no doubt not as dismayed as you. Presumably, when advising you that no speaker's fee would be payable for your contribution to this event, the NAM also didn't broach the subject of expenses? Even though it might depend on how the original invitation was extended, I'm very surprised that such a (as you remind us) prestigious institution as the NAM would not think that the question of expenses - or at least their partial defrayment - was an essential point to be clarified when inviting a published academic to speak, knowing that travel from SW Wales and overnight accommodation in London was required.

The audience was large, well over 200 we were told, and I heard the figure of 230 given. 230 x �15, plus a heaving cafeteria for much of the day, a clearly successful day on the excellent bookstall - all a direct result of the speakers' contributions to the event - and it seems a pity that, if not offering a fee itself, the NAM felt it wasn't in a position to ask how far out of pocket their excellent speakers were. In its defence, it might say you could have clarified the expenses position at the outset, but I can't think of anything else in mitigation. From my own experience I know full well these things are better clarified early on, but it seems bizarre that the main component and single attraction - the speakers themselves, after all - to such a successful event at such a prestigious venue were not recompensed in any way. I take it you didn't have to buy your own lunch, too?

Peter

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:04 pm

Peter Ewart wrote:

I take it you didn't have to buy your own lunch, too?

You jest, squire! Of course I did: we all had to buy our lunches at the NAM, including Prof. Laband. But no matter; it's water under the bridge. I enjoyed meeting people from the site, and the evening was good too.