Oxford – A Traveling Fool

August 1, 2026August 1, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 008: Day 4 – Highclere Castle

Just like my interest in The Randolph Hotel in Oxford was mainly based on a television series, so was my initial interest in Highclere Castle. It had been used as Totleigh Towers in the Jeeves and Wooster television series starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry back in 1990 to 1993. I had been a fan of that series and still have the DVDs of the show as well as the books upon which it was based. But Highclere Castle’s biggest claim to fame is that it was Downton Abbey. I was a huge fan of that series (which ran from 2010 to 2015, followed by several films in 2019, 2022, and 2025), so I definitely had an interest in getting to see it in person. For many years, I tried to get on a tour to see it, but couldn’t seem to get anything to work out at the right time.

The reason why it was on this tour was its connection to Egypt. George Herbert, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon (the old English spelling, as opposed to the modern Welsh spelling “Caernarfon”), married the daughter of the bank heir, Alfred de Rothschild. The Earl had a fascination with all things Egyptian – much like me, but with a whole lot more money. He got into it seriously in 1907 when he sponsored the excavation of some of the nobles’ tombs in Deir el-Bahari (Thebes). A few years later, he hired archaeologist Howard Carter to search for the tomb of Tutankhamum. That search took roughly ten years and ended with the discovery in 1922 of the most famous Egyptian tomb to date.

Highclere Castle is a country house that was built in 1679 and largely renovated in the 1840s from a design by Charles Berry, the same fellow who designed the Houses of Parliament in London. The park was designed by Capability Brown in the 18^th century.

We were taken on an exclusive tour of the entire ground floor, which included rooms that had been used in Downton Abbey and rooms that had not been used in the series, but had their own histories. The woman who led the tour was an employee of the present Earl and Lady Carnarvon and had many personal stories regarding the filming of the series and films. She could tell us all about it because she had been a part of it.

We could take as many photos as we wanted of the exterior and grounds, but nothing of the inside. Since this was someone’s home as opposed to a museum, that made perfect sense.

She also gave us a tour of the entire first floor, which contained many of the bedrooms used as family bedrooms or guest rooms. One of the stories our guide told us while on that floor was about how they filmed the third episode of the first series having to do with the young, virile, and incredibly handsome Turkish diplomat, Mr Kemal Pamuk (played by Theo James). For those familiar with the series, that’s probably all I have to say. For the rest of you, Mister Pamuk sneaks into the oldest daughter, Mary’s, bedroom, seduces her and ends up dying in her bed. Mary enlists her mother, Cora, and a ladies maid, Anna, to help her move his body back to his room. Our guide took us step by step through the logistics of all of that as we visited both Mary’s room and Pamuk’s as well as the corridors involved.

The entire lower level/basement houses the Egyptian Exhibition. We could explore that at our own pace.

The exhibition included six rooms which illustrated the 5^th Earl’s fascination with Egypt, his early excavations from 1906 on, his relationship with Howard Carter, and the discovery and contents of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The collection featured authentic antiquities, burial chamber recreations, and replicas of Tutankhamun’s shrine and death mask. I very much enjoyed seeing it all.

Afterwards I went to the gift shop. There I bought a miniature of Highclere Castle and some rather unique earrings. Then I saw the tiaras. Fortunately none of them were terribly expensive. So I picked out the one I like the best. I didn’t buy it to wear it anyplace specific. I mainly just wanted to own a tiara from Downton Abbey. I have included photos of my purchases shown with some of the items I bought on my first trip to Egypt in 2008.

We had also been given coupons for a free tea and pastry. So those of us who decided to take a break prior to exploring the gardens redeemed our coupons and sat in the shade at some tables just outside of the café. It was a lovely, but warm day. Then we explored the gardens, including one that was labeled as a Secret Garden. This particular garden had been used as such for one of the various television and film adaptations of that story.

Returning to our coach at the end of our time at Highclere, we were each handed an autographed copy of Lady Carnarvon’s book A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the Real Downton Abbey. We were then taken to our lunch stop.

The Jack Russell Inn was located on the Faccombe Estate, halfway between Newbury and Andover. It was a small inn with eleven bedrooms, but with a sizeable pub. As in many pubs throughout the British Isles, dogs were not only allowed but welcomed.

This time I chose a Cottage Pie (like a Shepherd’s Pie, but with beef instead of lamb) and a Lemon Posset with raspberry sorbet, coulis, and fresh berries for dessert. With that I ordered a shandy to drink. This was a combination of ale and a lemon-flavored soda (which is called “lemonade” in the UK; what is called “lemonade” in the US is called “lemon squash” in the UK; to further complicate matters, it is “lemon juice” in Egypt). As I often do, I forgot to take a photo before starting to eat, so I am including a photo of a friend’s fish ‘n’ chips with mushy peas.

After lunch, we headed back to Oxford. We were due to arrive at the hotel at 2:30pm and I was to be picked up by a car and driver at 2:45pm to be taken to Heathrow Airport back in London. I just had time to shove my purchases and book into my larger case before locking it up again and heading downstairs. A hotel employee took the cases down and kept an eye on them while I took a short trip to the WC. I came out to find the car and driver there and my cases in the boot (trunk).

My Turkish Airlines flight left Heathrow at 6:30pm, London time, and arrived in Istanbul at a quarter past midnight, Istanbul time. I had not been allowed to get my seats assigned ahead of time, so they were assigned at Heathrow for both the flight to Istanbul and the flight from Istanbul to Cairo. I was given my boarding passes for both flights and my larger case was checked through to Cairo.

Once everyone was on the plane, several people were jockeying and negotiating to get a seat closer to whoever they were with or to separate themselves from strangers. A woman right in front of me was in between two men she didn’t know. She moved to the empty seat across the aisle from where I was sitting after asking first if anyone was sitting there.

I was fine with where I was sitting, so I stayed put. More about the time at the Istanbul airport and the flight to Cairo in the next installment.

Next – Onwards to Cairo

Highclere Castle seen from path from gardens

July 22, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 007: Day 3 – University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum

Although the visit to the Griffith Institute had been a private one for just us. The Ashmolean had plenty of people inside, including a large group of children. This seemed to perplex our guide that we had for that visit a bit as the portion of the museum in which she planned to start her presentation was then occupied by those children. She would need to start us off elsewhere and return there later. She appeared to have a memorized script that she needed to closely follow. Eventually she regained her stride and began to add more information to what we could have read ourselves on the cards with most of the items.

One of the stories that I enjoyed hearing was about the Ram of Amun-Re. He was a guardian. It was considered to be bad luck to pass directly in front of him. There were all sorts of people doing exactly that as they didn’t know the story. Our group gave him a wide berth, however. I had been doing my usual wandering around to avoid standing in one place for too long, so he and I had already met earlier. But I instinctively did not walk in front of him. The photo I took was while I was standing a bit off to the side.

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology was Britain’s first public museum. Its original building was erected in 1678-1683. It is also the world’s second oldest university museum. The oldest is the Kunstmuseum Basel founded at the University of Basel (Switzerland) in 1661. The present museum was built between 1841 and 1845. The new galleries focusing on Egypt and Nubia were created in 2016.

The main museum houses one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, as well as majolica pottery, and English silver. In addition to the items from Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, the archaeology department also has a collection of Greek and Minoan pottery. The Egyptian antiquities are mostly from Prehistoric Egypt (roughly 6210-3150 BC) and the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (3150-2686 BC).

The Ram of Amun-Re was commissioned by the Kushite King Taharqa at about 680 BC. The ram is shown sheltering the king between its forelegs and originally stood at the Temple of Kawa in the Sudan right outside of the Shrine of King Taharqa. That shrine is also in the Ashmolean. You can see part of it behind the Ram of Amun-Re in the photo it took of the statue (photo 012).

I walked all around the Shrine of Taharqa and photographed it all the way around (photos 013 – 017). This shrine was commissioned by Taharqa at the same time as he built the Temple of Kawa and was built within that temple which was dedicated to Amun-Re.

Shortly after the archaeological digs exposed the remains of the buildings to the weather (in 1929 & 1930) they started to decay. The Sudanese government took several carvings from the buildings to Khartoum. Then they gave the Ashmolean permission to dismantle the shrine and move it to the museum in 1936. This was all to try to protect what they could from further decay. As you can see by my photos, the shrine is looking pretty darned good 90 years later.

Some other items of interest include the “Two Dog Palette” (photo 010). This dates to about 3200 BC and was found at the Temple of Horus in Hierakonpolis. Then there is a Statue of Sobek, the crocodile god, from the pyramid temple of Amenamhat III (003).

Photo 004 is a statue of King Khasekhemwy. This is one of the oldest known inscribed statues of an Egyptian king. He is made of limestone and is seated on a throne, wearing a conical crown. This too was excavated at Heirakonpolis. He was the last Pharaoh of the 2^nd Dynasty (roughly 2690-2670 BC). Little is known about him other than that he led several significant military campaigns, reunified Egypt by his 13^th year, and built a large mudbrick structure known as Shunet El Zebib.

Photos 005 and 006 are front and back of headless statues of Akhennaten & Nefertiti. Akhennaten was Tutankhamun’s father. But they don’t think that Nefertiti was his mother.

Photo 011 is a rare, life-sized terracotta sculpture of a beautiful red lion. It dates back to the 6^th Dynasty (c 2325-2175 BC) and was excavated at the ancient royal capital of Nekhen (modern Hierakonpolis).

I also include here a photo of a Roman Sphinx (002), that I saw in the outer sculpture gallery near the museum entrance, dating to roughly 50 – 200 AD.

Photo 007 shows several shabti in different sizes. These were the workers who would take care of the king in the afterlife. Photo 008 is a mummy who is still wrapped and still with the coins and amulets in their wrappings.

The last photo in this grouping (021) includes an actual Ostrich egg in the lower right. It dates to 3600 BC and is decorated with figures believed to be gazelles. It is also thought to have been included in the tomb in which it was found as a possible substitute for a missing head.

When we returned to the hotel, the Morse Bar and the Alice restaurant were both quite busy. I was also rapidly running out of steam. So the decision was made to grab my Sainsbury carry bag from my room and head on down the road beside the hotel just a couple of blocks to the grocers.

I picked up a cheese & onion sandwich, a chocolate mousse, and a bottle of an Argentinian Malbek. All were delicious.

Next – Touring Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)

July 15, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 006: Day 3 – University of Oxford’s Griffith Institute

Do you want to know why King Tutankhamun’s tomb remained hidden from both tomb robbers and archaeologists for a few thousand years? Just read this post.

The Griffith Institute (established in 1939) is a part of the University of Oxford that concentrates on Egyptology. Its holdings include: manuscripts, excavation records, journals, inscriptions, drawings, watercolors, old negatives, photographs, squeezes, and rubbings. All from Archaeologists and Egyptologists who were instrumental in the archaeological discoveries and knowledge of Ancient Egypt. This collection includes the complete records of the ten-year excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb which were deposited in the Griffith Institute by Howard Carter’s niece shortly after his death.

Our group met up with our Oxford Tour Director, Sally, at the planned time and place and walked across the street to the Ashmolean Museum. There we were split into two groups – one of twelve people, and the other of six. The group of twelve (which included me) was taken around the corner to the Griffith Institute (photo 001) where we were further split into two groups of six each. One group was taken in hand by one of the people who worked at the Institute, and the other group went elsewhere within the building with another guide.

My group was taken to a smallish room with a table that had six chairs for guests and one for our guide. She started with some documents from Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie. These were some photos with his hand-written labels (002 & 003) and some excavation records with his drawings (004). We were allowed to take photographs. Most of us did so.

Next we were shown Howard Carter’s journal. I took photos of several of the pages that were shown to us. One of the entries that actually moved me more than I had anticipated was the Saturday, November 4, 1922 entry that had one line written diagonally across the page. It said, “First steps of tomb found.” (005). There were audible gasps from pretty much our entire group. The following day, his entry declared, “Discovered tomb under tomb of Ramses VI. Investigated same & found seals intact.” (006)

Tutankhamun had reigned from roughly 1332 to 1323 BC during the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt and died at the age of about 18 or 19. The cause of death has been debated. Although the tomb had a few items stolen shortly after the burial, it had managed to remain pretty much as it had been when Tutankhamun was buried in it.

In 1145 BC, Ramasses V (reign 1147–1143 BC) started a tomb above it, which was taken over and enlarged by his uncle, Ramasses VI (reign 1143–1136 BC). The rubble from this tomb fell down over the entrance to Tutankhamun’s tomb burying it. Workman’s huts were built over the buried entrance. The tomb was then completely hidden.

I have also included here some of the photographs taken by Harry Burton of Tutankhamun’s tomb and its contents as it was found. In the first one (007), the wall between the two sentinel statues was the plastered over entrance to the burial chamber.

The other two photos show some of the items stacked around in the outer room shown in 007. The oval boxes shown in the center of 008 and to the right in 009 contain food. This was to tide the Pharaoh over, in the afterlife, until his shabti (small figures of workers buried with the Pharaoh) could come magically to life and grow crops, bake bread etc.

Photo 010 is of Howard Carter with Lord Caernarfon at the entrance to the Burial Chamber shortly after they broke through. Tutankhamun’s mask is shown as it was found, still on Tutankhamun’s mummy, in photo 011. The last photo (012) of the tomb shows the entrance to the Treasury, just off of the Burial Chamber.

We then switched places with the other group and went to another room. There we were first shown the early attempts of an Archaeologist/Egyptologist to decipher hieroglyphics (photo 013), prior to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, and some of his other notes and illustrations (photos 014 & 015).

Several drawings and watercolor paintings created by various archaeologists were shared with us as well. Photo 016 shows a drawing of a cache of mummies with a rather grumpy-looking statue at the top, just to the right of the text. Photo 017 shows three watercolor panoramic views of Cairo. Photo 018 shows a watercolor painting of Abu Simbel in its original setting.

Photo 019 shows a watercolor of just the tops of the columns (which were mostly buried in the sand) in what appears to be Luxor Temple in the city that had once been called Thebes. There is also a diagram of the temple (which looks to me to be Luxor and not Karnak) and two smaller watercolor illustrations. I am using the illustration in the lower right, which is definitely of Luxor Temple, to identify the location.

They also shared what is called an archaeological squeeze (020). This is a 3D facsimile of an ancient inscription made by pressing moistened filter paper into the carved surfaces of stone or metal. When dry, the paper was peeled off, leaving a durable, lightweight negative impression that captured the original pretty accurately. This allowed for enhanced readability of the original as well as being able to have a portable version of it.

They thought they were also helping to preserve the artifacts and not causing any damage to them. Turns out that some of the artifacts were damaged as the technique originally involved using a mallet to help create the squeeze. Later the mallet was replaced with a special brush with stiff, closely packed bristles, usually made of horsehair.

They also showed us a photo of the actual item from which the squeeze had been created. It was a relief of Amenhotep III (021).

After this, all twelve of us switched places with the group of six who had gone to the Ashmolean first.

Next – More Egyptian treasures at the Ashmolean Museum

July 12, 2026

Egyptian Expedition 005: Day 3 – Arrival in Oxford at The Randolph Hotel

I dearly love the Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis, and Endeavour mysteries. So the idea of staying at The Randolph Hotel in Oxford really appealed to me. The hotel featured in both the Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis television series several times. The cast also stayed at the hotel during filming in 1987. There is a Morse Bar, which features photos of the cast of Inspector Morse, especially its star, John Thaw.

Built in the Gothic Victorian style, it is a 5-star hotel in Oxford, on the south side of Beaumont Street, at the corner of Magdalen Street. The Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum is on the other side of Beaumont, across from the hotel. On Magdalen, just across from the hotel is the Martyr’s Memorial.

This monument was built 300 years after the events of the English Reformation. It commemorates the deaths of the Bishop of Worcester, Hugh Latimer, and the Bishop of London, Nicholas Ridley in 1555. They were both burned at the stake for heresy, near where the memorial is located, because of their Protestant beliefs. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was imprisoned in a nearby tower at this time and watched the deaths of his colleagues from his window. A few months later, he was dispatched in a similar fashion and therefore is included in the inscription on the monument, which was completed in 1843.

When construction began on the Randolph Hotel in 1864, many people wanted it to be in the same Gothic Revival style as the Martyr’s Memorial. The City Council wanted it to be in the classical style of the early 19^th century Regency buildings on the rest of the two block long Beaumont Street. They ended up compromising with a simplified Gothic façade in brick, instead of stone.

Colin Dexter, author of the novels upon which the Inspector Morse television series was based, often used to stay at the hotel and drink in the bar that existed back then. The series was produced between January of 1987 and November of 2000. There were 33 two-hour, self contained, episodes. The author of the novels made cameo appearances in all but three of them. John Thaw starred as Detective Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately was Sergeant Lewis.

I think that he was so popular because, even though he was brilliant, he was far from perfect. Professionally he would often come to the wrong conclusion and arrest the wrong person. He tended to be quite cynical and lacked ambition. Plus he often rubbed higher-ups the wrong way. In his personal life, he was a romantic, who had little success at love. In the final episode, his death is explained as caused by heart problems exacerbated by heavy drinking.

The first spin-off, Inspector Lewis, starring the same actor who had played Sergeant Lewis, Kevin Whately, ran from 2006 to 2015. In 2012 a two-hour special prequel film, Endeavour, (set in 1965) was aired with Shaun Evans playing Detective Constable Morse. A series followed from 2013 to 2023.

Morse’s first name, Endeavour, was revealed on only one occasion during the run of Inspector Morse. He explains to a lady friend that his father was obsessed with Captain James Cook and so he was named after the HMS Endeavour. Otherwise he was simply called “Morse”. There were many references to the earlier series and audiences saw how the younger version of Morse evolved into the older version over the years.

Our group traveled by coach from London to Oxford in roughly two hours. Our cases were taken into the hotel and stored until our rooms were ready. We were met by our Oxford Tour Director, Sally, who took those of us who were interested on a half hour orientation tour of Oxford. It was graduation weekend, so there were loads of graduates in their gowns and with their families. After this little walk, everyone went their separate ways until we were supposed to meet up for our tours of the Griffith Institute and the Ashmolean Museum.

In addition to being a Morse fan, I have always been fond of Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll. I even played Alice more than once as I had blonde hair and blue eyes. I began playing her in Minneapolis, when I was a child, and continued to do so when we moved to Texas, where blue-eyed blondes were not too common. Never got to played Snow White, but always got cast as Alice or Sleeping Beauty. Then there was the one time I played George Washington at the age of ten. But we won’t get into that.

The hotel also had Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) associations. He had been a student at Christ Church in Oxford and remained there for most of his life as a teacher. Alice Liddell, a daughter of Henry Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church, is thought to be the most likely inspiration for Alice. But Carroll himself always denied it.

At any rate, the hotel’s restaurant was The Alice. Both it and the bedrooms had distinctive Alice touches. I had determined that I wanted to have at least one meal in the restaurant and another meal (or drink) in the Morse Bar. It was noon when I returned to the hotel. The bar had several people in it, but The Alice was not yet too crowded. The website had also indicated that reservations were necessary for dinner at the restaurant, so I decided to have lunch there and hang out at the bar later.

I had eaten a good breakfast in my room back in London at 7:30am. At noon, I was hungry, but not overly so. The Spring Risotto with wild mushrooms and truffle looked like a good choice and it was. I sat facing the windows where I could see the Martyr’s Memorial and watch people going by. The photo I took of the restaurant was a little off kilter, but I was trying to be unobtrusive.

After a leisurely lunch, I still had a little over an hour before the tour would commence, and so decided to go ahead and have a drink in the Morse Bar. The drinks were pretty much all named after elements of the television shows. I selected the Last Endeavour, which consisted of Beefeater’s Gin, Prosecco, and Limoncello. It was delicious and I figured I would likely have another when I had some pub food for dinner.

Business was picking up with more and more people coming in. So, when I finished my drink, I went to the desk to see if my room might be ready early. It wasn’t quite yet. I was directed to a room called the Snug to hang out until it was ready. I went in there and only waited about ten minutes before I was told that my room was ready and handed my keys. Yippee.

The room was on the first floor, so I took the really cool-looking staircase up as it would be quicker than the lift. At that point, I had about twenty minutes before I needed to meet up with the group. Just enough time to do a little unpacking for later and to freshen up a bit. This time the room had a small shower, but a large, deep tub. Great for a soaking bubble bath later.

One more historic association for the hotel. In about 1130, Henry I built a new royal palace in the vicinity of the Randolph Hotel. It was called Beaumont Palace. The street the hotel is on was named Beaumont Street after this palace. Two of his grandson Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s sons, Richard the Lionhearted (King Richard I) and John Lackland (King John) were born there in 1157 and 1167 respectively. Ironically the last remains of the palace were destroyed when Beaumont Street was laid out in 1829. Prior to that, during the Reformation in the 1500s, many of the building stones from the palace were reused in Christ Church College (founded in 1546) and St John’s College (founded in 1555).

Next – The treasures at the Griffith Institute

April 4, 2021

Day Tour to Oxford & Stratford-upon-Avon

This was our last day in England during what had been my very first real tour anywhere, back in 1983.

One of my very first posts in this blog was about how my life was nearly cut short at a five road intersection in Stratford by an articulated lorry (a semi in the US). In addition to adjusting to where the traffic was coming from, I also talked about adjusting to differences in American English and British English as well as to the food.

Both of my grandmothers had been British and, as long as I stuck to more familiar fare such as Shepherd’s Pie, Cornish Pasties, Bubble ‘n’ Squeak, etcetera, I was fine. It was those subtle differences between something like egg salad, which in the UK turned out to be sliced eggs on a bed of watercress, and egg mayonnaise, which would get me the US chopped eggs in mayonnaise. Don’t get me started about hamburgers or bacon. I learned a lot on that first trip.

We began our day getting picked up at our hotel and taken to Oxford. “Inspector Morse” had a couple more years to go before it appeared on our screens in the US through PBS. I knew that Oxford was a University Town, but didn’t yet understand the differences between a university in the UK and one in the US.

My general understanding is that, at Oxford, the students live in rooms and take meals at a college (like Hertford, Jesus or Brasenose), attend lectures mainly in small groups in the offices of their professors or grad students, and study in the libraries of the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library and others. A student will “read” for what the US calls a “major”.

The oldest colleges at Oxford were founded in the 13th century. Jesus College, the first one we visited, was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. The other two colleges we visited — Hertford and Brasenose — were founded in 1282 and 1509 respectively.

This visit was also long before the Harry Potter films. It was the dining hall of Christ Church College at Oxford that was used in the first film as the dining hall of Hogwarts.

The Radcliffe Camera was opened in 1749 and is a beautiful, round building originally built for study of the sciences, near Brasenose, All Soul’s, and Exeter colleges. It isn’t too far from the Bodleian Library either. Although the current building dates only as far back as 1602, the Bodleian Library (in some form or another) dates as far back as the 14th century.

We also paid a visit to the Old Schools Quad, which houses part of the Bodleian Library and has separate entrances for parts of the collections of the original schools — such as philosophy, religion, science, law and medicine.

Upon leaving Oxford, we went by the Martyr’s Memorial, which commemorates the burning at the stake of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London as well as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer a few months later. They had been convicted for heresy because of their Protestant beliefs after a quick trial in 1555.

Once we reached the environs of Stratford-upon-Avon, we headed out to Shottery to visit Anne Hathaway’s cottage. This was where William Shakespeare’s wife lived as a child. It was a 12 room thatched cottage built between the 15th and 17th centuries and looked like Snow White and her seven companions would emerge from it at any moment. I really loved touring it and seeing a regular house that old.

Back in town, we toured Shakespeare’s birthplace. I remember it being rather cramped and dark, but that was probably because of all of the people that were squearshed into the place. It seemed totally different on my latest trip (in 2016) when I could walk through at my own pace and talk with costumed interpreters who explained what I was seeing and answered any questions I had. I also remember that everyone else had to duck down when passing through doorways. Not this girl. I was just the right height.

After the birthplace was when we had some free time before jumping back on the tour coach and returning to London. This was when I had my encounter with the articulated lorry. When the driver parped his hooter at me, I shot into the air and seem to remember levitating across the road. In my original telling of this story, I mentioned polishing his windscreen as I flew across it. At any rate, I don’t think my short little legs ever moved so fast before or since.

Fortunately for Mom, she was already across the road. I had fallen behind for some reason and was trying to catch up when I nearly met my maker.

Next time – the beginnings of a 1984 “if this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium” kind of European tour.