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Hello, Elle!
Yes, Treasures is super!
There is a lot on Kett's Rebellion (and the oak) on Wikipedia.
I saw the Newsflash, but not knowing how trams operate I'll reserve judgement until I know more.
But something went badly wrong!
What speeds can the trams get up to on that line, Elle?
Right, back to see how Benjamin is getting on!

Hello, Elle,
"Treasures" update!
4, Refugees.
Benjamin wanted to know about refugees coming to Britain over the centuries. Thomas More was a great champion of refugees, and they had a speech by him, and he had asked William Shakespeare to write it.
They have the original speech in Shakespeare's handwriting!
He was very pleased about that.
And he met modern day refugees.
5, Banknotes and paper money.
One of Benjamin's hobbies is collecting bank notes.
He has some astonishingly intricate designed ones.
They had the oldest bank note in the world. A Chinese one.
Benjamin and the curator were even discussing the note in Chinese!
6, Shelley.
Shelley was a poet and a hero of Benjamin's.
They had some of his work there, and a letter to a wife he had, in which he showed himself to be a horrible person.
Benjamin was very disappointed in his hero.
As his donation to to the Library, he gave them a hand written manuscript of his poem, "Stephen Lawrence".
And he recorded a "piece to camera" of him reciting it.
So, I thoroughly enjoy it, Elle, and i really liked Benjamin!

Hi, Rusty!
We had a nice walk - but should have gone out earlier, as it was almost dark by the time we returned.
The evenings are really drawing in suddenly now.
Re Benjamin Zephaniah...... coincidentally, Abner (the main missionary of the moment) has just conducted a two hour sermon based on a verse from the book of "Zephaniah" from the Bible!
I wonder how Benjamin arrived at his surname?
I don't know much about the speed of trams, Rusty.........so cannot really answer your question properly........
All I could find out was that the tram in the accident was capable of reaching 50 mph.
So when the crash occurred, the tram was travelling almost at its maximum speed.
Maybe the driver had a temporary blackout?
I am sure his health will be thoroughly checked, as a part of the investigation.
The poor man , if so.
Soon be time for Eggheads.......

Hi, Rusty!
What a coincidence, Rusty!
I see that we both texted at exactly the same time!
I didn't know all that about Thomas More...how he was interested in refugees and got Shakespeare to write a speech for him....
You are certainly learning a lot from this programme - and so am I by your sharing it with me!
It is really great!
I didn't know Benjamin had written a poem about Stephen Lawrence....I must see if I can find it....?
I still haven't watched "Eggheads" - my daughter rang and we have been chatting......
I shall endeavour to watch it now!

Hello, Elle,
Benjamin reads the Stephen Lawrence poem on YouTube.
It is quite a powerful piece, in my opinion.
Apparently the Shakespeare speech is the only handwriting of Shakespeare in existence.
I have enjoyed the Treasures.
An excellent series.
One to go, Alison Balsom, who I know nothing about!

Update, Elle,
Sky Arts do another programme I like, called, "Auction".
Tonight there is an auction of a Modigliani painting or sculpture, not sure which, but it is the other item for auction which intrigues me.
It is a chessboard that King Charles 1 took to the scaffold with him.
Now, why would he do that?
Do you know anything about it?

Hey, Rusty!
I first of all read the words of the poem about Stephen Lawrence, before listening to it being recited by Benjamin on YouTube.
I think that was a mistake....it came over much better as an oral presentation, don't you think?
Much better......far more powerful.
I have been reading about Benjamin Zephaniah - quite a mixed bag of reports / interviews / view points about him.
He came over well in the recital of his poem about Stephen Lawrence.
"Auction" sounds to be another programme well worth watching!
All I know about Modigliani is that he is an Italian Jewish painter and sculptor - so I guess that "Auction" could be about either one of his paintings OR a sculpture as he does both?
I am not very well informed, I'm afraid.....I knew that Charles I took both his Bible and an amber chess board with him to the scaffold.
The Bible I can, of course, understand....
No, I don't know about the chessboard, other than its being a prized possession?
I finally got to watch "Eggheads"!
There was a question about Laura Trott and cycling!
And one of the contestants was a " Munro -bagger" and had climbed over a hundred of the two hundred and eighty three "Munroes"!

Hello, Elle!
Yes, the recital was excellent.
"Auction" is very good.
I missed one recently in which Marie Antoinette's watch was sold.
It had an amazing amount of "complications", I think the word is.
I could understand Charles with a Bible.
But why on earth a chessboard?
He would hardly be wanting a wee game with the headsman, surely?
i may have answered the Trotty question!
Well done the Munro bagger.
A lot more than I have done!
I had a great book about the Munros.
This man, Hamish Brown, climbed all of them, in one trip, or round.
I think it was the first time it was done.
He wrote a book about, "Hamish's Mountain Walk" and it was very good!

Hi, Rusty!
I did try Googling to see if I could find out why King Charles should have taken the chessboard with him to the scaffold......but all Google wanted to tell me was about the design and worth of the board - and what it went for at Auction!
Let me know if you find out more!
A "munro" is over 3000 feet , isn't it?
Have you climbed many?
I thought you didn't like heights?
I used to go climbing in the Lake District...... I liked the walking, and could tolerate the ascent (I never looked back!) but absolutely hated coming down!
I am terrified of heights!
Have you heard how the puppy and the cat are faring together?

Good morning, Elle!
Bit murky out!
I'll watch Auction later and let you know if they know more about the chessboard.
Yes, Munro's are over 3,000 ft.
I know Schiehallion best.
I do not know any "baggers".
There was a hill walking club at my old job, (was great, we got the company mini-bus free, just paid for the fuel) but the selection was quite random for where we went.
And no one that I remember went bagging.
My toes took a hammering descending a mountain, fine going up!
I prefer low level walks, especially along a river.
Not heard about the pup and puss today, so far.
Yesterday the cat just ignored the pup.
My grandson spent quite a bit of time with the cat in case she felt neglected.
Very thoughtful, I thought.