Just finishing watching the excellent Number 24 on Netflix. It was thought provoking and gripping. Definitely worth a watch.

Looking forward to seeing Paul Weller, Woking’s greatest export at the Eventim Apollo

Yet he also massacred thousands of prisoners after the siege of Jaffa including many who surrendered on the promise that they would be spared. The time taken to do this cost him and he was defeated at the siege of Acre. He did not return to France because Josephine was having an affair 3/

Napoleon took 167 savants to Egypt to explore and document the country and they produced a masterful work Description de l'Égypte. This reignited the European interest in Egypt and the middle east in general. He didn't just look at a mummy and fire a cannon at the pyramids. 2/

In 1815 Lady Hester Stanhope the niece of British PM William Pitt the Younger uncovered the first archaeological treasure in Palestine and blew it up because she believed what happened with the Elgin Marbles was wrong, not sure her answer right but what Elgin did was seen as wrong for 200 yrs1/

Cyril Foley who played for Cambridge & the MCC helped spark the Boer War by going on the Jameson Raid. He also went on the #ParkerExpedition to find the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem which caused riots when they dug in the Dome of the Rock. He also fought in #WWI & Irish War of Independence 5/

When O'Brien was touring in SA in 1896 after the Jameson Raid his team was stopped by angry Boers and so they challenged the Boers to a game of cricket. The officer said 'we don’t play cricket, but we shoot'. O’Brien wagered £20 they couldn't hit a running team mate CB Fry at half a mile 4/

Sir Tomothy O’Brien who captained Eng & Ire. He played the first reverse sweep and the ball almost took WG Grace’s brother’s head off. WG objected but Sir Tim replied ‘bloody good job too’ & tried the trick again the next ball. WG walked off & threatened to call the police. 3/

There was a curse in the biblical cyphers they used and the many suffered unhappy fates including madness, bankruptcy and early death. But Rudyard Kipling wrote of the expedition ‘Talk of fiction! Fiction isn’t in it’ What they did still has echoes in Jerusalem today amzn.to/3KJAsCQ 3/

They were close to the British royal family and some related to Winston Churchill. The party included a Finnish poet and a Swiss psychic. They spent a fortune digging through Jerusalem and finally causing riots and disorder when they dug in the Dome of the Rock. 2/

My first post on BlueSky. I am a history writer working on my 2nd book. My 1st was the true story of an expedition by a group of old Etonians who believed secret biblical cyphers would lead them to where the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in Jerusalem (spoiler they didn't) but caused chaos 1/