There was a program on last night, something about ‘lost empires’. This was the second one I saw, the first being about some modern engineers trying to build an old Roman bath, using old Roman techniques.
This one was about building a proper siege engine, or trebuchet, that could take down a castle wall from outside an archer’s bow range. Anyway, they did manage to build two lovely weapons of medieval mass destruction, but the topical thing was this guy was on the site, playing a hornpipe on a standard brass body/green fipple whistle.
I was VERY relieved that when I finally got it figured out that he was playing a hornpipe I know well, I realized that this guy was NOT playing it tremendously well. What gave me a REALLY BIG CHARGE is that he played it ON CAMERA for a bazillion people, ANYWAY. Folk music is for the folks… I’m happy as a clam when I see one played by the average Joe/Jane/Cat who isn’t self conscious about not being Joanie whatshername or Davey whomeverheis.
Hi,this sounds like a great programme i saw a year or so back(how many programmes have been made about building medieval seige engines anyway?).If it is the same one,there is an absolutely great scene where the trebouchet-like a giant slingshot-is used to propel an old upright piano across a field!!.err…they weren’t aiming at the whistle player were they? (!)
On 2002-07-17 17:52, kevin m. wrote:
Hi,this sounds like a great programme i saw a year or so back(how many programmes have been made about building medieval seige engines anyway?).If it is the same one,there is an absolutely great scene where the trebouchet-like a giant slingshot-is used to propel an old upright piano across a field!!.err…they weren’t aiming at the whistle player were they? (!)
I saw a show like that too–where they were hurling a piano with a catapult or something-- sometime back, here in the States.
I think I might have seen this as well at some point. The piano hurling bit sounds familiar…
…speaking of trebuchets some of the members of my medieval club have built a working one. Is about 6foot high at the pivot and at our last annual gathering it was used to sling grapefruit and cabbages out into the lake. Was not used in combat fortunately! I can imagine some cheesed off roman or norseman waking up after being knocked out by fruity missiles with grapefruit juice starting to rust his armour and sword…the trebuchet operators would be looking for melee weapons to defend themselves right smartly!!!
In the same series, they erect a partial awning over a Roman Circus (to attempt to explain the cover on the Colliseum), lift a boat from the water using Archimedes’ hook (Sara, take note! This guy did everything), build a corner of a pyramid, drag a viking boat across a small isthmus (I think), and erect one arch like Stonehenge, but out of concrete. I love that series, they have such brilliant arguments, and I’m a wanna-be civil engineer.
No more whistling that I can remember though. Shame.
I believe they hurled a piano with a trebuchet on the old “Northern Exposure” series several years back. Chris had planned on hurling a cow, but ended up with the piano, IIRC.
On 2002-07-18 10:19, Underhill wrote:
I believe they hurled a piano with a trebuchet on the old “Northern Exposure” series several years back. Chris had planned on hurling a cow, but ended up with the piano, IIRC.
The hurled cow is one of the defining moments of modern cinematography. See, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Or wait… was that a wooden rabit?
And welcome, Underhill! Nice to have you. Any relation to Bagshot Row, there?
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-07-18 10:51 ]
Now, you were partly right. There was the Trojan Rabbit that they built to sneak into the French Castle in, but Sir Bedevere neglected to mention the part needing to be inside the rabbit before the French took it behind their walls. Then, the Trojan Rabbit is flung over and it crushes one of their coconut shell bearing servants.
I work for a PBS station, so I can sort of clear up a little of the information about this show series. The show in question is Secrets of Lost Empires, a NOVA miniseries. Episode 1 is trebuchets. Episode 2 is about how Egyptian obelisks might have been put upright. Episode 3 is how the moais of Easter Island may have been moved and erected. 4 is building a Roman bath. 5 is an old Chinese bridge out of bamboo. I’m not sure what show Martin is talking about, but it sounds like the sort of BBC production I wish we got to see more of in the U.S.
All are terrific shows. Please note that they all aired a while back (I’d have to check records to tell you when, but more than a year ago) and are being repeated. I think a couple of them have been updated with a little more information, though. Check your local PBS listings. Many stations will repeat NOVA on the weekend. If you missed it, you may be able to catch it on a repeat. Also, when you see something you like, call or write your station to let them know you like it. It matters when the programmer is deciding between several available shows for a particular timeslot.
Brian, I think he was doing Boys of Blue Hills. dum de dum de dum de dum
ba da da ba diddly deeeeee, ba dee dum de da de dum de da de dum dee dum da daaaaah.
I actually built a trebuchet for a physics project. A friend and I built it out of poor quality 2x4s. It couldn’t throw a piano or anything but it hurled a ball over a hundred feet.
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