Archive for June, 2010
Earlier today, I received a wonderful, generous and uplifting email from Michelle and Andy, creators of The Ancestor or the Stonehenge Giant. It’s self-explanatory, so without further ado, I’m reproducing it in full below:
Dear Dennis,
It was great to see you and your family again at the Solstice celebrations and we hope you’ve all recovered. It’s been a madhouse here in Wiltshire, because we had to move The Ancestor from Stonehenge at eight in the morning to his new temporary home, but we’ll write and tell you about that another time, with some pictures as well.
Andy and I have been completely overwhelmed at the reception The Ancestor received. We spoke to hundreds and hundreds of people on the night itself and while we enjoyed speaking with them all, we were amazed at how many people said that they thought The Ancestor looked as if he’d always been there, keeping watch over Stonehenge to welcome the sunrise. We wanted him to fit in with the sacred landscape, of course, but we were stunned and very touched at how many people took him to their hearts.
We only ever wanted him to enhance the experience for others at the Stonehenge Solstice and we couldn’t be happier at all the many kind things that have been said about our “baby”, The Stonehenge Giant. If he captured the imagination of everyone there on the night, then that was good enough for us, but we’ve been taken aback by the sheer amount of coverage he’s received, as you’ve mentioned in your post.
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank some people via your site, but we’ll be working on our own site in the meantime where we’ll continue to provide fuller details and tell the story of The Ancestor. Andy and I particularly want to thank Alex Down, who took so many pictures of The Ancestor “under construction” and who offered us so much encouragement while we were labouring away to get the giant built. We really appreciate everything that Alex said and did, so we both wish him a very speedy recovery and we’re sure this will be echoed by everyone who was at the Solstice.
We also want to publicly thank Peter Carson of English Heritage and it was very satisfying to discover that he shared our vision of community involvement at Stonehenge. There are so many things we could say, but all that matters for now is that the appearance of The Ancestor at the Stonehenge Solstice was an unqualified success.
We also want to publicly thank Frank Somers of the Stonehenge Druids. Without the generous invitation from Frank and the other Stonehenge Druids, the thousands of people who enjoyed Solstice 2010 so much would have been denied a unique spectacle, so we want to publicly thank Frank and his fellows once more for instantly realising what we were trying to achieve and for going out of their way to help us and the Amesbury community.
We also want to thank you, Dennis, but we all know why and we know how enthusiastic you’ve always been about anything to do with Stonehenge and getting people to enjoy and appreciate the monument. We only hope that you and your family enjoyed the night one half as much as Andy and I did!
Most of all, we want to thank everyone who’s written in to your site, every single person who was present at Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2010, all the media outlets who covered the appearance of The Ancestor, all the people who’ve made YouTube videos, all the people who took photos and posted them up and all the millions of people around the world who love Stonehenge and who take such an interest in what goes on there. We’re sure that all the Stonehenge ancestors appreciate it as well, and we’ll keep you posted with developments in the story as they appear.
Best wishes to everyone from
Photo at top of post by mind permission of Michelle & Andy – photo of The Ancestor by kind permission of Frank Somers.
I’m still trying to gather my thoughts, as well as all the pictures, from last night’s visit to the Solstice Celebrations at Stonehenge, but I’ve just found this link to a BBC interview with Michelle and Andy, my friends who built The Ancestor, the colossal metal statue that captivated so many people over the weekend.
As you’ll see, the interview with Michelle and Andy was conducted a few weeks ago, but The Ancestor was intended to enhance the 2010 Solstice Celebrations, not to draw more people there by being advertised beforehand; more to follow when I’ve woken up properly and got myself organised.
This mention of The Ancestor just in from This Is Hampshire news.
And now there’s this detailed account and a truly fantastic photograph of The Ancestor in the Daily Mail.
And now another fantastic photograph of The Ancestor on this BBC news slideshow.
Update: A mention of The Ancestor on the Heritage Key site.
Update: Some film of The Ancestor at Stonehenge on this ITN News clip.
Update: A wonderful clip of The Ancestor on YouTube with visuals by David Whiting and music by Heretics.
Update: A mention, but strangely, no picture of The Ancestor on the official English Heritage site.
Update: Another YouTube clip showing The Ancestor at night at Stonehenge.
Update: A brilliant photo of The Ancestor welcoming the dawn at Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2010.
Update: A mention in the Andover Advertiser (identical to This Is Hampshire release)
Update: A brief film clip of The Ancestor in The Telegraph, but strangely enough, no mention in the text or in the commentary.
Update: A superb photograph of The Ancestor in The Guardian.
Update: Wonderful picture and review of The Ancestor on Heritage Key site.
Update: A syndicated mention of The Ancestor in the Romsey Advertiser.
Update: A syndicated mention of The Ancestor in The Basingstoke Gazette.
Update: An atmospheric photo of The Ancestor in The Huffington Post.
Update: More photos of The Ancestor on this YouTube clip.
Update: Superb photo of The Ancestor in The Vancouver Sun.
Update: more fantastic photos of The Ancestor on The Megalithic Portal, kindly contributed by Angie Lake.
Update: A great page on The Ancestor from Amesbury Visual Artists.
Update: A great write-up and photo of The Ancestor in the Salisbury Journal.
Update: A very enthusiastic review of The Ancestor by the Wiltshire Scouts, many of whom helped out with his presentation to the world at the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.
Update: Some truly stunning photos of The Ancestor at Stonehenge taken by Angie Lake.
Update: This lovely write-up of The Ancestor by Travelrat.
No mention of The Ancestor, strangely enough, but a very good report from Meridian News on the Summer Solstice 2010.
Photograph of The Ancestor ‘under construction’ at the top of this post by kind permission of Michelle & Andy.
Meet The Ancestor
10:10 pm
The long wait is over – Meet “The Ancestor”.
When recounting the history of Stonehenge, Merlin said to King Aurelius: “Laugh not so lightly, King, for not lightly are these words spoken. For in these stones is a mystery, and a healing virtue against many ailments. Giants of old did carry them from the furthest ends of Africa….”
And now, millennia later, one of those Giants has returned to the scene of their fantastic, timeless creation on the Plain. It’s a long, long story – one that will unfold over the course of the coming weeks – but you’ll be reading a great deal about two wonderful, talented and dedicated friends of mine – Michelle Topps and Andy Rawlings – who brought this stunning Giant to life.
In the meantime, courtesy of Michelle and Andy, The Stonehenge Druids, English Heritage and myself, I hope you all enjoy a Wonder of the World.
“Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible”. T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Photograph of The Ancestor at the top of the post by kind permission of Michelle Topps. Photograph of The Ancestor at Stonehenge by kind permission of Alex Down.
The Many Stories of Stonehenge…
1:45 am
Whatever your position on Stonehenge, we must all share a common dream…”If only these stones could speak to us…what stories they could tell…” The mere mention of the word ‘dream’ instantly reminds me of yet another bizarre aspect of the ruins, because in all the many years I’ve been studying Stonehenge, I have never once dreamed about the place, something that never fails to mystify me. However, after trawling through the mountains of books here in my study, I’ve eventually found something that may provide a partial answer, but like so many other posts, it will have to wait until another time, sadly.
I’ve had numerous emails from people politely enquiring after what appears to be my absence from this site in recent weeks, so I can only apologise and offer a partial explanation. Like everyone else, when I first saw Stonehenge, it was little more than a baffling collection of stones. Over the years, I applied myself to a study of the monument, then the time came when I felt it worthwhile setting up Eternal Idol so as to publish my thoughts on the place. I had no shortage of material at the time and while I never gave much thought to the future, I don’t think I foresaw that I’d still be writing about the ruins 5 years down the line with far more material than I could publish.
I always intended writing for my own enjoyment, so I didn’t anticipate that there would come a day when there were so many well-informed, friendly and enthusiastic contributors. Well, I’m not complaining about this, while I must confess that I’m continually amazed when I look at the site statistics to find that Eternal Idol receives something like 1,000 visitors a day, each spending an average of 25 minutes or so here. So, here’s a partial explanation for my apparent absence from the site in recent times.
This site, and the interest it’s received from around the world, played a large part in the publication of my book. In turn, this has led to interest from the media and invitations to speak about my book, but there have been still other developments – some related to my book, some to other matters – and these developments have been so exciting and captivating that I’ve naturally had to devote a very large amount of my time to following them through. At present, there are three major projects that I’m working on, so I would please ask you to be patient while I see them through to the best of my ability – if they fail, then I will have given them my very best shot, but if they succeed, then I imagine that they will make a great many people very happy indeed. Either way, all the details of these projects will certainly be appearing here and I for one cannot wait to break my silence and start writing again in earnest.
Even so, this presents a problem, because there are posts on this site dealing with subjects such as the Spoils of Annwn that I’m very keen to pursue, while other truly engrossing subjects have come up as the result of some recent posts on other subjects. All I can say is that in an ideal world, I would sit here and write about them all, but I can only do my best. Alex Down recently wrote to me with a discovery he’d made from the classics that made my eyes water, so it would be madness not to bring this to light as soon as I can. Juris Ozols long ago made an observation about Stonehenge that made me sit bolt upright, but I’ve not had the time to pursue it or do it full justice.
Many others wait here in the vaults, so I truly hope that I can present them all in one form or another, because it is not my policy to hoard information on Stonehenge. I stand in genuine awe of the achievements of our ancestors who built this astonishing edifice, so it is only natural that I should wish to say precisely why this should be.
As one indication of how busy I’ve been, I’ve not had the opportunity to expand upon a mention I made last week of a London production company filming a pilot for a longer documentary. I was kindly invited by the producers to contribute, but it wasn’t possible for a variety of reasons, so I hope that their filming today went well and I’m sure that whoever assisted them made a first rate job of it.
Today also brought some shocking news about the cancellation of the new Stonehenge Visitors Centre, something that Mike Pitts wrote about in some detail on his Digging Deeper blog. Ordinarily, I would have written about both these events in far greater depth, but these are not ordinary times, so if you’ll please bear with me for a little while longer, I’ll explain precisely why, and in the meantime, I offer my thanks and very best wishes to one and all.
Silbury Hill and Fachtna Mcavoy
1:10 am
Silbury Hill, by kind permission of Angie Lake
Once again, I’m extremely grateful to my friend Angie Lake for yet another fascinating contribution to Eternal Idol. This time, it consists of a link to a page from Julian Cope’s The Modern Antiquarian, containing two further links to videos of Silbury Hill. As ever, I’m perfectly happy to post a link to another site dealing with the subject of our ancestors, as we’re all interested in the same thing, after all.
However, this page also contains a request from an archaeologist named Fachtna Mcavoy; I have no idea of the reason for this man’s request, but if anyone can assist him, I’m sure he’d be grateful.
The Missing Years in Colorado
10:24 pm
Although Eternal Idol seems to have an extensive readership from around the world, the majority of people I actually correspond with are based in Britain, although there are some notable exceptions, such as my friends Juris Ozols in Minnesota and Salim Khalaf in North Carolina. Both Juris and Salim are extremely well-informed gentlemen whom I’m proud to know, so I was very pleased earlier today to hear from Leah, who lives in Colorado.
Leah’s pursuing what I consider to be a truly noble and praiseworthy calling in conservation biology and she’s lucky enough to be able to work with many of the creatures in her home state. As such, I’m honoured and flattered that someone of such acumen and dedication has chosen to buy a copy of my book, so what can I say? Thank you, Leah, I hope you enjoy reading it, even if you find you ultimately don’t agree with what I’ve written, and my very best wishes to you as well.
Alex Down, Stonehenge Down
11:35 pm
When I first started Eternal Idol, all those years ago, it was truly a labour of love. It still is, of course, but I spent most of my time here writing material and posting it up for what would hopefully be the benefit and enjoyment of others.
As time has passed, things have changed. I find myself in the bizarre position of having more original material on Stonehenge, Silbury Hill and the subject of Jesus in Britain than I can find time to write up and post, but Eternal Idol has changed a lot on account of the many & regular fascinating contributions that are sent in. Perhaps the most consistent contributor to Eternal Idol has been my friend Alex Down (pictured above) who has not only argued various points in a gentlemanly fashion, but who has also submitted a small book full of learned essays by way of contributions.
On top of this, Alex has always supplied photographs of Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape free of charge, while anyone who wishes to can copy them, obviously. Alex has worked on the Stonehenge Riverside Project and he’s taken the trouble not only to report back on his time there, but he’s also gone to a number of meetings where archaeological luminaries have been speaking and he’s reported back in great detail, giving his copious notes to me for the benefit of everyone who chooses to visit this site. I could continue to sing Alex’s praises for a good while yet and with good cause, but I mention him for another reason.
Alex is not at his dynamic best right now, I’m sorry to hear, so he’ll be out of circulation for a short while until such time as he returns to plague my every waking moment with inconvenient questions about the supernatural and other related subjects that I delight in writing about. I spoke to him earlier this evening to tell him that he’s done more for the world’s appreciation of Stonehenge and the ancestors than a whole professional archaeological practise, so whether or not you regularly leave a comment, I’m sure that everyone will join me in wishing Alex all the very best and a rapid return to his top form.
