The origin of the Arapawa sheep is not certain but they have been on the New Zealand island of Arapawa for at least 135 years. They are considered a rare and endangered breed. There are many theories on the origin of the sheep. One theory implies that they are Middle Eastern breed introduced by the whalers. Another theory suggests that they originated from Australian Merinos. The most intriguing theory is that the sheep landed on the Arapawa island from a Spanish galleon as far back as the 1500s. According to the Maori legend on the island, the Spanish galleon sailed into a bay 400 years ago and befriended the people. But when the Spaniards stole the Maori Women, the men turned upon them and burned the ship. The ancestors of the Arapawa sheep escaped the wreck and swam ashore. The sheep are prehistoric looking wild sheep with fine black wool and white points. They are also horned. Research Arapawa Island
Boadicea was Queen of the Iceni, in Britain during the reign of Nero. Following the death of her husband, the Romans broke their peace treaty with the Iceni, stolelands left to Boadicea, raped her two young daughters, and publicly flogged her to humiliate her. Boadicea, understandably outraged, rallied the Celtic tribes of Britain together and headed a general insurrection of the Britons, first attacking and destroying Colchester, and then burned London to the ground. She and her army was defeated by Suetonius and his troops, sent from Rome to put down the insurrection, in 62, and rather than be captured committed suicide with poison. Research Boadicea
Charles King was a policeconstable working for Scotland Yard in C Division (St James', London) when in 1855 he was convicted for larceny and receiving - the first Metropolitan policeman convicted of serious criminal corruption. King organised and trained gangs of young boys as pick-pockets, showed them likely targets and kept watch while they stole for him. After conviction King was deported for 14 years. Research Charles King
Richard (Dick) Turpin was a notorious English highwayman. He was born in 1706 at Hempstead, Essex and died in 1739 when he was hanged at York. The son of the landlord of the Bell Inn, he started his career as a butcher's apprentice before becoming an associate of Tom King, whom he accidentally shot. A smuggler, cattle-thief, housebreaker, highwayman and horse-thief, he was finally caught and executed for the murder of an Epping keeper.
As a young man, Dick Turpin was reputedly allowed more money than he needed, and developed extravagant tastes, and was it was said of him that he 'cut a dash round the town among the blades of the road and turf, whose company he affected to keep.' His family thought that marriage would settle the roguish Dick, and he was betrothed to a Miss Palmer whom he married. However, Miss Palmer was of a similar nefarious nature and remained a loyal and faithful partner to Dick throughout his subsequent criminal life.
As a child, Dick Turpin had taught himself poaching, and later he joined a gang of small-time villains who showed him the profit to be made from stealing the occasional sheep. Leaving them, Dick Turpin started stealing deer from Epping Forest, which he sold to contacts in London he had made while training as a butcher. Suspicions of his activities abound, but it was not until he stole a local cow and sold its beef locally did he have to leave home and went to Plaistow where he stole two cows, butchered them and sold the beef locally, only to be discovered by the investigations of two farm workers who had been charged with looking after the cattle he stole.
Pursued by Bow Street Runners, Dick Turpin left for Essex where he noticed furtive figures both solitary and gangs roaming the roads at dusk. Enquiries revealed these figures were smugglers, and Dick Turpin took to confronting them at night and demanding money in the name of the king.
Becoming lonely he joined a gang of deer-stealers until they attracted too much attention, at which point he left the gang and became a house-breaker before joining Gregory's gang and within a few weeks leading the gang. While leading the Gregory gang Dick Turpin realised that it was in his own interests to be lenient with his victims, and courted public sympathy by insisting the gang were never unruly or ill treated their robbery victims.
Dick Turpin's demise was ridiculous. While in Yorkshire under an assumed name, that of Palmer, he worked as a legitimate horse dealer until one day while returning from a shooting party he deliberately shot a cockerel. The event was witnessed by a friend of the cock's owner who upon asking the reason for the killing was jokingly offered to be shot also by Dick Turpin. A warrant was subsequently issued and while in custody his true identity was recognised and he was tried, and condemned to be hanged for horse stealing. Research Dick Turpin
Alfonso Bedoya was a Mexican actor. He was born in 1904 at Vicam and died in 1957. He was a character actor who achieved his greatest success in American. films. He was born in a tiny village in Mexico and had a nomadic upbringing, living in numerous places throughout the country including, for a time, Mexico City. He received a private education in Houston, Texas as a teenager, but dropped out and roamed about doing an assortment of jobs. His family, however, brought him back to Mexico City, where he subsequently found work in the struggling Mexican film industry. He appeared in many Mexican films before the director John Huston offered him the role of Gold Hat in the 1948 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. Bedoya stole the scenes in which he appeared as the smiling cutthroat and delivered the famous line about not needing any 'stinking badges'. He made a number of popular films in the USA in the next nine years, but a drinking problem destroyed his health. Research Alfonso Bedoya
In classical mythology, the Lamia is one of a class of female monsters depicted with a snake's body and a woman's head and breasts. She occurs in various forms, generally as a daemon who devoured children, and in later myths as the queen of Libya who was beloved by Zeus and of whom Herastole their children, in response to which Lamia killed every child she could lay her hands on. In another form,
Lamia is depicted as a beautiful woman who seduced young men so that she could eat them. Research Lamia
In Hindu mythology, Parashurama was the sixthavatar of Vishnu. He was the youngest son of a forest dwelling hermit with a family of sons. He was both a devout servant of the gods and a keen huntsman. In return for his prayers the gods gave him unerring skill with a bow, but demons afraid that he would use his archery against them stole his bow. Vishnu answered his prayers and entered him and gave him a battle-axe and told him to use it to fight the enemies of the gods. While Parashurama was praying on a mountain, his mother coming home saw two people making love in a forest pool and became sexually excited. Returning home her husband detected her impure thoughts and ordered each of his sons in turn to behead her, each refused and their father punished them by making them as stupid as the cattle they looked after. When
Parashurama arrived home with the battle- axe he understood his father's request, and cut off his mothers head. Immediately her head touched the floor she was restored to life cleansed of her impure thoughts, and
Parashurama's father rewarded him with immunity from death in war. Research Parashurama
Dead Man's Revenge is a western starring Bruce Dern, Michael Ironside and Doug McClure in a story about a man who escapes from jail and devises an elaborate plan to avenge himself on the brutal railwayboss who stole his land and murdered his family. Dead Man's Revenge was directed by Alan J Levi in 1994. Research Dead Man's Revenge
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