January 23, 1879: Less than 150 British troops successfully defended their garrison against an attack by up to 4,000 Zulu troops at The Battle of Rorke’s Drift after 10 hours of ferocious fighting. 11 Victoria Cross’s were awarded to British troops. The film Zulu starring Stanley Baker and Michael Caine was based on this battle.
![[Image: UFPIBrR.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/UFPIBrR.jpg)
On Jan 22, 1964, ZULU premiered in London and released UK wide the following day. It was first shown in the USA on June 17. Acclaimed as one of the great war movies of all time and the film that catapulted the career of Michael Caine. The majority of the Zulus were real Zulus. 240 Zulu extras were employed for the battle scenes, many of who were descendants of warriors from the real battle. 80 South African military servicemen were also cast as soldiers.
Some of the Zulu extras apparently laughed at Caine’s long blond hair and nicknamed him "Lady" in Zulu. One of director Endfield’s advisors was a Zulu princess and historian, and when she told the extras to shut up, they did. Stanley Baker told Endfield at the outset that the film was to be anti-racist and pro-Zulu. Paramount weren’t keen on getting too political and had Baker pull out of addressing a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in case it affected this movie at the box office.
The film is based on reality. After the battle, Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne (played by Nigel Green), asked for a commission rather than a Victoria Cross. He went on to become Lieutenant Colonel. When he died in 1945 aged 91, he was last surviving British soldier from the battle.
The film was shot on location as close as they could get geographically. They filmed at Royal Natal National Park, approx. 90 miles southwest of Rorke's Drift. One of the reasons the location was chosen was so the amphitheater Drakensberg Mountains could be a backdrop. The Rorke's Drift set was built in a grassy canyon at the foot of a mountain. Locals cashed in afterwards and today the site features a hotel and museum, alongside some houses and schools.
South Africa's apartheid laws impacted production. The cast/crew were told to stay away from the topless tribal dancers as the penalty for interracial sex was a public flogging. On hearing this, Baker reportedly asked if he could take his flogging in the middle of the act.
The Zulu extras couldn’t be paid equally to the white extras and none of the actors who portrayed the Zulu characters were allowed to attend the premiere. As such, Endfield made sure all of the animals on the movie were given to the tribes.
According to historians, in the 12-hour battle, the British went through 20,000 rounds of ammunition and only 900 remained by the end. Had the Zulu attacked one last time it is almost certain they would have overrun the defenses.
The premiere was in London on the 85th anniversary of Rorke's Drift. However, South Africa's Minister of Native Affairs, Hendrik Verwoerd, banned the film. Specifically, black South Africans were not allowed to see it for fears "it might incite them to rise up in revolt."
On a budget of $1.7m, the film took over $8 million at the box office so was a massive hit. It made Caine an overnight star and is today widely regarded as one of the great war movies.
![[Image: H1jAM9d.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/H1jAM9d.jpg)
Lastly, the Zulu tribe turned up in Hollywood again decades later. In 2000, the Zulu battle chant recordings were used in the opening battle scene in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, when the Germanic barbarians make war cries at the Romans.
January 23, 1897: Zona Heaster Shue died, seemingly of natural causes. The Greenbrier Ghost is the name given to the ghost of Elva Zona Heaster Shue, a young woman in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, who was murdered in 1897. Initially judged a death by natural causes, her mother alleged her daughter’s ghost had appeared as she lay in bed saying she had been murdered by her husband. After the corpse was exhumed, it was found her neck was broken and her husband was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Erasmus Shue died on March 13, 1900, in West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, the victim of an unknown epidemic. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the local cemetery.
According to The Monroe Watchman via West Virginia Archives and History (WVA&H), Elva was found dead in her home in Greenbrier County by a local boy that Erasmus had sent to ask her what she wanted from the market. Erasmus and doctors quickly arrived after being notified, but Elva was unable to be resuscitated by a doctor and was requested to “desist from further examination” by Erasmus. The WV archive states she died morning of Jan 22, but everywhere else I checked says Jan 23rd.
![[Image: dSpyiyp.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/dSpyiyp.jpg)
Dead Men Do Tell Tales
Marker is near Smoot, West Virginia, in Greenbrier County. It is on Midland Trail W Road (U.S. 60) 0.1 miles south of Exit 156 - Sam Black Church exit (Interstate 64), on the right when traveling east.
On Goog maps: 37.901733, -80.632700
January 23, 1967: Milton Keynes was founded as a new town in Buckinghamshire, England about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. It was the best known of the 20th Century "new towns". It was born with an Act of Parliament in 1967 which approved the building of a new community of 250,000 people. It was built to ease the housing shortage in London.
At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349.
"It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing the building of new cities in England, — I say new cities, planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns or villages, or emigrant settlements. A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done in England, all the good wasteland having been enclosed, and nothing remaining but the bad waste land : the frightful increase of the population, will eventually force the nation to form some plan to make it support its share of human beings. It may startle political economists, but let the subject be viewed in any light, let it be considered with the coolest brain, or argued against in the most rational manner, England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building."
— T. J. Maslen, 1843
Suggestions for the improvement of our towns and houses by Thomas J. Maslen (page 244)
![[Image: Pw0g3U8.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/Pw0g3U8.jpg)
The area that was to become Milton Keynes was relatively rich: the Milton Keynes Hoard is one of the largest (by weight, 2.2 kg or 4.9 lb) hoard of Bronze Age jewellery ever found in Britain: the British Museum described it as 'one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Britain and seems to flaunt wealth'. It was discovered in September 2000 at Monkston (near Milton Keynes village) and consists of two Bronze Age gold torcs and three gold bracelets in a datable clay pot.
Milton Keynes: curio from the past or model for the future? | Archived here
January 23, 1970: ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam):
![[Image: ucSJvDq.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/ucSJvDq.jpg)
Record Group 127: Records of the U.S. Marine Corps
President Nixon January 23, 1973 10:01pm EST: “...we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.”
January 23, 1978: Sweden banned aerosol sprays containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), as the propelling agent. Sweden was the 1st country in the world to do so. Scientific evidence showed CFCs were damaging to Earth’s ozone layer, something that came to be accepted worldwide.
![[Image: mmF3Hb0.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/mmF3Hb0.jpg)
After scientists found the ozone hole, virtually every country on Earth by 1985 followed Sweden in banning CFCs, via the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty. The U.S. announced its ban on October 15, 1978.
The original Montreal Protocol entered into force on January 1, 1989. Since 1989, the Montreal Protocol has been revised eight times, and is the only U.N. treaty ratified by all 198 U.N. member states. The 2019 Kigali Amendment took the next step by banning some CFC replacements > hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are greenhouse gases.
The good news is that the ozone hole in 2019 was the smallest since observations began. The bad news is that the ozone hole grew large again in 2020 and 2021. The Earth gonna do what the Earth gonna do.
About Montreal Protocol
January 23, 2020: Chinese authorities locked down the entire city of Wuhan, which had 11 million inhabitants by not allowing planes, trains, and autos to arrive and stopping city buses and underground trains. The action was taken due to (allegedly) the death of 17 people from the new Covid-19 virus, allegedly.
![[Image: kn05O1k.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/kn05O1k.jpg)
This historic event marks the first time a BMW has signaled before lane departure...
![[Image: KSIMGbe.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KSIMGbe.jpg)
Jan 23, 2025: TRUMP: "Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 Billion dollars in America but I will be asking the Crown Prince to round it out to $1 Trillion because he’s a great guy."
And Trump paraphrased: My message to every business in the world is make your products in America. I will give you the lowest taxes on earth.
If you don’t, I will tariff you into effin oblivion and I will use that money to pay down debt...
Jan 23, 2025: REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM Via Teleconference:
I heard the WEF 25 Davos meeting room was half empty. Nobody cares. Supposedly luxury callgirl business volume down 60% from last year. LOL.
Trump names Sean Curran as the next director of the US Secret Service, noting the agent was on stage with him during the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
![[Image: W8B1uXz.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/W8B1uXz.jpg)
I'll be shocked if they don't look like this...
![[Image: mWYq1ZX.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/mWYq1ZX.jpg)
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1882532773262717409
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Orders Declassification of JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files
Odds are the next JFK release(s) will be used to craft a narrative, just as the prior ones were. Disclosure is a fantasy.
Trump also just revoked security detail for Mike Pompeo, who allegedly talked Trump out of declassification during his 1st term.
John Ratcliffe was just confirmed by the Senate to be CIA Director.
I'll remain optimistic but not holding my breath.
On Jan 22, 1964, ZULU premiered in London and released UK wide the following day. It was first shown in the USA on June 17. Acclaimed as one of the great war movies of all time and the film that catapulted the career of Michael Caine. The majority of the Zulus were real Zulus. 240 Zulu extras were employed for the battle scenes, many of who were descendants of warriors from the real battle. 80 South African military servicemen were also cast as soldiers.
Some of the Zulu extras apparently laughed at Caine’s long blond hair and nicknamed him "Lady" in Zulu. One of director Endfield’s advisors was a Zulu princess and historian, and when she told the extras to shut up, they did. Stanley Baker told Endfield at the outset that the film was to be anti-racist and pro-Zulu. Paramount weren’t keen on getting too political and had Baker pull out of addressing a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in case it affected this movie at the box office.
The film is based on reality. After the battle, Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne (played by Nigel Green), asked for a commission rather than a Victoria Cross. He went on to become Lieutenant Colonel. When he died in 1945 aged 91, he was last surviving British soldier from the battle.
The film was shot on location as close as they could get geographically. They filmed at Royal Natal National Park, approx. 90 miles southwest of Rorke's Drift. One of the reasons the location was chosen was so the amphitheater Drakensberg Mountains could be a backdrop. The Rorke's Drift set was built in a grassy canyon at the foot of a mountain. Locals cashed in afterwards and today the site features a hotel and museum, alongside some houses and schools.
South Africa's apartheid laws impacted production. The cast/crew were told to stay away from the topless tribal dancers as the penalty for interracial sex was a public flogging. On hearing this, Baker reportedly asked if he could take his flogging in the middle of the act.
The Zulu extras couldn’t be paid equally to the white extras and none of the actors who portrayed the Zulu characters were allowed to attend the premiere. As such, Endfield made sure all of the animals on the movie were given to the tribes.
According to historians, in the 12-hour battle, the British went through 20,000 rounds of ammunition and only 900 remained by the end. Had the Zulu attacked one last time it is almost certain they would have overrun the defenses.
The premiere was in London on the 85th anniversary of Rorke's Drift. However, South Africa's Minister of Native Affairs, Hendrik Verwoerd, banned the film. Specifically, black South Africans were not allowed to see it for fears "it might incite them to rise up in revolt."
On a budget of $1.7m, the film took over $8 million at the box office so was a massive hit. It made Caine an overnight star and is today widely regarded as one of the great war movies.
Lastly, the Zulu tribe turned up in Hollywood again decades later. In 2000, the Zulu battle chant recordings were used in the opening battle scene in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, when the Germanic barbarians make war cries at the Romans.
January 23, 1897: Zona Heaster Shue died, seemingly of natural causes. The Greenbrier Ghost is the name given to the ghost of Elva Zona Heaster Shue, a young woman in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, who was murdered in 1897. Initially judged a death by natural causes, her mother alleged her daughter’s ghost had appeared as she lay in bed saying she had been murdered by her husband. After the corpse was exhumed, it was found her neck was broken and her husband was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Erasmus Shue died on March 13, 1900, in West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, the victim of an unknown epidemic. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the local cemetery.
According to The Monroe Watchman via West Virginia Archives and History (WVA&H), Elva was found dead in her home in Greenbrier County by a local boy that Erasmus had sent to ask her what she wanted from the market. Erasmus and doctors quickly arrived after being notified, but Elva was unable to be resuscitated by a doctor and was requested to “desist from further examination” by Erasmus. The WV archive states she died morning of Jan 22, but everywhere else I checked says Jan 23rd.
Dead Men Do Tell Tales
Marker is near Smoot, West Virginia, in Greenbrier County. It is on Midland Trail W Road (U.S. 60) 0.1 miles south of Exit 156 - Sam Black Church exit (Interstate 64), on the right when traveling east.
On Goog maps: 37.901733, -80.632700
January 23, 1967: Milton Keynes was founded as a new town in Buckinghamshire, England about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. It was the best known of the 20th Century "new towns". It was born with an Act of Parliament in 1967 which approved the building of a new community of 250,000 people. It was built to ease the housing shortage in London.
At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349.
"It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing the building of new cities in England, — I say new cities, planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns or villages, or emigrant settlements. A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done in England, all the good wasteland having been enclosed, and nothing remaining but the bad waste land : the frightful increase of the population, will eventually force the nation to form some plan to make it support its share of human beings. It may startle political economists, but let the subject be viewed in any light, let it be considered with the coolest brain, or argued against in the most rational manner, England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building."
— T. J. Maslen, 1843
Suggestions for the improvement of our towns and houses by Thomas J. Maslen (page 244)
The area that was to become Milton Keynes was relatively rich: the Milton Keynes Hoard is one of the largest (by weight, 2.2 kg or 4.9 lb) hoard of Bronze Age jewellery ever found in Britain: the British Museum described it as 'one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Britain and seems to flaunt wealth'. It was discovered in September 2000 at Monkston (near Milton Keynes village) and consists of two Bronze Age gold torcs and three gold bracelets in a datable clay pot.
Milton Keynes: curio from the past or model for the future? | Archived here
January 23, 1970: ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam):
Record Group 127: Records of the U.S. Marine Corps
President Nixon January 23, 1973 10:01pm EST: “...we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.”
January 23, 1978: Sweden banned aerosol sprays containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), as the propelling agent. Sweden was the 1st country in the world to do so. Scientific evidence showed CFCs were damaging to Earth’s ozone layer, something that came to be accepted worldwide.
After scientists found the ozone hole, virtually every country on Earth by 1985 followed Sweden in banning CFCs, via the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty. The U.S. announced its ban on October 15, 1978.
The original Montreal Protocol entered into force on January 1, 1989. Since 1989, the Montreal Protocol has been revised eight times, and is the only U.N. treaty ratified by all 198 U.N. member states. The 2019 Kigali Amendment took the next step by banning some CFC replacements > hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are greenhouse gases.
The good news is that the ozone hole in 2019 was the smallest since observations began. The bad news is that the ozone hole grew large again in 2020 and 2021. The Earth gonna do what the Earth gonna do.
Quote:In a report in 2023, the UN estimated that 99% of ozone-depleting chemicals have been eliminated from the earth. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited in 2017 that 45 million cases of cataracts and 280 million cases of skin cancer have been avoided—and that 1.6 million American lives have been saved because of the regulation of ODS. In total, the regulation of these chemical compounds has produced $4.2 trillion in societal health benefits in the United States. The ozone hole is declining regularly, and EPA estimates that ozone levels in the atmosphere will return to pre-1980 levels by 2040 in most places, but it will take another 20 years for ozone to return fully to the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheres.
Sweden Bans CFCs in Aerosols (1978)
About Montreal Protocol
January 23, 2020: Chinese authorities locked down the entire city of Wuhan, which had 11 million inhabitants by not allowing planes, trains, and autos to arrive and stopping city buses and underground trains. The action was taken due to (allegedly) the death of 17 people from the new Covid-19 virus, allegedly.
This historic event marks the first time a BMW has signaled before lane departure...
Jan 23, 2025: TRUMP: "Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 Billion dollars in America but I will be asking the Crown Prince to round it out to $1 Trillion because he’s a great guy."
And Trump paraphrased: My message to every business in the world is make your products in America. I will give you the lowest taxes on earth.
If you don’t, I will tariff you into effin oblivion and I will use that money to pay down debt...
Jan 23, 2025: REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM Via Teleconference:
Quote:THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Klaus. And hello to everyone in beautiful Davos.
...
I terminated the ridiculous and incredibly wasteful Green New Deal — I call it the “Green New Scam”; withdrew from the one-sided Paris Climate Accord; and ended the insane and costly electric vehicle mandate. We’re going to let people buy the car they want to buy.
I declared a national em- — energy emergency — and it’s so important — national energy emergency to unlock the liquid gold under our feet and pave the way for rapid approvals of new energy infrastructure. The United States has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we’re going to use it.
Not only will this reduce the cost of virtually all goods and services, it will make the United States a manufacturing superpower and the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto.
....
My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth. We’re bringing them down very substantially, even from the original Trump tax cuts. But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts, but a tariff — which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our Treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.
...
And it’s also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America. But I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion.
...
My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense — and these are policies that were absolute nonsense — throughout the government and the private sector. With the recent, yet somewhat unexpected, great Supreme Court decision just made, America will once again become a merit-based country. You have to hear that word: merit-based country.
And I’ve made it official — an official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female, and we will have no men participating in women’s sports, and transgender operations, which became the rage, will occur very rarely.
Finally, as we restore common sense in America, we’re moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad. I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago — it was only at 2 percent, and most nations didn’t pay until I came along; I insisted that they pay, and they did — because the United States was really paying the difference at that time, and it’s — it was unfair to the United States. But many, many things have been unfair for many years to the United States.
...
Questions answered by Trump follows...
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
I heard the WEF 25 Davos meeting room was half empty. Nobody cares. Supposedly luxury callgirl business volume down 60% from last year. LOL.
Trump names Sean Curran as the next director of the US Secret Service, noting the agent was on stage with him during the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
I'll be shocked if they don't look like this...
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1882532773262717409
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Orders Declassification of JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files
Odds are the next JFK release(s) will be used to craft a narrative, just as the prior ones were. Disclosure is a fantasy.
Trump also just revoked security detail for Mike Pompeo, who allegedly talked Trump out of declassification during his 1st term.
John Ratcliffe was just confirmed by the Senate to be CIA Director.
I'll remain optimistic but not holding my breath.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell