Dream Car Garage

 

Last year, Rush drummer Neil Peart died of cancer.  He was a car buff, and his estate took care of disposing of his car collection, almost all silver cars, none of which appealed to my preferences:  mostly sports cars.  As I’m unlikely to earn Peart’s stash of money in my lifetime, absent a level of fortune I have no reason to expect, I can still dream.  And if I did come across enough money to be able to assemble such a garage of my own, here’s what it would include.

First off:  NO sports cars.  No Ferraris, no Porsches, no Lambourghinis, no fancy cars.  Exotic muscle cars, sure, but nothing with two seats.  And no silver cars. 

1967-68 Pontiac Firebird 400.  GM put out its first generation F-bodies (Camaro and Firebird) for three model years, 1967, 1968, and 1969.  The current fifth generation Camaro is based on the 1969 model body style.  As Pontiac was killed in 2009, there is no Firebird equivalent, although aftermarket companies have been making bizarre “Trans Am” models which graft second generation (1970-81) styling cues, like the shaker hood and Screaming Chicken, on what is essentially a remake of a first generation car.  Ideally they should simply make a white car with two blue stripes, which is how the Trans Am first came in 1969.  Anyhow.

I love the first generation Firebirds, especially since the Camaros of these years get all the attention.  Unlike the Camaros, the Firebirds got a chrome bumper, Pontiac V8s, and the entry level inline six was overhead cam.  There was even a souped up OHC model, the Sprint, which gave the otherwise mundane six a four barrel carburetor and the car itself a better suspension.  The intermediate models got a smaller V8 – 326 in 1967, 350 in 1968-69.

 And the top model, the 400, with its twin hood scoops, definitely is my favorite.  It used the same 400 cubic inch (6.6L) V8 as the GTO.  My own quest to purchase one in fall 1995 went nowhere, except Flint, Michigan.  I’d prefer a hardtop to a convertible, and a TH400 automatic to a manual.  Rather than insist on one of 2 or 3 surviving Ram Air II models, I’d just as soon get a regular 400 and upgrade it with Edelbrock heads.  Nothing too fancy.  Rally II wheels are mandatory.

1974 Trans Am SD 455.  Of course I’d have to have a Trans Am, but not the ’77-78 Special Edition, better known as the Bandit model (black & gold).  In fact, I had a 1980 S/E, back in 2000, but had to sell it when after removing the 301, the guy next door with a running 455 in a Bonneville or Catalina sold off the car to someone else, leaving me with an engineless T/A.  I’d take a Super Duty model, the last pre-emissions model, and 1974, so I’d be able to get Nocturne Blue (dark blue) with the Screaming Chicken.  Wheelwise it would be Rally IIs, not honeycomb. 

1968-69 GTO. The GTO began in 1964 when Pontiac engineers discovered that the big car 389 V8 would fit in the same space the smaller car 326 V8 did in the Lemans.  They added a triple two barrel carburetor setup, aka “Tripower”.  The 1964 model has horizontally stacked headlights, the 1965 has vertically stacked headlights, and the 1966 and 1967 models got a coke bottle body shape redesign, the 1966s keeping the 389 Tripower, the 1967 getting the new 400 V8 with the new four barrel carburetor, the Rochester Quadrajet.  This 400 also found its way into top of the line Firebirds, the 400 model, as noted above. 

For 1968, the A bodies – Chevrolet Chevelle, Pontiac Lemans/GTO, Oldsmobile Cutlass, and Buick Skylark -got new bodies, and the GTO got the first body color Endura front bumper, replacing the chrome bumper which the Lemans had – winning Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award in 1968 and beating the redesigned Dodge Charger.   It doesn’t have to be a Judge.  It does need the TH400 automatic with the Hurst Dual Gate shifter.  Again, not a convertible. 

1974 GTO.  In addition to the ’68-69, I’d take this one, another oddball choice.  For GTOs most would prefer the ’64-65, 66-67, or 68-69s, or a Judge.  But the 1974 model took the Ventura – Pontiac’s version of the Nova – and put a Pontiac 350 under the shaker hood.  I’ve seen someone put the Trans Am’s SD455 in a 74, and it actually looks pretty cool, especially with Rally II (five spoke) wheels. 

1991-92 Firebird Formula.  My own 1992 went up in flames in 2012, but I still have the Tuned Port 350 (L98), now balanced and blueprinted with AFR aluminum cylinder heads and an aftermarket camshaft.  It just needs a home.  Not a Z28 or IROC, not a Trans Am, but another Formula.  We’ll see about that.  Of all my dream cars, this is probably the most practical, and the only one I actually had before, from 1995-2012. 

1967-68 Camaro RS/SS 350.  I prefer the Firebirds, of course.  But the first generation Camaro SS is a nice model.  The Z/28 was a special model with the 302 V8, rated for high RPM HP with a four speed manual.  The regular performance model was the Super Sport, available with either the small block 350 or the big block 396.  The Rally Sport package mainly consisted of hideaway headlights, and could be combined with the base (non-SS) Camaro (simply called a Rally Sport), the SS (for an RS/SS), or the Z/28 itself.  In 1967-68 the headlight doors were black, in 1969 they had clear horizontal slits (“you still couldn’t see out of them, but at least other drivers could see you”).

1969 Camaro ZL1.  The only other Camaro I’d care for:  the aluminum block 427 model.  The car cost $3000, the engine cost $4000, roughly $70,000 in today’s money.  The funny thing is, back then the insurance companies refused to insure these cars, so no one could drive them even if they wanted to pay that money.  So Chevy wound up with 30 Camaros they couldn’t even sell. 

1968-70 Dodge Charger.  Of the MOPARS, this would be the classic model.  Yes, it’s the Dukes of Hazzard body style only for those three years, but I can do without orange or Confederate flags – or doors that don’t open.  426 Hemi or 440 Six Pack?  Not sure. 

Dodge Charger Hellcat.  The current, four door model, with the supercharged EFI Hemi V8 putting out 700+ HP.  My 2009 Charger R/T is gone, too.  Replacing it with a 2011-12 R/T might be doable.  But if money allows, I’d prefer the Hellcat.  Given that Dodge is discontinuing this model, I may have to buy it used – if ever. 

1969-70 Mustang Mach I 428 CJ.  To cover the bases, a Ford model would be nice.  Forget the 65-66 Mustangs, too boring.  Not a fan of Shelbys.  And not a fan of 302s.  And why get a 351 if you can have the 428 Cobra Jet? It was the optimal Ford street V8 of that era. 

The Big Bum

 This time around my job was made easier by watching yet another film; “The Beach Bum”, with Matthew McConaughey and many others.  Its resemblance to another film, much older but similar, “The Big Lebowski”, reminded me that I’d never actually reviewed the latter film.

The Big Lebowski (1998).  Jeff Bridges plays Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, a stoner/bowler in L.A. who doesn’t seem to do much more than smoke weed and bowl with his comrades, Walter (John Goodman) and Donnie (Steve Buscemi).  Walter affects to be Jewish – citing all sorts of Orthodox restrictions on his conduct - when it was his ex-wife who was Jewish.  The group competes in bowling with an eccentric Latino, Jesus (John Turturro). 

The Dude is harassed by thugs who mistake him for another Lebowski, a rich man who lives nearby.  When he visits the man’s huge mansion and confronts his namesake about the inequity of the situation, a rug ruined by the thug’s gratuitous urination thereon, for which he demands restitution, he’s initially escorted out – until he’s summoned back later when Rich Lebowski sees fit to use him for his own ends.  And thereupon a series of amusing misadventures ensue – even including the Rich Lebowski’s daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), who tends to cut through most of the confusion of the plot, much to our relief. Although the Dude doesn’t seem to have any source of income or a livelihood, he somehow manages to pay rent and buy weed.  Even so, he still seems to have a sense of ethics and responsibility.  In that regard I much prefer the Dude to the Bum.

The Dude is based on a real, guy, Jeff Dowd, and some of the events in the movie are based on real ones, though I have no clue how much of them are, or which particular ones.  Even so, it’s a memorable and enjoyable film which repays multiple viewings.  Not only that, each of the major actors do a commendable role, and it belongs among Bridges’ more notable works.

Jesus Rolls (2020).  A later spinoff, taking Jesus (John Turturro’s characters) as its basis, adding in Bobby Cannavale and Audrey Tatou – plus some secrets like Christopher Walken, Pete Davidson, and Susan Sarandon – hell, even Jon “Mad Men” Hamm.  Apparently Turturro wanted his own film and the Coen brothers disagreed, so he bought the rights from them and had this done, the plot being a remake of an early 70s French film (“Going Places”, with Gerard Depardieu).  The film basically has Turturro, Cannavale and Tatou “going places” in different stolen cars with a variety of misadventures, none of which are particularly remarkable or memorable.  “The Dude” remarked at how his rug, since spoiled by urine, anchored his apartment, and on a grander scale, Bridges’ character itself anchored that film.  If you suspected that a Jesus film wouldn’t be worth watching more than once, and even then out of mere morbid curiosity, you’d be right.  Maybe a better spinoff would be to show us Donnie IN his element.  Maybe not. 

The Beach Bum (2019).  This film is apparently 100% fiction.  Unlike the “The Big Lebowski”, which takes place in L.A., this film takes place in Miami.  The central character is Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), a stoner poet who doesn’t seem to do much other than smoke weed continuously and quote others’ poetry as his own.  His daughter is getting married, and he almost misses the wedding having sex in a greasy spoon kitchen with a woman he just met.  His own wife, Minnie (Isla Fischer) carries on a thinly veiled affair with “Rie” (short for Lingerie) (Snoop Dogg), Moondog’s source of primo quality weed – including an exclusive plant from Jamaica. 

After the wedding, Moondog and Minnie go off driving, the results of which – since both were highly intoxicated – end them up in the hospital, Minnie dying soon thereafter.  She was apparently super rich, but her will puts Moondog’s half into escrow until he finishes his book of poetry, which he has been erratically contributing to with a typewriter.  In between dopey adventures – including a court-ordered stint in rebab, which he simply leaves with a fellow rehabber, Flicker (Zak Efron) – somehow he manages to finish the book of poetry, submit it for publishing, and satisfy the terms of Minnie’s will.  Martin Lawrence is also in here as Captain Wack, a Vietnam Vet (actually highly implausible given that, these days, Vietnam veterans are in their 70s) who gives dolphin tours on his boat but who can’t seem to tell dolphins from sharks, to his injury.

McConaughey did remark, that when making the film, almost all the “weed” is actually fake, some blend of oregano, etc.  However, in one scene, the weed provided by Snoop was, in fact, the real thing.   

As noted, this story is fiction.  How did Moondog hook up with Minnie in the first place?  It seems he was living in her huge mansion until the will freeze evicted him.  The rest of us don’t have rich spouses subsidizing our cannabis lifestyles.  I didn’t find the Beach Bum, Moondog, to be nearly as sympathetic as The Dude.   For all we know, Moondog is who Wooderson (McConaughey’s first role, in “Dazed and Confused”) eventually becomes.  Sadly, unlike “The Big Lebowski” and “Dazed and Confused”, this film doesn’t give us any memorable catch phrases.  

But hey, that might be just my opinion, man….

The Crown

 

Yesterday, 11/11, was Veteran’s Day, but I’ve already blogged about World War I, the global conflict which ended on that day in 1918.  And recently I watched Matthew McConaughey’s relatively recent film, “The Beach Bum”, though I’m pairing that up with the “The Big Lebowski” spinoff film, “The Jesus Rolls”, on its way from Netflix.  As it is, I recently finished watching season 4 of The Crown, the Netflix series about Queen Elizabeth II.  So I’ll comment about that.

The United Kingdom (UK = “Great Britain (England, Wales & Scotland) + Northern Ireland”) is a constitutional monarchy.  Nominally it has a King or Queen, plus various princes and princesses, but “supreme executive authority” does indeed derive from a “mandate from the masses”, so the real chief executive of the country is the Prime Minister, who is the head of whichever political party holds a majority in the House of Commons.  Right now that’s Boris Johnson, with the comically bad haircut – though it still beats Marc Davis, the owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Anyhow.  The current royal family dates back to George I (1714-1727), the first king of the House of Hanover.  He is followed by George II (1727-1760), George III (1760-1820) (king during the American Revolution), George IV (1820-1830) (portrayed by Hugh Laurie in “The Black Adder”), William IV (1830-1837), Queen Victoria (1837-1901) (played by Jenna Coleman in the three season PBS series), Edward VII (1901-1910), George V (1910-1936), Edward VIII (1936-1936) (abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson (no, no relation to Homer), lived in the Bois de Boulogne outside Paris), George VI (1936-52), and now Queen Elizabeth II (1952-present).   Note that Edward VIII did not have any children with Wallis.

George VI was Edward VIII’s younger brother.  As such, he would have been expecting Edward VIII to take over as king from their father, George V, when he died, and Edward VIII’s children to inherit the throne after that.  E8’s abdication took G6 by surprise, he had no expectation or preparation for it.  He’s famously portrayed by Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”.  In this series he’s played by Richard “Camelot” Harris’ son Jared, who these days is in “Foundation” (on Apple TV+).   Speaking of "The King's Speech", two actors from "The Crown" appear in that film, in different roles:  Helena Bonham Carter plays Queen Elizabeth herself, and Derek Jacobi plays the Archbishop of York.

The Crown starts off with G6 as King and Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret as young girls.  They were old enough to experience World War II, and Elizabeth had to have a fairly quick training program to prepare her to be queen, as G6 smoked heavily and was in poor health, not expected to have the kind of long reign Queen Victoria had – and which E2 has now surpassed.  Claire Foy plays Elizabeth first as princess then as queen for the first two seasons, Matt Smith (of Dr. Who) plays Prince Philip in the first two seasons. 

Who’s who?

Well, first is Princess/Queen Elizabeth (S1/2: Claire Foy; S3/4 Olivia Colman).  Easily the star of the show.  She is conscientious about being a good Queen and knows her proper position relative to whoever happens to be Prime Minister at the time.  She also has to manage her younger sister Margaret, somewhat of a loose cannon, her relationship with Prince Philip, and later her sons Charles, Andrew and Edward, and daughter Anne.  Periodically the Prime Minister – mostly Harold Wilson – comes to ask her for advice.  Later, the PM is none other than Margaret Thatcher, so she finally has a female PM to face off against.  Thatcher is played by “X Files” veteran Gillian Anderson. 

Prince Philip (S1/2 Matt Smith; S3/4 Tobias Menzies) is the Queen’s Consort.  He’s her husband but somehow isn’t King despite being the husband of a Queen (apparently he was asked about this countless times).  I found the Matt Smith version to be kind of a cheating asshole and the later Tobias Menzies variant to be better at not playing the field and toning down the arrogance.  Since I knew Prince Philip only recently died, whatever else happened on the show, he would not be having any fatal accidents.

PP’s ancestry is half Greek, half German.  To makes matters more bizarre, his sister was a Nazi, and he grew up as a boy during the 1930s (S2/E9 Paterfamilias).  When she died in a plane crash, he had to attend her funeral in Nazi era Darmstadt, with all the pomp and arrogance the ever-evil Nazis could muster.  However, unlike his uncle-in-law Edward VIII, young Prince Philip did not fall under the spell of the Nazis and remained fairly normal.

Princess Margaret (S1/2 Vanessa Kirby; S3/4 Helena Bonham Carter).  Not in line to be Queen under any circumstances, that should have freed her up to do as she pleased, but if there is ONE lesson “The Crown” wants us to understand, it’s that the Royals have all sorts of seemingly arbitrary restrictions on what they can and cannot do, yet not being in actual control of the country don’t seem to enjoy nearly as many benefits as you would imagine.  In practice this worked out to vetoing her relationship with Peter Townsend – confusingly, NOT the guitarist for The Who – a dashing but married RAF officer.  She had to settle for a cynical and bisexual photographer, Lord Snowden (Ben Daniels), a relationship which crashed and burned in the 1970s.  In the first two seasons she’s played by the relatively babacious Vanessa Kirby, and in season 3 abruptly morphs into Helena Bonham Carter, an actress who bears zero resemblance to Kirby and is already well known in her own right.

Prince Charles (S3&4 Josh O’Connor).  Up until season 3, he’s just a boy.  There’s an episode where his schooling is at issue, Prince Philip wanting to send him up to a gloomy school in the Scottish highlands, Gordonstoun (S2/E9 Paterfamilias), where he himself went to school as boy during the 1930s, kind of a boot camp atmosphere so dreary and depressing that Prince Charles, as a father, made certain that his own boys William and Harry did not have to suffer the same fate.  By season 3 he’s more grown up, and learns Welsh to take his investiture in Wales, a part of Great Britain eager for some form of independence – at this point played by Josh O’Connor (S3/E6 Tywysog Cymru).

The biggest issue with Charles is his difficult relationship with Lady Diana (Emma Corrin) and Camilla Shand, later Parker-Bowles (Emerald Fennell).  Here’s where some critics take issue with the narrative presented by the show, claiming it pushes too much blame for the Charles-Diana issues on Charles and overstates his ongoing relationship with CPB.  What no one seems to deny is that Charles had some prior romantic relationship with CPB and she was his clear favorite – had he had his way, he would have married her and not Diana.  Moreover, the show acknowledges that Diana herself had a slew of lovers, and on the Australian tour could be extremely difficult herself – e.g. insisting they bring William, still a baby, along on the trip with them.  Regardless of how much effort each put into making the marriage work, it seems it was doomed from the start.

In fact, what with conspiracy theorist abundant everywhere about almost anything, there are a few convenient accidents which somehow didn’t occur.  Margaret couldn’t marry Townsend because his ex-wife was still alive.  Wouldn’t it have been convenient if that woman had an unfortunate accident?  Likewise, CPB remained a distraction, even after marrying Andrew Parker-Bowles – who himself was a part-time lover to Princess Anne (!!!).  If there was ever a woman with an obvious target on her back, it was Camilla.  As it is, she’s married to Charles today.  This is why conspiracy theories about the Royals being behind Diana's death in Paris in 1997 - after Charles and Diana had already divorced - are so implausible (as most conspiracy theories, by their nature, are).      

Princess Anne.  Of E2’s four children, the only girl.  She seems very much like her aunt Margaret, and of the four, the least spoiled and most realistic – at least as portrayed in the series by Erin Doherty.

Lord Mountbatten.  One of the more interesting characters in Season 3 was Lord Mountbatten, played by none other than Game of Thrones archvillain Charles “Tywin Lannister” Dance.  Were it not for the fact that Tywin Lannister was fully fleshed out in five novels before HBO began the series, I might suspect that Tywin Lannister, as portrayed by Dance, derives from Mountbatten.  Of course the reverse timing also throws this completely out of plausibility.   More likely is that Dance simply channeled the same arrogance and depth he brought to the Lannister role, to his portrayal of Lord Mountbatten.  Mountbatten is the brother of Princess Alice, the mother of Prince Philip, i.e. Prince Philip’s uncle. 

Edward VIII (S2 Alex Jennings, S3 Derek Jacobi).   The controversial 10 month king.  My father told me a lot about him, though I’m not sure why.  Maybe it was because he (E8, not my father), and Wallis Simpson lived in the Bois de Boulogne, which was close by to the US Embassy compound in Neuilly where we were living – though we arrived there in 1979, seven years after E8 died.  My own inclination would have been to cast Tim Curry as E8.    

By the way.  As noted, E8 did not have children.  So far as I understand, this means that if he had not abdicated in 1936 and remained king, but died as he did in 1972, Queen Elizabeth would still become queen, just in 1972 rather than 1952 – twenty years later.  Well then – that’s a topic for another alternate history novel….

Prime Ministers.  As Season 4 ends, Margaret Thatcher has thoroughly alienated everyone in Parliament and the general public as to lose her position as Prime Minister.  Again, critics claim the show overstates her unpopularity, but no one can deny that, regardless of the circumstances, Thatcher did leave office in 1990. 

At the time of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1952 the Prime Minister was Winston Churchill, the famous wartime leader, played in the show by John Lithgow.  His successor was Anthony Eden (Conservative) (1955-57) (played by Jeremy Northam), Harold MacMillan (Conservative) (1957-63) (played by Anton Lessser), Harold Wilson (Labour) (1964-1970) (played by Jason Watkins), Edward Heath (Conservative) (1970-74) (played by Michael Maloney). Harold Wilson (Labour) (1974-1976), James Callaghan (Labour) (1976-1979), and then Thatcher in 1979.  As noted last week, this system of government often results in prime ministers serving multiple nonconsecutive terms as the parties’ relative fortunes at the polls and scandals push them in and out.  In our own country, Grover Cleveland (1884-88 and 1892-96) enjoys the distinction of being the only president serving multiple nonconsecutive terms.  We’ll see if Trump runs again in 2024.  Down here in Virginia, Terry MacAuliffe failed to win re-election – Virginia allows governors to serve unlimited nonconsecutive terms.  I’ve yet to see a pair of candidates rotate in and out to take advantage of that.    

The Queen took a policy of not publicly praising or criticizing the Prime Minister.  As a practical matter, the show seems to indicate that her personal favorites were Churchill and Harold Wilson.  It seems to show her as neutral towards Thatcher, with critics noting that the relationship was a bit warmer than portrayed.  Or it may be that Thatcher’s portrayal by Anderson was a bit harsh – similar to complaints about Prince Charles.  Perhaps so, but in neither case do the unfair portrayals work to improve the Queen’s image. 

The US.  Normally, the responsibility for dealing with foreign countries rests with the Prime Minister.  One exception is “The Commonwealth”, the loose aggregate of the UK’s closely associated countries, mainly Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and numerous other former colonies which are now independent, sovereign countries.  Of these, the United States is NOT part of the Commonwealth.  We had a brief war in 1812-1815, the UK remained neutral during our own Civil War (1861-65), alternate history novels to the contrary notwithstanding, and we were on the same side in WWI (1914-18) and WWII (1939-45).  My own subjective inclinations are to be highly favorable to all the English speaking countries, especially our buddies to the north, Canada, the UK & Ireland, and Australia/New Zealand.  But hey – your mileage may vary. 

However, when it came time to sending troops to Vietnam in 1965, the Labour government under Harold Wilson was NOT cooperative in approving of our adventure, much to the anger and resentment of US President Lyndon Johnson, my mom’s former boss.  SO when the UK needed a bailout, LBJ (played by Clancy Brown) was very unsympathetic.  It was left to Princess Margaret (S3/E2 Margaretology) to do what Harold Wilson and his Minions could not:  charm LBJ into loosening the purse strings and help out our buddies across the Atlantic – via exchanging naughty limericks with LBJ, a somewhat earthy endeavor well out of the Queen’s comfort zone.  FYI, only Australia sent troops to Vietnam to help us out. 

Game of Thrones.  I’ve noticed a few Game of Thrones actors in here.  There’s a brief episode where the Queen, who loves horses, visits Kentucky to research the state of the art in horsebreeding and equine technology (S3/E4 Coup), and one of the characters is played by Julian Glover, aka Maester Pycelle.  I’ve mentioned Charles Dance already, as Lord Mountbatten.  And Prince Philip, in seasons 3 and 4, is played by Tobias Menzies, better known to GOT fans as Edmure Tully. 

Overall the show does a remarkable job of portraying not only Queen Elizabeth II herself, as she grows into the role of Queen and all the issues it involves, but also the royal family.  As noted in my prior blog, for all their wealth and prestige, living in castles and not having to hold down real jobs – apparently the royalty is actually supported with taxes levied on ordinary UK taxpayers – the royalty often have to deal with a whole range of serious restrictions on their freedom which these same ordinary UK taxpayers don’t have to worry about.  Prince Charles and Princess Margaret were both bludgeoned into unhappy marriages, and even the Queen had to work at her own relationship with Prince Philip.  On the other hand, with the PM exercising real control over the country, the actual power wielded by the Queen and her family is highly attenuated – to the point where their lives are rarely in any actual danger.  Lord Mountbatten’s death by an IRA bomb on his boat seems to be the exception which proves the rule.  Even the disgruntled, unemployed man, Fagan, who broke into Buckingham Palace not once, but TWICE, only wanted to talk to the Queen, as he was well aware that she was not directly responsible for his misfortune; his local MP was Conservative and highly unsympathetic to his plight. 

Update 5/18/23:

Season 5.   The narrative continues from 1991-1997.  Cast changes aplenty:  Imelda "Dolores Umbridge" Staunton as QE2, Jonathan "High Sparrow" (Game of Thrones) Pryce as Prince Philip, Dominic West (McNulty on "The Wire") takes over as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Lady Diana, and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker-Bowles.  In addition we get Johnny Lee Miller (from "Trainspotting" and more recently playing Sherlock Holmes with Lucy Liu) as John Major, the PM who replaced Margaret Thatcher, and both Mohamed (father) and Dodi (son) Fayed entering the picture for Diana.  

Here the narrative focuses on the drama between Charles and Diana, especially when Diana goes public with all her bitching about the royal family.   West does a good job of making Charles more likable than he was in prior seasons.  However, the narrative stops short of Diana's fatal crash in Paris, so I imagine that will come up in Season 6.    

….

Five Republics and Two Empires

 

With le writer’s bloque tormenting me yet again, and finding most of my initial inspirations dashed by seeing I’ve already commented on them, I’ll fall back to my usual subject:  FRANCE, from the Revolution to the present day.

First Republic (1793-1804).  We all remember Bastille Day, July 14, 1789, marking the beginning of the French Revolution.  But Louis XVI didn’t lose his head to the guillotine until January 1793.  For that four year interim period, the French experimented with a constitutional monarchy, giving the people some degree of power, taking that away from Louis XVI.  But when the Terror erupted, no one was safe – not even its own leaders, Danton and Robespierre.  Thereafter, France experimented with a variety of different systems, collectively referred to as the First Republic, which ended with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. 

First Empire (1804-1815).  Napoleon I crowned himself Emperor of France and then went about conquering most of Europe, including Spain, Italy, what passed for Germany back then (effectively ending the Holy Roman Empire), Poland, and much of Russia.  As with Hitler, Big Cold Russia defeated Napoleon, and at Waterloo he was finally conquered once and for all.  Thus the First Empire only had ONE emperor.   Napoleon’s troops in Egypt brought back hashish, introducing France to Le Weed. 

We Three Kings.   Louis XVIII (1815-1824), Charles X (1824-1830) (both younger brothers of Louis XVI), Louis Philippe (1830-1848) (descendent of Louis XIV’s younger brother).  We’re familiar with the major revolutions of 1848, wherein the Communist Manifesto was written (Marx & Engels).

Second Republic (1848-1852).  Napoleon’s nephew, Louis Napoleon, who had lived in exile in Switzerland and England, finally came home and ran for the first elections after Louis Philippe abdicated.  As a somewhat of a celebrity, LP won the election and started the Second Republic, being its only president.

Second Empire (1852-1870).  In 1852 Louis Napoleon had sufficiently consolidated enough power and prestige to get away with declaring himself Emperor, Napoleon III, in 1852.  [Napoleon II was Napoleon I’s son, who died in captivity in Austria]. Thus began the Second Empire, which like the first one only had one emperor.  N3 went off to Mexico, colonized Indochina, got France involved in the Crimean War, but his most important legacy was expanding Paris to its current size and nature with the help of his right hand man, Baron Haussmann.  This period also has distinctive architecture, some of which made it here to the USA. 

Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).  Bismarck successfully engineered a series of wars, first against Denmark (1864), then Austria (1866), and finally against France (1870-71).  Germany, not quite unified but dominated by Prussia, defeated the French at Sedan and then proceeded to besiege fresh, brand new bigger Paris, which finally surrendered in January 1871, N3 himself having been captured at Sedan with his forces.  Then from March to May 1871 was the Paris Commune, in which Paris itself was taken over by communists for two months, finally put down by Adolphe Thiers. 

Third Republic (1871-1940).  With the Commune crushed and its leaders executed in the Parc Monceau, France could start this republic thing going again, which this time around lasted until World War II.  The first of 14 presidents was the one who crushed the Commune, Thiers, with the last being Albert Lebrun in 1940.  This period covers La Belle Epoque of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 

World War II (1939-1945).  Naturally the Germans inconveniently invaded France in May 1940 and defeated the French, resulting in a four year occupation.  Some put Petain as the final leader of the Third Republic, though as a Nazi Puppet that sounds a bit strange. 

Fourth Republic (1948-1958).  With the Germans pushed back where they belonged, far eastern German given to Poland, and the country itself divided into east and west (until 1991), France could get back to being a normal country again.  For its fourth attempt at democracy, it picked a confusing system of parliamentary democracy like Britain’s, in which the head of state was a prime minister, the leader of the majority party.  This resulted in some 21 prime ministers between 1947 (Ramadier) and 1958 (De Gaulle) – some serving multiple nonconsecutive terms alternating as the majority party bounced back and forth, at which point the French figured this system might work well enough across the English Channel, but fell short of expectations in France itself.  The last prime minister of the Fourth Republic was Charles De Gaulle.

Fifth Republic (1958-present).  And the first President of the Fifth Republic, which is still going on today, was Charles De Gaulle.  He was followed by Georges “Weird Pipe Museum” Pompidou, Valery Giscard D’Estaing (President when we moved to Paris in 1979), Francois Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande, and now Emmanuel Macron, whose wife we saw at the Louvre in October 2017.