At Considerable Cost

October 25 mark ed St. Crispin's Day, whose history can be read about here .   We celebrated with some special savories and sweets, Crispin hard cider (I refrained from doing a happy dance when I found it in the store), and watching Henry V, starring Tom Hiddleston as the young king.   The children are always happy about miniature quiches!   They did not get hard cider.   French soda for the kiddos.   Because....because...the soda is French...and...they attacked it...yeah, attacked it...just like the British attacked the French at Agincourt...yeah, that's it... The St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's Henry V , before the Battle of Agincourt, is one of my favorite passages in English literature: WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day! KING. What’s he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;...

So, my day  has been further made.   Today, the BBC released the first clip from their upcoming production of Shakespeare's HENRY V.   It's part of the Cultural Olympiad, as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.   Did we have a cultural olympiad here when we last hosted?   There will also be a production of HENRY IV released this summer. The first time I read HENRY V was in my university British literature course.   I fell in love with the play.   My professor was a Shakespeare scholar, so it was a wonderful experience.   Then, we met outside of class and watched Kenneth Branagh's HENRY V .   It is still one of my favorite films and I watch it often.   Sometimes, I just watch the clip of Henry's St. Crispin's Day speech, one of my favorite excerpts from literature.   We also watched a clip from Sir Laurence Olivier's HENRY V.   It was filmed during WWII to bo...