Well done for picking that connection, Susan. ( I didnt )

And of course congratulations to Roger for arriving first at Charles Wilkes. He was captain of the ship that was involved in removing the Confederate "ambassadors" from the British ship the Trent (Nottingham cricket ground is Trent Bridge).

Wilkes was a South Seas explorer and the character Cap'n Ahab may have been based upon him. His mother died when he was young and he was raised by Elizabeth Ann Seton (she died when she was 46). She is the patron saint of ... wait for it ...

saint of seafarers

I wonder how John Wilkes Booth came by his middle name. There was a John Wilkes who was an English MP that supported the War of Independence colonialists and was also a Catholic supporter.

"John Wilkes's brother was the grandfather of U.S. Naval Admiral Charles Wilkes."

Wikipaedia also says: In a famous exchange with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, where the latter exclaimed, "Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox," Wilkes is reported to have replied, "That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your lordship's principles or your mistress."

This is going to be a bit tricky ( I hope) .
What is the connection between Raphael Semmes and an extremely (and I mean very very) large aspidistra?

Does it have anything to do with Charlotte Hall?

Nup. Zilch. Alabama might prove a lead. And England.

When I wrote England ... a particular city ... Bobby Charlton came from there. Eva might know of Bobby Charlton. I'm guessing that because her recent Post in another Thread.

Any similarities to Captain Bligh and his beloved Breadfruit Trees?

I'm really stretching on this one, and I hope you are too -- My mother loved plants, so I know that the common name for aspidistra is the cast iron plant. Tying this to Raphael Semmes: He did wondrous things for the Confederate Navy, including manning the cast iron raiding ship Alabama. Semmes also had a home in Mobile, Alabama.

I do know that Bobby Charlton was a great soccer (football) star in England, but not sure how to tie him to this unless he was from some English town named Mobile?

I wonder how many others feel guilty when composing these trivia questions ? My subconscious tells me I'm being a little cruel. At the same time I am trying to help ...

Yep, it was the soccer player I was thinking of ... he played for a club that is still quite successful in an English city. A city that had some connections with the Civil War. Have you cottoned on yet?

The aspidistra? You can only really get the connection through an internet search in connection with Ralph Semmes and that city.

Another connection Solingen, Germany. May help. Or may not.

(maybe I am assuming that you people have as much time on your hands as I have to do internet searches)

(12-23-2017 04:14 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  I wonder how many others feel guilty when composing these trivia questions ?

Not me!
But this does remind me of a Christmas song.
Guilt for Christmas by Ray Stevens
Merry Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4iTikV1CNg

(12-23-2017 06:01 PM)Gene C Wrote:  

(12-23-2017 04:14 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  I wonder how many others feel guilty when composing these trivia questions ?

Not me!
But this does remind me of a Christmas song.
Guilt for Christmas by Ray Stevens
Merry Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4iTikV1CNg

Sorry I missed your question ... Captain Bligh and his beloved Breadfruit Trees ... nup, nothing to do with them. Unless you use a sword to cut them down.

thanks Gene ... I have now spent 10 minutes listening to ray Steven songs I never heard before and then ending with this
I'm Getting Nuttin

(12-23-2017 06:18 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  When I wrote England ... a particular city ... Bobby Charlton came from there. Eva might know of Bobby Charlton. I'm guessing that because her recent Post in another Thread.

Sorry, didn't check the thread after considering the question way off my abilities (plus just returned home for Xmas break after some months abroad, a lot off-line to do). Not sure to which of my posts you refer to and no clue about the question but sure know THE WEMBLEY GOAL...
He played for ManU, and in that national team of 1966...

I am not about to wade into British history in relation to the American Civil War, but please read my response above and then let me attempt to tie it all together again. IF Bobby Charlton was born in Manchester, England, and I think played for that soccer team in the mid-1900s, it ties together with Raphael Semmes and his iron clad ship, Alabama, which was built in England (maybe in Manchester?) and tried to break American blockades in getting Confederate cotton to English mills where Lincoln's embargo was killing the English industry.

Does it all tie with the Manchester workers signing a pledge to support Lincoln because they were anti-slavery?

If I have even come close, riddle me this - What man who is suspected of having ties to the kidnap/assassination of Lincoln was sent to London as a Confederate purchasing agent involved in the cotton trade? And, in 1865, what infamous American fled to a sister city of Manchester in the UK? What was the city?

Side Note - Soccer was the big sport here when I was in school because football (America's game) was outlawed in most of our schools due to too many students getting injured. I vaguely remember an airplane crash that killed most of a British soccer team; wasn't Charlton one of the sole survivors? I think this was mentioned a few years ago when an American sports team was wiped out in a similar plane crash.

(12-23-2017 07:22 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(12-23-2017 06:18 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  When I wrote England ... a particular city ... Bobby Charlton came from there. Eva might know of Bobby Charlton. I'm guessing that because her recent Post in another Thread.

Sorry, didn't check the thread after considering the question way off my abilities (plus just returned home for Xmas break after some months abroad, a lot off-line to do). Not sure to which of my posts you refer to and no clue about the question but sure know THE WEMBLEY GOAL...
He played for ManU, and in that national team of 1966...

Yes! Well done Eva. Manchester United. ( The goal I think you're referring to was scored by Geoff Hurst ... and I think most people now regard it as the 1966 "goal" ).

So you've got Manchester.

Just found this but still no clue what else.
http://www.gmmg.org.uk/our-connected-his...-scabbard/
(Guess all knives over here are made in Solingen...)

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(12-23-2017 07:27 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  

(12-23-2017 07:22 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(12-23-2017 06:18 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  When I wrote England ... a particular city ... Bobby Charlton came from there. Eva might know of Bobby Charlton. I'm guessing that because her recent Post in another Thread.

Sorry, didn't check the thread after considering the question way off my abilities (plus just returned home for Xmas break after some months abroad, a lot off-line to do). Not sure to which of my posts you refer to and no clue about the question but sure know THE WEMBLEY GOAL...
He played for ManU, and in that national team of 1966...

Yes! Well done Eva. Manchester United. ( The goal I think you're referring to was scored by Geoff Hurst ... and I think most people now regard it as the 1966 "goal" ).

So you've got Manchester.

Yes... and here it's still the "Wembley goal"...

---

PS: I'm just thinking that you beat me now as for being ahead time...

(12-23-2017 07:27 PM)L Verge Wrote:  If I have even come close, riddle me this - What man who is suspected of having ties to the kidnap/assassination of Lincoln was sent to London as a Confederate purchasing agent involved in the cotton trade? And, in 1865, what infamous American fled to a sister city of Manchester in the UK? What was the city?

Benjamin Ficklin? John Surratt/Liverpool?