Summer Prize Competition 2013

I’ve been meaning to do something about this for a while, but kept getting distracted. Now the fact that the Summer is starting to look a bit tired here has prompted me to get on with it.

I’ve given up on my previous “place the photo” system – it was fun, but mostly just for me.

Here’s a simpler idea. The overgrown ECW mortar from my previous post looks as if it could do with a name. I know they liked to name their artillery pieces in those days – give them personalities. So let’s go with that.

Here’s what to do – please send me a comment, or email to the address in my Blogger profile, setting out what you think the gunners might have called their mortar, why you think it’s a good name (any personal stories explaining associations are likely to give extra credits), how you think history should record the reason it was given this name and anything else you think might be relevant – or of interest, even if not relevant. Gratuitous profanity (beyond a realistic measure of historically-authentic colour) will lose you marks.

I thank you.

I’ll score any responses entirely subjectively and unfairly, bringing to bear the full weight of my customary, unreasoning prejudice. The sender of the entry which pleases me most will win a prize, plus – of course – a little measure of immortality in the lasting name of the mortar.

Oh yes – the prize. I happen to have an extra, unread copy of Stephen Bull’s most excellent A General Plague of Madness – The Civil Wars in Lancashire 1640-1660 – paperback, 500pp, with maps and illustrations. Highly recommended if, like me, you are interested in the “backwater” areas of the ECW.

Entries will be accepted up until 10^th September, or September 10^th if you prefer your dates the wrong way round. If there’s anything else I’ve forgotten to stipulate, please just make it up.