Orange tip

If I had bucket list for blips in 2012, an orange tip butterfly would be on it, so it was good to find this today. I had one shot at it before it flew off. But then a Peacock butterfly came along. Another time, perhaps.

This afternoon we had a tour of Woking Palace, a favourite haunt of Henry VIII, (mentioned here). It was novel as there is hardly any of it to see (apart from this nice barrel vaulted ceiling), but our guide did a sterling job of taking us through the Tudors and the Wars of the Roses.

He also talked about the Despenser family who lived here for some time when they were doing various despicable deeds. This bit of history seems to have escaped my education. Hugh Despenser the Elder and and Hugh Despenser the Younger were favourites of Edward II - you know, the one who lost to Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. If you're at all squeamish look away now.

Isabella, Edward's wife, fell out with her husband and brought an army back from France to sort him out. Edward was eventually murdered, supposedly at Berkeley Castle although the story that he had a red hot poker stuffed up his jacksy is disputed.

Meanwhile the Despenser father and son came to a grisly ends. The elder was hanged and beheaded in Bristol, then chopped up and fed to the dogs. A particularly gruesome end was devised for Despenser the younger and it seems that the crowd who witnessed it felt he was getting his just deserts. First he was hanged for a little while but cut down before choking, then he was hoisted on top of a ladder where he said goodbye to his wedding tackle that was sliced off and thrown on a fire as he watched. Then he had his entrails spilled out slowly and heart ripped out before he was quartered and had his head chopped off, the ultimate crowd pleaser. He should have stayed in Woking.

And you thought this blip was an everyday story of butterflies.