RE: What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?
April 5, 2023 at 5:40 pm
(This post was last modified: April 5, 2023 at 6:01 pm by Anomalocaris.)
In 1910, the 28 year old author Virginia Woolf wore a turban and what is effectively black face make up to impersonate a non-existent Abyssinian royal prince to prank the royal navy.
Her accomplices sent a fake telegram claiming to be from the foreign office to the commander-in-chief british home fleet, informing the admiral that a Prince Makalan of “Abbysinia”, note the misspelling, will arrive in the afternoon and the home fleet should be prepared for inspection. the fleet was duly made ready, decked out in bunting and flags. A correct flag of Abyssinia was located and flown from the mast of HMS Dreadnought, flag ship of the home fleet.
she and her accomplices then appeared at Peddington station, demanded and got a special VIP train fron the befuddled station master, and took it to Weymouth where the fleet assembled for inspection.
the pranksters spent 3 hours traipsing through the newest ships in the royal navy, spouting gibberish using words drawn from greek and latin without being caught, despite one of her accomplices being a cousin of the commander of one of the ships being inspected. during the prank they asked for the use of prayer rugs and bestowed fake orders and medals upon the senior officers accompanying the inspection. They duly departed at the end of the 3 hours aboard the fraudulently commandeered special train and published their Escapade in the London Mirror several days later.
This was a considerable embarrassment to the royal navy and foreign office because besides the security breach, the pranksters belonged to the Bloomsbury group, a noted pacifist intellectual group. Despite the embarrassment, the royal navy was good natured in response. It offered fo forgive all if the group, except Virginia, the only female perpetrator, consented to being threshed on their bottoms by a switch, which at the time was the customary punishment for midshipmen transgressing some naval rule.
the ceremonial punishment was duly accepted and applied with appropriate fanfare.
Her accomplices sent a fake telegram claiming to be from the foreign office to the commander-in-chief british home fleet, informing the admiral that a Prince Makalan of “Abbysinia”, note the misspelling, will arrive in the afternoon and the home fleet should be prepared for inspection. the fleet was duly made ready, decked out in bunting and flags. A correct flag of Abyssinia was located and flown from the mast of HMS Dreadnought, flag ship of the home fleet.
she and her accomplices then appeared at Peddington station, demanded and got a special VIP train fron the befuddled station master, and took it to Weymouth where the fleet assembled for inspection.
the pranksters spent 3 hours traipsing through the newest ships in the royal navy, spouting gibberish using words drawn from greek and latin without being caught, despite one of her accomplices being a cousin of the commander of one of the ships being inspected. during the prank they asked for the use of prayer rugs and bestowed fake orders and medals upon the senior officers accompanying the inspection. They duly departed at the end of the 3 hours aboard the fraudulently commandeered special train and published their Escapade in the London Mirror several days later.
This was a considerable embarrassment to the royal navy and foreign office because besides the security breach, the pranksters belonged to the Bloomsbury group, a noted pacifist intellectual group. Despite the embarrassment, the royal navy was good natured in response. It offered fo forgive all if the group, except Virginia, the only female perpetrator, consented to being threshed on their bottoms by a switch, which at the time was the customary punishment for midshipmen transgressing some naval rule.
the ceremonial punishment was duly accepted and applied with appropriate fanfare.
