September 17, 2014
Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL, “Magna Carta; Foundation of American Democracy”, James Otis Lecture, Faneuil Hall, Boston
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17 September 2014, Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL, “Magna Carta; Foundation of American Democracy”, James Otis Lecture, Faneuil Hall, Boston
Good afternoon.
I will cover three things in my talk today:
- Why me, why now?
- Why are you here this day? You know what it is to be Americans.
- What do you know about the role that Magna Carta played in the building of America, and the Special Relationship that exists to this day between America and Great Britain?
Why me?
Growing up in America I had a pretty thorough schooling in English history, English literature and not least English cinema (that was before television), which began with the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, then 1066 and all that, in 1215, the Great Charter, later Magna Carta.
From an early age it was “Good” King Richard the Lionhearted, “Bad” King John “Lackland” (and Robin Hood and his merry men, Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and all), Henry VIII and Elizabeth the Virgin Queen, Shakespeare, 18th C. Georgian elegance in costume, in architecture and music.
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