David Lindsay has an interesting post here on history according to Monty Python.
But it's not just medieval history with which the Pythons seem to take, shall we say, a few liberties. They're not too hot on the more modern stuff either. In the chapter on Serbia in his book 'New Europe', written to accompany his BBC television series of the same name, Michael Palin (above) writes that "Slobodan Milosevic, ex-President of Serbia, died of a heart attack at The Hague after his conviction for war crimes".
Now, I followed the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on a regular basis. And if Milosevic was ever convicted of war crimes, my name is John Cleese.
6 comments:
errrrrr... this is on of the things I disagree with you on.... should we say he is innocent because he died? what a reason for acquittal.
Hi Dan,
Hope all's well.
The principle that a man is innocent until proven guilty is hugely important. Milosevic wasn't proven guilty and in the four years of his trial no credible evidence was produced that he was guilty of the crimes he was charged with. If Palin had said that Milosevic had died while on trial that would be one thing. But he said he died after being convicted, which is quite another.
All the very best,
Neil
The fact is that they didn't have the evidence at Milosevic's trial to so much as convict him of a parking violation. Sorry, but that's the truth, much as some hate and/or refuse to face it.
Four+ years and countless millions and the weight of the western world against him, and still they couldn't convict him. The man HAD to die...
Thank you Neil, you are a dear friend.
I agree that Palin should have been more accurate when referring to Milosevic trial.
By the way, this is my other preferred Blog beside yours.
http://desertpeace.blogspot.com/
OK, John, maybe he wasn't convicted, but you still deserve your new name !
Post a Comment