#Elizabeth Berkeley

[balthazar-sketti]

Elizabeth Berkeley, February 1996, Los Angeles

📸 Bettina Rheims

[chaoticdesertdweller]

The Girl on a Motorcycle, 1968

Showgirls, 1995

[helena-bottom-farter]

[tani-b-art]

Black women who fought for reparations.

Àbáké Matilda McCrear (she was just two years old when she arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in July 1860, a captive aboard the infamous Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring Africans to America. She died in 1940 at the age 82, making her the last known survivor of the last known slave ship.)

...Matilda had walked the 17 miles to Selma to request that she receive some compensation, too, for being kidnapped and brought to the country as a toddler. As proof that she was from Africa, she showed the marks on her cheek.

The judge denied her any reparations just as Timothy Meaher, the slaveowner who organized the illegal Clotilda journey, had denied reparations to the ship’s survivors back in 1865.

McCrear made a claim for herself and Redoshi.

Redoshi, also known as Sally Smith, was the second to last living, African-born survivor of North American slavery, and the only female survivor of the transatlantic slave trade known to have been recorded on film. Born on the coast of West Africa in what is present day Benin, Redoshi was one of about 110 West African children and adults who were human cargo of the schooner Clotilda, the last slave ship to reach the United States. She may have been 110 years old when she died in Alabama in 1937.

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In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations—and Won

The $2,500 verdict, the largest ever of its kind, offers evidence of the generational impact such awards can have.

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Callie House is most famous for her efforts to gain reparations for former slaves and is regarded as the early leader of the reparations movement among African American political activists. Callie Guy was born a slave in Rutherford Country near Nashville, Tennessee. Her date of birth is usually assumed to be 1861, but due to the lack of birth records for slaves, this date is not certain.

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Belinda Sutton [also known as Belinda Royal/Royall] was the author of one of the earliest known slave narratives by an African woman in the United States and a successful early petitioner for reparations for enslavement.

[venicepearl]

Elizabeth de Berkeley, Countess of Warwick and Baroness Lisle (1386 – 28 December 1422), was an English noblewoman and heiress. She was the only child of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, and Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle.

With her father's death in 1417, Elizabeth and her husband Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, became involved in an inheritance dispute with her cousin James Berkeley, initiating one of the longest lawsuits in English history.

[luxurybusnjseo]

Providing the best limo services in Elizabeth, NJ airport limo service, party buses services throughout the Elizabeth area.

We are available for a variety of services including special events, parties, proms, airport transportation, party bus, and executive shuttle bus rentals, and Elizabeth limo wine tours. We will help to give the best experience that you deserve by making your limo service the best that it can be.

[stonelord1]

Bristol's Mayors Chapel-open after 500 years.

I must admit to having ‘all wrong’ about Bristol. For a long while I thought its cathedral was likely just an overgrown parish church and did not visit, preferring to explore the famous church of St Mary Redcliffe instead. How wrong I was. The cathedral was, in fact, a large Augustinian abbey, founded by Robert FitzHarding, who became Lord Berkeley. The abbey has been used as a filming location…

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Blitz and Arc Review: A Love by Design by Elizabeth Everett (The Secret Scientists of London #3)

Welcome to my stop on the A Love by Design Blog Blitz with Berkley Publishing. (This is also posted on my Wordpress book review blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

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Publication Date: January 17, 2023

Synopsis:

You couldn't design a better hero than the very eligible and extremely charming Earl Grantham. Unless, of course, you are Margaret Gault, who wants nothing to do with the man who broke her youthful heart. Widowed and determined, Margaret Gault has returned to Athena's Retreat and the welcoming arms of her fellow secret scientists with an ambitious plan in mind: to establish England's first woman-owned engineering firm. But from the moment she sets foot in London her plans are threatened by greedy investors and--at literally every turn--the irritatingly attractive Earl Grantham, a man she can never forgive. George Willis, the Earl Grantham, is thrilled that the woman he has loved since childhood has returned to London. Not as thrilling, however, is her decision to undertake an engineering commission from his political archnemesis. When Margaret's future and Grantham's parliamentary reforms come into conflict, Grantham must use every ounce of charm he possesses--along with his stunning good looks and flawless physique, of course--to win Margaret over to his cause. Facing obstacles seemingly too large to dismantle, will Grantham and Margaret remain forever disconnected or can they find a way to bridge their differences, rekindle the passion of their youth, and construct a love built to last?

*Author info, My rating and review, Favorite Quotes, and Excerpt below the cut.

About the Author:

Photo of Elizabeth Everett from her Goodreads profile

Elizabeth Everett lives in upstate New York with her family. She likes going for long walks or (very) short runs to nearby sites that figure prominently in the history of civil rights and women's suffrage. Her series is inspired by her admiration for rule breakers and belief in the power of love to change the world.

My Rating: ★★★★

My Review:

I loved many things about this novel. First would have to be the characters. It was fun to revisit the characters of Athena's Retreat, and I loved seeing George and Arthur "fighting" (in other words: expressing best-friendship) about George's increasingly ridiculous gifts for Violet & Arthur's baby. I loved George as a character in general - he was so sweet and funny and had an absolute heart of gold. He cared and was trying to do good with the title he'd never wanted. I loved Margaret as well, though she was a bit pricklier and also incredibly stubborn. If she'd let people in and asked for help earlier in the novel I wouldn't have been so frustrated at her decisions… though it also would have meant there would be less story. She is strong and bold and determined and yes, stubborn. I also loved the bit we get of Sam, who I remember loving in the previous book.

This novel really drove home the 'rich and powerful men want to control and dominate women and will do anything to undermine them and keep them from succeeding and keep the status quo' point from previous books -- a point which really hits close to home after watching the events of the past few years unfolding. Much like the real-world events, the events of the novel were infuriating and had me rooting for Maragaret and her friends to prove themselves.

The romance was sweet and one of my favorite kinds -- a second-chance romance between childhood friends / crushes. It was easy to get behind it because George was so very gone on Margaret. He was so in awe of her engineering brain and determined spirit and it was so refreshing, with all the terrible men in the story. They all wanted to crush her beneath their boots for the audacity of being a woman with ideas, and he just wanted to worship her for it. It was clear that Margaret loved him as well -- she just had to get past her stubborn self-reliant independence.

The one thing I could have done without was the sex scenes. There weren't too many -- three, I think? -- but they were very… detailed. Luckily they weren't vital and I could skim them (slowing down to read the dialogue in case it advanced the plot, which it occasionally did). And for me, three sex scenes is three too many. I know I'm in the minority here, and in fact I saw some reviewers lamenting that there weren't enough sex scenes -- which, how? -- so I'm going to chalk it up to just the average romance reader apparently liking to read about sex a lot more than I do and not let it impact my rating.

Margaret also dragged the stubborn independence thing on a liiiiiiittle bit too long, in my opinion, and it bogged down the middle 40% of the book. I think some tightening of the plot there would go a long way toward making this flow better and feel more consistent.

Overall though I really loved it. I love stories with smart women and men with hearts of gold, and this delivered that beautifully.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley for providing an early copy for review.

Favorite Quotes:

The work came first. She mustn’t ever forget when everyone abandoned her, the work was always there.

---

As the sun battled to punch through the haze of coal smut hanging in the damp London air, Grantham sat in shadows, jealous of the lone shaft of light that fell through the window and landed on Margaret’s left cheek.

---

Everything would be fine if you do the work. Do not aim too high, do not set yourself out to be noticed. If you were a woman in a man’s world, moving forward meant bending to their desires or just doing the work.

---

Yes, and imagine what they would think if Margaret failed? If they learned she spent every day unsure of her talents and worried about exposure? Shouldn’t she feel like a role model if she was going to be one?

---

“I have always loved her,” he said. “I breathe her and bleed her, and if you open me up, my heart is the shape of Margaret Gault. I have loved her from the moment she knocked me to the ground; a blow from which I have never tried to recover. Of course I love her.”

---

Whether that step leads you to where you were always meant to be depends on how you define courage. Is it the tenacity to forge ahead no matter the obstacles, or the ability to ask for help when those obstacles seem insurmountable? Or is it both?

Excerpt:

A LOVE BY DESIGN by Elizabeth Everett

Berkley Romance Trade Paperback Original | On sale January 17, 2023

Excerpt

Maggie had returned. Of course, she was now known as Madame Margaret Gault. Try as he might, Grantham could never twist his tongue around the name. Almost his whole life, he'd called her Maggie. His Maggie. From upside down, he watched as she turned the corner of the carriage house, the wind unfurling the hem of her simple bronze pelisse. A brown capelet hung about her shoulders, and a matching muff hid her hands. Catching sight of him, she paused, tilting her head so he caught a glimpse of lush auburn curls peeking out from beneath her tea-colored bonnet trimmed with bright red berries. Margaret's fair skin showed no hint of the freckles that had once plagued her every summer, and thick brown lashes shielded her hazel eyes. She was unusually tall for a woman; nevertheless, she moved with effortless grace, and not even the blazing clash of colors adorning Violet next to her could detract from her beauty. For she was a beauty, Margaret Gault. Once wild and graceless, she'd bloomed into a woman of elegant refinement. A woman who was more than met the eye. A woman who would rather feast on glass than give him the time of day. For eleven years, the first day of summer meant Margaret would be waiting for him beneath the willow where they first met. She and Violet attended the Yorkshire Academy for the Education of Exceptional Young Women together. While Violet came home to her large, affectionate-and very loud-family, Margaret had no one waiting for her at home. Her father had died of a stroke when she was ten and her mother had little interest in Margaret's whereabouts or well-being. Violet and Grantham had been Margaret's family. The three of them had been the best of friends until one hot afternoon when Margaret had smiled a certain way and the ground went out beneath his feet. A year later he was soldiering in Canada and Margaret lived in Paris and their summers together were nothing but a memory he pulled around himself like a blanket on cold lonely nights. "Good afternoon, Grantham," Violet greeted him, seemingly unaffected by his headfirst dive into her rosebushes. She wore a shocking yellow day dress beneath a burgundy velvet paletot and atop her head sat a garish blue bonnet topped with a life-sized stuffed parrot. Swallowing a barrelful of curses, Grantham tried wriggling out of the bushes, every single thorn piercing his flesh a hundredfold as Margaret stared without saying a word. "Ahem." He cleared his throat as he managed to get to his feet despite being trapped in the center of one of the bushes. As he pulled a branch from his hair, a shower of wrinkled brown rose petals drifted down his shoulders. "You are especially . . . vibrant today, Violet. I brought this for Baby Georgie." He thrust the torn, dirtied rabbit at Violet, who received it with a bemused air. One of the buttons had come off and the silk was stained green and brown. "Madame Gault," he said, bowing to Margaret. "So lovely to see you again." No matter how strongly Grantham willed it, Margaret did not speak to him in return. Instead, she bent her knee a scant inch in a desultory curtsey, her lush mouth twisted like the clasp of a coin purse, no doubt to hold inside the names she was calling him in her head. He had a good idea what some of them were, considering he most likely had taught them to her. Grantham hadn't seen Margaret for thirteen years until their reunion-if one could call it that-a year and a half ago in the small parlor of Athena's Retreat. He hadn't exactly met the moment then, either-although to be fair, there'd been a hedgehog involved. The handful of times he encountered her since, she'd avoided meeting his eyes with her own, as though he were an inconsequential shadow cast by their past. Someone to be dismissed. Someone who had broken her heart and whom she would never forgive. "See who is come to live in England for good." Violet linked her arm with Margaret's and beamed at her friend. This was news.

When Margaret had come to stay at Athena's Retreat a year and half ago to complete an engineering project for her father-in-law's firm, Grantham had hoped she'd stay but she returned to Paris after three months. He'd asked Violet if Margaret might ever return, but Violet had doubted it. "She's one of the only women engineers in Europe with an excellent reputation. Why give up a dream hard fought to come back to England and fight all over again?" Violet had asked. Something had changed, however, and now Margaret was home. His heart leapt in his chest and the bitter orange flavor of hope flooded his mouth. "Clean yourself up and come inside for tea," Violet said to him now. Margaret did not echo the invitation. Instead, she tightened her hold on a stylish carpet bag and accompanied Violet and Arthur into the building. There are moments in life when the world shifts as though a door has opened somewhere out of sight. Whether a person runs toward that opened door or not depends on how fast they're stuck in place. Grantham considered for a moment how painful it would be to get himself unstuck. Although the tangle of branches in front of him twisted menacingly, he pulled a deep breath of resolution into his lungs alongside the scents of rosehips and crushed greenery. Gritting his teeth, he made his way through the thorns toward the open door.

Excerpted from A Love by Design by Elizabeth Everett Copyright © 2023 by Elizabeth Everett. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. 

[transit-fag]

Anyways, I think my livable cities formula is broken, no matter what I do with it or add to it, the top 25 cities stay the same, just in different orders.

It's always

St.Paul, Minneapolis

Albany, Alameda, San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville, and Berkeley California

Portland Oregon

Denver and Boulder, CO

Arlington, VA

Washington DC

Seattle, WA

Newark, Paterson, Trenton, and Elizabeth NJ

Champaign-Urbana, Cicero, and Berwyn IL

Baltimore

Mount Vernon, NY

And Eureka CA

[kingsoverjacks]

Elizabeth Berkeley, so sexy!

[letterful]

[chicayn22]

Sexiest Actress Tournament

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

The Irish Princess and her dynastic marriage to a Norman that helped shape Europe. Aoife, Princess of Leinster -> Catherine, The Princess of Wales. The Princess of Wales is Aoife, Princess of Leinster and Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke 26th Great-Granddaughter  via her paternal grandfather’s line.

** Aoife or Eva, Princess of Leinster, played a pivotal role in the history of Ireland and the Norman expansion. She was the daughter of Diarmaid MacMurrough, King of Leinster, who sought the help of the Normans to secure his throne and defeat his enemies. As part of this alliance, Aoife married the Norman leader Richard de Clare, known as ‘Strongbow,’ on 25 August 1170. This marriage marked the arrival of the Normans in Ireland, just 104 years after their conquest of England by William the Conqueror.

Through their daughter, Isabelle de Clare, The 4th Countess of Pembroke, the union of Aoife and Strongbow forged a lineage that would shape the future of European nobility. Isabelle became an ancestor of nearly every reigning monarch across Europe. Within a few generations, her descendants included much of the European aristocracy, including all the Kings of Scotland since Robert the Bruce (1274–1329) and every monarch of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom since Henry IV (1367–1413). 

Family Line

Aoife MacMurrough, Princess of Leinster and Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Painting of their wedding, depicting the political and cultural consequences. 

Isabelle de Clare 4th Countess of Pembroke m. William Marshall 1st Earl of Pembroke. 

Eve Marshall m William de Briouze, born  Pembroke Castle.

Eve de Briouze m. William de Cauntelo, Coat of Arms

Millicent de Cauntelo m. Eon la Zouche, Coat of Arms

Eva la Zouche m. Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Lord Berkeley, buried St Mary's Church, Portbury. 

Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Lord Berkeley m. Catherine Clivedon

Sir John Berkeley m. Elizabeth Betteshorne, burial location.

Eleanor Berkeley m. Sir Richard Poynings, burial tomb.

Eleanor de Poynings m. Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland

Lady Margaret Percy m. Sir William Gascoigne 

Anne Gascoigne m. Sir Thomas Fairfax - Gawthorpe Hall, family seat.

William Fairfax m. Anne Baker - Gilling Castle, family seat. 

John Fairfax m. Mary Birch - Master of the Great Hospital at Norwich, Norfolk

Rev. Benjamin Fairfax m. Sarah Galliard - Preacher at Rumburgh, Suffolk.

Benjamin Fairfax m. Bridget Stringer - died in Halesworth, Suffolk.

Sarah Fairfax m. Rev. John Meadows - died in Ousedon, Suffolk.

Philip Meadows m. Margaret Hall

Sarah Meadows m. Dr. David Martineau

Thomas Martineau m. Elizabeth Rankin - buried at Rosary Cemetery, Norwich.

Elizabeth Martineau m. Dr. Thomas Michael Greenhow - died in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland.

Frances Elizabeth Greenhow m. Francis Lupton

Francis Martineau Lupton m. Harriet Davis

Olive Lupton m. Richard Middleton

Peter Middleton m. Valerie Glassborow

Michael Middleton m. Carole Goldsmith 

Catherine Middleton m. Prince William of Wales

*Catherine is also a descendant of Aoife via her mother Caroles maternal line.

[maximumcollectorgardenerposts]

Hot Sundae (Elizabeth Berkeley, Tiffani Thiessen and Lark Voorhees) from SAVED BY THE BELL

[lex-feldz]

New York

Annabeth picked at the flowers on the table, waiting for someone who probably won’t show. She was at a coffee shop, waiting for her date she met online. It’s not even worth remembering which app it was from, whoever was going to show, would show. (Or not)

Eventually a ruggedly handsome man ushered in, going up to every woman in the place and talking to them. 

“Are you Anna Elizabeth?” He asked, hopelessly. 

“Yes, but I prefer to go by Annabeth.” She said. 

“Awesome. I’m Percy.” He smiled wide. 

“Oh.” Was all she managed, trying not to judge him. 

“I’m sorry I was late. I’m from New York originally and San Francisco has a very different layout than the city.” He chuckled, sitting down across from her. 

“I lived in New York for some time, it’s not too different.” She held her head high, maybe a little peeved at him for blaming his own incompetence on something that has no real ability to change. 

“Oh, cool, where did you live? I grew up in Brooklyn but bounced around Manhattan and the Bronx for the past couple of years. My Ma lives on the upper east side now.” He smiled genuinely, which might have warmed her insides a bit more than she’d like to admit. 

“I grew up in a town just out of the city, Scarsdale? Maybe you’ve heard of it?” 

“Oh damn, that’s, like, close to Yonkers and Mamo? Right?” He smiled.

“Yeah.” 

“That’s awesome, when did you leave?” 

“Before I moved out here for school. I went to Berkeley for architecture.” She gripped her cup. 

“Nice, I never went to college, too expensive.” He flushed. 

“It’s never too late, you know.” 

“Yeah, which is why I’m not worried. Like, my buddy, Jason, he’s been a Yale man since he was born. Guess where he ended up?” 

“Yale?” 

“SUNY Oneonta.” 

“Oh, that’s—” 

“Nothing like Yale, yeah, that’s what I said when he told me.” Percy’s eyes crinkled endearingly as he spoke about his friend, and joked with her. 

“So, what brought you to San Fran, then, Percy?” Annabeth asked, genuine curiosity flooding her. He seemed like such a New Yorker, born and raised, that it didn’t make sense as to why he would leave. 

“I still think of it as where I live, but for now, I’m out here to help my buddy Grover move into his internship. I don’t know, really.” 

“You just go on random dates?” 

“For fun, yeah.” 

“That’s….” She wasn’t really sure. 

“Weird?” 

“Yeah.” She giggled, relieved he said it. 

“What can I say? Some might say I’m a masochist.” 

“Some.” She took a sip of her drink. 

“Some might say that the ones that don’t immediately get up, are as well.” He whispered.

“Oh, well, I— I just like coffee.” 

“If you ever find yourself in New York you should give me a call.” “I will.”