History has its uses

"In quitting his vessel, duke William slipped and fell; on which, a knight, who stood near, gave a happy turn to the accident by saying, Duke, you have taken possession of England as its future sovereign" ‘Dux uero Willelmus in egressu nauis pede lapsus, casum in melius commutavit miles qui prope stabat, dicens, ‘Dux,’ inquit, ‘Angliam tenes, rex futurus’. The blog 'Strangehistories' recounts the 13th Centuary account by Roger of Wendover of William the Conquors first faltering steps on English soil. This story has moved into folklore. It has an interesteing paralell with the account of Caesar's similar mishap when he landed on the African coast (I agree, 'Africa' is a bit of a vague location) (see verse 59). It may have been that William (and his dukes) were versed in Roman history and were quick witted enough to know the solution to an igdominious fall. Neil and Glenis Kinnock were not so fortunate in 1983 when at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, a large wave came and washed them over on the beach. This was seen by the press at the time as a bad omean, and sure enough, Kinnock went on to lose the general election. What about when Julius Caesar landed on the British coast on August 26th 55 BCE? The account in historytoday notes that it was a close match, and a formal invasion occured many years later in AD 43. Could it be that this piece of history has been noted by subsequest potential invaders across the centuries?