Ok,I've come back to this after stomping off in a huff to get some coffee.hopefully this will mean a new journal entry today!I've just noticed the "Save entry" button thing.I'm a total dumbass.
Anyway not to worry-this is the most amazing crazy thing I ever read.If your a fan of the original "Dawn of the dead"(I guess that is most of the population of the world) read this-warning,long entry.
From 'The London Times':
From King of Gore to King of Ghor
By Chris Ayres
A long-forgotten document has turned a B-movie actor into the highly reluctant ruler of an Afghan province
HE IS a cult horror film actor who used to joke that he was the King of Gore.
But now Scott Reiniger, the star of the original Dawn of the Dead, has discovered that he is, quite literally, the King of Ghor an ancient province of Afghanistan more than 6,000 miles from his home on a quiet, palm-lined street in West Hollywood.
It is a story so implausible that no Hollywood scriptwriter, even the kind that penned the B-movies in which Mr Reiniger starred, would dare invent it.
Mr Reiniger can scarcely believe it himself. "My brother left me a message," he says, recalling the day last week when he was told of his royal status. "He said, Call me right away, there's been an interesting development.' "
The "development" was a treaty, found locked away in a museum vault in Pennsylvania, between Mr Reiniger's great-great-great-grandfather, an American Quaker by the name of Josiah Harlan, and Reffee Beg, the Prince of Ghor, a member of the Persian-speaking Hazara tribe who are descendants of the Mongols.
The treaty, dated 1839, declared that, in return for helping the Hazaras to form an army, the Prince had "transferred his principality in feudal service, binding himself and his tribe to pay tribute for ever".
The treaty added that the sovereignty of Ghor would be handed down to Harlan's heirs. In Harlan's words, the Prince of Ghor "pledged the fidelity of himself, his heirs and tribe, in feudal tenure, to serve, obey and pay tribute for ever . . . The sovereignty was secured to me and my heirs."
Mr Reiniger, 56, sitting in his comfortable but modest home, a red Mustang parked outside, says: "My brother says he can now picture me riding an elephant and him holding a staff and looking up at me. It's very surreal."
He has no plans to reclaim the province, whose sovereignty is again in dispute after the US invasion. "I don't think it's a good time now, personally, but I'd be fascinated to go. If I went I would pray for peace.
"I wouldn't assert myself, though, because I would probably not be around for very long."
The story gets stranger still. Although Mr Reiniger's brother whose first name is Harlan is an avid family historian who owns two portraits of their great-great-great-grandfather and a ceremonial sword, the royal treaty was rediscovered by an Englishman, Ben Macintyre, a writer and editor for The Times.
Mr Macintyre stumbled upon the contract while researching his book about Harlan The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan.
Josiah Harlan existed on the periphery of American history for years and was the probable inspiration for a Rudyard Kipling short story, also called The Man Who Would Be King, which was turned into a film starring Sean Connery.
Mr Macintyre's book reveals an extraordinary adventurer who played a key role in the "Great Game", the struggle between Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia.
Mr Macintyre, who travelled from Afghanistan to America for his research, writes: "Gradually, Harlan's life began to take shape . . . In a tiny museum in Chester County, Pennsylvania, I finally discovered (his) lost voice: in an old box, buried and forgotten among the files, was a tattered manuscript . . . most of Harlan's missing autobiography, unnoticed and unread since his death, along with letters, poems and drawings."
Harlan, brought up a Quaker in Pennsylvania, left America aged 23 to join the East India Company as a surgeon, even though he was unqualified. He went on to raise armies, act as a kingmaker, survive cholera, and befriend the Hazaras, whose flag he changed to the American Old Glory.
The adventurer lost his crown to the British, who sent an army, along with two camels to carry the officers' cigars, to stop the Russians increasing their influence in the region. Harlan ended his days as a still unqualified doctor in San Francisco. He died at the age of 72.
Harlan Reiniger, a documentary maker who lives near Boston, contacted Mr Macintyre after the book was published in America and identified his brother as the hereditary King of Ghor under the Afghan rules of primogeniture.
The title does not go to Scott Reiniger's father, also called Scott and still alive at 80, because it has been handed down on his mother's side.
Mr Reiniger's father was obsessed by Josiah Harlan. "He would go on and on about it, and we thought he was making it all up," Scott said.
"That picture that my brother has of General Harlan, with the turban and sword, was hanging in our living room. Every so often my father would bring out the sword, wave it around and tell stories."
The treaty, however, had been largely forgotten and Scott never knew that he was the rightful heir to the throne of Ghor. Instead, he followed an acting career, becoming famous for his role as a Swat police officer who turns into a zombie in Dawn of the Dead.
He still attends horror fans' conventions around the world in his old role of King of Gore.
He is convinced that some of Josiah Harlan's character has been passed on through the family's genes. "I don't jump out of planes but I would say, unless someone has a gun to my head, I'm not afraid of the human race. I'm a curious person."
All I can say is "wow",
Anyway not to worry-this is the most amazing crazy thing I ever read.If your a fan of the original "Dawn of the dead"(I guess that is most of the population of the world) read this-warning,long entry.
From 'The London Times':
From King of Gore to King of Ghor
By Chris Ayres
A long-forgotten document has turned a B-movie actor into the highly reluctant ruler of an Afghan province
HE IS a cult horror film actor who used to joke that he was the King of Gore.
But now Scott Reiniger, the star of the original Dawn of the Dead, has discovered that he is, quite literally, the King of Ghor an ancient province of Afghanistan more than 6,000 miles from his home on a quiet, palm-lined street in West Hollywood.
It is a story so implausible that no Hollywood scriptwriter, even the kind that penned the B-movies in which Mr Reiniger starred, would dare invent it.
Mr Reiniger can scarcely believe it himself. "My brother left me a message," he says, recalling the day last week when he was told of his royal status. "He said, Call me right away, there's been an interesting development.' "
The "development" was a treaty, found locked away in a museum vault in Pennsylvania, between Mr Reiniger's great-great-great-grandfather, an American Quaker by the name of Josiah Harlan, and Reffee Beg, the Prince of Ghor, a member of the Persian-speaking Hazara tribe who are descendants of the Mongols.
The treaty, dated 1839, declared that, in return for helping the Hazaras to form an army, the Prince had "transferred his principality in feudal service, binding himself and his tribe to pay tribute for ever".
The treaty added that the sovereignty of Ghor would be handed down to Harlan's heirs. In Harlan's words, the Prince of Ghor "pledged the fidelity of himself, his heirs and tribe, in feudal tenure, to serve, obey and pay tribute for ever . . . The sovereignty was secured to me and my heirs."
Mr Reiniger, 56, sitting in his comfortable but modest home, a red Mustang parked outside, says: "My brother says he can now picture me riding an elephant and him holding a staff and looking up at me. It's very surreal."
He has no plans to reclaim the province, whose sovereignty is again in dispute after the US invasion. "I don't think it's a good time now, personally, but I'd be fascinated to go. If I went I would pray for peace.
"I wouldn't assert myself, though, because I would probably not be around for very long."
The story gets stranger still. Although Mr Reiniger's brother whose first name is Harlan is an avid family historian who owns two portraits of their great-great-great-grandfather and a ceremonial sword, the royal treaty was rediscovered by an Englishman, Ben Macintyre, a writer and editor for The Times.
Mr Macintyre stumbled upon the contract while researching his book about Harlan The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan.
Josiah Harlan existed on the periphery of American history for years and was the probable inspiration for a Rudyard Kipling short story, also called The Man Who Would Be King, which was turned into a film starring Sean Connery.
Mr Macintyre's book reveals an extraordinary adventurer who played a key role in the "Great Game", the struggle between Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia.
Mr Macintyre, who travelled from Afghanistan to America for his research, writes: "Gradually, Harlan's life began to take shape . . . In a tiny museum in Chester County, Pennsylvania, I finally discovered (his) lost voice: in an old box, buried and forgotten among the files, was a tattered manuscript . . . most of Harlan's missing autobiography, unnoticed and unread since his death, along with letters, poems and drawings."
Harlan, brought up a Quaker in Pennsylvania, left America aged 23 to join the East India Company as a surgeon, even though he was unqualified. He went on to raise armies, act as a kingmaker, survive cholera, and befriend the Hazaras, whose flag he changed to the American Old Glory.
The adventurer lost his crown to the British, who sent an army, along with two camels to carry the officers' cigars, to stop the Russians increasing their influence in the region. Harlan ended his days as a still unqualified doctor in San Francisco. He died at the age of 72.
Harlan Reiniger, a documentary maker who lives near Boston, contacted Mr Macintyre after the book was published in America and identified his brother as the hereditary King of Ghor under the Afghan rules of primogeniture.
The title does not go to Scott Reiniger's father, also called Scott and still alive at 80, because it has been handed down on his mother's side.
Mr Reiniger's father was obsessed by Josiah Harlan. "He would go on and on about it, and we thought he was making it all up," Scott said.
"That picture that my brother has of General Harlan, with the turban and sword, was hanging in our living room. Every so often my father would bring out the sword, wave it around and tell stories."
The treaty, however, had been largely forgotten and Scott never knew that he was the rightful heir to the throne of Ghor. Instead, he followed an acting career, becoming famous for his role as a Swat police officer who turns into a zombie in Dawn of the Dead.
He still attends horror fans' conventions around the world in his old role of King of Gore.
He is convinced that some of Josiah Harlan's character has been passed on through the family's genes. "I don't jump out of planes but I would say, unless someone has a gun to my head, I'm not afraid of the human race. I'm a curious person."
All I can say is "wow",
antenna:
That's great. 