Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Mr. Ellison
Honors English 9
9 May 2005
20 Questions and Answers
1. Were you surprised to be chosen by a 21st century student as a person interest?
To be honest with you, I was quite surprised. A lot of people, such as the Irish or the Scottish,
would know about me but not many Americans. I was surprised in the beginning but I got used
to it afterwards.
2. Who was an important person in your life?
The most important person in my life would have to be my wife, Elizabeth Bourchier. She was
the daughter of the city magnate and was very beautiful. She was married to me and we had eight
children and she managed to raise them all.
3. If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
I would want to have dinner with Ernest Hemingway. Why? Well, he’s supposed to be the
greatest writer of all time and I would want him to write my life story!
4. What statement do you want on your gravestone? Why?
The statement I would want on my gravestone is this: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a
fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” The roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said
that. To me it means that you can never trust authority and never trust what you are told. That is
one of the reasons why I went against the king.
5. Talk about the most important aspect of what you’ve done in your life. Explain.
Possibly the most important aspect of my life would be when I overthrew the king. I destroyed
the Irish and Scottish armies and I attacked the king. Without his allies, he was pretty much a
pushover. I had him; King Charles I, beheaded and I took over the throne, but not as king. I
would never take the throne as king. I was simple the Lord Protector.
6. Did any major catastrophic events (a war, flood, famine, tsunami, stock market crash, etc.)
affect your life? Explain.
The only catastrophic event, which affected my life, was the civil war of England. I took part in
that so it changed my life forever. If I hadn’t taken part in it, England and the world today would
n’t be the same.
7. Are there any political leaders of your time who have been important to you? Explain.
Well, no political leader has ever been important to me because I was a political leader. King
Charles I wasn’t important to me because I dethroned him.
8. Tell my about the people who are most important to you. Why are they important?
Please refer to question number two.
9. How did where you were born and/or where you grew up affect your life?
I was born into poverty, so I was never really ‘rich’. But I had a wellknown uncle so I had help to
get to be a political leader.
10. If you could relive a memorable part or time of your life, what would it be? What initially
happened and why would you choose to live it over again? Would you change anything
you did or keep what you experienced exactly the same?
The moment I would relive would be when I married Elizabeth. It was one of the happiest days
of my life and I know it was the same for her. We loved each other so much. Also when we had
our children. The beginnings of my family were the happiest moments of my life and I would
love to relive them over and over again. I wouldn’t change a thing and I would want to keep Eliza
beth’s heart forever.
11. Where were you born and when?
I was born into a family of minor Huntingdon gentry on April 25, 1599 and baptized at St. John’s
church four days later. (Plant)
12. How did you initial get to be a man with a small amount of power?
In 1630, my business failed and I had to move to St. Ives to become a yeoman farmer. My luck
was rather bad, but in 1637 my mother’s brother died without any heirs, so I got his modest in
come and property. Even though I was having terrible luck, I still had many opportunities to in
teract with people of the court. (Macauley)
13. You say that you had children. How many did you have and what were their names?
Elizabeth and I had nine children but one died in infancy. My children’s names were: Robert,
who was born on October 1621, died at the age of 17; Oliver, who was born on February 1623,
died in 1644; Bridget, who was born on August 1624, died in 1654; Richard, who was born on
October 1626, died in 1712; Henry, who was born on January 1628, died 1674; Elizabeth, who
was born on January 1629, died in 1658; James, who died in infancy; Mary, who was born on
February 1637, died on 1700; and Frances, who was born in 1638, and lived until 1721. (Plant)
14. If you could have any nickname, what would it be and why?
I would want to be called God’s Exterminator. Why? Well, I don’t want to exterminate God; I
want to exterminate all who oppose God and that seems like a good enough nickname.
15. Why did you refuse the title of King?
I refused the throne because King Charles I was corrupted and I didn’t want to end up become
corrupted like him.
16. Why did you convert to Puritanism?
Well, in 1630, I suffered from what you would call a ‘mental breakdown’. After that, I realized
that I had been sent from God to do his bidding. I was born a Puritan but only became one after
that. (Blauvelt)
17. What would you say is your greatest failure and why?
I would say that my greatest failure would have to be that I didn’t ‘stifle’ the civil war enough to
stop if completely before I died. If I could have done that then England probably would have been
better off.
18. What is your favorite country that you’ve traveled to and why?
My favorite country would have to be Scotland. Just because I destroyed their army doesn’t mean
I didn’t like it there. The landscape was so beautiful and I was glad that I wasn’t there to pillage.
19. When and how did you die?
I died on September 3, 1658 of old age. I was a nice death, I suppose. (Morely)
20. Did anything happen to you or anyone important to you after your death? Explain.
After my death, in 1661, rebels exhumed my body and hung it at Tyburn. Then, they cut off my
head and put it on display for the next 20 years. (Plant) 15 years after my death, my beloved
Elizabeth died.