Well, seeing as I started this thread, perhaps I should finish it too.......but let's make it a little more interesting this time! The piece which follows was written by the same person who did the very first one. There are LOTS of mistakes! I won't say how many...I spotted loads, and then another very knowledgeable member of this Forum found a few more! What about a small 'Romanov' prize for the person who pm's to me the best version, with all the errors corrected? Details of how to enter at the end. So here we go : ~
"Yet again I have to start by apologising for the long delay in answering your last letter, but I think you will understand when you read on. As you know I have been spending the late summer of 1910 at my Uncle's dacha near Kiev. You can imagine how thrilled we were to find that the Tsar himself was due to come to the city while we were there to unveil a statue of his grandfather Alexander III. We waited for hours in the main street to see the royal carriage go by, and waved our greetings to the Imperial family as they sped past. The second carriage contained the Prime Minister Ivan Stolypin, and some other officials. As the carriages passed, I noticed a dishevelled man next to us shouting something like 'Death is following you', but my uncle pulled us all away and said it was just a local madman. Then came the best surprise of all ~ my Uncle told us he had managed to arrange invitations for all of us to the gala performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in Kiev that evening, when Glazunov's ballet 'Ruslan and Lyudmilla' ~ my all-time favourite ~ would be performed in the presence of the Imperial Family and other important guests. You can imagine how excited we all were as we made our preparations and set off in our carriage for the theatre, and that excitement grew even more as we realised that our box was exactly opposite the royal box! We would have a perfect view of the royal party! The whole audience rose to welcome the Tsar and Tsarina, followed by their four daughters. Only Tsarevich Alexei was missing : he was still recovering from his accident at Spala the previous year. Prime Minister Stolypin and other officials were seated in the front row of the balcony. As the lights went down and the performance began, I raised my opera glasses and took a furtive look at the royal box ~ I was embarrassed to see that one of the Grand Duchesses (Olga, I think) was doing exactly the same and looking directly at me! Quelle surprise! The next hour passed in perfect enchantment as the music and dancing enthralled us all. As the curtain fell to indicate the first interval, we all stood as the Imperial Family prepared to leave their box. The next few moments are engraved on my memory forever. Three loud bangs rang out in quick succession, followed by a moment's stunned silence, and then screams, shouts and utter pandemonium. In the front row of the balcony, a man lay slumped over the rail. It was Prime Minister Stolypin! My Uncle quickly huddled us together and moved us to the back of the box. Before going, I looked across at the royal party. The Tsar stood absolutely still, a horrified look on his face. The Grand Duchesses were sobbing, and being comforted by their ladies-in-waiting. We were hurried out of the theatre and our carriage summoned. It was only later that we learned that Stolypin had died immediately, but his assassin escaped. I did not sleep for many nights after this; all I could think about was the madman who had shouted after him in the street ~ 'Death is following you' . "
How to enter : PM a correct version to me
Deadline : May 31st 2006
Prize : Well, as the scene described so inaccurately above was portrayed in the movie 'Nicholas and Alexandra' , what about a copy of the full-colour brochure which was brought out to accompany the film 's launch in 1971? If the writer of the winning entry already has it, we'll think of something else!
Good luck, and, above all, have fun!
