# What Historical Event Would You Most Like To Have Video Footage Of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440 "2009-05-14T18:49:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/41 "2009-05-15T18:03:29Z")
> [@Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](#): > > When did history begin? Right after prehistory. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/42 "2009-05-15T18:07:21Z")
Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/43 "2009-05-15T18:20:16Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > You that your extravagant package would be all-nude? Yep. That’s why Zeus invented frame-by-frame on the Tivo. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/44 "2009-05-15T18:47:58Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > You that your extravagant package would be all-nude? heh heh, you said “extravagant package”… I’d like footage of the construction of Stonehenge. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/45 "2009-05-15T19:16:52Z")
Construction of Stonehenge would be interesting, but I’d rather see video footage of an actual ceremony or two. Ditto with what the heck was going on at Nazca or Lascaux etc. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/46 "2009-05-15T19:31:02Z")
> [@Telcontar](#): > > I care a lot less about famous battles. On one hand, sure, cool. On the other, would you really want to watch a tape of thousands of real people dying? On second thought, I suppose you are right. Although I would give my left arm to just once stand on the gun deck of a ship-of-the-line during a battle and feeling the crash of the great guns, watching it on tape wouldn’t be quite the same. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/47 "2009-05-15T19:33:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’d like footage of the construction of Stonehenge. That would be a _looooooong_ video! I’d like to see the edited version of it, though – the special edition featuring interviews with the designers and construction foremen and footage of some ceremonies afterward. Ditto for some of the other henges and standing stones. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/48 "2009-05-15T19:53:45Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > •The Tsar Bomba test. Let me [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfoQsZa8F1c&feature=related) [that](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu88gb1EpmI&feature=related) for you. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/49 "2009-05-15T20:44:08Z")
The first 2 minutes of silence in England after the Great War. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/50 "2009-05-15T21:02:56Z")
Not truly historic, but the Wikipedia [description](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cody#Buffalo_Bill.27s_Wild_West) of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows sounds interesting. > [@](#): > > The show began with a parade on horseback, with participants from horse-culture groups that included US and other military, American Indians, and performers from all over the world in their best attire. There were Turks, Gauchos, Arabs, Mongols and Georgians, among others, each showing their own distinctive horses and colorful costumes. Visitors to this spectacle could see main events, feats of skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many authentic western personalities were part of the show. For example Sitting Bull and a band of twenty braves appeared. Cody’s headline performers were well known in their own right. People like Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler put on shooting exhibitions along with the likes of Gabriel Dumont. Buffalo Bill and his performers would re-enact the riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies. The show typically ended with a melodramatic re-enactment of Custer’s Last Stand in which Cody himself portrayed General Custer. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/51 "2009-05-15T21:16:00Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > The crucifixion of Jesus Christ and its aftermath. I think that this and the world’s major battles would be unbearably gruesome. Why not Water to Wine, or the Loaves and Fishes or Walking on Water? Something nice? My request: The Carving of David by Michelangelo, a documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/52 "2009-05-15T21:18:15Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > On second thought, I suppose you are right. Although I would give my left arm to just once stand on the gun deck of a ship-of-the-line during a battle and feeling the crash of the great guns, watching it on tape wouldn’t be quite the same. Im thinking your having a Horatio Nelson moment. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/53 "2009-05-15T22:12:26Z")
With regard to historic mysteries that could be settled by good video footage (as opposed to historic events that would be impressive on video), I’d like to see the death of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Not a major historic event, but “Mad King Ludwig” is my pet historic topic and I’d like to know for sure how he _really_ died. Was it suicide, accident, or perhaps even murder? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/54 "2009-05-15T22:40:48Z")
It would be neat to be able to review even grainy B&W CCTV footage of Roanoke’s last weeks or days, to answer the mystery of the colonists’ disappearance and maybe even that cryptic “CROATOAN” graffito. Ditto on board the “Marie Celeste” – their disappearance has long been a mystery. Anything related to a great historical figure would be priceless: Cicero’s rhetoric, a Lincoln-Douglas debate, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and so on. But the greatest revelations might well be in the arts: a concert of symphonic or chamber works by a great composer as conducted by same (or featuring the composer playing piano, whatever); a performance of the Paris Opera Ballet during the reign of Louis XIV (when the rules of classical opera had just been established); a Globe performance of any of Shakespeare’s plays under his direction; the debut of a Puccini opera; or even the first time Chuck Berry performed “Johnny B. Goode” before an audience. But since what ancient music really sounded like remains in the realm of educated guesswork, any music from Ancient Egypt/Minos/Babylon/Greece/Rome – from poetry sung to kings to brassy, percussive triumphal processions in the streets – would be my pick. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/55 "2009-05-15T22:45:31Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > It would be neat to be able to review even grainy B&W CCTV footage of Roanoke’s last weeks or days, to answer the mystery of the colonists’ disappearance and maybe even that cryptic “CROATOAN” graffito. > > Ditto on board the “Marie Celeste” – their disappearance has long been a mystery. Nitpick: It’s the “Mary Celeste” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/56 "2009-05-15T23:04:41Z")
Minor hijack, but does anyone else remember a science-fiction short story with the premise that a device had been invented that would allow one to see into and record the past? I want to say the title was “A For Effort”, but that’s a common enough phrase that I’m not turning up anything relevant on Google. The inventors produced a couple of historic “dramas”, one about the life of Alexander the Great and one about the Revolutionary War (which was deemed somewhat controversial for differing from accepted history), and then stirred up a lot of trouble making a movie about WWII that showed what all the leaders involved _really_ said and did. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/57 "2009-05-15T23:10:55Z")
Solved my own mystery – the story I was thinking of is called “E for Effort” (not “A”), and was by T. L. Sherred. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/58 "2009-05-15T23:18:27Z")
Globe Theater–Shakespeare’s company, with Himself playing a role. Ideally, in one of his “lost” plays. It’s possible that I just won. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/59 "2009-05-15T23:20:45Z")
Anything that could be construed as the parting of the Red Sea. That has to be impressive. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440/60 "2009-05-15T23:31:14Z")
The Assassination of Julius Caesar. Pope Urban II’s “Deus Vult” speech before the Council of Clermont on November 27, 1095 which led to the First Crusade. The signing of the Magna Carta. Columbus landing in the New World. The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan at the time of Cortez’s arrival. Any Mayan city just before the civilization went into decline. The building of the Great Wall of China. The first two Super Bowls. (There’s plenty of film footage but the tapes of the original network broadcasts were erased. The same thing happened to most of the Tonight show broadcasts prior to 1970.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-event-would-you-most-like-to-have-video-footage-of/496440.md?page=4)