Anthony William Hall (1898–1947) was a Shropshire man who claimed to be descended directly through the male line from Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (from an illegitimate son, born before their marriage). In 1931, Hall attempted — in an "open letter" to King George V — to claim the British throne. He also made many speeches, in Birmingham and elsewhere, in which he set out his claim and challenged the King to a duel, with the loser to be beheaded. Hall was arrested many times for using "scandalous language", and was fined and bound over to keep the peace. Hall was a Shropshire police inspector.
The theory that Anthony Hall was a descendant of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was used as the basis for a 1999 novel called Heir Unapparent, written by John Harrison.
Famous quotes containing the words anthony and/or hall:
“I’ll wager that it was impossible after we got mixed together to tell an anti from a suffragist by her clothes. There might have been a difference, though, in the expression of the faces and the shape of the heads.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)