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:
“... God allows the wheat and the tares to grow up together, and ... the tares frequently get the start of the wheat and kill it out. The only difference between the wheat and human beings is that the latter have intellect and ought to combine and pull out the tares, root and branch.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“When Western people train the mind, the focus is generally on the left hemisphere of the cortex, which is the portion of the brain that is concerned with words and numbers. We enhance the logical, bounded, linear functions of the mind. In the East, exercises of this sort are for the purpose of getting in tune with the unconscious—to get rid of boundaries, not to create them.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)