Now you don’t have to visit Boston or Philly, though you should… you can have your own American Revolution in Britain.
Like much else in life I turn to TV historian Lucy Worsley to fill in those very few gaps in my knowledge.
And now I’m armed with the new knowledge from her TV show Lucy Worsley Investigates the American Revolution.
Of where the Patriots had their footprint on British soil.
I aim to explore what’s in my backyard.
Naked truth about Franklin
Lucy brings us naturally to the house where Benjamin Franklin lived from 1757 to 1775.
And where Lucy tells us he would announce himself to Londoners.
By drawing the shutters and standing breathing in the air in his birthday suit.
As well as its many artefacts and pointers to the Founding Father’s place in American history.
You can participate in a funky game the inventor, ambassador, writer and raconteur created.
Out of electricity and the King’s head.
Which all sounds a good idea… common sense really.
The Unofficial Founder
And so thought Thomas Paine, once of the English shires.
Now you probably wouldn’t associate Thetford, Norfolk as a hotbed of revolutions.
But it was here and in Lewes, Sussex that firebrand Paine first started pedalling his sedition.
Before, with Franklin’s help he decamped to the American colonies.
And published his best-seller Common Sense.
Down with the Crown
With zinger lines such as…
‘There is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned.
‘And that is the distinction of men into kings and subjects.’
More of which you can learn for yourself at Bull House, his residence on the south coast of England.
And wrote his first political pamphlet The Case of the Officers of Excise.
Part of the first national unionised action anywhere in the world.
While if you want to travel, you can make your way to Paine’s homestead of Thetford for an obligatory selfie in front of his statute.