After some slight delay due to the goings on of the week, and the votes have been finally been added up, and time to announce the winners of May.
This month, we say some strong consensus from both users and Flairs, with agreement on top two for the month. Taking the top honors was /u/asinus_docet, who fed the appetites of many users with their response to "Richard II revoked London's charter and the city tried to convince him to give it back with a big party. What was Richard's beef with London and how did the feasting and merrymaking work out as a political strategy?".
Close on his heels was /u/mikedash, who gave us interesting insights into "I know about famous Allied entertainers during World War II, like the Andrews Sisters and Vera Lynn. Did the Axis have similar performers?"
The 'Dark Horse' Award, recognizing the top-voted non-flair, was a bit more contested with several worthy new-comers on the scene, but the award went by a nose to /u/eirebmac, who tooks back a few decades to enlighten about "I'm a young disaffected Irishman in Derry in 1970. How do I join the IRA? What was it like to be in it?"
This month's 'Greatest Question', voted upon by the mods, went to "Was there a Black middle class in Britain during the 19th and early 20th century?", asked by /u/j2quared. It unfortunately remains unanswered, but hopefully will still get the one it deserves.
Finally, April's Excellence in Flairdom award goes to /u/MySkinsRedditAcct! This past month, MySkins was an absolute champion at writing answers, but most impressively, put as much--sometimes more--effort into responding to follow-up questions. They've been an excellent community member all around, in fact. Thanks, MySkinsRedditAccount!
As always, congrats to our very worthy winners, and thank you to everyone else who has contributed here, whether with thought-provoking questions or fascinating answers. And if this month you want to flag some stand-out posts that you read here for potential nomination, don't forget to post them in our Sunday Digest!
For a list of past winners, check them out here!
Thank you so very much to everyone who voted and read my answer to "Richard II etc."!
You're almost making me cry in front of my computer at 3:20 in the morning...
I couldn't have contributed as I did if u/J-Force hadn't first answered on the Black Prince in A Knight's Tale and sparked the curiosity of our community members further. Make sure to check his awesome write up too!
We're stronger as a community though we all read and write as isolated physical entities behind our screens. So a big thank you to all the mods who keep this subreddit so clean and wholesome!
If I had a time machine I would all invite you to the 1454 Burgundian Feast of the Pheasant, mother of all parties. Instead I'll invite you to take care of yourself today. Have a little treat, pet your dog or your cat, feel good about any precious memory you have and give someone you love a compliment.
Love.
Asinus.
Thank you very much guys, I really enjoyed answering the question and I hope I can continue to make a positive contribution in my favourite subreddit.
Huge congratz to the amazing work of our winner! Well done to u/asinus_docet, u/mikedash, u/eirebmac
Wow this is awesome! I'm so glad I found this community. I've had a lot of French Revolution built up in me for a long time, it's great to be able to share it. Thanks again!
The question of the Black Middle class in Britain has left me itching to find somewhere to talk about the efforts of James Brown, the grandson of a slave that set up a newspaper trade on the Isle of Man and ended up being a key member of the movement for democracy here (including being imprisoned for his beliefs). This is still in the 19th Century but I don’t know if he is an anomaly in Britain or not.
There’s also the early suffrage of women landowners here in equal parity to men in 1881, which is a whole other topic.