The Six Napoleons of Baltimore met at its now-traditional venue - the Maryland Club. This meeting had a wonderful group of out-of-town visitors - and it was pointed out that there were over forty attendees, remarkable growth and a return to the glory days thanks to Greg Ruby's work to create a sense of occasion around the meetings.
The agenda was as follows:
What a room! Toasts were delivered by P.J. Sullivan (NH), Lauren Cercone, Karen Wilson, and Liane Luini. Liane used a toast written by Paul Churchill which was very touching.
We then moved into the dining room.... yet another beautiful room! This was Karen Wilson's last meeting as Gasogene of the Six Napoleons (more of that later). We stood on the terrace for two recently deceased Napoleons (George White CLII, and Ken McQuage CLXV), and then tucked into dinner.
To be indicted as a Napoleon, one needs to accomplish several things. The first of these is to withstand the inquisition. 'Postulants' are examined by a group of Napoleons, to determine whether their knowledge of the Canon is up to scratch. The inquisitors then report to the group, with great humor, on the performance of those postulants.
Another requirement is to deliver a paper at a Six Napoleons dinner. There were two papers delivered. The first was by Bob Sharfman BSI, who seditiously distributed 'Vote for Moriarty' pins at the opening of his presentation!
Steve Doyle then spoke about Lord Peter Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes. This covered two of my favorite people in one talk. Even better, Steve strayed into Wodehouse and drew a parallel between Bunter and Jeeves. Really delightful, and I hope Steve will publish this paper at some point.
A delightful feature of each meeting is the recitation of 'A Musgrave Ritual'. Mike McSwiggin, a Maryland native, stepped up for this, then stripped off to reveal an Orioles shirt with a big reveal on the back:
Not bad for a pharmacist ;)
THREE new Napoleons were inducted - Bob Sharfman, Steve Doyle, and Ray Betzner (all BSIs and now Napoleons also). Congratulations and welcome to each of them!
The evening ended with the announcement of the new Gasogene. Each Gasogene serves a two-year term, and Karen Wilson announced that the Gasogene for 2026/2027 will be Henry Wegrocki. I managed to capture Karen and Henry at the exact moment that power transferred. Congratulations to Henry, and thank you to Karen for leading the Six Napoleons through their first two years of this new meeting format.
The meeting provided an opportunity for seven of eight members of an elite unit to gather together.
The Dancing Men Scourers: Front: Greg Ruby BSI, Back left to right: Ross Davies BSI, Olivia Millunzi, Victoria Wood, Bruce Harris BSI, Ira Matetsky BSI, the author.
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