A VERY BRITISH REVOLUTION By Anthony John Youngman Based on a True Story
[email protected] BLACK SCREEN: SUPERIMPOSE: "LONDON, NOVEMBER, 1816. A year has passed since the crushing defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. The British government, its coffers empty after decades at war, tightens its purse strings and imposes a new tax on corn. The austere measures leave millions of the working class unemployed, destitute and facing starvation. The country is on the verge of revolution..." FADE IN: INT. LONDON - PRESTON’S APARTMENT - DAWN A decrepit apartment in the slums of London. THOMAS PRESTON (45), a thin man of ragged appearance sits at a small table and carefully pens a letter with a feather quill. He folds the letter, drips red candle wax onto the join and presses a brass seal into the molten blob, blowing gently on the wax until it congeals. He looks up, his attention disturbed by the sound of a handbell RINGING in the distance. Preston hurriedly dons his threadbare coat, stuffs the letter in his pocket and grabs his walking stick. EXT. GREYSTOKE PLACE - DAY From a dark alley opposite we see Preston being watched by MR BLACK, a dark shadowy figure. Preston exits the apartment and walks with a limp down the gloomy mist filled street. He steps past a dozen or so homeless war VETERANS dressed in their ragged uniforms. They look up, starvation and misery evident on their gaunt faces. Some lay about drunk, others huddle around a small fire in a vain effort to keep warm. EXT. CHANCERY LANE - DAY Preston crosses the street into Chancery Lane and limps toward a scarlet coated POSTAL CARRIER ringing a handbell.