King James, sportsman

Seems as if people on both sides of the King-james-Bible-Only question have different views of KJ. Many who support the KJVO myth praise him as a paragon of wisdom and righteousness while many on the other side denounce him as a homosexual and a coward. Neither view is true. Also, KJ had nothing to do with the making of the AV 1611; he merely authorized the Anglican Church leadership to make it , paid the translators, and appointed it to be read in churches, all as the titular head of the Anglican Church.

If he were homosexual, how come he fathered seven children & had a wife who loved him as the man James Stuart, and not merely as a king? The rumor that KJ was gay was started by a lifelong enemy of his, Anthony Weldon, in 1650 after KJ had been dead 25 years & there was no one in any position to speak up against that charge.

KJ continued a practice started by Henry VIII, whom no one in his/her right mind could accuse of being gay...sleeping between two male bodyguards. There had been four attempts on KJ's life, and he'd been kidnapped twice. And it was quite in tradition of the time for heterosexual men to call other men "sweetheart", and in the KJV, God calls Jesus "his darling". (Psalm 35:17) (Plainly, KJ and his wife Princess Anne produced their children during WAKING hours as every set of parents has.)

KJ made quite a few enemies within both Scotland and England; some of them, including Weldon, were made by his vicious writings against tobacco, which had become a prosperous trading item in the British Isles.

The story that, when during a hunt, two nobles drew their swords during a quarrel, so frightening KJ so that he ran off & "filled his breeches" is false. Actually, KJ suffered various health problems his whole adult life, and while on this hunt he suddenly developed diarrhea and ran to a proper place to answer nature's call, and there's no reliable record that he ran off in fear. I don't know who started the story, but it appears to be apocryphal.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

What does all that hafta do with KJ the SPORTSMAN? nothing. It shows that a famous person is often the victim of libel and slander long after his death.

Here are some KJ FACTS:

KJ was an avid and skilled hunter. He usually got the fox during such a hunt. And the nobles who accompanied him didn't just defer so the king would win. He offered a prize to any hunter other than himself who would also bag a fox, just to squelch such rumors. He encouraged all types of hunting & fishing throughout his realm as healthy outdoor activities.

Soccer, or futballe as it'd been called in England for centuries, had been banned 'way back in the 1100s because it took too much time from essential archery practice. KJ knew firearms were the wave of the future, and had also been an enthusiastic futballe fan in Scotland where his great-grandfather James IV saw to it that Scotland's futballe ban was loosely enforced. However, KJ himself had weak legs & couldn't participate in futballe. However, shortly after ascending the throne of England, he not only lifted the ban on futballe, he ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED men to play it, both because he enjoyed watching it, but because he knew it would get his soldiers and sailors into better condition. It was largely through KJ's efforts that soccer became such a huge sport in the British Isles.

However, KJ's largest contribution sports was his love and support of GOLF. Golf had also been banned by earlier kings of both Scotland & England for the same reasons futballe had been banned. However, KJ IV not only lifted the ban; he played golf himself. But it was KJ VI who really patronized golf. He caused the oldest-known continuously-existing golf course, St. Andrews of Scotland, to become famous, leading to the creation of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club there in 1754. (The course itself was prolly first begun in the 1400s) KJ himself, often leading a contingent of nobles in playing golf vastly contributed to its huge popularity in Scotland, and to its firm establishment in England.

Most sports historians agree that it was KJ who was mostly responsible for establishing soccer and golf in the British Isles, and for the popularity of hunting for sport. The Scots honored him by naming a golf course at Perth, Scotland after him in 1858. That course is second only to St. Andrews in popularity.

Even if KJ hadn't had a popular Bible version named after him, he woolda still been famous for his contributions to golf, soccer, and hunting.