Reading XVIII-XIX

I've never read any of the Rebus novels, nor have I seen the John Hannah or Ken Stott version (a difference in acting style that is nearly as extreme as Hale and Pace and Clarke and Buchanon for Dalziel and Pascoe), although I've had the first since abrinsky gave me a copy some years back. I knew he was based in Edinburgh, dour, alcoholic (casting Stott suggests as much) and a bit of a safety valve for Rankin. Aside from that, nada. There were a pile of these cheap in Oxfam the other week, so time to start the sequence.

( XVIII: Ian Rankin, Knots and Crosses )

( XIX: Ian Rankin, Hide & Seek )

Oxfam have Tooth and Claw - more to the point I have - so that's next.

Important Historical Discovery

A day out in Sussex yesterday yielded a significant discovery:

The Battle of Hastings did not take place in Hastings. In fact it was in Battle.

This raises a number of questions I will need to seek the answers to in Battle, such as:

1) Why does Hasting claim all the credit?
2) Why is isn't it the Battle of Battle?
3) Was this the first battle, and thus is the source of the phrase?

Another question is how come William the Conq hung around the area for so long, giving Harold the chance to get back from Stamford Bridge (the problem being finding people to go south of the river, I guess). Which leads us to:

5) How did Harold know to go to Battle?
6) Did someone send a message to Fulham Broadway?
7) Would he know that Battle was the sort of place to go to have a battle (if he had the word)?
8) Was this the Anglo-Norman equivalent of "See you after school"?

I've never worked out how the beacons work. They lit them to signal the arrival of the Armada. Then lit them to celebrate victory. Is this like porch lights which come on to welcom friends but deter intruders? What if the firend is intruding?

Next: Thermos Flasks. How do they know how hot their contents need to be?