mattypenny

Dec 23, 2016

#TodayILearned that Angelina Jolie has a Christopher Marlowe quotation as a tattoo goinswriter.com/austin-kl… via @jeffgoins ¹

Nov 28, 2016

#TodayILearned that the pincers of a scorpion are called ‘pedipalps’ and that baby scorpions are ‘scorplings’ abc.net.au/radio/pro…

Nov 23, 2016

#TodayILearned that currently sitting male MPs outnumber all the female MPs there have ever been² lse.ac.uk/newsAndMe…

Nov 16, 2016

#TodayILearned that in British Cluedo, Dr Black gets murdered, whereas in America the victim is Mr Boddy podcasts.ox.ac.uk/cluedo-and-cadavers

Nov 16, 2016

#TodayILearned that WW2 double agents were run by ‘the Twenty Committee’.

20 being XX in Roman - a double cross

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-Cross System

Nov 15, 2016

#TodayILearned that the drummer of Amon Duul II also drummed on ‘I Feel Love’ and wrote ‘Don’t you (forget about me)’ theguardian.com/music/simple-minds-how-we-made-dont-you-forget-about-me-interview

Nov 15, 2016

#TodayILearned that production dropped by 10% during the 3-day week

Nov 15, 2016

#TodayILearned that a publisher called Hugo Gernsback coined the word ‘scientifiction’ in 1916, then un-shortened it to ‘science fiction’[^3>

Nov 10, 2016

#TodayILearned that ‘budgerigar’ comes from Native Australian ‘budgeri’ meaning ‘good’ and ‘gar’ meaning ‘cockatoo’ etymonline.com/index.php

Nov 5, 2016

#TodayILearned that Pippin in Come Outside was initially played by a dog called Pippin, but was replaced by her grandson, Mr. Higgins

Nov 4, 2016

#TodayILearned that Woody Guthrie wrote a protest song about Donald Trump’s dad.

theguardian.com/music/jay-z-hillary-clinton-concert-beyonce-anti-trump-songs

Nov 2, 2016

#TodayILearned that the Mantis Shrimp has the strongest punch in the natural world

Oct 30, 2016

#TodayILearned that a ‘maelstrom’ is a whirlpool. Specifically the Moskstraumen, in the Norwegian Sea. Via @simonwwriter on @abcconvos

Oct 5, 2016

#TodayILearned that ‘Moby’, as in Moby-Dick and @thelittleidiot, possibly derives from Mocha and Toby. Maybe. http://melville.org/mobyname.htm

Oct 5, 2016

#TodayILearned that 1/3 of visitors to @Disneyland are adults unaccompanied by children wnyc.org/story/american-icons-the-disney-parks via @studio360show

Oct 3, 2016

#TodayILearned that if the Memorial Abraham Lincoln stood up he’d be 28 feet tall wnyc.org/story/american-icons-the-lincoln-memorial via @studio360show

Oct 2, 2016

#TodayILearned a new word, ‘bookazine’. I don’t think I like it very much.

Sep 27, 2016

#TodayILearned that Leonard Rossiter(Rigsby, Reggie and of course Le Petomane) first appeared @SalisburyPlay in 1956 leonardrossiter.com/Theatre56…

Sep 27, 2016

#TodayILearned the Penguin books-Exeter station story belongs in the Fiction Section -via @StuartKells on @abcconvos abc.net.au/local/sto…

Sep 22, 2016

#TodayILearned that one man wrote Reach for the Sky, Dam Busters and Great Escape - Paul Brickhill. Was war hero abc.net.au/radio/pro…

Sep 17, 2016

#TodayILearned that #Strictly winner & all round good BBC chap @ChrisHollinsTV is @chelseafc hero John Hollins' son

Sep 12, 2016

#TodayILearned that @theresa_may ’s parents were called Zaidee and Hubert. Nice names.

Sep 8, 2016

#TodayILearned that Strongbow cider was named for Richard ‘Strongbow’ de Clare, a Norman knight who invaded Ireland Strongbox cider on Wikipedia

Sep 2, 2016

#TodayILearned via @Moby , that @DavidBowieReal based Heroes on the Velvets' Waiting for the Man Youtube ….

Sep 2, 2016

#TodayILearned that Shakespeare’s vocabulary was wider than @llcoolj ’s but not as wide as the @WuTangClan’s poly-graph.co/vocabular… #dataviz

Sep 1, 2016

#TodayILearned that @jeremycorbyn refused to share an #EUReferendum stage with Tony Blair theguardian.com/politics/…

Sep 1, 2016

#TodayILearned that Thomas Bodley (as in @bodleianlibs) wouldn’t stock Shakespeare’s works classifying it among “riff raff & baggage books”

Aug 31, 2016

#TodayILearned that Peter the Great was 6ft 7

Aug 28, 2016

#TodayILearned that Jem Finer of the Pogues is the son of political scientist Samuel Finer en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samu…

Aug 28, 2016

#TodayILearned that ‘Kwesi’ in Linton Kwesi Johnson means that he was born on a Sunday youtu.be/PbL2FvvV5…

Aug 26, 2016

#TodayILearned that @Butlins ' slogan ‘Our true intent is all for your delight.’ is from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: theguardian.com/artanddes…

Aug 24, 2016

#TodayILearned that Angie Baby was ‘loosely based on the character in the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna."’ youtu.be/UQKyGt_I5…

Aug 23, 2016

#TodayILearned that Nick Cave maintains (or maintained) a filofax-dictionary-list-of-good-words thing http://dangerousminds.net/comments/nick_caves_handwritten_dictionary

Aug 23, 2016

#TodayILearned that Donald Trump seems to be a Neil Young fan rollingstone.com/politics/…

Aug 11, 2016

#TodayILearned that Steel Pulse were named after the winner of the 1972 Irish Derby bbc.co.uk/programme…

Aug 3, 2016

#TodayILearned that shortening rhyming slang so it no longer rhymes (butchers, whistle, etc) is called ‘hemiteleia’ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhym…

Aug 2, 2016

#TodayILearned that Cheryl Baker was also a member of previous Eurovision entrants Coco theguardian.com/culture/2…

Jul 22, 2016

#TodayILearned that the bloke who wrote the Exorcist also co-wrote Shot In the Dark (via @wittertainment )

Jul 9, 2016

#TodayILearned that Those Were The Days was originally the Russian song “??????? ???????” youtu.be/y3KEhWTnW… Those_Were_the_Days(song)

Jul 7, 2016

#TodayILearned that Abba were originally ‘Festfolket’, which translates as Party People and/or ‘The Engaged Couples’ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA

Jul 7, 2016

#TodayILearned that the American spelling of ‘liquorice’ is ‘licorice’.

I might start spelling it ‘lickorish’

Jul 5, 2016

#TodayILearned that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is buried in Minstead in the New Forest[^4] [^4:] Minstead is near where I live, in Salisbury, England

Jun 26, 2016

#TodayILearned that Mary Shelley, her parents, & Percy Shelly’s heart are buried together in Bournemouth http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/dorset/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8497000/8497549.stm

Jun 25, 2016

#TodayILearned (actually reminded myself) that the Ancient Chinese Curse is probably neither ancient nor Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times

Jun 22, 2016

#TodayILearned that a ‘phonestheme’ is a sound that is in words with similar meanings. ‘gl’ in glitter, gleam, glow. http://slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/03/21/phonesthemes_the_mor_syllable_as_in_voldemort_mordor_morlocks_and_morbius.html

Jun 21, 2016

#TodayILearned that Cubby Broccoli’s first choice for James Bond was Cary Grant

Jun 17, 2016

#TodayILearned that Vivien Leigh lived in Zeals, in Wiltshire (via @scandalwomen)

Jun 15, 2016

#TodayILearned that the recycling symbol was designed by a chap called Gary Anderson, who won a design-a-recycling-symbol competition

Jun 14, 2016

#TodayILearned that both Benito Mussolini and Nicolae Ceausescu were given honorary kighthoods theguardian.com/commentis…

Jun 12, 2016

#TodayILearned that the chap after whom the mountain is named pronounced his name ‘eve-rest’

Jun 10, 2016

#TodayILearned that 1 in every 825 Icelanders is a @UEFA B-level coach. In England it’s 1 in every 11,000 theguardian.com/football/…

Jun 10, 2016

#TodayILearned that one of the chaps in band who did The Avenue was also in the 5-7-0-5 band youtu.be/h-t66drtf… youtu.be/9SiuhGv10…

Jun 1, 2016

#TodayILearned Houdini turned against spiritiualism after failed ‘automatic writing’ session with Jean Conan Doyle wnyc.org/story/htt…

Jun 1, 2016

#TodayILearned that ‘Göbekli Tepe’ (Turkish archaelogical site) means ‘Pot-Bellied Hill’

May 24, 2016

#TodayILearned that a ‘zawn’ is a coastal gorge, created by the sea (via Robert Macfarlane @GuardianBooks podcast) gu.com/p/42yf8/s…

May 20, 2016

#TodayILearned you can see placenames Runnymede, Windsor & Staines at the bottom of the @SalisburyCath Magna Carta, amongst all the Latin

May 19, 2016

#TodayILearned that in the world of pencils ‘H’ is for hardness and ‘B’ is for blackness jetpens.com/blog/guid…

May 16, 2016

#TodayILearned that @KTTunstall ’s ‘Suddenly I See’ is about the photo of Patti Smith on ‘Horses’ (via @SodaJerker sodajerker.com/episode-6…)

May 13, 2016

#TodayILearned that if you’re lying face down then you’re prone, if you’re on you’re back you’re supine. gu.com/p/4j53c/s…

May 9, 2016

#TodayILearned that Miss Belinda Blurb was made up to recommend a 1906 book called Are You a Bromide?

May 4, 2016

#TodayILearned that ‘Kylie’ means ‘boomerang’ (via Desert Island Discs) bbc.co.uk/programme…

Apr 29, 2016

#TodayILearned that @ChelseaFC alternated English and Scottish managers until 1967 Chelsea managers on wikipedia

Apr 28, 2016

#TodayILearned that Ian Hislop was appointed editor of @PrivateEyeNews at the age of 26.

I can’t imagine him ever having been 26

Apr 27, 2016

#TodayILearned that Heinz beans are 130 years old theguardian.com/lifeandst…

Apr 22, 2016

#TodayILearned that Mark Ronson’s dad wrote this song for Mark Ronson’s mum (via @nprmusic npr.org/2015/12/3…) youtube.com/watch

Apr 21, 2016

#TodayILearned that in 1980 National Security Advisor was told at 3am the USSR had launched 230 missiles. Alarm caused by faulty 46-cent chip

Apr 13, 2016

#TodayILearned that there was a stagecoach called The Salisbury Diligence. Not very lucky

books.google.co.uk/books

flickr.com/photos/ro…

Apr 12, 2016

#TodayILearned what the Python programming language is named after howtogeek.com/trivia/th…

Mar 24, 2016

#TodayILearned that #gohugo weightings work best for me if I don’t prefix them with a ‘0’

Mar 17, 2016

#TodayILearned the man himself wasn’t sure how to pronounce ‘Bowie’ From v good @bbcworldservice podcast doc open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediasele…

Mar 17, 2016

#TodayILearned Luther Vandross was once one of David Bowie’s backing singers - downloadable @bbcworldservice doc open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediasele…

Mar 16, 2016

#TodayILearned that the Irish arm of Automattic, the Wordpress company, is called Aut O’Mattic irishtimes.com/business/…

Mar 10, 2016

#TodayILearned that they recorded Sgt Peppers on two 4 track recorders that they cabled together (via @Sillywhite on @talkSPORT)

Mar 4, 2016

#TodayILearned that there is a paint colour called Stonehenge Greige, and that ‘Greige’ is a mix of grey and beige http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/the-14-most-popular-paint_b_9322080.html

Mar 3, 2016

#TodayILearned that Krusty the Clown was based on a clown from Portland, called Rusty Nails youtu.be/v6Q7RwObr… Jame H Allen on Wikipedia

Feb 18, 2016

#TodayILearned that 2 dogs were executed in Salem. Very good podcast on ‘The Witches: Salem, 1692’ @stacyschiff libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/

Feb 11, 2016

#TodayILearned that images of knights fighting snails are common in 13th century manuscripts britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitised…

Feb 8, 2016

#TodayILearned that before I get up early to spend quality time in the #cfc waiting room,I should check that the on-sale date hasn’t changed

Jan 25, 2016

#TodayILearned that George Clooney made his breakthrough playing a drug dealer in a play about Sid Vicious nymag.com/news/feat…

Jan 21, 2016

#TodayILearned that the opposite of ‘Brexit’ is ‘Bremain’ gu.com/p/4g3xm