What I Learned in 2019 (according to my Twitter archive)
Nov 25, 2019
#TodayILearned that Tony Fitzgerald adopted the name ‘Christie’ after seeing a film starring Julie Christie
BBC Radio WM - The Other Side Of…, Tony Christie
Nov 15, 2019
#TodayILearned that Henry Penruddock Wyndham, who owned Wyndham House and Park in Salisbury in the late 1700s was a direct descendant of both John Penruddock and Sir John Wyndham1
Nov 15, 2019
#TodayILearned that Harvard went fully co-educational in 1977, and Columbia did the same in 1983
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism Archives - The Podcast Browser
Nov 13, 2019
#TodayILearned that Caecilius was not only pater, but he was also in Doctor Who before he was Doctor Who
Or Something2
<img src=“https://mattypenny.micro.blog/uploads/2024/ejpfxndwwaankp7.png" width=“582” height=“356” alt=“Screen print, with a couple of pictures, and the text ‘Caecilius, along with his banking profession, also has a minor role in Robert Harris’s 2003 novel Pompeii.
A 2008 episode of Doctor Who, entitled The Fires of Pompeii, portrays Caecilius, played by Peter Capaldi, as a marble merchant. Tracey Childs plays his wife Metella and Francois Pandolfo plays his son Quintus. In this story, he and his family are saved from the eruption by the main character who transports them to safety. Caecilius coins the word volcano on witnessing the eruption.'">
Nov 11, 2019
#TodayILearned, I think, why the @PSPester TDD tool’s symbol looks like a turtle (via @unclebobmartin)3
Nov 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that the ‘were’ in ‘If I were a rich man’ is in the subjunctive tense[^2] [^2:] it’s actually the subjunctive ‘mood’ not the subjunctive tense
Nov 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that the word iridescent comes from Iris, the Greek goddess of rainbows
Oct 29, 2019
#TodayILearned that Miriam Margolyes did the voice of the Cadbury’s Caramel bunny
Oct 28, 2019
#TodayILearned that the British newspapers are the least trusted of 33 European countries’ newspapers
(Via an old-ish podcast conversation between @JohnBishop100 and @JohnCleese)
Survey finds that UK written press is (by some way) the least trusted in Europe - Press Gazette
Oct 22, 2019
#TodayILearned that until the 1880s a mountain range called the Mountains of Kong appeared on maps of Africa.
The mountains didn’t exist
Edward I And Maps Through History History Extra podcast
Oct 21, 2019
#TodayILearned that “The Australian Psychological Society?s congress heard a study of 261 senior professionals in the US, which found 21% had clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits compared to one in 100 in the general population.”
Oct 18, 2019
#TodayILearned that King Louis of France invaded England in 1215. French invaders and rebel Barons held London for over a year
King John & The French Invasion Of England | HistoryExtra
Oct 9, 2019
#TodayILearned that @Gohugo has a nice footnote feature:
Some text[^1]
[^1]Some reference for some text
blah blah
Oct 9, 2019
#TodayILearned that @yokoono not only bought ‘Mendips’ (John Lennon’s childhood home) to give to the @nationaltrust , she also paid for its renovation
Step Inside Paul McCartney’s And John Lennon’s Childhood Homes Beatles City podcast
Oct 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that Parkrun has been going for 15 years
Parkrun at 15: bigger, more global ??? and slower than ever | Running | The Guardian
Oct 3, 2019
#TodayILearned which football team Margaret Thatcher supported.
I always much preferred John Major…
Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982 by Dominic Sandbrook ? review | History books | The Guardian
Aug 29, 2019
#TodayILearned that EMI had their famous staircase taken apart and reconstructed when they moved from Manchester Square to Hammersmith (Via @Eamonn_Forde on @WIYElondon)
Aug 29, 2019
#TodayILearned that Lena Zavaroni was signed to Stax Records (Via an old @WIYElondon podcast)
Aug 17, 2019
#TodayILearned I learned that drop-balls have gone the way the way of the dodo
Aug 15, 2019
#TodayILearned that you can get useful @Veeam error information from the eventlog, as well as from the application
Get-WinEvent -ComputerName VeeamServer -FilterHashtable @{Logname='Veeam Backup';ID=190} | ? message -like "*VeeamJobName*" | select timecreated, message | fl
Aug 9, 2019
#TodayILearned that ‘etymology’ is derived from ‘etymon’ meaning ‘true meaning’
It is itself an example of ‘the etymological fallacy’ - that the historical derivation of a word necessarily helps understand what it now means
I think
Via @D_Shariatmadari
How we can learn to stop worrying and love language ??? books podcast | Books | The Guardian
Aug 1, 2019
#TodayILearned that Don Maclean (the Crackerjack bloke) is a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of Pope St Sylvester (a Papal Kinght).
BBC Radio WM - The Other Side Of…, Don Maclean
Jul 30, 2019
#TodayILearned that Gavin Williamson is only “the second education secretary to have attended a comprehensive school”
Jul 26, 2019
#TodayILearned that “estimates say that up to 8 percent of males (and .5 percent of females) have issues seeing some colors”
https://adamtheautomator.com/dont-forget-that-some-people-cant-see-colors/
Jul 21, 2019
#TodayILearned that what used to be called ‘synchronised swimming’ is now called ‘artistic swimming’
Comic-Con and climate protest: Friday’s best photos | News | The Guardian
Jul 16, 2019
#TodayILearned that, when he was in advertising, Salman Rushdie coined the slogan ‘Naughty but nice’ for cream cakes
BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Salman Rushdie
Jul 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that they are ‘whinberries’ not ‘windberries’ - via @RobGMacfarlane
Jun 9, 2019
#TodayILearned that….
“If [a drink has] got alcohol in it, then there?s no need to have the nutritional information on there. Therefore while there has to be clear information on soft drinks, there doesn?t on alcoholic drinks”
I’ve been honest about alcohol. But the drinks industry hasn’t | Adrian Chiles | The Guardian
Jun 8, 2019
#TodayILearned that the Harvards of Harvard University, and who indirectly gave their name to the old Harvard Hospital in Salisbury, used to have a pub in Southwark
Jun 3, 2019
#TodayILearned the @brexitparty_uk got less votes than the Revoke Article 50 petition got signatures
May 29, 2019
#TodayILearned that the burglar Jack Shepherd was the original ‘Jack the Lad’
May 29, 2019
#TodayILearned that the burglar Jack Shepherd was the original ‘Jack the Lad’
Author Claire Harman on a Victorian murder scandal | History Extra Podcast | HistoryExtra
May 25, 2019
#TodayILearned that one of my very favourite footballers, Gus Poyet, was playing for @RealZaragoza on the night they beat the Arsenal in the Cup Winners' Cup Final
Apr 23, 2019
#TodayILearned that Pete Best first saw the then drummerless Beatles in the Casbah Club, which his mother ran in the basement of her house
https://play.acast.com/s/beatlescity/3-petebest-partone-
Apr 21, 2019
#TodayILearned that of players to score at least 25 Premier League goals, John Terry has scored the largest proportion of them with his head
Captain, Leader, Header of The Ball
#cfc #ktbffh
Wolves 0-0 Brighton, West Ham 2-2 Leicester and more – as it happened | Football | The Guardian
Apr 17, 2019
#TodayILearned that Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington met only once, at 12 Downing Street (Via @dobbs_michael House of Cards)
Apr 10, 2019
#TodayILearned that John Lennon visited the set of Happy Days and met the Fonz
Via the @LivEchonews Beatles City podcast
https://play.acast.com/s/beatlescity/insidethecavernclub
Apr 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that the Beatles had 23 drummers.
But not at the same time
Lots of fascinating stuff about Ringo and the rest from @Liddypooldave talking with @LivEchonews
David Bedford Beatles City podcast
Mar 26, 2019
#TodayILearned that the fingerprints of koala bears are ‘virtually indistinguishable’ from those of humans
BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, The Online Password
Mar 25, 2019
#TodayILearned that ‘Boris’ is one of his middle names
Mar 25, 2019
#TodayILearned that the power of the Queen in the game of chess was inspired by the power of Isabella I of Castile, possibly
Via @whjm and @HistoryExtra - https://historyextra.com/period/modern/world-changing-women-jenni-murray-interview-womans-hour-radio-four/
Mar 22, 2019
#TodayILearned that in 2017, British households spent around ?900 more, on average, than they earned
Mar 19, 2019
#TodayILearned that ?amon de Valera, future Taoiseach and President of Ireland, escaped from Lincoln Jail with a key that had been baked into a cake. The one key unlocked all the prison’s doors
Mar 19, 2019
_#TodayILearned that Jim Fitzpatrick, who created the famous Cheryl Guevara poster, also did album covers for Thin Lizzy
The History Show Sunday 3 February 2019 - The History Show
Mar 15, 2019
#TodayILearned that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed up as Mario for the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics
Not sure what Mrs May would have to dress up as for a British equivalent
The story of modern Japan | HistoryExtra
Mar 12, 2019
#TodayILearned that the collective noun for Great Bustards is a ‘drove’
Mar 11, 2019
I always thought that the Privy Council was quite small, but #TodayILearned that it has, by my calculations 682 members - bigger than the House of Commons
https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/
Mar 8, 2019
#TodayILearned that the full name of Bev Bevan, drummer of ELO and the Move, is Beverly Bevan
BBC Radio WM - The Other Side Of…, Bev Bevan
Mar 8, 2019
#TodayILearned that the most successful British girl band who played instruments was We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Going to Use It
They were fab
Mar 8, 2019
#TodayILearned that Barack Obama has nearly twice as many Twitter followers as the current President
Mar 1, 2019
#TodayILearned that when Paul Merton started doing Have I Got News for You, the Prime Minister was Mrs Thatcher
#HIGNFY
Feb 26, 2019
#TodayILearned that Cat Stevens originally recorded Wild World (one of my faves) with a reggae band as a demo for Jimmy Cliff (via the wonderful @sodajerker)
https://sodajerker.com/episode-106-yusuf-cat-stevens/
Feb 21, 2019
#TodayILearned that the Beatles had to get permissions to use each of the pictures on the cover of Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The only person to refuse was one of a comedy act called the Bowery Boys
Feb 19, 2019
#TodayILearned that James Bond supremo Cubby Broccoli wanted to have Live and Let Die re-recorded by Shirley Bassey, instead of Paul McCartney Via @WIYElondon
Feb 18, 2019
#TodayILearned that Richard Blackwood is Junior (Giscombe?)s nephew
Not quite sure why I find this so interesting tbh
BBC Radio 4 - Inheritance Tracks, Richard Blackwood
Feb 15, 2019
#TodayILearned that the UK was still making compensation payments to former slave owners, or presumably their descendants, until 2015 Via @akalamusic on https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/p067g765
Feb 14, 2019
#TodayILearned that Robbie Williams' dad won Opportunity Knocks in 1974
BBC Radio 5 Live - Headliners, Robbie Williams
Feb 8, 2019
#TodayILearned via Mastermind that John Cheyne, the giant ghost in @CorneliaFunke ’s Ghost Knight (who’s buried in @SalisburyCath), was killed at the Battle of Bosworth by Richard III en.m.wikipedia.org John Cheyne, Baron Cheyne - Wikipedia
Jan 28, 2019
#TodayILearned that Winston Churchill, who was then Home Secretary, had to answer questions in parliament about Dr Crippen’s initial escape from justice (via @shedunnitshow)
Jan 21, 2019
#TodayILearned that when they were both working in the Screen Actors Guild, Ronald Reagan and Olivia De Havilland both suspected each other of being secret Communists https://nytimes.com/2018/11/09/books/review/podcast-frederick-douglass-david-blight-ronald-reagan-bob-spitz.html
Jan 14, 2019
#TodayILearned that Lee Child’s granddad sold the house on Cyprus Avenue in Belfast to Van Morrisson’s dad
https://abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/lee-child-2018/10551066
Jan 7, 2019
#TodayILearned that the first of Ireland’s divorce referendums was lost (or won) by the equivalent of one vote in each ballot box Via @PaulineMcLynn1 on https://player.fm/series/standard-issue-podcast/sim-ep-160-chops-58-mother-courage-father-ted-needy-cats-arse-tattoos-pauline-mclynn
Jan 4, 2019
#TodayILearned that Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power’ was partly inspired by a song by the Isley Brothers
‘Fight The Power’: A Tale Of 2 Anthems (With The Same Name) : NPR
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One of the Wyndhams was the judge in the case of the Penruddock who led the Penruddock uprising, and passed a sentence of detah ↩︎
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Caecilius featured in a series of schools' Latin textbooks, and also it seems in Doctor Who. In the Doctor Who he was played by the actor who went on to play Doctor Who himself. One of the textbooks featured the line ‘Caecilius est pater’…which is about all the Latin I can remember. ↩︎
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Pester, along with many testing frameworks, uses a technique called ‘mocking’. It’s basically replacing a ‘real’ computer command with a ‘pretend’, or ‘mocked-up’ version of the command. The link with the turtle symbol is the ‘Mock Turtle’ from Alice in Wonderland :) ↩︎