This is a great long read from the Guardian, and a great collection of photographs.
I particularly like Stephen Twigg’s smirk, Liz Truss' lettuce and Ian Paisley looking like a malevolent Teddy Boy…but my favourite ever political photo is this one 📷📸
#TodayILearned that Phil Bowdery, who was one of Mud’s roadies who did the “Tiger Feet” on Top of the Pops, is now executive president of Live Nation.
I bet the former job was more fun
(via Uncut magazine)
Mud - Tiger Feet, Top of the Pops, 1974
#TodayILearned that “In the year 2000, the average house deposit was £9,865. In 2023, it was £62,500.
To put things another way: 20 years ago, you would only have to get to question eight out of 15 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to be most of the way towards a deposit; now you’d have to get to question 11”
What I learned in 2016 (according to my twitter archive)
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
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
-
The quotation is “Quod me nutrit me destruit”, which means “That which nourishes me destroys me.” There’s a discussion about Marlowe and the quotation here: “That Which Nourishes Me Destroys Me”: Christopher Marlowe and Our Deals with the Devil - Christ and Pop Culture ↩︎
-
Although this may have been true in 2016, it’s not now. According to Female Members of Parliament - House of Commons Library there have been 563 women MPs. There are currently 425 men MPs. There has been an influx of women MPs since2016 - looking at List of female members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, 129 have been elected to the Commons for the first time ↩︎
There’s a chap in this bit in the Guardian who says American football is rigged so that Taylor Swift’s boyfriend gets to the Super Bowl final, and the ensuing publicity for Swift will enable Biden to win the election
I will be finding a way to reuse and repurpose this theory if Liverpool beat Chelsea tonight ⚽🏈
The only thing more nostalgia-inducing than old TV adverts are TV adverts for companies you once worked for.
Anyway, I got a big Proust-y rush from Sky’s parody of the old Sony ad 📺
Some good news in the news
[BBC News - Northern Ireland: Sinn Féin hails ‘day of optimism’ after DUP agrees return to power-sharing - BBC News] (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-northern-ireland-politics-68031910)
#TodayILearned that here are whole books about the Beatles in Bath, the Paul is Dead nonsense, and how John Lennon sold his soul
I might describe this as geek-y…but I’m watching a video of a podcast on books about the Beatles so who am I to judge? 🎵
M’young friend Tom refers to Putin’s eventual successor as ‘he or she’
The idea that it might actually be a ‘she’ made took me back a bit, if I’m honest
Well worth listening to, in any case 🎙️
#TodayILearned that “With VS Code release 1.30 you can type Shift + Enter in the search box to add a newline character”
Find and replace with a newline in Visual Studio Code - Stack Overflow
#TodayILearned that the first two lines of Billy Bragg’s A New England are taken from Simon and Garfunkel’s Leaves that are Green
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long
Call me a nerdy pedant but the football pyramid.is shaped more like the Eiffel Tower than a pyramid, imho
At best it’s a triangle rather than a pyramid ⚽
I think I might struggle to score 73 points in 48 minutes even if I was alone on the court 🏀
Doncic equals fourth-highest NBA scoring total - www.bbc.co.uk/sport/bas…
Commentator just said there’s a battle developing between Sterling and Cash
I don’t know how that works but someone should inform the Chancellor
CheAvl ⚽
I always hoped I’d get a cheque meant for poor old Matthew Perry, but sadly it never happened
Tom Hollander says he received seven-figure Avengers bonus meant for Tom Holland
As a constitution geek, I absolutely love this
“Lord Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, should take questions from MPs at the “bar” of the house – the white line on the Commons floor from behind which visitors must not pass while parliament is sitting.”
Words of the day
Before Elon Musk got his hands on twitter, I tweeted ‘my word of the day’ for the best part of a couple of years, I think. This is a list of all those words.
- myrrh
- eggnog
- swaddling
- tidings
- footfall
- ponderous
- tinsel
- mulled
- lustre
- rankle
- cusp
- rambunctious
- foible
- slumber
- guttural
- rigmarole
- Blighty
- totter
- dunk
- I just listened to a thing about Delia Derbyshire so my word of the day today is wobbulator
- staunch
- curdle
- albeit
- gravel
- dawdle
- bosky
- My word of the day today is either impinge' or ‘expunge’ I can’t quite decide
- musty
- harbinger
- piffle
- chilly
- shuck
- reverberate
- edible
- chortle
- amok as in ‘run amok’,
- russet
- divot
- ruffled
- gush
- fiddlesticks
- flange
- My word of the day is skedaddle'.. which I must admit I thought was spelt with an ‘i’
- myriad
- discombobulate
- drizzle
- mulch
- rigmarole - derived from a Kentish phrase ‘ragman roll’ apparently
- mawkish- apparently it derives from Middle English word for maggot
- skullduggery
- ramshackle
- muffle
- glitch
- jovial
- outwith
- hue
- stockade
- chuffed
- grizzled
- hillock
- nincompoop
- paradiddle
- commensurate
- sombre
- tumultuous
- jettison
- daub
- malleable
- snout
- dazzling
- filibuster
- parish
- behest
- valve
- skint
- gabardine
- grinning
- desultory
- blossom
- fricative
- shiplap
- codger
- batten
- hunkering
- mulch
- resin
- tustle
- speckled
- truckle
- nebulous
- frothy
- pithy
- sprinkle
- rife
- sanguine
- thistle
- stirrup
- antiquity
- chipper
- raucous
- follicle
- foist
- ceramic
- wrinkle
- swarthy
- machinate
- griddle
- styptic
- chrysalis
- febrile
- crumple
- twill
- diffident
- tomfoolery
- mishmash
- mooch
- rickety
- spruce
- tabernacle
- epitome
- middling
- scrimmage
- ditto
- trickle
- skew
- schism
- stroll
- satsuma
- sprout
- hocus-pocus
- gesticulate,
- creosote
- wreak
- mumble
- exuberant
- chirpy
- growl
- mollusc
- gist
- mariner
- dunk
- kindling
- tinsel
- plangent
- bubble
- hush
- strum
- slouching
- crackle
- purloin
- frost
- adamant
- scamper
- capacious
- jostle
- wanton
- askance
- stubble
- cattle
- balustrade
- ado
- rummage
- smudge
- guttering
- embroiled
- scruffy
- digit
- crepuscular
- turmoil
- autumnal
- heft
- jot
- scrawny
- corroborate
- palaver
- cribbage
- mirage
- rubble
- expunge
- muffle
- dozen
- melody
- lucid
- knuckles
- fume
- scurry
- crinkle
- jaded
- trickle
- fisticuffs
- bedraggled
- glottal
- fricative
- splendid
- furtive
- dithering
- purport
- warble
- ponder
- rigmarole
- dollop
- hard-scrabble
- treacle
- puppet
- thunderer
- waddle
- autumnal
- ribbon
- gladden
- abundant
- cherub
- sinew
- scatter
- crumple
- prattle
- baffled
- happenstance
- sprightly
- brunt
- conkers
- flutter
- mulch
- happen
- amok
- pundit
- hankering
- moreish
- sprinkle
- oblivious
- skirmish
- swelter
- ochre
- groove
- syllable
- star-crossed
- marmalize
- convivial
- shimmer
- gleam
- jittery
- miscreant
- mitigate
- reverberate
- kelp
- dream
- skittish
- bungalow
- shoestring
- strides
- implode
- floundering
- curdle
- ethereal
- drizzle
- halcyon
- perch
- turnbuckle
- glimmer
- resurgence
- ragwort
- mumble
- musket
- slobber
- merriment
- willow
- dappled"
- reckon
- crumble
- quandary
- munch
- perspicacious
- gabardine
- jibber-jabber
- roughage
- stucco
- rumbustious
- plinth
- declamatory
- tad
- dusk
- antelope
- dainty
- pebble
- mischief
- muffle
- startle
- vanquish
- parish
- gusty
- giggle
- flannel
- snooze
- chivvy
- gander
- twelve
- mishmash
- vestibule
- poodle
- ineffable
- nuzzle
- quench
- skittle
- chaff
- manky
- wistful
- rascal
- hirsute
- lurk
- tantamount
- gazelle
- curtsey
- precipitate
- wry
- stooge
- mellifluous
- tumble
- flummox
- miscreant
- stipple
- pernickety
- finagle
- burst
- glee
- defenestration
- promenade
- fizzle
- curdle
- lagoon
- tinge
- froth
- brisk
- flounce
- agog
- linnet
- trundle
- jaunty
- glisten
- kettle
- froth
- batten
- dromedary
- waif
- heft
- buddy
- skiff
- garnish
- amalgamate
- patter
- qualm
- warble
- scant
- smattering
- fricative
- sizzle
- hankering
- paraphernalia
- nobbled
- raddled
- lunge
- reverie
- parsnip
- slake
- squirm
- furlong
- ping
- nostrils
- tousled
- minion
- hustings
- gloop
- quandary
- shudder
- griddle
- drench
- triumph
- frisson
- ocelot
- sniff
- engrossed
- chirpy
- machination
- damp
- pith
- rowdy
- bliss
- blustery
- meander
- surge
- maritime
- lilting
- ponder
- rabble
- gumption
- wrought
- merge
- snigger
- chevron
- liniment
- dumpling
- miscreant
- modicum
- gusty
- griddle
- gargle
- sparrow
- balustrade
- amicable
- rigmarole
- truckle
- grapple
- tamp
- frazzled
- gesticulate
- crepuscular
- tingle
- razzmatazz
- husky
- sinister
- wallop
- giggle
- befuddled
- bustle
- dimple
- slumber
- tardy
- besmirch
- scruple
- scamper
- toggle
- gratitude
- schmuck
- gormless
- swelter
- beleaguered
- hoik
- banjaxed
- natterjack
- collywobbles
- perambulate
- raddled
- resplendent
- resonate
- festoon
- squabble
- machinate
- spud
- befuddled
- shtick
- squat
- wondrous
- combustion
- stymied
- saunter
- scrofulous
- rancid
- pestle
- tryst
- hubbub
- scramble
- extrusion
- flummox
- flounce
- absurd
- scrimp
- cleft
- stanchion
- cadge
- mull
- tardy
- vacillate
- hankering
- shimmering
- truffle
- bramble
- genial
- divulge
- ruffian
- luminous
- aghast
- loiter
- drowsy
- glitch
- scamper
- tryst
- vestibule
- hugger-mugger
- skulduggery
- musty
- smidgen
- saunter
- caper
- bickering
- tatterdemalion - I’ve seen the word twice in 24 hours…although I’m not entirely sure what it means
- peregrine
- incorrigible
- shtick
- temper
- stove
- tingle
- calypso
- fickle
- gantry
- bangle
- stickler
- gizzard
- haunch
- manifest
- behest
- clavicle
- simmer
- laggards
- higgledy-piggledy - Which might be two words I suppose,
- trot
- ‘the vig’
- yonder
- effervescent
- jettison
⌨
In which David Owen refers to the Department of Health and Social Security as ‘the Department of Stealth and Total Obscurity’ :)
I’m easily pleased
🎙️
News Agents - the Dangers of 2024 and how to avoid them - with Britain’s oldest foreign secretary
This is good, from Austin Kleon’s newsletter:
On the asshole who lives in our brains: “Were we to meet this figure socially, this accusatory character, this internal critic, this unrelenting fault-finder, we would think there was something wrong with him. He would just be boring and cruel. We might think that something terrible had happened to him, that he was living in the aftermath, in the fallout, of some catastrophe. And we would be right.” That’s Adam Phillips in his wonderful essay, Adam Phillips · Against Self-Criticism 💬
There’s a book of the punk rock fanzine that was local to where I live. Something to ask Father Christmas for in a few months
