#aldershot royal pavilion

[empress-alexandra]

King George V, Queen Mary, Princess Mary and Prince George, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and Countess Fortescue, Lady-in-Waiting in  Aldershot Royal Pavilion, May 1920. The Royal Family was in mourning following sudden death of Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden on May 1st 1920.

[bangkokjacknews]

The Weekend Read - Cock & Bull Stories and Other Phrase Origins

Why do we say Good Health when we are about to drink alcohol, which is far from good for us?

The answer lies in the 19th century and England’s second deadly outbreak of cholera between 1848 and 1849. In August of 1849 cholera reached epidemic proportions in the Broad Street area of London resulting in 344 deaths in only four days. But there were almost none in any neighbouring areas.

The water pump at Broadwick Street, Soho Local physician Dr John Snow suggested cholera was linked to people drinking polluted water and quickly proved this when he found that 87 victims out of the 89 he examined were known to have drunk water from the Broad Street well. Snow famously called for the authorities to "take the handle off the Broad Street pump", and almost immediately the outbreak was halted. For a long while afterwards locals would avoid water and drink only ales and wines, knowing the boiling and fermenting process would kill any bacteria in the water used. When drinking they would greet each other with the phrase ‘in good health’, knowing they were safe from the disease. The phrase, Pull Your Finger Out, is these days associated with encouraging someone to get a move on, or hurry up and complete a task more quickly than they are presently doing. Like so many English phrases it has a military or naval origin. Loaded cannons would have gunpowder poured into a small ignition hole, which was then held in place with a wooden plug. But in times of battle, when speed was of the essence, the powder would be pushed in and then held in place by a gun crew-member using his finger. Impatient artillerymen, anxious to fire their cannons at the advancing enemy, would shout at his crew-mate to ‘pull his finger out’ so that the gun could be fired. It has not been recorded how many digits were lost on the battlefields. To Face The Music has two possible origins. The first is that nervous (often terrified) actors and actresses, on an opening night, would have to go out on stage at the start of their performance and quite literally ‘face the music’ (as the orchestra pit sat directly in front of the stage with the musician facing the actors). In this case ‘facing the music’ meant the actor actually went out and performed, rather than losing their nerve and bottling it. The second and less likely origin, suggests that a dishonourable military discharge would always result in the disgraced serviceman being marched off barracks to the sound of drummers playing (drummed out), in which case he too had ‘faced the music’.

To be Dressed Up to the Nines means to be wearing our finest suit or evening gown. Some suggestions for the origin of this phrase lead us to tailoring and the belief that it takes nine yards of material to make the perfect three-piece suit. But that seemed a little bit weak to me, so I looked further and found most sources insist it began as ‘dressed up to the eyes’, which has been corrupted over the years. Still not convinced, I decided to work backwards and look for all the possible uses of the word ‘nine’, discovering a little gem in the process. In the precious metals industry, the finest gold and silver are never classified as 100 per cent pure, but as 99.99 per cent; hence the finest metals are known as ‘the nines’ throughout the trade. It is my belief that ‘being dressed up in your nines’ means to be wearing your finest jewellery. Further evidence to support this theory lies in the archive of the Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regimental Museum in Salisbury. Queen Victoria’s favourite regiment was the Wiltshire (Duke of Edinburgh’s) 99th Foot. Stationed at Aldershot, they were always chosen to guard the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, consequently becoming known as ‘the Queen’s Pets’. The officers’ dress code included an unusual amount of gold lace on their uniforms; hence they were regarded as being ‘dressed up in their nines’ for royal duty. A Dead Ringer – is a well-known phrase for somebody who looks just like another. In medieval Britain the medical profession was not quite as refined as it is now, and often anybody found not to be breathing was regarded as dead, when they may have been simply unconscious. (And this was also before comas were fully understood). It was not uncommon for bodies to be later exhumed and corpses found with their fingers worn to the bone, an obvious indication somebody had returned to life and tried to claw their way out of a coffin. So horrific was this image that the English gentry began mistrusting medical opinions and buried their loved ones with string attached to their wrists, connected to a bell above the grave. Those employed to sit overnight and listen out for the bells were known to be working the Graveyard Shift. Anybody who returned to life and found themselves prematurely buried could attract attention by ringing the bell and it has been recorded this actually worked. Many ‘bodies’ were exhumed after bells were rung and some people carried on with their normal lives. But when spotted in the street startled acquaintances would cry to each other ‘That looks just like ‘Jack Jones’ - I thought he was dead’ to which they would receive the reply, ‘Yes, he must be a dead ringer’. And that, believe it or not, is true.

The Cock Hotel - Stony Stratford A Cock and Bull story is likely to untrue and without any real facts supporting it. Imaginative claims that are made without any supporting evidence are usually dismissed as such and some suggest it originates from old fables in which animals speak to each other. There is, however, a much more reliable source for this phrase. Stoney Stratford is a Buckinghamshire town located almost directly halfway between London & Birmingham and Oxford & Cambridge respectively. During the great coaching era of the late 18th and early 19th century the town was an important and vibrant stop over point for travellers, tradesmen and mail coaches. The two main coaching inns in town were called The Cock and The Bull and both became known throughout the country as the center of all news travelling either on foot or by horse. Both Inns, competing for national acclaim, established a rivalry over which could produce the most exciting and scurrilous travellers tales to be passed onto to the major cities and as a result many unbelievable stories were dismissed as Cock and Bull tales. The Cock and The Bull Hotels still stand today at the center of Stoney Stratford and I have a few stories from both of them that are hard to believe. Shaggy Dogs extracts Albert Jack AUDIOBOOKS available for download here  

  Shaggy Dogs & Black Sheep Buy Now Audio Books Other Platforms Assorted eBooks   Read the full article

[londontheatre]

David Baddiel My Family: Not The Sitcom Following a sold out run at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory and two critically-acclaimed West End runs, David Baddiel takes his Olivier-nominated one-man show to theatres nationwide. My Family: Not the Sitcom is a show about memory, ageing, infidelity, dysfunctional relatives, moral policing on social media, golf, and gay cats. A massively disrespectful celebration of the lives of David Baddiel’s late sex-mad mother, Sarah, and dementia-ridden father, Colin. Come and be offended on David’s behalf!

2018 Tour Details 28 Jan 18 Bath Theatre Royal

1 Feb 18 Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre

4 Feb 18 Cheltenham Everyman Theatre

9 Feb 18 Truro Hall Cornwall

23 Feb 18 Chester Storyhouse

28 Feb 18 Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre

1-2 Mar 18 Lancaster Grand Theatre

3 Mar 18 Workington Carnegie Theatre UK

4 Mar 18 Salford Lowry 

8 Mar 18 Southend Palace Theatre

9 Mar 18 Southend Palace Theatre

11 Mar 18 Newcastle Theatre Royal

12 Mar 18 Harrogate Theatre

13 Mar 18 Glasgow Comedy Festival Citizens Theatre

15 Mar 18 Durham Gala Theatre

16 Mar 18 Durham Gala Theatre

17 Mar 18 Southport Atkinson Theatre

18 Mar 18 Sheffield Memorial Hall

19 Mar 18 York Grand Opera House

22 Mar 18 Kingston The Rose Theatre

24 Mar 18 Tewkesbury Roses Theatre

25 Mar 18 Nottingham Playhouse

28 Mar 18 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall

29 Mar 18 Northampton Royal and Derngate Theatre 

19 Apr 18 Dudley Town Hall

21-22 Apr 18 Swindon Wyvern Theatre

26 Apr 18 Worthing Pavilion Theatre

27 Apr 18 Cardiff St Davids Hall

29 Apr 18 Reading Hexagon

2 May 18 Dartford Orchard Theatre

5 May 18 Hayes Beck Theatre

6 May 18 St Albans The Alban Arena

10 May 18 Crewe Lyceum Theatre

11 May 18 Leicester De Montfort Hall

12 May 18 Eastbourne Royal Hippodrome

13 May 18 Canterbury Marlowe Theatre

17 May 18 Peterborough Cresset Theatre

19 May 18 Stafford Gatehouse Theatre

20 May 18 Winchester Theatre Royal

23 May 18 Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

24 May 18 Dorking Halls

25 May 18 Porthcawl Grand Pavilion Theatre

2 Jun 18 Norwich Theatre Royal

3 Jun 18 Stratford-upon-Avon Royal Shakespeare Theatre

5 Jun 18 Aldershot Princes Hall

8 Jun 18 Worcester Huntingdon Hall

9 Jun 18 Swansea Grand Theatre

12 Jun 18 Yeovil Octagon Theatre

13 Jun 18 Exeter Northcott Theatre

16 Jun 18 Portsmouth Guildhall

17 Jun 18 Brighton Theatre Royal

22 Jun 18 Leeds City Varieties

23 Jun 18 Leeds City Varieties

27 Jun 18 Nottingham Playhouse

28 Jun 18 Stoke-On-Trent Regent Theatre

29 Jun 18 Edinburgh Rose Theatre

30 Jun 18 Dundee Rep Theatre

2 Jul 18 Bristol Bristol Hippodrome

BOOK TICKETS

Any venues not listed on the ticket link – visit http://www.davidbaddiel.com/

http://ift.tt/2mVJFPk London Theatre 1