Welcome to the Daily Worrall

3/6/2003

The Earth is getting heavier, in spite of all the stuff being thrown into space by NASA et al, because of the many tons of meteorites. Even though most burn up in the atmosphere, the dust still eventually falls to earth.

4/6/2003

Contrary to popular belief, they do make some wines in Britain. For example, a vintage from the village of North Piddle in Worcestershire is sold under the name of Chateau Piddle.

5/6/2003

The words alcohol, alkali, albatross, alcove, alfalfa, algebra, alchemy, and elixir all come from Arabic (mostly via Spanish). The al- or el- part was the definite article, so strictly speaking they should really be 'cohol', 'kali', 'batross' etc. This is why we have the pair alcohol/kohl: when the latter came into English, people were aware that the 'al' was not part of the word. Similarly, alchemist/chemist: both come from Greek ultimately, but the latter more directly rather than via Arabic.

Q: Where were the equestrian events of the 1956 Olympics held?
A: No, not Flemington, Moonee Valley etc. Because of Australia's strict quarantine laws, they had to be held in Sweden.

6/6/2003

Q: Why is a try in rugby so called?
A: In the 19th Century the primary aim in rugby was to score goals. You got 3 points for a field goal, a penalty goal, or a goal from a mark (you’d have to be some sort of a kicker to achieve the last these days). Or you could cross the opposition goal line and thereby qualify to 'try' to 'convert' that into a 'goal' - also worth 3 points. If you missed you got one consolation point for the 'try' itself. The 'Native' team on its epic 107-match tour of 1888-89 could only convert about 1/3 of its tries. With a better average they would have won even more than 78 matches.

9/6/2003

I'm afraid it's true - there's no point living beyond thirty. From around that age onward the brain loses about 100,000 cells a day.

In 1983 a bikini-clad woman entered a bar in Turin and offered to spend the night with the strongest man there. The police were eventually called, but not before six windows, 58 glasses and four chairs were broken. The barman was hospitalised.

10/6/2003

The name of the 'Jolly Roger' flag does not have its origins in the name of a notorious pirate, or in the seafaring command 'Roger the cabin boy', but in a French naval flag commonly known as 'Le Joli Rouge'. (Yes, it was red rather than black.)

11/6/2003

According to ancient Celtic legend, there was an island, in the ocean to the west of Ireland, called Hy Brazil ­ "the blessed stormless isle, where all men are good and all the women pure and where God retreats for a recreation from the rest of us". It appears in maps from the 1300s. People were so sure of its existence that it continued to be shown on maps even after the Atlantic had been criss-crossed thousands of times, with 'sightings' reported well into the 18th Century. It was not finally removed from Admiralty maps until the 1870s.

12/6/2003

The Austrian flag, with its red-white-red horizontal stripes, is said to have been inspired by the appearance of a famous crusader's white tunic on taking off his sword belt after a particularly bloody victory.

13/6/2003

The first military air service was not, as one might think, established around the beginning of the 20th Century. In the American Civil War, balloons were used by the armies for observation, but even earlier (in 1810) Napoleon established an air service using hot-air balloons. Curiously, the commander was a woman, a Mme Blanchard. So the Russian princess who volunteered in WWI and who is generally considered the first female air force pilot, could be considered to be only the second by more than a century.

16/6/2003

Fishing is dangerous: a woman in Spain was unhooking a fish she’d just caught when it jumped out of her hand. It went down her throat and choked her to death.

17/6/2003

Come back again next month, cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

30/6/2003

For todays tasty tidbit, come back tomorrow... All content is updated at the end of each day

Return to top of page