Cast your mind back 40 years, if you can. You arrive in November 1978. “Rat Trap” by the Boomtown Rats is at #1 here in the UK, having displaced “Summer Nights” by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta after its 9 weeks at the top. Jim Callaghan is still prime minister. In the US Donna Summer… Continue reading 40 years ago, and 40 years before that
For the third time this month I have posted a list containing a decade’s worth of “Stuck at 2” songs on the Trivia Menu. These are songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but missed out by one place. Today’s list, which you can see here, is for the whole of… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the whole of the 1990s
What does a plangonologist collect? The question appeared in Thomas Eaton’s Weekend Quiz in the Guardian a couple of days ago, phrased as follows: “A plangonologist collects what?” You can read the rest of the quiz, and the answers, here. The answer to the question also appears at the end of the next paragraph. I… Continue reading Word of the week: plangonologist
In the Catholic Church, November is the month of the dead. It begins with the Feast of All Saints (“all the saints, known and unknown”). The Feast of All Souls (“all the faithful departed”) follows on 2 November, and for the rest of the month a daily mass is offered for the dead. Services take… Continue reading Knowing where the bodies are buried
For young athletes it’s the cross-country season. Our daughter started competing at athletics meetings late last year, so we are approaching the first anniversary of her first race. That was on a cold, wet Saturday last December and in a couple of weeks’ time, all being well, she will compete in that same event for… Continue reading Word of the week: spikes
Shortly after my 10th birthday, my mum passed her driving test. She had bought a car earlier that year, planning for the time when the three of us (my older brother, younger sister and I) were going further afield than the school around the corner and the church down the road. Before she bought, and… Continue reading A game involving pub names
The concept of “Stuck at 2” (songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but missed out by one place) continues to preoccupy me. This piece from last week looked at the whole of the 1970s, with a link to this list on the Trivia Menu. Today’s piece looks at the whole… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the whole of the 1980s
In many words beginning with “un” the first two letters mean “not”, as in the words unhappy, unwell and unambitious. The “un” part rhymes with “fun”. In other cases, the first two letters are part of the longer prefix “uni”, meaning “one”, as in universe, uniform and unicycle. The “un” part rhymes with “June”. You… Continue reading Word of the week: unanimous
Another little milestone. Over the last month our daughter and son have celebrated, respectively, their 12th and 14th birthdays. I recall a birthday party, soon after our daughter was born, at which a friend kept saying “6 and 8, 6 and 8”, like a mantra. She was looking ahead a few years, to the day… Continue reading 12 and 14
Since posting a couple of “Stuck at 2” pieces last month (about songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but missed out by one place) I have got rather carried away. After this piece (about the songs that were stuck at 2 in 1967 and 1983), and this follow-up (covering the… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the whole of the 1970s
The Compartments 