Near as I can figure it, as viewed through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal
Q2. Godfrey (Cyril) Baseley
The initial clues appear to place us at the Tardebigge locks, which lie to the north west of Redditch, in Worcestershire. Thirty locks carry the waters of the Worcester and Birmingham canal ( opened c 1815 ), to a height of around two hundred and twenty feet. The tunnels mentioned in the hints are probably the 'Tardebigge Tunnel' ( five hundred and eighty yards long) and the 'Shortwood Tunnel', (six hundred and thirteen yards long).
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, according to some of the biographies I checked, was surveyed by a squaddie called 'William Scarth Moorsom' (born c 1804) and it was he who was instructed by the backers, to take the line directly up 'Lickey Incline', which is around two miles long and has a gradient of one in thirty seven. Bankers, in this instance, may not be referring to financiers but rather the extra locomotives that were attached to the trains seeking to ascend Lickey Incline, to provide the power necessary to get them up there.
The maps I looked at show Lickey Incline lying to the east of Bromsgrove and it was just north of that town, at 'Lickey Grange', that the motor manufacturer 'Herbert Austin' ( born c 1866 ) lived. Austin used numbers to designate his products and had car models called the Austin Seven, the Austin Twelve and the Austin Twenty.
The ruined Abbey, is probably Bordesley Abbey near Redditch. Some of the references I checked claim that this was a Cistercian Abbey founded c 1138. There seems to have been a Bishop's palace in the nearby village of Alvechurch, which back in the day, may have had fish ponds, moats and earthworks/palisade to keep live deer enclosed in the vicinity, so that it was easier for the bishop and his team to acquire meat.
Alvechurch, according to some of his biographies, is where the broadcaster Godfrey (Cyril) Baseley was born c 1904. Baseley produced a radio show called 'The Archers', which was first aired c 29th May, 1950.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 26 December 2015
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. S ? ?
Q2. Mistletoe
N.B. No idea what the name of the hamlet is, if the answer to question two is indeed mistletoe, then it starts with an 'S', and may have the word snow in the title, as the clue is 'deep and crisp and even'. Only found one village like this and it's called 'Snowden Hill', near Barnsley but can't find any references confirming that a seventies sitcom was filmed fifteen miles west of there and travelling North East from Felpham in clue three, would take us to Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Some of the puzzlers in the comments section are saying 'Snow Street, Royston, Diss' and have posted a link to it being described as a hamlet, so they could well have come up with the correct answer for question one.
Very tricky indeed this week. The initial clue of 'Festive Lady', suggests 'A Christmas Carol', by Charles Dickens, which appears to have been published c 1843. The downtrodden clerk in the book, 'Bob Cratchit', lived in Camd(e)n (T)own.
Clue two gives us 'The Angel of the Nor(t)h', which from the sources I checked was constructed c 1998 and does seem to have wingspan of one hundred and seventeen feet and is sixty six feet high.
A poet born in 1757, who penned a work called Jerusale(m), possibly while residing in the village of Felpham, on the south coast, is probably William Blake. The poem was used as the lyric of a hymn by the same name, which was composed by Charles Hubert Parry c 1916. The verse was also used in the preface to another of Blake's works, 'Milton'.
Clue four has a dearth of information to facilitate its quick solution. 'Don't Panic!', suggests 'Dad's Army', which was shot mostly in Norfolk (SATNA battle area), near Thetford and also Suffolk, London and Brighton. 'Don't Panic', without the '!', was also used in the BBC comedy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', but this wasn't broadcast until c 1981. The name of the hamlet probably starts with the letter 'S' and the 'Deep and crisp and even' clue suggests the word snow. I found one village called 'Snowden Hill', starts with S, has a seasonal theme, consists of two words and lies near Barnsley. Fifteen miles west of that hamlet, would be in or near the boundary of the Peak District national park. Might be called Saint something or other.
Clue five brings us to the village of 'Rob(i)n Hood's Bay' (merry men clue), which lies five miles or so, South East of Whitby, the 'fangs for the memory' clue, probably referring to the site of count Dracula's landfall, in Bram Stoker's version of the story.
Clue six is most likely referring to the great fire of London, which started in '(P)udding Lane', c 2nd September, 1666.
Clue seven appears to concern the artist 'George Romney' ( born c 1734). Romney titled his painting of Lady Emma Hamilton, 'The Ambassadress' and for a time, lived at number 5 'H(o)lly Bush Hill', Hampstead, London (the prickly sounding capital suburb street).
Clue eight : 'Brief Encounter', suggests the playwrite 'No(e)l Coward', who was, according to some of his biographies, born c 1899, at Helmsdale, 5 Waldegrave Road, Teddington. His play, 'The Vortex' included a character called 'Nicky Lancaster'.
Assembling the answers and rearranging the known letters and the letter guessed for answer four gives:
1. Camd(e)n (T)own. E T
2. Angel of the Nor(t)h. T
3. Jerusale(m). M
4. S? S
5. Rob(I)n Hood's Bay. I
6. Pudding (L)ane. L
7. H(o)lly Bush Hill. O
8. No(e)l Coward. E
MISTLETOE
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. S ? ?
Q2. Mistletoe
N.B. No idea what the name of the hamlet is, if the answer to question two is indeed mistletoe, then it starts with an 'S', and may have the word snow in the title, as the clue is 'deep and crisp and even'. Only found one village like this and it's called 'Snowden Hill', near Barnsley but can't find any references confirming that a seventies sitcom was filmed fifteen miles west of there and travelling North East from Felpham in clue three, would take us to Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Some of the puzzlers in the comments section are saying 'Snow Street, Royston, Diss' and have posted a link to it being described as a hamlet, so they could well have come up with the correct answer for question one.
Very tricky indeed this week. The initial clue of 'Festive Lady', suggests 'A Christmas Carol', by Charles Dickens, which appears to have been published c 1843. The downtrodden clerk in the book, 'Bob Cratchit', lived in Camd(e)n (T)own.
Clue two gives us 'The Angel of the Nor(t)h', which from the sources I checked was constructed c 1998 and does seem to have wingspan of one hundred and seventeen feet and is sixty six feet high.
A poet born in 1757, who penned a work called Jerusale(m), possibly while residing in the village of Felpham, on the south coast, is probably William Blake. The poem was used as the lyric of a hymn by the same name, which was composed by Charles Hubert Parry c 1916. The verse was also used in the preface to another of Blake's works, 'Milton'.
Clue four has a dearth of information to facilitate its quick solution. 'Don't Panic!', suggests 'Dad's Army', which was shot mostly in Norfolk (SATNA battle area), near Thetford and also Suffolk, London and Brighton. 'Don't Panic', without the '!', was also used in the BBC comedy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', but this wasn't broadcast until c 1981. The name of the hamlet probably starts with the letter 'S' and the 'Deep and crisp and even' clue suggests the word snow. I found one village called 'Snowden Hill', starts with S, has a seasonal theme, consists of two words and lies near Barnsley. Fifteen miles west of that hamlet, would be in or near the boundary of the Peak District national park. Might be called Saint something or other.
Clue five brings us to the village of 'Rob(i)n Hood's Bay' (merry men clue), which lies five miles or so, South East of Whitby, the 'fangs for the memory' clue, probably referring to the site of count Dracula's landfall, in Bram Stoker's version of the story.
Clue six is most likely referring to the great fire of London, which started in '(P)udding Lane', c 2nd September, 1666.
Clue seven appears to concern the artist 'George Romney' ( born c 1734). Romney titled his painting of Lady Emma Hamilton, 'The Ambassadress' and for a time, lived at number 5 'H(o)lly Bush Hill', Hampstead, London (the prickly sounding capital suburb street).
Clue eight : 'Brief Encounter', suggests the playwrite 'No(e)l Coward', who was, according to some of his biographies, born c 1899, at Helmsdale, 5 Waldegrave Road, Teddington. His play, 'The Vortex' included a character called 'Nicky Lancaster'.
Assembling the answers and rearranging the known letters and the letter guessed for answer four gives:
1. Camd(e)n (T)own. E T
2. Angel of the Nor(t)h. T
3. Jerusale(m). M
4. S? S
5. Rob(I)n Hood's Bay. I
6. Pudding (L)ane. L
7. H(o)lly Bush Hill. O
8. No(e)l Coward. E
MISTLETOE
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Clandon Park
Q2. Dame Margaret Helen Greville
N.B. Dame Margaret Helen Greville was also known as 'Maggie Greville', 'Mrs Ronald Greville' and had surname 'Anderson', before she was married.
The Eastender has been a bit late writing his blog this week due to A) sampling some (way too many ;-)) exotic tinctures from the Caledonian archipelagos on the top shelf of the bar, at the venue where the office Christmas party was being held this year and B) having to abandon the cab on the way back to town, when we encountered a flood blocking the road. Still, splooshing through a veritable maelstrom on foot, seems all the easier, after you've glugged a few tumblers of the cratur.
I digress, the initial clues appear to place us a Clandon Park, in the county of Surrey. The National Trust website describes it as a Palladian Mansion, built by a Venetian architect c 1720, for Lord Onslow. The house did appear to have three levels, from the photographs I checked but it was unfortunately, gutted by fire around the 29th April 2015. They seem to be using the idea of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, to try to raise money to refurbish it.
The Georgian mansion, which lies to the east of Clandon Park, is probably Hatchlands Park. This does appear to be made of red brick and some of the references I checked, claim it was constructed during the 1750s for naval hero Admiral Edward Boscawen (born c 1711) and his wife. Some of his biographies claim that he did command 'Invincible' (74 guns) and 'The Royal George' (100 guns).
The Regency villa, described in the puzzle text, is probably a house called Polesden Lacey. This was designed by Thomas Cubitt (born c 1788). Some of Mr Cubitt's biographies say that he did indeed leave one of the longest wills on record at that time. Polesden Lacey was owned by a society hostess called 'Dame Margaret Helen Greville (nee Anderson)' . The aforementioned dame, loved royalty and used to vie for their attention with a team called 'The Savilles', which appears to be where the gag about 'Civils and Grovels', originates. Dame Margaret also seems to have been popular with the royals and one Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (aka 'The Queen Mother', b c 1900), honeymooned at Polesden Lacey c 1923. The Queen Mother was the ninth child and forth daughter of Claude George Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis and fourteenth Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. His motto, 'In te domine speravi' means 'In thee Lord, I put my trust' (or possibly 'my trust fund').
Dame Margaret was not popular with everyone and one Lady Leslie remarked "Maggie Greville? I'd sooner have an open sewer in my drawing room".
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Clandon Park
Q2. Dame Margaret Helen Greville
N.B. Dame Margaret Helen Greville was also known as 'Maggie Greville', 'Mrs Ronald Greville' and had surname 'Anderson', before she was married.
The Eastender has been a bit late writing his blog this week due to A) sampling some (way too many ;-)) exotic tinctures from the Caledonian archipelagos on the top shelf of the bar, at the venue where the office Christmas party was being held this year and B) having to abandon the cab on the way back to town, when we encountered a flood blocking the road. Still, splooshing through a veritable maelstrom on foot, seems all the easier, after you've glugged a few tumblers of the cratur.
I digress, the initial clues appear to place us a Clandon Park, in the county of Surrey. The National Trust website describes it as a Palladian Mansion, built by a Venetian architect c 1720, for Lord Onslow. The house did appear to have three levels, from the photographs I checked but it was unfortunately, gutted by fire around the 29th April 2015. They seem to be using the idea of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, to try to raise money to refurbish it.
The Georgian mansion, which lies to the east of Clandon Park, is probably Hatchlands Park. This does appear to be made of red brick and some of the references I checked, claim it was constructed during the 1750s for naval hero Admiral Edward Boscawen (born c 1711) and his wife. Some of his biographies claim that he did command 'Invincible' (74 guns) and 'The Royal George' (100 guns).
The Regency villa, described in the puzzle text, is probably a house called Polesden Lacey. This was designed by Thomas Cubitt (born c 1788). Some of Mr Cubitt's biographies say that he did indeed leave one of the longest wills on record at that time. Polesden Lacey was owned by a society hostess called 'Dame Margaret Helen Greville (nee Anderson)' . The aforementioned dame, loved royalty and used to vie for their attention with a team called 'The Savilles', which appears to be where the gag about 'Civils and Grovels', originates. Dame Margaret also seems to have been popular with the royals and one Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (aka 'The Queen Mother', b c 1900), honeymooned at Polesden Lacey c 1923. The Queen Mother was the ninth child and forth daughter of Claude George Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis and fourteenth Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. His motto, 'In te domine speravi' means 'In thee Lord, I put my trust' (or possibly 'my trust fund').
Dame Margaret was not popular with everyone and one Lady Leslie remarked "Maggie Greville? I'd sooner have an open sewer in my drawing room".
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 28 November 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers, this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Leadhills
Q2. The Southern Upland Way
N.B. The Eastender still cannot see the questions as they don't appear on some mobile devices but has been told what they are by some of the other puzzlers who have a hard copy of the competition...(will confirm later when I can acquire a printed copy of the paper).
The Eastender will fill in his best shot at what the answers are, when the Sunday Times IT bod, gets round to posting the flippin' questions. Probably been out drinking the cheeky juice again and who can blame them? Indeed, the Eastender Himself has been glugging a glass or two of red wine and eating some tasty food, in an attempt to stave off the effects of the howling wind, icy rain and Kaperlak, which blew in sideways today but I digress, the initial clues seem to place us in Lanarkshire, a county which in parts, is almost as beautiful as the shire that the famous Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, lives in. The Eastender of course is totally biased in this view, as he himself sprang from the good Lanarkshire soil, back in nineteen canteen.
The specific location, is probably the village of Leadhills (you can tell if someone is from there, they usually have snow on their car, when they drive into Glasgow in June). There does appear to be a short heritage railway there called 'The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway', which is reputed to be the highest 'adhesion railway', where an adhesion railway is one in which steel wheels provide traction on steel rails by force of friction, in the UK. I did find some references which claim that the railway lies at an altitude of around fifteen hundred feet. Leadhills golf club is said to be the highest course in Scotland, with the highest in the UK being 'West Monmouthshire Golf Club', in the Brecon Beacons.
Leadhills, according to some of the sources I checked, was indeed the site of Scotland's first subscription library c 1741, where a subscription library is one in which membership fees are paid or an endowment is made to purchase the books, such bibliotheks often loan books to poor students, who can't afford the membership dues. The library in the village was started by a good old Jacobite poet called 'Allan Ramsay' born c 1684, so that the miners could improve themselves. Ramsay also founded a circulation library in the Lucken Booths of Edinburgh c 1725. The Lucken Booths appear to have been a range of tenements opposite St Gile's cathedral, which had lockable booths or lockable shops on the ground floor.
A steamboat engine designer, who was born in Leadhills c 1764 and who built the steam launch 'Charlotte Dundas', is probably William Symington. Driving south west from Leadhills would bring us to the dorp of Wanlockhead, which some of the sources I checked, claim is Scotland's highest village. The two hundred and twelve mile 'Southern Upland Way', passes close to Wanlockhead, crossing the two thousand three hundred and seventy eight foot 'Lowther Hill'. This is not a trail that should be travelled lightly by the unwary or inexperienced hiker, the hills here, though in the lowlands, can be just as dangerous as the ones in the highlands, for this region is isolated, very sparsely populated and prone to mist and bad weather, often with little or no phone signal.
The ninety thousand acre estate and one hundred and twenty room castle, which lie around eight miles south of Wanlockhead, are most likely the Queensberry estate and Drumlanrig Castle, home of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. The Duke's family crest features a stag (possibly derived from the Fehu rune, symbol of wealth as in if you had a herd of deer, you were rich because you could feed and clothe yourself with the products from those animals) and the motto 'Amo', 'I love'.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Leadhills
Q2. The Southern Upland Way
N.B. The Eastender still cannot see the questions as they don't appear on some mobile devices but has been told what they are by some of the other puzzlers who have a hard copy of the competition...(will confirm later when I can acquire a printed copy of the paper).
The Eastender will fill in his best shot at what the answers are, when the Sunday Times IT bod, gets round to posting the flippin' questions. Probably been out drinking the cheeky juice again and who can blame them? Indeed, the Eastender Himself has been glugging a glass or two of red wine and eating some tasty food, in an attempt to stave off the effects of the howling wind, icy rain and Kaperlak, which blew in sideways today but I digress, the initial clues seem to place us in Lanarkshire, a county which in parts, is almost as beautiful as the shire that the famous Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, lives in. The Eastender of course is totally biased in this view, as he himself sprang from the good Lanarkshire soil, back in nineteen canteen.
The specific location, is probably the village of Leadhills (you can tell if someone is from there, they usually have snow on their car, when they drive into Glasgow in June). There does appear to be a short heritage railway there called 'The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway', which is reputed to be the highest 'adhesion railway', where an adhesion railway is one in which steel wheels provide traction on steel rails by force of friction, in the UK. I did find some references which claim that the railway lies at an altitude of around fifteen hundred feet. Leadhills golf club is said to be the highest course in Scotland, with the highest in the UK being 'West Monmouthshire Golf Club', in the Brecon Beacons.
Leadhills, according to some of the sources I checked, was indeed the site of Scotland's first subscription library c 1741, where a subscription library is one in which membership fees are paid or an endowment is made to purchase the books, such bibliotheks often loan books to poor students, who can't afford the membership dues. The library in the village was started by a good old Jacobite poet called 'Allan Ramsay' born c 1684, so that the miners could improve themselves. Ramsay also founded a circulation library in the Lucken Booths of Edinburgh c 1725. The Lucken Booths appear to have been a range of tenements opposite St Gile's cathedral, which had lockable booths or lockable shops on the ground floor.
A steamboat engine designer, who was born in Leadhills c 1764 and who built the steam launch 'Charlotte Dundas', is probably William Symington. Driving south west from Leadhills would bring us to the dorp of Wanlockhead, which some of the sources I checked, claim is Scotland's highest village. The two hundred and twelve mile 'Southern Upland Way', passes close to Wanlockhead, crossing the two thousand three hundred and seventy eight foot 'Lowther Hill'. This is not a trail that should be travelled lightly by the unwary or inexperienced hiker, the hills here, though in the lowlands, can be just as dangerous as the ones in the highlands, for this region is isolated, very sparsely populated and prone to mist and bad weather, often with little or no phone signal.
The ninety thousand acre estate and one hundred and twenty room castle, which lie around eight miles south of Wanlockhead, are most likely the Queensberry estate and Drumlanrig Castle, home of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. The Duke's family crest features a stag (possibly derived from the Fehu rune, symbol of wealth as in if you had a herd of deer, you were rich because you could feed and clothe yourself with the products from those animals) and the motto 'Amo', 'I love'.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 21 November 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Bodmin
Q2. Saint Petroc
The initial clues appear to place us in the town of Bodmin, in Cornwall. I found several sources which claim that the Domesday book was stored in the jail there, during World War One. The prison does appear to have a restaurant attached to it and does seem to have been built c 1857.
The station lies south east of the settlement, was constructed c 1859 when it was called 'Bodmin Road Station' and is currently named 'Bodmin Parkway Railway Station'. Bodmin Parkway appears to be the southern terminus of the 'Bodmin & Wenford Railway', which several sources I looked at, claim is six and a half miles long.
Driving west from Bodmin Parkway, would probably bring us to Lanhydrock House, which the National Trust claim was devastated by a fire c 1881, subsequently refurbished and used as a family home by the Agar-Robertes family.
The Georgian mansion, three miles north of Bodmin, is probably Pencarrow house, which is where the owner planted 'Araucaria Araucana', a pine tree native to Chile and Argentina, which gained its more common name, after a friend of the owner, a barrister called 'Charles Austin', upon touching its spiny leaves, declared "it would be a puzzle for a monkey! ".
The tower is probably 'Berry Tower', which some of the sources I checked, say was built c 1501/2 by the 'Guild of the Holy Rood'. The castle is most likely Canyke Castle, which is described as being a massive Iron Age defensive settlement around four hundred metres in diameter, near the roundabout at the A30/A80.
A church in Bodmin, which claims to be the largest in the county, is St Petroc's. St Petroc was a sixth century hermit who probably became radicalised in Wales, before travelling to Cornwall and building churches all over the place. I found references to St Petroc's feast days being on the 4th of June, 14th of September and 23rd of May but didn't find any for the 1st of October until I looked in 'The Oxford Dictionary of Saints' (fifth edition, revised).
Don't know about 'Porridge' or 'Stir-fry' but the Warder's Room restaurant's menu has dishes like scallops, sea food linguine, lasagne, steaks, vegetarian and vegan options and a 'young offender's' children's menu.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Bodmin
Q2. Saint Petroc
The initial clues appear to place us in the town of Bodmin, in Cornwall. I found several sources which claim that the Domesday book was stored in the jail there, during World War One. The prison does appear to have a restaurant attached to it and does seem to have been built c 1857.
The station lies south east of the settlement, was constructed c 1859 when it was called 'Bodmin Road Station' and is currently named 'Bodmin Parkway Railway Station'. Bodmin Parkway appears to be the southern terminus of the 'Bodmin & Wenford Railway', which several sources I looked at, claim is six and a half miles long.
Driving west from Bodmin Parkway, would probably bring us to Lanhydrock House, which the National Trust claim was devastated by a fire c 1881, subsequently refurbished and used as a family home by the Agar-Robertes family.
The Georgian mansion, three miles north of Bodmin, is probably Pencarrow house, which is where the owner planted 'Araucaria Araucana', a pine tree native to Chile and Argentina, which gained its more common name, after a friend of the owner, a barrister called 'Charles Austin', upon touching its spiny leaves, declared "it would be a puzzle for a monkey! ".
The tower is probably 'Berry Tower', which some of the sources I checked, say was built c 1501/2 by the 'Guild of the Holy Rood'. The castle is most likely Canyke Castle, which is described as being a massive Iron Age defensive settlement around four hundred metres in diameter, near the roundabout at the A30/A80.
A church in Bodmin, which claims to be the largest in the county, is St Petroc's. St Petroc was a sixth century hermit who probably became radicalised in Wales, before travelling to Cornwall and building churches all over the place. I found references to St Petroc's feast days being on the 4th of June, 14th of September and 23rd of May but didn't find any for the 1st of October until I looked in 'The Oxford Dictionary of Saints' (fifth edition, revised).
Don't know about 'Porridge' or 'Stir-fry' but the Warder's Room restaurant's menu has dishes like scallops, sea food linguine, lasagne, steaks, vegetarian and vegan options and a 'young offender's' children's menu.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 14 November 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers, this week, seem to me to be :
Q1. Sandwood Bay
Q2. Am Buachaille
The initial clues seem to place us in North West Sutherland, in the hamlet of Kinlochbervie (aka KLB). The puzzle author has been very crafty with this week's clues, as I found references to several fighters who won the Victoria Cross during the battle of Cambrai, in the war which started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an Ostrich, 'cause he was hungry (aka WWI) .
The Battle of Cambrai appears to have been fought c 20th November 1917 to 7th December 1918 and is thought to be the first engagement where tanks were successfully used. They may have had a more flexible view on what constituted success in those days, as they lost about one hundred and eighty tanks to very accurate German artillery fire and mechanical failures. Some of the VC winners in this fraicas were: Gobind Singh (born c 1887) who had three horses shot out from under him, by German machine gunners, while relaying messages back and forth between his unit, which was surrounded by the enemy, and the British HQ. A soldier called Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Neville Bowes Elliot-Cooper ( born 1889, died 1918), was awarded the VC for his unarmed charge at the enemy who breeched the British lines, his action caused his team to follow him and check the advance but he was subsequently wounded and taken prisoner. A VC winner, who fought in the Battle of Cambrai and was born c 1898, in Kinlochbervie, was Robert McBeath. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for attacking a machine gun nest, with only a Lewis gun and a revolver, resulting in the capitulation of three officers and thirty enlisted men (though he may have had a bit of help from one of the tanks).
Travelling six crow miles north of KLB, would take us to Sandwood bay and one mile of golden sand , 'neath which many wrecked ships lie buried. The John Muir Trust has an eleven thousand, six hundred and twenty one acre estate in the vicinity. The Sandwood estate has a special area of conservation, given this status because of the dunes and fertile Machair.
John Muir, according to some of his biographies, was born c 1838 and seems to have spent a lot of time in America, where he was instrumental in persuading presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, to create national parks in places like Yosemite. I found several sources which claim that the John Muir trust was founded c 1983.
A sea stack to the west of the beach at Sandwood bay, which in English is called 'The Herdsman' or 'The Shepherd', is probably 'Am Buachaille'. The mermaid legend of Sandwood bay seems to originate with a Mr Alexander Gunn, who claimed (after glugging some of the local firewater no doubt), to have been alerted to the presence of a strange creature with reddish-yellow hair, green eyes and yellow body and about seven feet long, sunbathing on the rocks, by the howling of his sheepdog, while out for a walk one day. Sandwood bay was the site of many shipwrecks but in an effort to prevent these from occurring, the Cape Wrath lighthouse was constructed c 1828, by Robert Stevenson. It does seem to lie to the north east of the bay and the references I checked, claim that it is about twenty metres or sixty six feet in height.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Sandwood Bay
Q2. Am Buachaille
The initial clues seem to place us in North West Sutherland, in the hamlet of Kinlochbervie (aka KLB). The puzzle author has been very crafty with this week's clues, as I found references to several fighters who won the Victoria Cross during the battle of Cambrai, in the war which started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an Ostrich, 'cause he was hungry (aka WWI) .
The Battle of Cambrai appears to have been fought c 20th November 1917 to 7th December 1918 and is thought to be the first engagement where tanks were successfully used. They may have had a more flexible view on what constituted success in those days, as they lost about one hundred and eighty tanks to very accurate German artillery fire and mechanical failures. Some of the VC winners in this fraicas were: Gobind Singh (born c 1887) who had three horses shot out from under him, by German machine gunners, while relaying messages back and forth between his unit, which was surrounded by the enemy, and the British HQ. A soldier called Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Neville Bowes Elliot-Cooper ( born 1889, died 1918), was awarded the VC for his unarmed charge at the enemy who breeched the British lines, his action caused his team to follow him and check the advance but he was subsequently wounded and taken prisoner. A VC winner, who fought in the Battle of Cambrai and was born c 1898, in Kinlochbervie, was Robert McBeath. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for attacking a machine gun nest, with only a Lewis gun and a revolver, resulting in the capitulation of three officers and thirty enlisted men (though he may have had a bit of help from one of the tanks).
Travelling six crow miles north of KLB, would take us to Sandwood bay and one mile of golden sand , 'neath which many wrecked ships lie buried. The John Muir Trust has an eleven thousand, six hundred and twenty one acre estate in the vicinity. The Sandwood estate has a special area of conservation, given this status because of the dunes and fertile Machair.
John Muir, according to some of his biographies, was born c 1838 and seems to have spent a lot of time in America, where he was instrumental in persuading presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, to create national parks in places like Yosemite. I found several sources which claim that the John Muir trust was founded c 1983.
A sea stack to the west of the beach at Sandwood bay, which in English is called 'The Herdsman' or 'The Shepherd', is probably 'Am Buachaille'. The mermaid legend of Sandwood bay seems to originate with a Mr Alexander Gunn, who claimed (after glugging some of the local firewater no doubt), to have been alerted to the presence of a strange creature with reddish-yellow hair, green eyes and yellow body and about seven feet long, sunbathing on the rocks, by the howling of his sheepdog, while out for a walk one day. Sandwood bay was the site of many shipwrecks but in an effort to prevent these from occurring, the Cape Wrath lighthouse was constructed c 1828, by Robert Stevenson. It does seem to lie to the north east of the bay and the references I checked, claim that it is about twenty metres or sixty six feet in height.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 7 November 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Lytham
Q2. Ena Sharples
The initial clues appear to place us in Lytham St Anne's, in the county of Lancashire. This was formerly two towns (Lytham and St Anne's) which have merged together over the years, presumably as more development and building work was carried out in each settlement.
An airfield, which lies to the east of Lytham and which at one time had the largest store building in Europe, at two hundred and seventy thousand square feet, is probably Warton Aerodrome, which from some of the sources I checked, does seem to have been constructed c 1942.
North of Warton airfield, lies the dorp of Wrea Green and it was here, according to some of his biographies, that the hangman James Berry (born Heckmondwike, Yorkshire on 8th of February c 1852 ), was educated, at Wrea Green Academy. Berry was the executioner who unsuccessfully tried three times to hang John 'Babbacombe' Lee. He seems to have been unable to hang Mr Lee due to a faulty hinge on the gallows trapdoor and because of this, Lee was given a life sentence instead.
Lytham hall is an eighteenth century Georgian manor house, built in the Palladian style, which is surrounded by seventy eight acres of parkland, on the eastern outskirts of Lytham (built by architect John Carr (born c 1723)). The national piers society claim that Lytham pier was nine hundred and fourteen feet long and was demolished c 1960. Their web site also says that St Anne's pier was nine hundred and fourteen feet long originally but after a fire c 1982, it's length was reduced to six hundred feet.
A comedian born c 1931, who lived in St Anne's and had comedy characters 'Cissie and Ada', in his show, is probably Les Dawson. Royal Lytham & St Anne's golf course, appears to have around two hundred and six bunkers and it was here, c 1979 that the famous Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros, won the Open.
A hairnet wearing harridan TV character, who's absence from Weatherfield's 'Rover's Return Inn' pub was explained by saying that she'd gone to stay with a friend called Henry Foster, in St Anne's, is most likely Ena Sharples, from 'Coronation Street' .
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment pertaining to the puzzle and its soliton, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Lytham
Q2. Ena Sharples
The initial clues appear to place us in Lytham St Anne's, in the county of Lancashire. This was formerly two towns (Lytham and St Anne's) which have merged together over the years, presumably as more development and building work was carried out in each settlement.
An airfield, which lies to the east of Lytham and which at one time had the largest store building in Europe, at two hundred and seventy thousand square feet, is probably Warton Aerodrome, which from some of the sources I checked, does seem to have been constructed c 1942.
North of Warton airfield, lies the dorp of Wrea Green and it was here, according to some of his biographies, that the hangman James Berry (born Heckmondwike, Yorkshire on 8th of February c 1852 ), was educated, at Wrea Green Academy. Berry was the executioner who unsuccessfully tried three times to hang John 'Babbacombe' Lee. He seems to have been unable to hang Mr Lee due to a faulty hinge on the gallows trapdoor and because of this, Lee was given a life sentence instead.
Lytham hall is an eighteenth century Georgian manor house, built in the Palladian style, which is surrounded by seventy eight acres of parkland, on the eastern outskirts of Lytham (built by architect John Carr (born c 1723)). The national piers society claim that Lytham pier was nine hundred and fourteen feet long and was demolished c 1960. Their web site also says that St Anne's pier was nine hundred and fourteen feet long originally but after a fire c 1982, it's length was reduced to six hundred feet.
A comedian born c 1931, who lived in St Anne's and had comedy characters 'Cissie and Ada', in his show, is probably Les Dawson. Royal Lytham & St Anne's golf course, appears to have around two hundred and six bunkers and it was here, c 1979 that the famous Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros, won the Open.
A hairnet wearing harridan TV character, who's absence from Weatherfield's 'Rover's Return Inn' pub was explained by saying that she'd gone to stay with a friend called Henry Foster, in St Anne's, is most likely Ena Sharples, from 'Coronation Street' .
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment pertaining to the puzzle and its soliton, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Godstow Abbey
Q2. Woodstock
The initial clues seem to place us at the ruins of Godstow Abbey, which appears to lie South east of the Godstow road, near the river Thames, between Wytham and Wolvercote, in the county of Oxfordshire. According to some of the sources I checked, this may be the burial site of 'Fair Rosamund' (aka 'Rose of the World' aka Rosemund Clifford born c 1140/1150, died c 1175/76) and mistress of Henry II. The Abbey was probably constructed around 1133, for Benedictine nuns. Henry II donated money and building materials to extend the place because Rosamund was buried there.
Travelling three miles or so North East of Godstow Abbey, would bring us to the village of Woodeaton, where according to the Ashmolean museum, a Romano-Celtic temple, dedicated to an unknown diety, lies buried. It appears that some archaeological excavations were conducted in the fields around the village c 1952, by Joan Kirk and Richard Goodchild, which revealed artefacts indicating that this was probably the location of a temple.
A mile north of Woodeaton sits the village of Islip and according to some of his biographies, this is where Edward the Confessor was born, c 1004. Five miles west of Islip is the Village of Bladon and St Martin's Church, which is the final resting place of Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who appears to have been appointed Secretary of State for India c 1885. Some of his bios claim that he actually visited India, which was unusual for a politician in those days.
A world heritage site, designated as such by UNESCO c 1987, is Winston Churchill's old house, Blenheim Palace. Blenheim palace is situated close to the town of Woodstock and it is here that Edward of Woodstock (aka 'The Black Prince') was born, in the same year (c 1133), as a singer called Joe Cocker, who liked to play gigs there. Two princesses who were also born in Woodstock are probably 'Mary of Woodstock' (born c 11/12 March 1278), sixth or seventh daughter (depending on which source you check), of the nasty old fascist, Edward I and Isabella, Countess of Bedford (born c 16 June 1332). Isabella was the daughter of Edward III.
Blenheim palace was designed in part by a playwriting ex squaddie cum architect, called Sir John Vanbrugh (though by some accounts Nicholas Hawksmoor gave him a few tips on the subject, as he largely had no formal training). This is possibly why the duchess of Marlborough was said to be very unhappy with the extravagance of the design and wanted Christopher Wren to build the place instead.
Subtracting nine pennies from a shilling, leaves thrupence or 'Half a Sixpence', which is the title of a 1967 film starring Tommy Steele, which was shot at Blenheim palace. I did find some references to advertising slogans for the film which said 'It strolls, it struts, it razzles and it dazzles'.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Godstow Abbey
Q2. Woodstock
The initial clues seem to place us at the ruins of Godstow Abbey, which appears to lie South east of the Godstow road, near the river Thames, between Wytham and Wolvercote, in the county of Oxfordshire. According to some of the sources I checked, this may be the burial site of 'Fair Rosamund' (aka 'Rose of the World' aka Rosemund Clifford born c 1140/1150, died c 1175/76) and mistress of Henry II. The Abbey was probably constructed around 1133, for Benedictine nuns. Henry II donated money and building materials to extend the place because Rosamund was buried there.
Travelling three miles or so North East of Godstow Abbey, would bring us to the village of Woodeaton, where according to the Ashmolean museum, a Romano-Celtic temple, dedicated to an unknown diety, lies buried. It appears that some archaeological excavations were conducted in the fields around the village c 1952, by Joan Kirk and Richard Goodchild, which revealed artefacts indicating that this was probably the location of a temple.
A mile north of Woodeaton sits the village of Islip and according to some of his biographies, this is where Edward the Confessor was born, c 1004. Five miles west of Islip is the Village of Bladon and St Martin's Church, which is the final resting place of Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who appears to have been appointed Secretary of State for India c 1885. Some of his bios claim that he actually visited India, which was unusual for a politician in those days.
A world heritage site, designated as such by UNESCO c 1987, is Winston Churchill's old house, Blenheim Palace. Blenheim palace is situated close to the town of Woodstock and it is here that Edward of Woodstock (aka 'The Black Prince') was born, in the same year (c 1133), as a singer called Joe Cocker, who liked to play gigs there. Two princesses who were also born in Woodstock are probably 'Mary of Woodstock' (born c 11/12 March 1278), sixth or seventh daughter (depending on which source you check), of the nasty old fascist, Edward I and Isabella, Countess of Bedford (born c 16 June 1332). Isabella was the daughter of Edward III.
Blenheim palace was designed in part by a playwriting ex squaddie cum architect, called Sir John Vanbrugh (though by some accounts Nicholas Hawksmoor gave him a few tips on the subject, as he largely had no formal training). This is possibly why the duchess of Marlborough was said to be very unhappy with the extravagance of the design and wanted Christopher Wren to build the place instead.
Subtracting nine pennies from a shilling, leaves thrupence or 'Half a Sixpence', which is the title of a 1967 film starring Tommy Steele, which was shot at Blenheim palace. I did find some references to advertising slogans for the film which said 'It strolls, it struts, it razzles and it dazzles'.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 24 October 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Berwick
Q2. Asham House
N.B. For question two, Asham house was also spelled Asheham House, at one time.
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Berwick, which lies in the South Downs, in the county of Sussex. It is here that a church containing twentieth century murals, painted by some members of a very progressive proto Bonobo beatnik hipster collective, called 'The Bloomsbury Group', lies. The church appears to be called 'St. Michael and All the Angels' and after the windows were blown out by bombs and the chancel damaged c 1941, the local bishop asked the Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant (father, Major Bartle Grant), Quentin Bell and Vanessa Bell (born c 1879, died c 1961), to paint some murals to decorate the church.
Vanessa Bell, according to some of her biographies, was the sister of the writer Adeline Virginia Woolf (born c 1882, died c 1941). Bell lived with her sometime partner Duncan Grant, at Charleston farmhouse, c 1916, which is situated around two miles north west of Berwick village. Some of the aforementioned biographies claim that Vanessa Bell, was buried in the Firle parish churchyard on the 12th April c 1961. The ashes of the economist John Maynard Keynes, who also hung out with the Bloomsbury group, were scattered in the fields around Charleston farm, after he died from a heart attack, c 1946.
'Courage Sans Peur' can be translated as 'Courage Without Fear' and this appears to be the motto of the Gage family, who own the sixteenth century house at Firle Place. The blurb on their website says it is owned by the eighth viscount Gage. It also seems to be where the fruit called a Greengage got its name.
Traveling seven miles west of Charleston farm, would likely bring us into the vicinity of the village of Rodmell and the country home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, 'Monk's House'. The Eastender had to look up what is meant by 'Weatherboard' but it seems to be thin slats of wood which are nailed to the outside of houses and the pictures of Monk's House that I looked at, certainly show that it exhibits this feature. Virginia Woolf had suicidal tendencies and bipolar disorder, which were possibly inherited and exacerbated by incidents of abuse during her childhood. She had thrown herself out of a window on one occasion and the poor woman ultimately drowned after putting some rocks in her pockets and jumping into the river Ouse, after hearing voices, c 1941. Some of her works were 'Mrs Dalloway', 'To a Lighthouse' and 'Orlando'. Leonard Woolf is said to have buried Virginia's ashes 'neath two elm trees in the grounds of Monk's House and there now stands a bust of the unfortunate author, by the artist Stephen Tomlin, to mark the spot, as the elms are no longer there. From checking Leonard Woolf's biography, he does seem to have died c 1969.
Monk's House is still standing, whereas the 'holiday home' in the clues, was said to have been demolished. Digging a little further turned up some references to the Woolfs having a house on the East bank of the Ouse (Asham House or Asheham House), c 1912 to 1919, which apparently once stood just off the road between Lewes and Newhaven, near the village of Beddingham. Asham house was believed to be haunted and seems to have been demolished on the 12th of July, c 1994.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment, which relates to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Berwick
Q2. Asham House
N.B. For question two, Asham house was also spelled Asheham House, at one time.
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Berwick, which lies in the South Downs, in the county of Sussex. It is here that a church containing twentieth century murals, painted by some members of a very progressive proto Bonobo beatnik hipster collective, called 'The Bloomsbury Group', lies. The church appears to be called 'St. Michael and All the Angels' and after the windows were blown out by bombs and the chancel damaged c 1941, the local bishop asked the Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant (father, Major Bartle Grant), Quentin Bell and Vanessa Bell (born c 1879, died c 1961), to paint some murals to decorate the church.
Vanessa Bell, according to some of her biographies, was the sister of the writer Adeline Virginia Woolf (born c 1882, died c 1941). Bell lived with her sometime partner Duncan Grant, at Charleston farmhouse, c 1916, which is situated around two miles north west of Berwick village. Some of the aforementioned biographies claim that Vanessa Bell, was buried in the Firle parish churchyard on the 12th April c 1961. The ashes of the economist John Maynard Keynes, who also hung out with the Bloomsbury group, were scattered in the fields around Charleston farm, after he died from a heart attack, c 1946.
'Courage Sans Peur' can be translated as 'Courage Without Fear' and this appears to be the motto of the Gage family, who own the sixteenth century house at Firle Place. The blurb on their website says it is owned by the eighth viscount Gage. It also seems to be where the fruit called a Greengage got its name.
Traveling seven miles west of Charleston farm, would likely bring us into the vicinity of the village of Rodmell and the country home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, 'Monk's House'. The Eastender had to look up what is meant by 'Weatherboard' but it seems to be thin slats of wood which are nailed to the outside of houses and the pictures of Monk's House that I looked at, certainly show that it exhibits this feature. Virginia Woolf had suicidal tendencies and bipolar disorder, which were possibly inherited and exacerbated by incidents of abuse during her childhood. She had thrown herself out of a window on one occasion and the poor woman ultimately drowned after putting some rocks in her pockets and jumping into the river Ouse, after hearing voices, c 1941. Some of her works were 'Mrs Dalloway', 'To a Lighthouse' and 'Orlando'. Leonard Woolf is said to have buried Virginia's ashes 'neath two elm trees in the grounds of Monk's House and there now stands a bust of the unfortunate author, by the artist Stephen Tomlin, to mark the spot, as the elms are no longer there. From checking Leonard Woolf's biography, he does seem to have died c 1969.
Monk's House is still standing, whereas the 'holiday home' in the clues, was said to have been demolished. Digging a little further turned up some references to the Woolfs having a house on the East bank of the Ouse (Asham House or Asheham House), c 1912 to 1919, which apparently once stood just off the road between Lewes and Newhaven, near the village of Beddingham. Asham house was believed to be haunted and seems to have been demolished on the 12th of July, c 1994.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment, which relates to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Think the Sunday Times IT bod's been out glugging the cheeky juice again and forgotten to publish the online version of the puzzle but the East Ender has the printed copy of the newspaper and near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Lutterworth
Q2. Percy (Sinclair) Pilcher
The initial clues seem to place us a tad north east of the city of Coventry, near the Oxford canal, which some of the sources I checked, claim is around seventy eight miles long and was completed c 1790. It appears that in the eighteen twenties and eighteen thirties that the canal was shortened by around fourteen miles and six furlongs, around Braunston and Hawksbury Junction.
A hotel which is a good fit with some of the clues given, is possibly Coombe Abbey, which was built by Cistercians c 1150 and which subsequently became a family home after old " 'enry the Eighth I am", shut down the monasteries. It appears to have become royal property after this and came into the hands of the Earls of Craven until c 1923 and then subsequently became a hotel.
The aeronautical engineer and truly great British genius, who was born c 1907 and tested his W1X gas turbine engines at Lutterworth, was probably Sir Frank Whittle. Three miles or so south of Lutterworth, lies the site of the three arched Roman bridge at Tripontium, it is situated next to the Roman road 'Watling Street' (aka the A5).
The poet Laureate mentioned by the puzzle Author, is most likely Alfred Lord Tennyson. I found a reference which claims that he wrote his famous elegy to his friend Arthur Hallam, at Shawell Rectory, which is very close to Tripontium. 'In Memoriam', was published c 1850 .
The William and Mary style house, is probably Stanford Hall and it is in a field near this, that a memorial to another great British genius lies, the monument to the hang glider pioneer, Percy Sinclair Pilcher ( born c 1867). His Hawk glider crashed here in 1899, resulting in his passing from this mortal coil. Pilcher had a triplane with an engine fitted to it, ready for flight testing in his shed but the crash may have prevented him from achieving powered flight, before the wright brothers.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Lutterworth
Q2. Percy (Sinclair) Pilcher
The initial clues seem to place us a tad north east of the city of Coventry, near the Oxford canal, which some of the sources I checked, claim is around seventy eight miles long and was completed c 1790. It appears that in the eighteen twenties and eighteen thirties that the canal was shortened by around fourteen miles and six furlongs, around Braunston and Hawksbury Junction.
A hotel which is a good fit with some of the clues given, is possibly Coombe Abbey, which was built by Cistercians c 1150 and which subsequently became a family home after old " 'enry the Eighth I am", shut down the monasteries. It appears to have become royal property after this and came into the hands of the Earls of Craven until c 1923 and then subsequently became a hotel.
The aeronautical engineer and truly great British genius, who was born c 1907 and tested his W1X gas turbine engines at Lutterworth, was probably Sir Frank Whittle. Three miles or so south of Lutterworth, lies the site of the three arched Roman bridge at Tripontium, it is situated next to the Roman road 'Watling Street' (aka the A5).
The poet Laureate mentioned by the puzzle Author, is most likely Alfred Lord Tennyson. I found a reference which claims that he wrote his famous elegy to his friend Arthur Hallam, at Shawell Rectory, which is very close to Tripontium. 'In Memoriam', was published c 1850 .
The William and Mary style house, is probably Stanford Hall and it is in a field near this, that a memorial to another great British genius lies, the monument to the hang glider pioneer, Percy Sinclair Pilcher ( born c 1867). His Hawk glider crashed here in 1899, resulting in his passing from this mortal coil. Pilcher had a triplane with an engine fitted to it, ready for flight testing in his shed but the crash may have prevented him from achieving powered flight, before the wright brothers.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 10 October 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competiton
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Bodelwyddan
Q2. Rhyl
The initial clues seem to place us in the vicinity of Rhos-on-Sea, in county Clwyd, in the Conwy region of Wales, specifically at St Trillo's Chapel, which judging from the photographs I saw of it, is very small indeed (thought to have a capacity of twenty worshippers max) and does lie next to a beautiful sandy beach. The altar is said to be built over a pre Christian holy well. St Trillo according to some of his bios, is thought to have been born in Brittany c 6th century and his feast day is the 15 th of June.
Motoring south east from Rhos-on-Sea would bring us to the seaside resort of Colwyn Bay. The town has a disused pier which some of the sources I checked claim is around seven hundred and fifty feet long and which opened c 1900.
Seven miles east of Colwyn Bay could be the site of a Donnybrook between the Welsh and the Saxons, c 795 ad, the Battle of Rhuddlan Marsh. The Saxons under the command of king Offa of Mercia are thought to have won this encounter, defeating the Welsh team under king Caradog ap Meirion. The mutiny by demob happy Canadian soldiers, seems to have occurred around the 4th and 5th of March c 1919, on the Kinmel Park estate, where they were billeted after the end of WW1, in cold and cramped conditions. The riots appear to have started when news reached the camp, that the ship which was to have taken them home, had been diverted to carry food supplies to the Russians. Five soldiers were killed during the disturbances and four of them seem to be buried in the churchyard of St Margaret's, which lies in the nearby village of Bodelwyddan. St Margaret's (designed by John Gibson, b 1817) was constructed from various types of marble, by Lady Willoughby de Broke, c 1856, in memory of her husband. I found several references which describe World War One practice trenches at the nearby Bodelwyddan castle
North of Bodelwyddan castle and village, lies the seaside town of Rhyl and it was here that some of her biographies claim that a talented journalist and author called Penelope Ruth Mortimer (nee Fletcher) was born c 1918. Mortimer wrote under the pen name Ann Temple and worked for The New Yorker and the Daily Mail. Her first novel, published c 1947, was called Johanna.
Rhyl at one time had a two thousand three hundred and fifty five foot long pier but it appears to have been demolished c 1973. I did find several references which say that there was also a Lido at Rhyl
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the solution of the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Bodelwyddan
Q2. Rhyl
The initial clues seem to place us in the vicinity of Rhos-on-Sea, in county Clwyd, in the Conwy region of Wales, specifically at St Trillo's Chapel, which judging from the photographs I saw of it, is very small indeed (thought to have a capacity of twenty worshippers max) and does lie next to a beautiful sandy beach. The altar is said to be built over a pre Christian holy well. St Trillo according to some of his bios, is thought to have been born in Brittany c 6th century and his feast day is the 15 th of June.
Motoring south east from Rhos-on-Sea would bring us to the seaside resort of Colwyn Bay. The town has a disused pier which some of the sources I checked claim is around seven hundred and fifty feet long and which opened c 1900.
Seven miles east of Colwyn Bay could be the site of a Donnybrook between the Welsh and the Saxons, c 795 ad, the Battle of Rhuddlan Marsh. The Saxons under the command of king Offa of Mercia are thought to have won this encounter, defeating the Welsh team under king Caradog ap Meirion. The mutiny by demob happy Canadian soldiers, seems to have occurred around the 4th and 5th of March c 1919, on the Kinmel Park estate, where they were billeted after the end of WW1, in cold and cramped conditions. The riots appear to have started when news reached the camp, that the ship which was to have taken them home, had been diverted to carry food supplies to the Russians. Five soldiers were killed during the disturbances and four of them seem to be buried in the churchyard of St Margaret's, which lies in the nearby village of Bodelwyddan. St Margaret's (designed by John Gibson, b 1817) was constructed from various types of marble, by Lady Willoughby de Broke, c 1856, in memory of her husband. I found several references which describe World War One practice trenches at the nearby Bodelwyddan castle
North of Bodelwyddan castle and village, lies the seaside town of Rhyl and it was here that some of her biographies claim that a talented journalist and author called Penelope Ruth Mortimer (nee Fletcher) was born c 1918. Mortimer wrote under the pen name Ann Temple and worked for The New Yorker and the Daily Mail. Her first novel, published c 1947, was called Johanna.
Rhyl at one time had a two thousand three hundred and fifty five foot long pier but it appears to have been demolished c 1973. I did find several references which say that there was also a Lido at Rhyl
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the solution of the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Guy's Tower
Q2. The Tabard
N.B. For question 1, Guy's Tower is also known as 'The Tower Wing, Guy's Hospital' and for question 2, The Tabard was also known later as 'The Talbot Inn'.
From the initial clues, the puzzle author and Terribly Trendy Friend, are probably on London Bridge and walking south on the A3/Borough High Street, into Southwark. The hints in the text say that the bridge being crossed is more than two hundred and sixty meters, or eight hundred and fifty feet in length and some sources claim that London Bridge is around two hundred and sixty nine meters, or eight hundred and eighty two feet long.
The quote "A boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge, which is of Iron and London Bridge, which is of stone", probably comes from a book called 'Our Mutual Friend' , which was published c 1864/65, by Charles Dickens.
The Shard, according to some of the references I checked, is around three hundred and nine point six meters or one thousand and sixteen feet in height and located close to the A3 and London Bridge. The other tall building which houses a school of dentistry, is probably Guy's Tower, which claims to be the world's tallest hospital building. Guy's Hospital was founded by a philanthropist called 'Thomas Guy', who was born c 1644. Experiments in human blood transfusion were carried out at Guy's hospital, c 1818 by James Blundell.
A market in Southwark, which has been there since c 11th century and which is close to Southwark Cathedral (achieved this status c 1905), is Borough market. William Shakespeare's brother Edmund, who died c 1607, is thought to be buried in Southwark Cathedral. Travelling South on the A3, would bring White Hart Yard into view on our left. This was the site of the White Hart Inn, with its "Bustling old landlady', which is mentioned both in Dicken's book, 'The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club' and in Shakespeare's play, 'Henry VI part II' .
The second inn is likely to be 'The Tabard', as the quote in the puzzle comes from a book called 'The Canterbury Tales', by Geoffrey Chaucer: "In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay redy to wenden on my pilgrymage to Caunterbury with ful devout corage, at nyght was come into that hostelrye wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye of sondry folk". I did find several references to the heaviest bell in Southwark cathedral weighing around 48 cwt.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it
Q1. Guy's Tower
Q2. The Tabard
N.B. For question 1, Guy's Tower is also known as 'The Tower Wing, Guy's Hospital' and for question 2, The Tabard was also known later as 'The Talbot Inn'.
From the initial clues, the puzzle author and Terribly Trendy Friend, are probably on London Bridge and walking south on the A3/Borough High Street, into Southwark. The hints in the text say that the bridge being crossed is more than two hundred and sixty meters, or eight hundred and fifty feet in length and some sources claim that London Bridge is around two hundred and sixty nine meters, or eight hundred and eighty two feet long.
The quote "A boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge, which is of Iron and London Bridge, which is of stone", probably comes from a book called 'Our Mutual Friend' , which was published c 1864/65, by Charles Dickens.
The Shard, according to some of the references I checked, is around three hundred and nine point six meters or one thousand and sixteen feet in height and located close to the A3 and London Bridge. The other tall building which houses a school of dentistry, is probably Guy's Tower, which claims to be the world's tallest hospital building. Guy's Hospital was founded by a philanthropist called 'Thomas Guy', who was born c 1644. Experiments in human blood transfusion were carried out at Guy's hospital, c 1818 by James Blundell.
A market in Southwark, which has been there since c 11th century and which is close to Southwark Cathedral (achieved this status c 1905), is Borough market. William Shakespeare's brother Edmund, who died c 1607, is thought to be buried in Southwark Cathedral. Travelling South on the A3, would bring White Hart Yard into view on our left. This was the site of the White Hart Inn, with its "Bustling old landlady', which is mentioned both in Dicken's book, 'The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club' and in Shakespeare's play, 'Henry VI part II' .
The second inn is likely to be 'The Tabard', as the quote in the puzzle comes from a book called 'The Canterbury Tales', by Geoffrey Chaucer: "In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay redy to wenden on my pilgrymage to Caunterbury with ful devout corage, at nyght was come into that hostelrye wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye of sondry folk". I did find several references to the heaviest bell in Southwark cathedral weighing around 48 cwt.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it
Saturday, 26 September 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Wigan
Q2. Lynda-Lee Potter (nee Lynda Higginson)
The initial clues, rather obviously, appear to place us in the town of Wigan, in Lancashire. The settlement at one time had a pier, probably a staithe (possibly from the Norse word for landing stage, according to some of the sources I checked), on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. An author who was disappointed at not viewing it, was probably Eric Arthur Blair (aka George Orwell), who published a work called 'The Road to Wigan Pier' c 1937, which describes the dire state of the housing stock in Wigan, which may have 'slid to startling angles', due to subsidence from collapsing mine workings, below the town.
The rugby club mentioned in the hints, may be Wigan Warriors, who were one of the clubs instrumental in founding the Northern Rugby Football Union c 1895. A comedian who had a long running radio show, called 'Ray's a laugh', was Ted Ray (aka Charlie Olden), who according to some of the biographies I looked at, was born at 110 Great George Street, Wigan, on the 21st of November, 1905. The music hall entertainer, who starred in a film called 'By the Shortest of Heads', is probably George Formby', who was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan c 26th May, 1904. Also born in Wigan c 1848 was the medicine manufacturer, Sir Joseph Beecham. Beecham had adverts for his company's products placed on the sails of ships and on billboards, with slogans like "What are the wild waves saying? (Try Beecham's Pills)" .
There does appear to be a monument to a royalist army officer, one Sir Thomas Tyldesley (born at Woodplumpton, c 1612 ), who was slain during the battle of Wigan Lane, c 1651. The Leeds and Liverpool canal, descends some two hundred feet, through twenty ( or twenty one locks, depending on which references you check), from Wigan top lock, by the Kirkless pub, down to the junction of the Leigh branch. Following the Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool canal, East south east, brings us to the town of Leigh, where it joins the Bridgewater canal, which appears to be carried over the Manchester Ship Canal, by a marvel of Victorian engineering ( constructed c 1894), the grade II listed, Barton Swing Aqueduct.
The puzzle author has been a bit crafty here, because there was more than one 'First Lady of Fleet Street' but the one who most fits with the given clues, is Lynda-Lee Potter, who was born in the Firs Maternity Home, Leigh c 2nd May, 1935. Potter wrote a column for the Daily Mail and published a book called 'Class Act: How to Beat the British Class System' .
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Wigan
Q2. Lynda-Lee Potter (nee Lynda Higginson)
The initial clues, rather obviously, appear to place us in the town of Wigan, in Lancashire. The settlement at one time had a pier, probably a staithe (possibly from the Norse word for landing stage, according to some of the sources I checked), on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. An author who was disappointed at not viewing it, was probably Eric Arthur Blair (aka George Orwell), who published a work called 'The Road to Wigan Pier' c 1937, which describes the dire state of the housing stock in Wigan, which may have 'slid to startling angles', due to subsidence from collapsing mine workings, below the town.
The rugby club mentioned in the hints, may be Wigan Warriors, who were one of the clubs instrumental in founding the Northern Rugby Football Union c 1895. A comedian who had a long running radio show, called 'Ray's a laugh', was Ted Ray (aka Charlie Olden), who according to some of the biographies I looked at, was born at 110 Great George Street, Wigan, on the 21st of November, 1905. The music hall entertainer, who starred in a film called 'By the Shortest of Heads', is probably George Formby', who was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan c 26th May, 1904. Also born in Wigan c 1848 was the medicine manufacturer, Sir Joseph Beecham. Beecham had adverts for his company's products placed on the sails of ships and on billboards, with slogans like "What are the wild waves saying? (Try Beecham's Pills)" .
There does appear to be a monument to a royalist army officer, one Sir Thomas Tyldesley (born at Woodplumpton, c 1612 ), who was slain during the battle of Wigan Lane, c 1651. The Leeds and Liverpool canal, descends some two hundred feet, through twenty ( or twenty one locks, depending on which references you check), from Wigan top lock, by the Kirkless pub, down to the junction of the Leigh branch. Following the Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool canal, East south east, brings us to the town of Leigh, where it joins the Bridgewater canal, which appears to be carried over the Manchester Ship Canal, by a marvel of Victorian engineering ( constructed c 1894), the grade II listed, Barton Swing Aqueduct.
The puzzle author has been a bit crafty here, because there was more than one 'First Lady of Fleet Street' but the one who most fits with the given clues, is Lynda-Lee Potter, who was born in the Firs Maternity Home, Leigh c 2nd May, 1935. Potter wrote a column for the Daily Mail and published a book called 'Class Act: How to Beat the British Class System' .
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 19 September 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. William Alexander Baxter
Q2. Dufftown
The initial clues seem to place us near the village of Cullen and the town of Buckie, in the Speyside/Moray region of Scotland. The dismantled railway described by the puzzle author, which was built by the Great North of Scotland Railway company (GNSR), is probably the Moray Coast Raiway, which used to run from Portsoy, to Lossie Junction. Couldn't find a reference detailing a castle in Buckie but the one in Findochty village, which has Buckie as part of its address, is thought to be of sixteenth century origin.
Constantine II appears to have had two sons, Cellach (died c ad 937) and Indulf, who some of the references I checked, claim died in the Battle of the Bauds, near Cullen, fighting some Scandinavian tourists c960, 961 or 962ad. Travelling west from Buckie would bring us to the Spey Viaduct, which some sources claim, is around nine hundred and forty seven feet or three hundred and sixteen yards in length. It seems to be part of the Speyside Way hiking trail now.
Going south on the East bank of the Spey, would take us to the town of Fochabers, where the food manufacturer, William Alexander Baxter was born c 25th September 1877, at George Lane. One of Baxter's products, was soup, which is probably what the 'super chap' hint refers to.
Nine miles south east of Fochabers, lies the town of Keith, which is where the Keith and Dufftown heritage railway (aka 'The Whisky Line'), can be found in. From some of the sources I checked, it does seem to use a diesel locomotive and passes through a station at Drummuir. Drummuir has a Victorian Gothic style castle which appears to be owned by Diageo now. Drummuir castle was built c 1847.
The heritage railway stops in Dufftown, which sounds more like a place which makes beer but there are more distilleries than you can shake a stick at there and it was here, c 19th December 1839 in Conval street, that the distiller, William Grant was born. Grant appears to have been a very hard working polymath and entrepreneurial type, who had many different jobs while saving for thirty years to buy the Glenfiddich distillery. Balvenie castle c 12th century, is situated in the town.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. William Alexander Baxter
Q2. Dufftown
The initial clues seem to place us near the village of Cullen and the town of Buckie, in the Speyside/Moray region of Scotland. The dismantled railway described by the puzzle author, which was built by the Great North of Scotland Railway company (GNSR), is probably the Moray Coast Raiway, which used to run from Portsoy, to Lossie Junction. Couldn't find a reference detailing a castle in Buckie but the one in Findochty village, which has Buckie as part of its address, is thought to be of sixteenth century origin.
Constantine II appears to have had two sons, Cellach (died c ad 937) and Indulf, who some of the references I checked, claim died in the Battle of the Bauds, near Cullen, fighting some Scandinavian tourists c960, 961 or 962ad. Travelling west from Buckie would bring us to the Spey Viaduct, which some sources claim, is around nine hundred and forty seven feet or three hundred and sixteen yards in length. It seems to be part of the Speyside Way hiking trail now.
Going south on the East bank of the Spey, would take us to the town of Fochabers, where the food manufacturer, William Alexander Baxter was born c 25th September 1877, at George Lane. One of Baxter's products, was soup, which is probably what the 'super chap' hint refers to.
Nine miles south east of Fochabers, lies the town of Keith, which is where the Keith and Dufftown heritage railway (aka 'The Whisky Line'), can be found in. From some of the sources I checked, it does seem to use a diesel locomotive and passes through a station at Drummuir. Drummuir has a Victorian Gothic style castle which appears to be owned by Diageo now. Drummuir castle was built c 1847.
The heritage railway stops in Dufftown, which sounds more like a place which makes beer but there are more distilleries than you can shake a stick at there and it was here, c 19th December 1839 in Conval street, that the distiller, William Grant was born. Grant appears to have been a very hard working polymath and entrepreneurial type, who had many different jobs while saving for thirty years to buy the Glenfiddich distillery. Balvenie castle c 12th century, is situated in the town.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 12 September 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Dundas Aqueduct
Q2. Bradford-on-Avon
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Claverton, next to the river Avon and the Kennet and Avon canal. A twenty three year old statesman, called Winston Churchill, according to the spiel on the American Museum in Britain web site, made his first political speech at Claverton manor (which appears to be where said museum is currently situated), c 26 July 1897. There seem to be two pumping stations on the Kennet and Avon canal, one at Crofton, which was steam powered and one at Claverton, which is powered by the river Avon turning a waterwheel, which raises water from the river, around forty eight feet into the canal, to keep it topped up. The pump at Claverton, according to some of the sources I checked, was opened for business c 1813.
The canal was constructed by a civil engineer called John Rennie the Elder (born c 1761).
Rennie the Elder designed London Bridge, though it was actually his son who finished building it, as
Rennie senior passed away before he could begin work on it. The bridge is now situated on Lake Havesu, in Arizona, where it was relocated after being purchased by Robert McCulloch c 1968.
Travelling around one and a half miles south of the pumping station, would likely bring us to the Dundas Aqueduct, which carries the Kennet and Avon canal, across the river Avon. The Kennet and Avon canal connected to the Sommerset coal canal at the aqueduct but this seems to be no longer operational and has fallen into a state where it is no longer navigable.
The Eastender had to look up what a charter house was but it seems to be a monastery that was run by the Carthusian order. There is a village called Hinton Charterhouse in the location described by the puzzle author and there was a priory of Carthusian monks there c 1222. The only Charterhouse older than this one that I could find, was the one at Witham, which dates to c 1178.
Following the canal East, would bring us to the Avoncliff aqueduct and this lies to the south west of Bradford-on-Avon, which appears to be where c ad652, a Saxon king called Cenwalh of Wessex, did battle with the local British tribes. The Norman bridge in the town had a 'lock up' added to it c 17th century and some references claim that it was a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas (on account of there being a Gudgeon fish on the weather vane above it), while others claim it was a jail for drunks, who while incarcerated there, were said to be 'Under the fish and over the water'.
The Saxon chapel in the town (St Laurence's), is thought to have been built by St Aldhelm (born c 639, feast day 25th May).
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it
Q1. Dundas Aqueduct
Q2. Bradford-on-Avon
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Claverton, next to the river Avon and the Kennet and Avon canal. A twenty three year old statesman, called Winston Churchill, according to the spiel on the American Museum in Britain web site, made his first political speech at Claverton manor (which appears to be where said museum is currently situated), c 26 July 1897. There seem to be two pumping stations on the Kennet and Avon canal, one at Crofton, which was steam powered and one at Claverton, which is powered by the river Avon turning a waterwheel, which raises water from the river, around forty eight feet into the canal, to keep it topped up. The pump at Claverton, according to some of the sources I checked, was opened for business c 1813.
The canal was constructed by a civil engineer called John Rennie the Elder (born c 1761).
Rennie the Elder designed London Bridge, though it was actually his son who finished building it, as
Rennie senior passed away before he could begin work on it. The bridge is now situated on Lake Havesu, in Arizona, where it was relocated after being purchased by Robert McCulloch c 1968.
Travelling around one and a half miles south of the pumping station, would likely bring us to the Dundas Aqueduct, which carries the Kennet and Avon canal, across the river Avon. The Kennet and Avon canal connected to the Sommerset coal canal at the aqueduct but this seems to be no longer operational and has fallen into a state where it is no longer navigable.
The Eastender had to look up what a charter house was but it seems to be a monastery that was run by the Carthusian order. There is a village called Hinton Charterhouse in the location described by the puzzle author and there was a priory of Carthusian monks there c 1222. The only Charterhouse older than this one that I could find, was the one at Witham, which dates to c 1178.
Following the canal East, would bring us to the Avoncliff aqueduct and this lies to the south west of Bradford-on-Avon, which appears to be where c ad652, a Saxon king called Cenwalh of Wessex, did battle with the local British tribes. The Norman bridge in the town had a 'lock up' added to it c 17th century and some references claim that it was a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas (on account of there being a Gudgeon fish on the weather vane above it), while others claim it was a jail for drunks, who while incarcerated there, were said to be 'Under the fish and over the water'.
The Saxon chapel in the town (St Laurence's), is thought to have been built by St Aldhelm (born c 639, feast day 25th May).
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it
Monday, 7 September 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers, this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Trevor Howard
Q2. Margate
The initial huge giveaway clue (might as well just have written the actor's name as write 'Brief Encounter'), places us in Cliftonville, which according to some of the biographies of the famous old British actor who starred in Noel Coward's film, was where Trevor Wallace Howard Smith (aka Trevor Howard), was born, circa 29th of September 1913. His acting debut appears to have been in a play called, 'Revolt in a Reformatory'. Mr Howard liked a good bucket and was on one occasion lifted by the Russians in Vienna, for impersonating an officer.
The second actor was a little harder to track down, a lot of the players in the cast of 'You Know What Sailors Are', seem to have been born abroad but I did eventually track one down who was born in Margate c 1929, one Peter Barkworth. Barkworth starred as one of the traitors ( Berkley, who got his
comeuppance after upsetting Richard Burton in a cable car) in 'Where Eagles Dare', a film which reminds the Eastender of his last skiing holiday.
Margate did have a jetty/pier, which seems to have been closed c 1978. There is a gallery there called the Turner Contemporary Gallery (built by architect David Chipprfield c 2011). JWM Turner used the alias Admiral Booth as he was having a fling with a landlady in the town, called Sophia Booth. On one occasion, after smoking a bit of skunkweed, he declared that "the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe"
The town does seem to have had a lido and the Phoenix that the puzzle author is referring to, is probably the grade II (star) listed , Dreamland scenic wooden rollercoaster, which was such a popular attraction, that people tried to burn it down in 1949, 1957 and as recently as 2008.
NB Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive posting that relates to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Trevor Howard
Q2. Margate
The initial huge giveaway clue (might as well just have written the actor's name as write 'Brief Encounter'), places us in Cliftonville, which according to some of the biographies of the famous old British actor who starred in Noel Coward's film, was where Trevor Wallace Howard Smith (aka Trevor Howard), was born, circa 29th of September 1913. His acting debut appears to have been in a play called, 'Revolt in a Reformatory'. Mr Howard liked a good bucket and was on one occasion lifted by the Russians in Vienna, for impersonating an officer.
The second actor was a little harder to track down, a lot of the players in the cast of 'You Know What Sailors Are', seem to have been born abroad but I did eventually track one down who was born in Margate c 1929, one Peter Barkworth. Barkworth starred as one of the traitors ( Berkley, who got his
comeuppance after upsetting Richard Burton in a cable car) in 'Where Eagles Dare', a film which reminds the Eastender of his last skiing holiday.
Margate did have a jetty/pier, which seems to have been closed c 1978. There is a gallery there called the Turner Contemporary Gallery (built by architect David Chipprfield c 2011). JWM Turner used the alias Admiral Booth as he was having a fling with a landlady in the town, called Sophia Booth. On one occasion, after smoking a bit of skunkweed, he declared that "the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe"
The town does seem to have had a lido and the Phoenix that the puzzle author is referring to, is probably the grade II (star) listed , Dreamland scenic wooden rollercoaster, which was such a popular attraction, that people tried to burn it down in 1949, 1957 and as recently as 2008.
NB Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive posting that relates to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 29 August 2015
Sunday Times Where was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, as viewed through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Cleeve Abbey
Q2. Minehead
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Watchet, in Somerset and legend has it, that it was here c 1797, after walking from his home in Nether Stowey, with William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, that Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was inspired to write his epic nautical poem, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', which was about a swabby who incurred the wrath of a genius loci, after shooting one of the albatrosses that it was responsible for. There appears to be a statue in the hamlet of said ancient mariner with the dead albatross around his neck.
The Vikings appear to have holidayed in Watchet on several occasions, one of them c 988AD. They generally visited places twice, with the purpose of the second visit, being to apologize for the first. The patron saint of Watchet is St Decuman, feast day 27th of August. St Decuman must have been a pretty good mariner himself, as he crossed the Bristol Channel on a raft, with only a cow for company. The local pagans chopped his head off but apparently he picked it up, washed it in a stream and put it back on his shoulders. There appears to be a hiking trail in the area called 'The Coleridge Way',
The West Somerset Railway passes through Watchet and the next stop south west of there, is Washford and from there it is a short walk to Cleeve Abbey (Cistercian c 12th century). The next station along the line is Blue Anchor and South west of there, lies the dorp of Carhampton (patron saint appears to be St Caranog aka St Carantoc, feast day May 16th). St Caranog seems to have sorted out a giant serpent and the cult that worshipped it, for King Arthur.
The penultimate station on the West Somerset Railway, passes close to Dunster Castle, which has been there for around one thousand years, so would be c 11th century in origin. The railway terminates in the town of Minehead and it was here, c 1917, according to some of his biographies, that the science fiction writer and great British genius, Arthur C Clarke was born. He wrote a short story called 'The Sentinel', which may have later become the film 2001. Minehead, from some of the sources I checked, had a seven hundred foot long pier from c 1901 to c 1940, when it was removed, to give the local gun batteries, a clear line of fire, should any of the opposition show up.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive post relating to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. Cleeve Abbey
Q2. Minehead
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Watchet, in Somerset and legend has it, that it was here c 1797, after walking from his home in Nether Stowey, with William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, that Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was inspired to write his epic nautical poem, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', which was about a swabby who incurred the wrath of a genius loci, after shooting one of the albatrosses that it was responsible for. There appears to be a statue in the hamlet of said ancient mariner with the dead albatross around his neck.
The Vikings appear to have holidayed in Watchet on several occasions, one of them c 988AD. They generally visited places twice, with the purpose of the second visit, being to apologize for the first. The patron saint of Watchet is St Decuman, feast day 27th of August. St Decuman must have been a pretty good mariner himself, as he crossed the Bristol Channel on a raft, with only a cow for company. The local pagans chopped his head off but apparently he picked it up, washed it in a stream and put it back on his shoulders. There appears to be a hiking trail in the area called 'The Coleridge Way',
The West Somerset Railway passes through Watchet and the next stop south west of there, is Washford and from there it is a short walk to Cleeve Abbey (Cistercian c 12th century). The next station along the line is Blue Anchor and South west of there, lies the dorp of Carhampton (patron saint appears to be St Caranog aka St Carantoc, feast day May 16th). St Caranog seems to have sorted out a giant serpent and the cult that worshipped it, for King Arthur.
The penultimate station on the West Somerset Railway, passes close to Dunster Castle, which has been there for around one thousand years, so would be c 11th century in origin. The railway terminates in the town of Minehead and it was here, c 1917, according to some of his biographies, that the science fiction writer and great British genius, Arthur C Clarke was born. He wrote a short story called 'The Sentinel', which may have later become the film 2001. Minehead, from some of the sources I checked, had a seven hundred foot long pier from c 1901 to c 1940, when it was removed, to give the local gun batteries, a clear line of fire, should any of the opposition show up.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive post relating to solving the puzzle, he will endeavour to publish it.
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. The Coventry Canal
Q2. Manduessedum
N.B. The Eastender is not one hundred percent sure that Manduessedum is the answer to Q2 but it is in the right location given the author's position and seems to be a good fit with the clues given. So he is taking a punt on Manduessedum being the Roman settlement in question. The modern name for the place, is Mancetter.
The initial clues seem to place us in Stoneleigh Abbey, which lies three miles or so, South west of Lunt Roman fort. Some of the references I checked say that Humphry Repton designed the gardens there.According to some of his biographies, he used to present his designs to his clients, in a red book. The motto 'Tout Vient de Dieu' or 'everything comes from God', appears on the family crest at Stoneleigh Abbey. It also appears to be part Jacobean and part Baroque in design.
Lunt Roman fort is situated just south of the City of Coventry, near the airport. It has both a gyrus and a horreum, with a gyrus (believed to be Greek in origin) being a circular enclosure, where the horses of a Roman cavalry unit, would be corralled. A horreum is a shed where the Roman military kept their emergency grain supplies.They were required to keep a years supply of food in case the cow chips hit the windmill and the fortifications fell under siege.
Coventry canal (completed c 1790), seems to be around thirty eight miles long and starts on the north side of the city. Travelling North from Coventry would likely take the puzzle author past Arbury house. An author called Mary Ann Evans (pen name George Eliot), was born on the Arbury estate, c 1819, at South farm, where her father Robert was the agent. The Arbury estate, according to some of the sources I checked, is thought to be owned by the Newdigate family ( motto "Et decus et pretium recti) , which appears to mean, "both the ornament and reward of virtue" .
North of Arbury hall, lies the town, where according to some of his biographies, a great British engineering genius, called Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was schooled, at Nuneaton Grammar. De Havilland set an altitude record in 1912, when he took one of his aircraft to a height of ten thousand five hundred feet. He also designed the de Havilland Mosquito.
Three miles north west or so from Nuneaton, lies a dorp called Mancetter
, which appears to be built over a Roman pottery town called Manduessedum, which seems to originate c AD 50 to AD 60.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Q1. The Coventry Canal
Q2. Manduessedum
N.B. The Eastender is not one hundred percent sure that Manduessedum is the answer to Q2 but it is in the right location given the author's position and seems to be a good fit with the clues given. So he is taking a punt on Manduessedum being the Roman settlement in question. The modern name for the place, is Mancetter.
The initial clues seem to place us in Stoneleigh Abbey, which lies three miles or so, South west of Lunt Roman fort. Some of the references I checked say that Humphry Repton designed the gardens there.According to some of his biographies, he used to present his designs to his clients, in a red book. The motto 'Tout Vient de Dieu' or 'everything comes from God', appears on the family crest at Stoneleigh Abbey. It also appears to be part Jacobean and part Baroque in design.
Lunt Roman fort is situated just south of the City of Coventry, near the airport. It has both a gyrus and a horreum, with a gyrus (believed to be Greek in origin) being a circular enclosure, where the horses of a Roman cavalry unit, would be corralled. A horreum is a shed where the Roman military kept their emergency grain supplies.They were required to keep a years supply of food in case the cow chips hit the windmill and the fortifications fell under siege.
Coventry canal (completed c 1790), seems to be around thirty eight miles long and starts on the north side of the city. Travelling North from Coventry would likely take the puzzle author past Arbury house. An author called Mary Ann Evans (pen name George Eliot), was born on the Arbury estate, c 1819, at South farm, where her father Robert was the agent. The Arbury estate, according to some of the sources I checked, is thought to be owned by the Newdigate family ( motto "Et decus et pretium recti) , which appears to mean, "both the ornament and reward of virtue" .
North of Arbury hall, lies the town, where according to some of his biographies, a great British engineering genius, called Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was schooled, at Nuneaton Grammar. De Havilland set an altitude record in 1912, when he took one of his aircraft to a height of ten thousand five hundred feet. He also designed the de Havilland Mosquito.
Three miles north west or so from Nuneaton, lies a dorp called Mancetter
, which appears to be built over a Roman pottery town called Manduessedum, which seems to originate c AD 50 to AD 60.
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment related to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Saturday, 15 August 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most Likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Percy Shaw
Q2. Todmorden
The initial clues, seem to place us in the Bradford area, which was home, at one time (Haworth), to a writer called Stan Barstow, who was part of a literary milieu known as the 'Angry Young Men'. The other writers that the puzzle author mentions as being associated with this part of the world, are probably 'The Brontes of Haworth' .
Stan Barstow wrote a novel called 'A Kind of Loving', which was about an angry young man, trapped in a fictional industrial town called Cressley (according to some of his biographies, Cressley, was based on the town of Dewsbury.
Haworth appears to be a suburb of Bradford and driving south south east from there would likely bring us onto the A647 Queensbury to Halifax road, which according to legend, is where the inventor Percy Shaw (born c 15th April 1890, at Heginbottom Fold, 32 Ovenden Road, Halifax), while driving back from the Old Dolphin pub one dark night (c 1933) , had the inspiration to invent 'cat's eyes', as a road safety feature. Prior to this, he had apparently gotten home by following the tram lines shining in his headlamps, but encountered difficulty, after these were removed. Mr Shaw seems to have gone into production of his marvellous invention c 1935.
The puzzle author then probably travels to the Wainhouse Tower, which seems to be a two hundred and fifty three foot high Victorian chimney, with steps inside to enable you to ascend and take in the view. The chimney is located in Calderdale, South west Halifax.
South west of the chimney, lies the town of Sowerby Bridge and it was here, c 1947, that the children's author, Roger Hargreaves, was according to some of his bios, educated at Sowerby Bridge Grammar School. Roger Hargreaves created books about the 'Mister Men' and one of these characters, was called Mr Tickle. The Rochdale canal starts in Sowerby Bridge and the town is also the site of the baptism, c 1834, of the inventor of Linoleum, Frederick Walton.
Following the Rochdale canal west, would bring us to the town of Todmorden, which was until c 1st of January 1888, situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire. Todmorden is where the politician John Fielden was born c 1784. Fielden and lord Ashley passed a bill limiting the amount of hours that women and children could work in factories, to ten hours per day. The Eastender applauds these courageous social reformers, as it is a well known fact, that hard work has killed millions and millions of people.
The town hall at Todmorden, seems to have been built by an architect called John Gibson (born c 1817). Some of the references I checked, claim that there is a one hundred and twenty foot high tower, situated East of Todmorden, called The Stoodley Pike Monument, which was constructed to commemorate the end of the Napoleonic wars c 1814/15. The original monument appears to have collapsed c 1854 and subsequently been rebuilt c1856. The monument sits atop a 1300 foot high eminence.
N.B The Eastender has moved to using moderated comments, due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page but rest assured, if you have a non abusive post relating to solving the puzzle, he will publish it.
Q1. Percy Shaw
Q2. Todmorden
The initial clues, seem to place us in the Bradford area, which was home, at one time (Haworth), to a writer called Stan Barstow, who was part of a literary milieu known as the 'Angry Young Men'. The other writers that the puzzle author mentions as being associated with this part of the world, are probably 'The Brontes of Haworth' .
Stan Barstow wrote a novel called 'A Kind of Loving', which was about an angry young man, trapped in a fictional industrial town called Cressley (according to some of his biographies, Cressley, was based on the town of Dewsbury.
Haworth appears to be a suburb of Bradford and driving south south east from there would likely bring us onto the A647 Queensbury to Halifax road, which according to legend, is where the inventor Percy Shaw (born c 15th April 1890, at Heginbottom Fold, 32 Ovenden Road, Halifax), while driving back from the Old Dolphin pub one dark night (c 1933) , had the inspiration to invent 'cat's eyes', as a road safety feature. Prior to this, he had apparently gotten home by following the tram lines shining in his headlamps, but encountered difficulty, after these were removed. Mr Shaw seems to have gone into production of his marvellous invention c 1935.
The puzzle author then probably travels to the Wainhouse Tower, which seems to be a two hundred and fifty three foot high Victorian chimney, with steps inside to enable you to ascend and take in the view. The chimney is located in Calderdale, South west Halifax.
South west of the chimney, lies the town of Sowerby Bridge and it was here, c 1947, that the children's author, Roger Hargreaves, was according to some of his bios, educated at Sowerby Bridge Grammar School. Roger Hargreaves created books about the 'Mister Men' and one of these characters, was called Mr Tickle. The Rochdale canal starts in Sowerby Bridge and the town is also the site of the baptism, c 1834, of the inventor of Linoleum, Frederick Walton.
Following the Rochdale canal west, would bring us to the town of Todmorden, which was until c 1st of January 1888, situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire. Todmorden is where the politician John Fielden was born c 1784. Fielden and lord Ashley passed a bill limiting the amount of hours that women and children could work in factories, to ten hours per day. The Eastender applauds these courageous social reformers, as it is a well known fact, that hard work has killed millions and millions of people.
The town hall at Todmorden, seems to have been built by an architect called John Gibson (born c 1817). Some of the references I checked, claim that there is a one hundred and twenty foot high tower, situated East of Todmorden, called The Stoodley Pike Monument, which was constructed to commemorate the end of the Napoleonic wars c 1814/15. The original monument appears to have collapsed c 1854 and subsequently been rebuilt c1856. The monument sits atop a 1300 foot high eminence.
N.B The Eastender has moved to using moderated comments, due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page but rest assured, if you have a non abusive post relating to solving the puzzle, he will publish it.
Saturday, 8 August 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Maybole
Q2. Loch Doon Castle
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Kirkoswald, in south Ayrshire, where John Davidson's (aka Souter Johnnie's) cottage lies, on Main road. Davidson was the model for the cobbler in the epic ballad 'Tam O' Shanter', by the whisky poet himself, Robert Burns. The church there appears to have been founded by St Oswald (feast day August 5th). Davidson and Douglas Graham (the model for Tam O' Shanter), are buried in the churchyard.
Travelling north east of Kirkoswald, would bring us to the town of Maybole and it is here. according to some of his biographies, that the road builder John Loudon McAdam (born c 1756) was schooled, under the Scottish parish schools system. A castle which is situated some seven miles southeast or so from Maybole, is Blairquhan castle which was owned by the Kennedy's c 16th century and subsequently rebuilt around 1824 by the architect William Burn, for Sir David Blair. The castle doubled for Balmoral in the 2006 film 'The Queen', starring Helen Mirren.
Driving seven miles east of Blarquhan castle would take us to the town of Dalmellington, where the OS bench mark G624 is situated, on Kirn bridge, over Muck Water. An OS bench mark is a brass or gunmetal plate that is usually attached to a triangulation point.
Six and a half miles south from Dalmellington, takes us to Loch Doon Castle, which is an eleven sided ruined structure, originating from the 13th century, which used to sit on an island in Loch Doon but was subsequently dismantled and painstakingly reassembled c 1935, when that insel slipped beneath the waters, after a hydro-electric project was built on the loch.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it
Q1. Maybole
Q2. Loch Doon Castle
The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Kirkoswald, in south Ayrshire, where John Davidson's (aka Souter Johnnie's) cottage lies, on Main road. Davidson was the model for the cobbler in the epic ballad 'Tam O' Shanter', by the whisky poet himself, Robert Burns. The church there appears to have been founded by St Oswald (feast day August 5th). Davidson and Douglas Graham (the model for Tam O' Shanter), are buried in the churchyard.
Travelling north east of Kirkoswald, would bring us to the town of Maybole and it is here. according to some of his biographies, that the road builder John Loudon McAdam (born c 1756) was schooled, under the Scottish parish schools system. A castle which is situated some seven miles southeast or so from Maybole, is Blairquhan castle which was owned by the Kennedy's c 16th century and subsequently rebuilt around 1824 by the architect William Burn, for Sir David Blair. The castle doubled for Balmoral in the 2006 film 'The Queen', starring Helen Mirren.
Driving seven miles east of Blarquhan castle would take us to the town of Dalmellington, where the OS bench mark G624 is situated, on Kirn bridge, over Muck Water. An OS bench mark is a brass or gunmetal plate that is usually attached to a triangulation point.
Six and a half miles south from Dalmellington, takes us to Loch Doon Castle, which is an eleven sided ruined structure, originating from the 13th century, which used to sit on an island in Loch Doon but was subsequently dismantled and painstakingly reassembled c 1935, when that insel slipped beneath the waters, after a hydro-electric project was built on the loch.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. The Battle of Kilsyth
Q2. A.G. Barr (aka Andrew Greig Barr)
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Kilsyth, north west of Cumbernauld, in the Scottish central region. "N'oubliez', is the motto of the Marquess of Montrose, who was victorious in a battle against a team called 'The Covenanters', just outside of Kilsyth, c 15th August 1645. Travelling east out of Kilsyth would take us past the renaissance style mansion of Colzium house, which appears to have been built c 1783 for the Edmonstone family. Prior to this it had belonged to a good old Jacobite (at this point a glass of red wine should be raised in a toast to the king, over a bowl of water) called William Livingstone, 3rd Viscount of Kilsyth, who was like many Scottish families, declared attainted and had his estates forfeited, after keeping it real on a hunting expedition, went a bit too far (they were probably hunting the dragoons of the upstart Hanoverian pretender to the throne, c 1715).
The former mining town of Kilsyth, lies close to the Antonine wall and the Forth & Clyde canal. Tracking eastward along the navigation, would bring us to the site of Rough Castle Roman fort. The 'Lilia' which are situated next to the fort, are the Roman version of Punji sticks ie they are pits, which at one time were filled with sharpened stakes and covered with brushwood or plant material to conceal them from any unwary attackers. A local historian once told the Eastender, that Falkirk churchyard, has twenty five thousand bodies buried in it, due to all of the fighting that happened in that neck of the woods. The forces of William Wallace (died c 1305) were defeated here in a clash with the nasty old fascist, Edward I, c 1298, while another good old Jacobite general called Lord George Murray (born c 1694), defeated an amateurish royalist general (Henry Hawley), at the battle of Falkirk Muir c 1746.
Falkirk is the birthplace of Andrew Greig Barr, born c 1872 and his most famous drink, Irn Bru, is widely drunk as a restorative in these parts, (mostly after a night out on the beer and whisky, in the Eastender's opinion).The only thing which comes close to being as good at curing what ails you, is coconut water......
Rough Castle, is situated very close the Falkirk Wheel, which by means of an ingenious rotating boat lift, held together with 15,000 bolts, connects the Forth & Clyde Canal, with the Union Canal. Prior to this, eleven locks were required to do the same job and these were demolished c 1933.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. The Battle of Kilsyth
Q2. A.G. Barr (aka Andrew Greig Barr)
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Kilsyth, north west of Cumbernauld, in the Scottish central region. "N'oubliez', is the motto of the Marquess of Montrose, who was victorious in a battle against a team called 'The Covenanters', just outside of Kilsyth, c 15th August 1645. Travelling east out of Kilsyth would take us past the renaissance style mansion of Colzium house, which appears to have been built c 1783 for the Edmonstone family. Prior to this it had belonged to a good old Jacobite (at this point a glass of red wine should be raised in a toast to the king, over a bowl of water) called William Livingstone, 3rd Viscount of Kilsyth, who was like many Scottish families, declared attainted and had his estates forfeited, after keeping it real on a hunting expedition, went a bit too far (they were probably hunting the dragoons of the upstart Hanoverian pretender to the throne, c 1715).
The former mining town of Kilsyth, lies close to the Antonine wall and the Forth & Clyde canal. Tracking eastward along the navigation, would bring us to the site of Rough Castle Roman fort. The 'Lilia' which are situated next to the fort, are the Roman version of Punji sticks ie they are pits, which at one time were filled with sharpened stakes and covered with brushwood or plant material to conceal them from any unwary attackers. A local historian once told the Eastender, that Falkirk churchyard, has twenty five thousand bodies buried in it, due to all of the fighting that happened in that neck of the woods. The forces of William Wallace (died c 1305) were defeated here in a clash with the nasty old fascist, Edward I, c 1298, while another good old Jacobite general called Lord George Murray (born c 1694), defeated an amateurish royalist general (Henry Hawley), at the battle of Falkirk Muir c 1746.
Falkirk is the birthplace of Andrew Greig Barr, born c 1872 and his most famous drink, Irn Bru, is widely drunk as a restorative in these parts, (mostly after a night out on the beer and whisky, in the Eastender's opinion).The only thing which comes close to being as good at curing what ails you, is coconut water......
Rough Castle, is situated very close the Falkirk Wheel, which by means of an ingenious rotating boat lift, held together with 15,000 bolts, connects the Forth & Clyde Canal, with the Union Canal. Prior to this, eleven locks were required to do the same job and these were demolished c 1933.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Rudston
Q2. Danes Dyke
The initial clues seem to place us in one of the Eastender's favourite parts of the big British island, ie the East Riding of Yorkshire, somewhere on the outskirts of the resort town of Bridlington. There appear to be at least four medieval village sites in the vicinity, Hilderthorpe, Wilsthorpe, Auburn and Low Caythorpe. From the directions given in the text, that the resort is three miles or so north north east from the abandoned village's western flank, the author is probably at the site of Auburn village.
Travelling five miles to the west of Bridlington, would bring us to the village of Rudston and this is where a novelist called Winifred Holtby was born c 1898. Ms Holtby wrote a novel called 'South Riding', which has a character in it called 'Sarah Burton. According to some of her bios, after a short but prolific career as a novelist, the poor woman died of Bright's disease at the relatively young age of 37. She was buried in Rudston churchyard, which also appears to be where the twenty five foot monolith is located.
Bridlington claims to be one of Britains busiest shellfish ports and a band leader who joined the municiple orchestra there c 1903, was one Wallace Hartley, who died c 1912, while playing for the last time, on board the RMS Titanic as it sunk beneath the waves.The painter-cum-architect-cum furniture designer is probably William Kent, some of his biographies claim that he was baptised c 1668, in St Mary's church, Bridlington.
Driving east,north east out of Bridlington would take us across a ditch and earthworks called 'Danes Dyke', which crosses Flamborough Head, from north to south. Some of the references I checked claim that this defensive structure was not in fact constructed by Danes at all and is in fact Iron age in origin.There do appear to be remains of a chalk castle (built c 12th century) in the village of Flamborough. Flamborough Head lighthouse, is around eighty seven feet high, with a range of twenty four nautical miles and was designed by an architect called Samuel Wyatt (born c 1737). The Eastender initially thought (and he'd glugged a few ales by this point) that North west of the lighthouse, lies the Flamborough Cliffs Nature Reserve, which the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website, claims is one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe but if you read the comments, you will see that it is actually Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve, which lies north west of the lighthouse.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. Rudston
Q2. Danes Dyke
The initial clues seem to place us in one of the Eastender's favourite parts of the big British island, ie the East Riding of Yorkshire, somewhere on the outskirts of the resort town of Bridlington. There appear to be at least four medieval village sites in the vicinity, Hilderthorpe, Wilsthorpe, Auburn and Low Caythorpe. From the directions given in the text, that the resort is three miles or so north north east from the abandoned village's western flank, the author is probably at the site of Auburn village.
Travelling five miles to the west of Bridlington, would bring us to the village of Rudston and this is where a novelist called Winifred Holtby was born c 1898. Ms Holtby wrote a novel called 'South Riding', which has a character in it called 'Sarah Burton. According to some of her bios, after a short but prolific career as a novelist, the poor woman died of Bright's disease at the relatively young age of 37. She was buried in Rudston churchyard, which also appears to be where the twenty five foot monolith is located.
Bridlington claims to be one of Britains busiest shellfish ports and a band leader who joined the municiple orchestra there c 1903, was one Wallace Hartley, who died c 1912, while playing for the last time, on board the RMS Titanic as it sunk beneath the waves.The painter-cum-architect-cum furniture designer is probably William Kent, some of his biographies claim that he was baptised c 1668, in St Mary's church, Bridlington.
Driving east,north east out of Bridlington would take us across a ditch and earthworks called 'Danes Dyke', which crosses Flamborough Head, from north to south. Some of the references I checked claim that this defensive structure was not in fact constructed by Danes at all and is in fact Iron age in origin.There do appear to be remains of a chalk castle (built c 12th century) in the village of Flamborough. Flamborough Head lighthouse, is around eighty seven feet high, with a range of twenty four nautical miles and was designed by an architect called Samuel Wyatt (born c 1737). The Eastender initially thought (and he'd glugged a few ales by this point) that North west of the lighthouse, lies the Flamborough Cliffs Nature Reserve, which the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website, claims is one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe but if you read the comments, you will see that it is actually Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve, which lies north west of the lighthouse.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Saturday, 27 June 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Weston Park
Q2. Albrighton
The initial clues seem to place us at Lilleshall Abbey, north east of the town of Telford, in Shropshire. The English Heritage web site claims that it was built by Augustinians c 1148. Travelling five miles or so, south east from the abbey, would take us to Weston Park, which was the family seat of the Earls of Bradford (motto Nic Temere, Nec Timide, "neither rashly nor timidly"), until the seventh earl, gifted it to the nation as they could not afford to pay the high death duties on it. The house lies in one thousand acres of parkland, which was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. An architect called 'James Paine' (born c 1717) according to some of the references I checked, built the Temple of Diana there c1760s.
Two miles or so, south south east of Weston Park, lies White Ladies Abbey and this is where Charles II, is said to have holed up c 1651 while on the run. English Heritage, claim that the abbey is 12th century in origin. Driving south from Weston Park would likely take us through the village of Tong, which is thought to be the model for the village that Charles Dicken's used in his book 'The Old Curiosity Shop', which was published c 1841 and this is where the quote "Five and thirty pounds a year in this beautiful place", comes from.
A politician who became president of the board of trade c1823, was William Huskisson. Some of his biographies say that he was educated at Brewood in Staffordshire, Albrighton in Shropshire and Appleby, in Leicestershire. The one which is in the area to fit in with the clues, is most likely Albrighton and this is a short distance south east of Cosford airfield(aka RAF Cosford), which has been home to the RAF's No1 SofTT (School of Technical Training) since c1993. The aerospace museum there, has the three Vs as exhibits and these are not a pop group but examples of some of the Royal Air Force's cold war era V bombers, the Victor, the Valiant and the Vulcan.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. Weston Park
Q2. Albrighton
The initial clues seem to place us at Lilleshall Abbey, north east of the town of Telford, in Shropshire. The English Heritage web site claims that it was built by Augustinians c 1148. Travelling five miles or so, south east from the abbey, would take us to Weston Park, which was the family seat of the Earls of Bradford (motto Nic Temere, Nec Timide, "neither rashly nor timidly"), until the seventh earl, gifted it to the nation as they could not afford to pay the high death duties on it. The house lies in one thousand acres of parkland, which was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. An architect called 'James Paine' (born c 1717) according to some of the references I checked, built the Temple of Diana there c1760s.
Two miles or so, south south east of Weston Park, lies White Ladies Abbey and this is where Charles II, is said to have holed up c 1651 while on the run. English Heritage, claim that the abbey is 12th century in origin. Driving south from Weston Park would likely take us through the village of Tong, which is thought to be the model for the village that Charles Dicken's used in his book 'The Old Curiosity Shop', which was published c 1841 and this is where the quote "Five and thirty pounds a year in this beautiful place", comes from.
A politician who became president of the board of trade c1823, was William Huskisson. Some of his biographies say that he was educated at Brewood in Staffordshire, Albrighton in Shropshire and Appleby, in Leicestershire. The one which is in the area to fit in with the clues, is most likely Albrighton and this is a short distance south east of Cosford airfield(aka RAF Cosford), which has been home to the RAF's No1 SofTT (School of Technical Training) since c1993. The aerospace museum there, has the three Vs as exhibits and these are not a pop group but examples of some of the Royal Air Force's cold war era V bombers, the Victor, the Valiant and the Vulcan.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I ? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Hoy
Q2. Lamb Holm
The initial clues seem to place us at Kirkhope cemetery, near Osmondwall, on the island of Hoy (name derived from the Norse word Haey, for 'high island'), in the Orkneys. If you convert thirty five thousand, five hundred and eighteen acres into square kilometres, you get around one hundred and forty three and this is the figure given for the area of Hoy, in some of the sources I checked. The highest point on the island, from looking at the OS map, seems to be Ward Hill, at four hundred and seventy nine metres, or one thousand five hundred feet, in old money. The puzzle author has been a little crafty here, by calling the site of the memorial to the Longhope lifeboat disaster, which took place c 17 March 1969, a churchyard, as the map does not show a church in the vicinity, thus making it more difficult to locate. A solitary bronze statue stands in the graveyard, looking out towards Cantick Head, where the Longhope lifeboat 'TGB' capsized in a force nine gale, en route to rescue the crew of a Siberian freighter (some references claim that it was 'Liberian') called 'The Irene', resulting in all eight of the crew being lost. The crew of the freighter were rescued by auxiliary coastguards, who fired lines to the ship with rockets. The Cantick Head lighthouse appears to be around seventy two feet high and was constructed by David & Thomas Stevenson c 1858 (not to be confused with the 'Ruff of Cantick' light, which is listed as a navigational beacon).
The writer probably gets the ferry from the port of Lyness and then passes the sparkling sounding island of Cava. The Cava light is listed as being thirty six feet high in some references, not twenty nine but the destination of the ferry north from Hoy, is the port of Houton, on the island of 'Mainland'. After driving east from Houton and passing the naval graveyard of Scapa Flow, you would reach the principle settlement on Mainland, which is Kirkwall and driving six south south easterly miles to the third island, over the causeway on the Churchill barriers, you would arrive at the island of Lamb Holm and a church which was cobbled together from two Nissen huts, by Italian prisoners of war c 1943-1944. The roman numerals MCMXLIV are set in mosiac, in or on the edifice and mean '1944'. Mr Churchill ordered the barriers constructed, after a uboat (U-47), sneaked in to Scapa Flow c 1939 and torpedoed the battleship 'HMS Royal Oak'
Q1. Hoy
Q2. Lamb Holm
The initial clues seem to place us at Kirkhope cemetery, near Osmondwall, on the island of Hoy (name derived from the Norse word Haey, for 'high island'), in the Orkneys. If you convert thirty five thousand, five hundred and eighteen acres into square kilometres, you get around one hundred and forty three and this is the figure given for the area of Hoy, in some of the sources I checked. The highest point on the island, from looking at the OS map, seems to be Ward Hill, at four hundred and seventy nine metres, or one thousand five hundred feet, in old money. The puzzle author has been a little crafty here, by calling the site of the memorial to the Longhope lifeboat disaster, which took place c 17 March 1969, a churchyard, as the map does not show a church in the vicinity, thus making it more difficult to locate. A solitary bronze statue stands in the graveyard, looking out towards Cantick Head, where the Longhope lifeboat 'TGB' capsized in a force nine gale, en route to rescue the crew of a Siberian freighter (some references claim that it was 'Liberian') called 'The Irene', resulting in all eight of the crew being lost. The crew of the freighter were rescued by auxiliary coastguards, who fired lines to the ship with rockets. The Cantick Head lighthouse appears to be around seventy two feet high and was constructed by David & Thomas Stevenson c 1858 (not to be confused with the 'Ruff of Cantick' light, which is listed as a navigational beacon).
The writer probably gets the ferry from the port of Lyness and then passes the sparkling sounding island of Cava. The Cava light is listed as being thirty six feet high in some references, not twenty nine but the destination of the ferry north from Hoy, is the port of Houton, on the island of 'Mainland'. After driving east from Houton and passing the naval graveyard of Scapa Flow, you would reach the principle settlement on Mainland, which is Kirkwall and driving six south south easterly miles to the third island, over the causeway on the Churchill barriers, you would arrive at the island of Lamb Holm and a church which was cobbled together from two Nissen huts, by Italian prisoners of war c 1943-1944. The roman numerals MCMXLIV are set in mosiac, in or on the edifice and mean '1944'. Mr Churchill ordered the barriers constructed, after a uboat (U-47), sneaked in to Scapa Flow c 1939 and torpedoed the battleship 'HMS Royal Oak'
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Sunday TimesWhere Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Chirk
Q2. Henry Robertson
The initial clues, seem to place us in the county of Wrexham, in the town of Chirk, in Wales, which does appear to have a castle and which according to some of his biographies, is where a footballer called William Henry Meredith (aka Billy Meredith) was born, c 1874. Billy Meredith was a teetotaller, non-smoking, dietician, who eschewed the demon drink and tobacco and instead, chewed on toothpicks and matches. His fans used to send him boxes of toothpicks.
The Llangollen canal passes through Chirk and it and the railway, are carried over the Afon Ceiriog, by an aqueduct and a viaduct, respectively. The aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop and is said in some of the sources I checked, to be around seventy feet in height. The railway viaduct appears to have been built by an engineer called Henry Robertson (born c 1816), which some references claim is two hundred and eighty three yards long and around one hundred feet high.
Travelling north north west along the aqueduct, would bring us to the Chirk tunnel which seems to be around thirteen hundred and eighty feet long. The canal passes through the shorter Whitehouse tunnel (around five hundred and fifty seven feet in length) before turning west, away from the railway, which continues north, across the Cefn Mawr viaduct (also built by Henry Robertson).
Tracking the canal to the west, would bring us to the point where it turns in a more northerly direction, where it is carried across the Vale of Llangollen and the Afon Dyrfrdwy, by a world heritage site water feature, called the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which was also built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop. The lime mortar which holds the stones in the pillars, had ox-blood mixed into it and the sections of the iron trough, which carries the canal water over the aqueduct, are to this day sealed with flannel, lead and liquid sugar. The bridge is said to be one thousand feet long and around one hundred and twenty six feet high with a capacity of around three hundred and thirty thousand gallons.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Towcester
Q2. Weedon Lois
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of T[o]wcester, which looks to be in the county of Northamptonshire. Pott and Slurk are characters from Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers', who were involved in a donnybrook which took place in the Saracen's Head Inn, in that burg. Poor old Mr Pickwick, appears to have been caught in the crossfire, when he stopped there for some refreshment.
The Romans called Towcester, Lactodorum and the Latin phrase in the clues 'Hora e Sempra', which means 'Now and Always', is the family motto of the Fermor-Hesketh family and it was Baron H[e]sketh, who founded the Towcester race course c 1876, after a visit from her imperial majesty, Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, who stayed with the Baron at his house, Easton Neston. Easton Neston, was designed by an architect called Nicholas Hawksm[o]or (born c 1661/1662).
A Roman road, near Towcester, is probably the A5, this used to be known as [W]atli[n]g Street and this is also the name of a Battle fought between the Iceni (commanded by Boudica), the Trinivantes, elements of the People's Front of Judea (PFJ) and the Roman army c 60 AD. The Roman's had two legions with them, the Legio XIV Gemina and the XX Valeria Victrix, around ten thousand men, under the command of Gaius Suetonious Paulinus. Paulinus was outnumbered, as Boudica had a much larger army with her but Paulinus, used the topography to his advantage, with a forest behind him and hills either side, so that Boudica's troops had to mount a frontal attack against a better armed, better trained and more disciplined enemy, who had cavalry ready to attack on each flank. The Romans killed about eighty thousand of Boudica's troops and camp followers, with the loss of around four hundred legionaires and the British leader opting to commit suicide, rather than be taken prisoner.
The actual location of the battle is a bit hazy, with some historians claiming that it was fought anywhere from the Midlands, Wroxeter, Mancetter to the Kennet Valley but the nearest alleged battlefield site, which fits with the clues, is probably Cuttle Mill, which lies beside the A5, a short way south east of Towcester.
Another sporting venue, which is south west of Towcester, is the Silverstone racetrack and it was here, c 1967, that a driver called Jim C[l]ark (born c 1936), won the British grand prix for the fifth time. The 'Palatial' and disused arm clue, seems to refer to the Buck[i]ngham arm (disused), of the Grand Union Canal, which lies south east of Silverstone and a sixteenth century building, which is situated north west of the disused canal arm, is likely to be [S]ulgrave Manor, which was at one time, split into three estates, which may be what the 'hatchet job' clue refers to.
The Eastender loves potty eccentric avant garde artists and the writer in question, one [E][d]ith Sitwell (born c 1887), according to some of her biographies, was undoubtedly of this ilk. She published a work called Facade, which was a series of poems, c 1918.
Now collating and rearranging the letters gleaned from the clues :
1. T[O]WCESTER O
2. H[E]SKETH E
3 NICHOLAS HAWKSM[O]OR O
4. [W]ATLI[N]G STREET W N
5. JIM C[L]ARK L
6. GRAND UNION CANAL
BUCK[I]NGHAM ARM (disused) I
7. [S]ULGRAVE MANOR S
8. [ED]ITH SITWELL E D
Gives us the name of the village, which lies about two miles north east of Sulgrave Manor, where Edith Sitwell visited her brother and where they are both buried. The hamlet is called Weedon Lois.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. Towcester
Q2. Weedon Lois
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of T[o]wcester, which looks to be in the county of Northamptonshire. Pott and Slurk are characters from Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers', who were involved in a donnybrook which took place in the Saracen's Head Inn, in that burg. Poor old Mr Pickwick, appears to have been caught in the crossfire, when he stopped there for some refreshment.
The Romans called Towcester, Lactodorum and the Latin phrase in the clues 'Hora e Sempra', which means 'Now and Always', is the family motto of the Fermor-Hesketh family and it was Baron H[e]sketh, who founded the Towcester race course c 1876, after a visit from her imperial majesty, Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, who stayed with the Baron at his house, Easton Neston. Easton Neston, was designed by an architect called Nicholas Hawksm[o]or (born c 1661/1662).
A Roman road, near Towcester, is probably the A5, this used to be known as [W]atli[n]g Street and this is also the name of a Battle fought between the Iceni (commanded by Boudica), the Trinivantes, elements of the People's Front of Judea (PFJ) and the Roman army c 60 AD. The Roman's had two legions with them, the Legio XIV Gemina and the XX Valeria Victrix, around ten thousand men, under the command of Gaius Suetonious Paulinus. Paulinus was outnumbered, as Boudica had a much larger army with her but Paulinus, used the topography to his advantage, with a forest behind him and hills either side, so that Boudica's troops had to mount a frontal attack against a better armed, better trained and more disciplined enemy, who had cavalry ready to attack on each flank. The Romans killed about eighty thousand of Boudica's troops and camp followers, with the loss of around four hundred legionaires and the British leader opting to commit suicide, rather than be taken prisoner.
The actual location of the battle is a bit hazy, with some historians claiming that it was fought anywhere from the Midlands, Wroxeter, Mancetter to the Kennet Valley but the nearest alleged battlefield site, which fits with the clues, is probably Cuttle Mill, which lies beside the A5, a short way south east of Towcester.
Another sporting venue, which is south west of Towcester, is the Silverstone racetrack and it was here, c 1967, that a driver called Jim C[l]ark (born c 1936), won the British grand prix for the fifth time. The 'Palatial' and disused arm clue, seems to refer to the Buck[i]ngham arm (disused), of the Grand Union Canal, which lies south east of Silverstone and a sixteenth century building, which is situated north west of the disused canal arm, is likely to be [S]ulgrave Manor, which was at one time, split into three estates, which may be what the 'hatchet job' clue refers to.
The Eastender loves potty eccentric avant garde artists and the writer in question, one [E][d]ith Sitwell (born c 1887), according to some of her biographies, was undoubtedly of this ilk. She published a work called Facade, which was a series of poems, c 1918.
Now collating and rearranging the letters gleaned from the clues :
1. T[O]WCESTER O
2. H[E]SKETH E
3 NICHOLAS HAWKSM[O]OR O
4. [W]ATLI[N]G STREET W N
5. JIM C[L]ARK L
6. GRAND UNION CANAL
BUCK[I]NGHAM ARM (disused) I
7. [S]ULGRAVE MANOR S
8. [ED]ITH SITWELL E D
Gives us the name of the village, which lies about two miles north east of Sulgrave Manor, where Edith Sitwell visited her brother and where they are both buried. The hamlet is called Weedon Lois.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Whitley Bay
Q2. St Mary's Island
внимание друзья! For Question 2, St Mary's Island, is also called 'Bait Island', on some maps.
Scroll past the pictures for the breakdown and solutions to the puzzle clues:
The Eastender's blogg has been a bit delayed this weekend, due to him being asked by the joint American-Thai contingent, to lead a Munro bagging expedition into the fierce icy and rocky wilderness east of Glen Falloch, with the aim of reaching the summit of a lofty eminence, called Beinn Chabhair. The American-Thai contingent were initially a little concerned at the conditions but after the Eastender had assured them that a temperature of 12 degrees centigrade is regarded as T-shirt weather in this part of the world and that this was the best time to go, as the bracken was only sprouting, thus no jungle, ticks or midges to negotiate, dodge and otherwise hinder our enjoyment of the trip, things soon got underway and we entered the temperate rain forest at the base of the mountain, where we encountered a giant waterfall, which is not visible from the road, before sumitting the Beinn around three hours later. We were passed on the way by a Royal Marine in shorts and T-shirt, travelling at a fair old clip, who cheerily informed us that he was 'just out for my afternoon jog'. We lunched at the summit, where it was two degrees cooler and blowing a hooley and then on the descent, nearly lost one of the team over the aforementioned giant waterfall, when fatigue and loss of concentration caused them to trip and pitch forward at an alarming rate, fortunately they were grabbed before they went over and then admonished with the phrase 'don't do that again! '.
Picture of the Giant Waterfall, which is not visible from the road.
The fierce icy and rocky wilderness:
View from the summit of Beinn Chabhair (933 metres or 3061 feet)
I digress, the initial clues seem to place us in the town of Whitley Bay, in one of the most beautiful counties on the big British island, namely Northumberland. One of the inventors of the windscreen wiper, who was born c 1880, at 4 St Ann's row, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, according to some of his biographies, was a chap called Gladstone Adams. He allegedly came up with the idea after travelling from Newcastle to London to watch a football match, in a primitive car called a Darracq and because it was raining and snowing, had to lower the windshield in order to get a clear view of the road. Adams appears to have been in the RFC and helped arrange the funeral of Baron Von Richthofen. Some of the biographical reference sources, claim that he spent the rest of his life living in Whitley Bay, running a photographic business.
A disaster which occurred c Jan 16 1862, is probably the Hartley Colliery or Hester Pit disaster, in which two hundred and four men lost their lives, when the beam of a pumping engine broke and sent parts tumbling down the only shaft into the mine, blocking it and trapping the workers.
The 'splendid home', in an estate which lies north of Hartley village, is likely to be Seaton Delaval Hall, which was designed by an architect (born c 1664), called Sir John Vandbrugh. The owners of Seaton Delaval hall seem to have been notorious pranksters and it is said that guests could awaken to the sight of a room turned upside down, with the furniture on the ceiling. The place seems to have burned down c 1822, with the fire being reported by sailors off the coast of Northumberland.
A nature reserve two and a half miles south east of the 'splendid home' and which was founded c 1992, is probably St Mary's Island Local Nature Reserve. It was originally designated St Mary's and Curry's Point Local Nature Reserve but is now usually just called St Mary's Island (L.N..R). The island does have a decommissioned lighthouse on it, was constructed c 1897/98 and has 137 steps to the top.
An aircraft which crashed in the area c 1940 was a Hadley Page Hampden bomber Mk 1, L4054, returning from a patrol with a full bomb load , which got into difficulties and circled the lighthouse for ninety minutes signalling SOS, before crashing inland and blowing up, with no survivors. St Mary's is reachable by a concrete causeway, which gets covered by the tide.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. Whitley Bay
Q2. St Mary's Island
внимание друзья! For Question 2, St Mary's Island, is also called 'Bait Island', on some maps.
Scroll past the pictures for the breakdown and solutions to the puzzle clues:
The Eastender's blogg has been a bit delayed this weekend, due to him being asked by the joint American-Thai contingent, to lead a Munro bagging expedition into the fierce icy and rocky wilderness east of Glen Falloch, with the aim of reaching the summit of a lofty eminence, called Beinn Chabhair. The American-Thai contingent were initially a little concerned at the conditions but after the Eastender had assured them that a temperature of 12 degrees centigrade is regarded as T-shirt weather in this part of the world and that this was the best time to go, as the bracken was only sprouting, thus no jungle, ticks or midges to negotiate, dodge and otherwise hinder our enjoyment of the trip, things soon got underway and we entered the temperate rain forest at the base of the mountain, where we encountered a giant waterfall, which is not visible from the road, before sumitting the Beinn around three hours later. We were passed on the way by a Royal Marine in shorts and T-shirt, travelling at a fair old clip, who cheerily informed us that he was 'just out for my afternoon jog'. We lunched at the summit, where it was two degrees cooler and blowing a hooley and then on the descent, nearly lost one of the team over the aforementioned giant waterfall, when fatigue and loss of concentration caused them to trip and pitch forward at an alarming rate, fortunately they were grabbed before they went over and then admonished with the phrase 'don't do that again! '.
The fierce icy and rocky wilderness:
View from the summit of Beinn Chabhair (933 metres or 3061 feet)
Nice view taken on the steep ascent
Some of the other waterfalls encountered on the trip:
A disaster which occurred c Jan 16 1862, is probably the Hartley Colliery or Hester Pit disaster, in which two hundred and four men lost their lives, when the beam of a pumping engine broke and sent parts tumbling down the only shaft into the mine, blocking it and trapping the workers.
The 'splendid home', in an estate which lies north of Hartley village, is likely to be Seaton Delaval Hall, which was designed by an architect (born c 1664), called Sir John Vandbrugh. The owners of Seaton Delaval hall seem to have been notorious pranksters and it is said that guests could awaken to the sight of a room turned upside down, with the furniture on the ceiling. The place seems to have burned down c 1822, with the fire being reported by sailors off the coast of Northumberland.
A nature reserve two and a half miles south east of the 'splendid home' and which was founded c 1992, is probably St Mary's Island Local Nature Reserve. It was originally designated St Mary's and Curry's Point Local Nature Reserve but is now usually just called St Mary's Island (L.N..R). The island does have a decommissioned lighthouse on it, was constructed c 1897/98 and has 137 steps to the top.
An aircraft which crashed in the area c 1940 was a Hadley Page Hampden bomber Mk 1, L4054, returning from a patrol with a full bomb load , which got into difficulties and circled the lighthouse for ninety minutes signalling SOS, before crashing inland and blowing up, with no survivors. St Mary's is reachable by a concrete causeway, which gets covered by the tide.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
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