Saturday 31 January 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 Chesterfield Canal


Q2.  Donald Pleasence



The initial clues seem to place us at the Barrow Hill Roundhouse, near Staveley, in Derbyshire.The 'roundhouse' is a railway turntable which is housed in a square shed and some of the references I checked, claim that it was constructed c 1870. Travelling seven miles or so north east of the 'roundhouse', would bring us to the Chesterfield Canal, which according to the OS map, has a railway running beside it for several miles.

M&LUR&C&GCC seems to stand for 'Manchester & Lincoln Union Railway & Chesterfield & Gainsborough Canal Company. The Chesterfield canal appears to have been opened  c 1877, seems to be around forty six miles in length and have sixty five locks according to some of the web pages describing it. The engineer who was mainly responsible for its construction was called James Brindley (died c 1772). The tunnel the puzzle author refers to in the clues is most likely, the Norwood tunnel. This was said to have been three thousand one hundred and two yards long at one time, although it subsequently suffered from a roof fall c 1907, due to mine workings being operated above it by the Kiveton Park Colliery Company.

The OS map shows fifteen locks on the north west side of Worksop, near the village of Shireoaks, which legend says got its name from the fact that an oak tree there overhung the counties of Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, although the tri point is now near Netherthorpe airfield. The quarry near the village of South Anston, supplied some of the stone used in the construction of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Worksop (62 Potter Street), was the birthplace c 1919 of a great old British actor, Donald Pleasence (who starred as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in the James Bond film 'Du Lebst Nur Zweimal' and as a forger in 'The Great Escape', to name a few of his films). According to some of his bios, Pleasence was married four times and made his debut playing Hareton in Wuthering Heights, c 1939. The walk along the Chesterfield Canal, is known as the Cuckoo Way.




Saturday 24 January 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. Aberdeen



Q2. Balmedie (or Belhelvie)

внимание друзья! For question 2, there is another village called Balmedie, very close to Belhelvie but all the sources I looked at say that the ordnance survey five mile one hundred foot base line, was called the 'Belhelvie Baseline', so the Eastender is taking a punt on the answer being Belhelvie (although the line may have passed through Balmedie, not been able to find a map which shows the exact location). I found some documentation which says that the base line started at Strathbathie hill and ended at Leyton, Menie, which would take it through or very close to Balmedie village and the beach, on current maps.

The initial clues seem to place us in the city of Aberdeen.Some of the sources I checked claim that Aberdeen FC was founded c 14th April 1903 and Aberdeen university appears to have been founded c 1495 and has a chapel with a tower called 'The Crown Tower'. The cathedral that the puzzle author visits, is most likely to be St Machar's, named after a sixth century saint, whose feast day is 12th November. It is situated close to the river Don (northernmost of the city's two rivers), next to a loop, which does bear some resemblance to a bishops crozier (crook). St Machar's is no longer a cathedral (ceased being one c 1690) and is now what is known in the trade, as a 'High Kirk'. A poet born c 1330, who wrote 'The Bruce' and is said to be buried at St Machar's, is probably John Barbour.


Balgownie bridge (aka Brig O' Balgownie and Byron's Bridge) has a span of around sixty seven feet and is mentioned in George Gordon Noel Byron's (born 1788) longest work 'Don Juan', written c 1819:

"As 'Auld Lang Syne' brings Scotland, one and all,
Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills, and clear streams,
The Dee, the Don, Balgounie's brig's black wall,

All my boy feelings, all my gentler dreams"


Some of Byron's biographies say he went to the school run by Mr Bowers in Aberdeen and Aberdeen Grammar.The writer most likely travels north to the village of Belhelvie, where a surveyor called Thomas Colby between 1814 and 1817, sought a suitable location for a baseline from which to carry out a trigonometrical survey of the Deeside area. Each end of the line was apparently marked with a post which had a brass plate on top, these were subsequently supposed to have been replaced with old gun barrels sunk vertically at each end point, but local landowners moved the original markers before they arrived. Some of the literature on the subject, says that the baseline started at Strathbathie hill and ended at Leyton, Menie, which would take the line through Balmedie but whether Balmedie was actually there when the survey was done initially, is a good question.

Saturday 17 January 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. Caernarfon


Q2. Thomas Cook


The initial clues seem to place us at the remains of the Roman fort of Segontium, which now lies within the town of Caernarfon, in Wales. According to some sources, Welsh legend says that the emperor Constantine the Great was born within the fortifications c 272 ad, while others say he was born in Serbia. Some of the references I checked, claim that Segontium covers an area of six acres.

Caernarfon castle was built c 13th century by the completely hatstand Edward the first. Looks like it has more than seven towers but think two of them are actually gate houses, so possibly don't qualify. The walls do appear to have horizontal layers of different coloured stone in them. The fortress houses a museum to the oldest infantry regiment in Wales, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers (no doubt full of very interesting stuff acquired from the various places the army have 'visited' over the last three hundred years). The town itself is walled and the walls have eight towers and two gateways.

The novelist Amy Roberta Ruck lived in Caernarfon for a time and some of her biographies claim that she was educated at home there. She wrote several novels including one published c 1929, 'The Unkissed Bride' and a British prime minister who won the by election at Caernarfon c 1890 is probably David Lloyd George, some references say he won by eighteen votes, some say nineteen.

Some of Thomas Cook's (a travel agent born c 1808) biographies, say that he ran his first excursion to make a profit c 1845, from Liverpool to Caernarfon and Mount Snowdon. The heritage railway in the clues, is probably the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, which is around twenty five miles long and has a terminus at Caernarfon.

Sunday 11 January 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. Colchester


Q2. Sir George Biddell Airy


The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Colchester, in the county of Essex. According to English heritage, there does seem to an Augustinian priory there, St Botolph's, which was built c 1100. It was badly damaged by cannon fire during the English civil war and the seige of 1648. Work on Colchester castle, which according to some references, was built upon the site of the Temple of Claudius, started c 1076. The dimensions of the keep are given as one hundred and fifty two feet by one hundred and twelve feet, giving an area of  seventeen thousand and twenty four square feet. This makes it one of the largest in Europe.

The quote about "Britain is/a world by itself" appears to originate with Shakespeare and can be found in his play 'Cymbeline'. The lines containing it are spoken by a character called Clotten: 

"There be many Caesars,
Ere such another Julius. Britain is
A world by itself; and we will nothing pay
For wearing our own noses. "

Cymbeline was Shakespeare's name for Cunobelin, king of the Catuvellani, who minted coins there c 10 ad. The CAM on the coins probably refers to the Celtic name for the town Camulodonum. The settlement has a team of Fallschirmjager garrisoned there (The 16th Air Assault Brigade formed c 1999) and their insignia is maroon and blue with an eagle on it. The author referred to seems to be Margery Allingham (born c 1904). She published some books with a character who was a type of detective/counter intelligence agent, called Albert Campion. Campion had a criminal sidekick called Lugg and the first novel (published c 1929) was called "The Crime at Black Dudley". Allingham was educated at Endsleigh House School, Colchester c 1915 - 1918.

Jumbo probably refers to a water tower in Colchester, built c 1883, which is said to be around one hundred and sixteen feet high. The mill referred to is most likely Bourne mill, which is set in a idyllic location and looks like it might once have been inhabited by Hobbits. The National Trust web page says it used to be a fishing lodge (constructed c 1591 and converted into a mill c 18th century). Travelling west from the mill,  brings us to Grymes Dyke, Iron age earthworks which were probably built by Cunobelin for defence of the town's western edge.

An astronomer royal, born c 1801 and educated at Byatt Walker's School, in Colchester, is probably Sir George Biddell Airy.


Saturday 3 January 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. Sir (Edwin) Hardy Amies



Q2. The Thames


The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Longworth, in Berkshire and it is hear that a fruit grower and novelist called Richard Dodderidge Blackmore was born (in the Vicarage) c 1825. He published among other titles, a three volume work, called 'Springhaven' c 1887. A poet laureate who wrote a piece called Naucratica, is probably Henry James Pye (born c 1745). According  to some of his bios, Pye lived in several places, Knotting in Bedfordshire, Queen Street in Westminster, Pinner in Middlesex and Great Faringdon, in Berkshire. Faringdon seems to be the closest fit with the clues, as it is eight miles or so to the west of Longworth.

On the east side of Faringdon, lies a hill known locally as Folly Hill and it is here that Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt Wilson (aka fourteenth Baron Berners, born c 1833) built a one hundred foot high tower. There seems to be a circa 12th century castle marked on the OS map for the site also and Cromwell appears to have stationed some of his goon squad there with a cannon, during the late unpleasantness of the English civil war. The Baron was a composer of sorts and entertained many celebrities, including Salvadore Dali (who put the piano in the pond and sticky buns on the keyboard), at Faringdon house.

Three miles to the north west of Folly Hill, lies Kelmscott Manor and this was leased by a wallpaper designer called William Morris (born c 1834) and a painter called Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Morris was buried in Kelmscott churchyard. Located a few miles to the north of Kelmscott, is the village of Langford and it is here that a dress designer/maker called Sir Edwin Hardy Amies (born c 1909) remains were interred. He was granted a royal warrant c 1955.

The three counties tri point, which from looking at various maps seems to be where the boundaries of the unitary authorities for Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire meet, lies in the river Thames, near the eastern edge of Lechlade On Thames. The river cole forms part of one of the boundaries and the Isis another but the three seem to meet in the Thames proper.