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. Wapping
Q2. Sir Hugh Willoughby
The puzzle author appears to be revisiting old haunts with this weeks writing. The initial clues seem to place us in Wapping, in London's east end. A sixteenth century antiquary who referred to the main drag there as "a filthy straight passage", is most likely John Stow. The "well travelled writer" born c 1709, who wrote that Wapping had "such modes of life as few could imagine", is probably Samuel Johnson and the quote "awful east, helpless, hopeless" seems to originate from a book called 'The People of the Abyss', by the American writer, Jack London.
A privateer who was hanged at 'Execution Dock' in Wapping c May 23rd 1701, appears to be captain William Kidd and Judge George Jeffreys (born c 1645) was lifted by the bizzies in Wapping, as he tried to flee to Hamburg on a collier vessel. The island referred to in the text is probably Jacob's island, which was a notorious rookery, where Bill Sikes (one of the villains in Dicken's Oliver Twist (published c 1838)), met his demise, in the mud of Folly ditch, after killing his girlfriend Nancy.
A mariner who set forth from Wapping c 1553, in an attempt to find a north eastern passage to India and who probably froze to death in Russia, was Sir Hugh Willoughby (died c1554?). I did find some references to a commerative plaque in his honour, in Shadwell/Wapping. The pub called the Devil's Tavern, is now called 'The Prospect of Whitby' and seems to have had many famous customers who stopped there for a jar or two, amongst them a diarist who wrote his first entry c 1st January 1660, one Samuel Pepys.
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
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Saturday, 21 March 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. Borrowstounness
Q2. John Smeaton
The initial clues seem to place us at Blackness Castle, on the Banks of the river Forth, in West Lothian. The blurb on the visit Scotland website says that it is often referred to as 'The ship that never sailed', because it looks like a great stone ship. It was constructed c 15th century.
Travelling south from there, leads us to the 'House of the Binns'. This is, according to the National Trust for Scotland, a seventeenth century laird's house, which was built for a wealthy merchant called Thomas Dalyell, c 1612. The Binns in question are not in fact trash receptacles but the two hills which the house and estate lie between. The house was at one time home to 'General Tam o' the Binns' (aka Tam the Bam), who c 1681 started a regiment called the 'Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons' which later became known as 'The Royal Scots Greys' c 1877, on account of the type of horses they used. The general used to glug whisky and play Texas Hold 'Em with the devil, and legend has it, that one night upon beating Auld Nick, the devil apparently lost it and threw a marble table at him, which missed and ended up in the pond outside the house.
According to her bio, the author who wrote 'Our Island Story', was Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (born c 1867), and she seems to have been born in the settlement of Borrowstounness (aka Bo'ness), a few miles north west of General Tam's house. The heritage railway mentioned in the puzzle text, is most likely the Bo'ness and Kinneil railway and the two hundred acre estate, two miles to the south west, is probably the Kinneil estate, which contains the ruined cottage, where James Watt constructed his Newcomen engine (apparently, the boiler is still there). A world heritage site called the 'Antonine Wall' (designated as such c 2008 as part of the 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire' world heriatge sites) passes through the estate. The Eastender has walked along this earthworks for part of its course and was amazed to find pits there which are though to have contained punji sticks, long before another army has used them in a much later conflict, in south east asia.
Travelling north west from the Kinneil estate brings us to the site of the Grangemouth oil refinery and this used to be the site of RAF Grangemouth which opened c 1939. The airfield was subsequently demolished to make way for the refinery. A thirty five mile long canal to the west of Grangemouth is probably the 'Forth & Clyde Canal'. To call its builder (John Smeaton, born c 1724) an engineer, is a gross understatement, the guy was a member of the 'Lunar Society' and was by all accounts a polymath and a genius, he built the Eddystone lighthouse and developed a new type of concrete which would set underwater.
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. Borrowstounness
Q2. John Smeaton
The initial clues seem to place us at Blackness Castle, on the Banks of the river Forth, in West Lothian. The blurb on the visit Scotland website says that it is often referred to as 'The ship that never sailed', because it looks like a great stone ship. It was constructed c 15th century.
Travelling south from there, leads us to the 'House of the Binns'. This is, according to the National Trust for Scotland, a seventeenth century laird's house, which was built for a wealthy merchant called Thomas Dalyell, c 1612. The Binns in question are not in fact trash receptacles but the two hills which the house and estate lie between. The house was at one time home to 'General Tam o' the Binns' (aka Tam the Bam), who c 1681 started a regiment called the 'Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons' which later became known as 'The Royal Scots Greys' c 1877, on account of the type of horses they used. The general used to glug whisky and play Texas Hold 'Em with the devil, and legend has it, that one night upon beating Auld Nick, the devil apparently lost it and threw a marble table at him, which missed and ended up in the pond outside the house.
According to her bio, the author who wrote 'Our Island Story', was Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (born c 1867), and she seems to have been born in the settlement of Borrowstounness (aka Bo'ness), a few miles north west of General Tam's house. The heritage railway mentioned in the puzzle text, is most likely the Bo'ness and Kinneil railway and the two hundred acre estate, two miles to the south west, is probably the Kinneil estate, which contains the ruined cottage, where James Watt constructed his Newcomen engine (apparently, the boiler is still there). A world heritage site called the 'Antonine Wall' (designated as such c 2008 as part of the 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire' world heriatge sites) passes through the estate. The Eastender has walked along this earthworks for part of its course and was amazed to find pits there which are though to have contained punji sticks, long before another army has used them in a much later conflict, in south east asia.
Travelling north west from the Kinneil estate brings us to the site of the Grangemouth oil refinery and this used to be the site of RAF Grangemouth which opened c 1939. The airfield was subsequently demolished to make way for the refinery. A thirty five mile long canal to the west of Grangemouth is probably the 'Forth & Clyde Canal'. To call its builder (John Smeaton, born c 1724) an engineer, is a gross understatement, the guy was a member of the 'Lunar Society' and was by all accounts a polymath and a genius, he built the Eddystone lighthouse and developed a new type of concrete which would set underwater.
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
Saturday, 14 March 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. Loch Ba
Q2. Ulva
The initial clues seem to place us at the memorial lighthouse, near Duart point, on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides.The licht is known as Black's Tower, after the novelist William Black (born c 1841, died 1898), it seems to have been designed by the architect Sir William Lieper and completed c 1900. Black wrote several novels, including one titled 'Love or Marriage' c 1867 , which he liked to describe in later years as ' fortunately out of print', as it was not very successful. He also wrote a book called 'A Princess of Thule', which the Eastender is going to download from the archives to have a read of later, to see if Mr Black was a dabbler in the esoteric arts, as he believes that the Silmarillion is about Thule (and some of the very dodgy sects located just across the water to the east of the UK) and that old J.R.R Tolkien's descriptions of it were influenced by Blavatsky's 'The Secret Doctrine' (published c1888 ) and/or by knowledge imparted to him on the subject, by some of the occultists in his circle, 'The Inklings', such as Owen Barfield (disciple of the Theosophist Rudolf Steiner) and Charles Williams (writer of supernatural tales and member of some 'interesting clubs').
I digress, Duart point was said to be one of William Black's favourite places and looking north east from there, he would have been able to see the lighthouse on Eilean Musdile. Some of the sources I checked say that this light is twenty six metres or eighty five feet high and has a range of seventeen nautical miles. There is another beacon located due east of the memorial, called Lady's Rock lighthouse but this is not as high as the one in the description and only has a range of five nautical miles. The lady in question (Lady Elizabeth) was marooned there as crab bait by her delightful ogre of a husband, one of the lords of Duart but seems to have been rescued by a passing fisherman, before the tide came in.
Around 1653, a fleet of six ships dispatched by the psychopath Oliver Cromwell, arrived in the sound of Mull to bombard Duart Castle (built c 13th century) but fortunately the McCleans who lived there had shot the craw to Tiree, before they showed up. The fleet dropped anchor but was hit by a torbellino c 13th September 1653, with three vessels being sunk, one of which (HMS Swan) was later discovered on the sea floor c 1979, by a navy diver, with all sorts of archaeological goodies subsequently being dredged up from it.
Driving north from Duart castle would bring us past Torosay castle, which appears to have been built for John Campbell of Possil (c 1858 ) by architect David Bryce. Continuing north would lead us to the site of the ruined 13th Century 'Aros Castle'. The puzzle author is not kidding when he says this lies in a setting of unimaginable beauty.
Backtracking from Aros Castle, would take us to Salen, where a right turn would bring us onto the B8035 and thence to Gruline, where lies the Mausoleum of Major General Lachlan Macquarie of Ulva (b 1761 d 1824) , aka Governor of New South Wales and Father of Australia. Gruline is near Loch Ba, likely the sheep sounding lake in the clues. Taking the B8073 west out of Gruline, would eventually bring you to the ferry which goes across the water to Ulva, birthplace of said Major General and of the missionary explorer David Livingstone's father.The highest point on Ulva, according to the OS map, is Beinn Chreagach, at one thousand and twenty seven feet or three hundred and thirteen metres,
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. Loch Ba
Q2. Ulva
The initial clues seem to place us at the memorial lighthouse, near Duart point, on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides.The licht is known as Black's Tower, after the novelist William Black (born c 1841, died 1898), it seems to have been designed by the architect Sir William Lieper and completed c 1900. Black wrote several novels, including one titled 'Love or Marriage' c 1867 , which he liked to describe in later years as ' fortunately out of print', as it was not very successful. He also wrote a book called 'A Princess of Thule', which the Eastender is going to download from the archives to have a read of later, to see if Mr Black was a dabbler in the esoteric arts, as he believes that the Silmarillion is about Thule (and some of the very dodgy sects located just across the water to the east of the UK) and that old J.R.R Tolkien's descriptions of it were influenced by Blavatsky's 'The Secret Doctrine' (published c1888 ) and/or by knowledge imparted to him on the subject, by some of the occultists in his circle, 'The Inklings', such as Owen Barfield (disciple of the Theosophist Rudolf Steiner) and Charles Williams (writer of supernatural tales and member of some 'interesting clubs').
I digress, Duart point was said to be one of William Black's favourite places and looking north east from there, he would have been able to see the lighthouse on Eilean Musdile. Some of the sources I checked say that this light is twenty six metres or eighty five feet high and has a range of seventeen nautical miles. There is another beacon located due east of the memorial, called Lady's Rock lighthouse but this is not as high as the one in the description and only has a range of five nautical miles. The lady in question (Lady Elizabeth) was marooned there as crab bait by her delightful ogre of a husband, one of the lords of Duart but seems to have been rescued by a passing fisherman, before the tide came in.
Around 1653, a fleet of six ships dispatched by the psychopath Oliver Cromwell, arrived in the sound of Mull to bombard Duart Castle (built c 13th century) but fortunately the McCleans who lived there had shot the craw to Tiree, before they showed up. The fleet dropped anchor but was hit by a torbellino c 13th September 1653, with three vessels being sunk, one of which (HMS Swan) was later discovered on the sea floor c 1979, by a navy diver, with all sorts of archaeological goodies subsequently being dredged up from it.
Driving north from Duart castle would bring us past Torosay castle, which appears to have been built for John Campbell of Possil (c 1858 ) by architect David Bryce. Continuing north would lead us to the site of the ruined 13th Century 'Aros Castle'. The puzzle author is not kidding when he says this lies in a setting of unimaginable beauty.
Backtracking from Aros Castle, would take us to Salen, where a right turn would bring us onto the B8035 and thence to Gruline, where lies the Mausoleum of Major General Lachlan Macquarie of Ulva (b 1761 d 1824) , aka Governor of New South Wales and Father of Australia. Gruline is near Loch Ba, likely the sheep sounding lake in the clues. Taking the B8073 west out of Gruline, would eventually bring you to the ferry which goes across the water to Ulva, birthplace of said Major General and of the missionary explorer David Livingstone's father.The highest point on Ulva, according to the OS map, is Beinn Chreagach, at one thousand and twenty seven feet or three hundred and thirteen metres,
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
Saturday, 7 March 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. (Isaac) Leslie Hore-Belisha
Q2. Avon Gorge
The initial clues seem to place us at Filton, on the northern outskirts of Bristol. The Bristol Brabazon, which was at the time, one of the largest civil aircraft, first flew from Filton airfield c September 5th 1949 and Concorde also flew from here for the first time, on April 9th, some twenty years later, in 1969.
Around four miles or so south west of the airfield, lies the suburb of Clifton and the College there does seem to have been founded c 1862. It has many famous alumni but the ones who most fit with the hints in the puzzle text are Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha (born c 1893), who introduced amber beacons on top of black and white poles c 1934, to ease the passage of pedestrians across busy roads and Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary (aka Joyce Cary), who in 1947 published a work called 'The Drunken Sailor'. (a tricky bit of misdirection this, the writer John Masefield is also associated with 'The Drunken Sailor' but as a song, though he does not seem to have attended Clifton College).
The puzzle author is then probably standing on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which has around two hundred and fifty feet of clearance beneath it and the river Avon, which flows through a three hundred and eighty four acre site of special scientific interest (SSSI) called Avon Gorge. The minerals Celestine (SrSO4) and Calamine (ZnCO3) can be found in the gorge.
A six hundred and fifteen mile path which passes close to Avon Gorge, is probably 'Monarch's Way', which is alleged to trace the route followed by King Charles II, after the battle of Worcester. The football club may be Bristol City, as they seem to have been runners up in division one c 1907 and a wine merchant called William Vick according to some sources, left £1000 in his will for the construction of a bridge across the Avon Gorge.
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. (Isaac) Leslie Hore-Belisha
Q2. Avon Gorge
The initial clues seem to place us at Filton, on the northern outskirts of Bristol. The Bristol Brabazon, which was at the time, one of the largest civil aircraft, first flew from Filton airfield c September 5th 1949 and Concorde also flew from here for the first time, on April 9th, some twenty years later, in 1969.
Around four miles or so south west of the airfield, lies the suburb of Clifton and the College there does seem to have been founded c 1862. It has many famous alumni but the ones who most fit with the hints in the puzzle text are Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha (born c 1893), who introduced amber beacons on top of black and white poles c 1934, to ease the passage of pedestrians across busy roads and Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary (aka Joyce Cary), who in 1947 published a work called 'The Drunken Sailor'. (a tricky bit of misdirection this, the writer John Masefield is also associated with 'The Drunken Sailor' but as a song, though he does not seem to have attended Clifton College).
The puzzle author is then probably standing on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which has around two hundred and fifty feet of clearance beneath it and the river Avon, which flows through a three hundred and eighty four acre site of special scientific interest (SSSI) called Avon Gorge. The minerals Celestine (SrSO4) and Calamine (ZnCO3) can be found in the gorge.
A six hundred and fifteen mile path which passes close to Avon Gorge, is probably 'Monarch's Way', which is alleged to trace the route followed by King Charles II, after the battle of Worcester. The football club may be Bristol City, as they seem to have been runners up in division one c 1907 and a wine merchant called William Vick according to some sources, left £1000 in his will for the construction of a bridge across the Avon Gorge.
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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