INTERESTING FACT OF THE DAY

Pendennis Castle, in Falmouth, Cornwall, was the last Royalist garrison to hold out for the King in the English Civil War. After a siege by the New Model Army of about 3 months - in which the soldiers ate their horses and then when the meat ran out they foraged for shellfish off the beach - the Castle surrendered in August 1646, so marking the end of the first English Civil War.

[Stingo]

Eggbuckland, an area of Plymouth derives from the name of the estate 'Bocheland' which was held by deed by Lord Heche a jolly long time ago...
see here..http://www.eggbucklandhistory.co.uk/


Also, Crownhill was where the crown parked their army during the ECW prior to their attempt at laying seige to Plymouth...no doubt someone will come along with a dit about 'Freedom Fields' in a mo.

Not bored or anything.

Riding past fields today I wondered why the Rape plant is so called. Yes I know its an odd one, but its always struck me as an odd name for a plant.

It derives from the latin rapum which means turnip. Rape as in sexual assault derives from the latin rapere meaning to seize, meaning the plant name has no common derivation but just ended up with the same spelling.

Legendary cricketer W.G. Grace once hit a ball 36 miles after a shot landed on a passing steam train.

Phobia is Greek for fear. Here are some lesser known phobias

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - Fear of the number 666
Motorphobia- Fear of automobiles
Paraskavedekatriaphobia- Fear of Friday the 13th.
Parthenophobia- Fear of virgins or young girls.
Venustraphobia - Fear of beautiful women.

[Lissa]

With pressure on to win air superiority in 1940, local 'Spitfire funds' were established to allow communities to do their bit.

Rugby Cement gave £5,000............about £200,000 equivalent today..............and the Spit was named Crowncrete after one of the company's premium brands of cement.

Originally Posted by lynw

Not according to wikipedia where it says the town is on a small stream called the Gavenny and the Usk river.

The ordanance survey map shows the gavenny river running through it, hence the aber gavenny from which it derives its name.

Gavenny is the English name for it, I believe.

Last Wednesday morning, northern Norway was hit with a meteorite impact comparable to the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima.

'kin 'ell lad.

Norway is a lovely place. Why would God want to break it? Maybe he is testing us. Or punishing them for gay marriage. Yeah. That was probably it. Gay marriage.


We tried to warn you.

The largest brick built warehouse in the world is in Liverpool and was used for storing tobacco.
(soon to be converted into luxury apartments)

The largest clock faces in the whole of England are those on the Liver Building in Liverpool.

Here's a topical one for today.
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.