Canny lass

I'll respond to that on Heather's topic.

Now, I'm not one for taking credit where credit isn't due BUT did you notice how Andy had fixed it within a few minutes of my advice/suggestion?

We can all be cerebrally challenged at times!

Have you tried twiddling the hoojackapivvy on the whotsit? Failing that a good old slap to the thingamyjig might do the trick! No need to thank me lads.

Definitely not, Heather! We love any historical challenge! Welcome to the forum. I've had a look at the names but there's nothing that rings any bells except Trotter and that's because of Bedlington's connection with Dr. Trotter. It's an interesting, if gruesome, bit of history though and nothing I've ever heard about. Thanks for sharing it.

Answers to last wek's quiz: 1. Boer war 2. Wuthering Heights 3. John Cannon 4. Goldie 5. 15 6. Patella 7. Silicon 8. Zephyr 9. Poliomyelitis 10. Barbara Streisand 11. Yearling 12. Telephone (dog and bone – usually shortened to ‘dog’) New quiz tomorrow!

I'm a bit late in asking but is it a permanent feature, all year round, or do they just bring it out at Easter? If it's all year round do you know why?

It's Friday night, it's quiz night! 1. Which war was fought between 1899 and 1902? 2. In which house did Catherine Earnshaw live? 3. Who owned the High Chaparral ranch? 4. In 1965 an eagle escaped from the aviary at London Zoo. What was its name? 5. How many players did England use in the 1966 Football World Cup Finals? 6. Which bone can be found between the femur and the tibia? 7. What is the principal chemical element found in sand? 8. Which model of car, produced by Ford in the 1960s, was named after the Greek word for west wind? 9. Which disease is prevented by the Sabin vaccine? 10. Which singer has released duets with Donna Summer, Neil Diamond and Barry Gibb? 11. What is a horse called when it is 12 months old? 12. In Cockney slang which device is referred to as a ‘dog’? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. The average new-born baby spends 133 minutes a day crying. Answers on Thursday as usual,

Nice to see the park area being put to good use! It's a lovely area and a natural theatre. Well done

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. A traditionally decorated Ukrainian Easter egg 2. A bilby 3. Dairy products 4. Peter Carl Fabergé 5. The pagan goddess Eostre 6. Rebirth 7. Burials 8. Germany 9. Rutherford B. Hayes 10. To set a fixed date for Easter 11. No 12. 30 days 13. 2,589 kg (5 lb 11.36 oz) ostrich egg laid in Borlänge, Sweden 17 May 2008. 14. Pancake Day. Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday are also acceptable 15. Chile 16. April 16 17. Maundy Thursday 18. United Kingdom 19. Shrove Tuesday 20. Spanish 21. Hot cross bunnies. New quiz tomorrow!

Confused, Vic? What I'm trying to say is that "sack" has never meant wine. In more modern day parlance, wine is a noun and sack is the adjective that describes the wine as being dry. The modern day name would therefore be HONEY DRY FARM. This just doesn't sound right for a farm name. Mind you, neither does Honey Sack Farm. I'm hoping John can let us see the original of those three handwritten words.

Here it is - the Easter special with lots of easter related questions, a few extra and a special bonus question. Happy Easter to everyone: 1. What is pysanka? 2. What do Australians use to symbolize Easter instead of a rabbit? 3. According to tradition, Hot Cross Buns are made without which ingredient? 4. Who was the jeweler famous for making ornate Easter eggs for the Russian royal family? 5. From what does Easter get its name? 6. What is the Easter egg supposed to symbolize? 7. In 1592 a British monarch banned the sale of hot Cross buns on any day except Easter, Christmas and on one other occasion. Which occasion? 8. From which country did the concept of the Easter bunny originate? 9. Which American President rolled the first, annual White House Easter egg? 10. What was the main objective of the Easter Act of 1928 which never came into force? 11. Is the Easter Bunny ever mentioned in the Bible? 12. The period of fasting before Easter is called Lent. What is the duration of Lent? 13. What is the weight of the largest (real) egg on record? 14. What is the more popular/common name for Shrove Tuesday? 15. Easter Island belongs to which country? 16. Easter fell on which date 2017? 17. What do we call the day which falls 3 days before Easter? 18. Which country introduced the tradition of Hot Cross buns at Easter? 19. What is the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday or Shrove Tuesday? 20. Pascua is the name for Easter in which language? 21. BONUS question: What do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. The world’s largest Easter egg weighs in at 5,000 lbs. it stands 31 ft tall and 18 ft wide and can be found near our good friend, Vic, in Alberta, Canada. It took 12,000 hours to make and is actually a jig-saw rather than a sculpture, as it’s made from 3,500 pieces of aluminium.

I think mine was too! However, i did get to taste a Thorntons egg ( a very small piece of) a couple of times in my childhood. My sister worked for Berthe Burns in her 'Tea Rooms in Morpeth and Bertha was very generous at Xmas and Easter when her employees recieved a small box of chocolates (Xmas) or a chocolate egg (Easter) - always from Thorntons.

Sounds lovely! ... and that’s an interesting theory, James. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we’ve had such an establishment in Bedlington! Unfortunately, I think there are a few holes in the theory. The Old English (OE) period in the development of the English language was 700 – 1100 AD. That’s more or less the period from the arrival to Britain of the Vikings through to the arrival of William the Conqueror and long before 1739. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (ODEE) there was already during that time a word for wine in the English language – win (pronounced ‘ween’). This was the same word in Old Norse and in Old High German and it seems to have been part of the normal development of the word winam in the Germanic languages – from which English is descended. At that time, English also had a word for Mead – meodu - and even this seems to have arisen as part of the natural progression of the Germanic word meduz through the same group of languages as seen in: Old High German - metu or mitu and Dutch – mede. (Point of interest: It’s from the same source that we get the word methylated). This begs the question, why did English introduce sack as another word for wine? According to the same source, ODEE, the first recorded use of the word sack, when related to alcoholic beverages, is found in writings from the sixteenth century. (In its relation to the coarse textile (sackcloth) or the bags made from it, it appears a couple of hundred years earlier). However, in relation to alcohol, the meaning of sack was very specific. It didn't relate to just any fortified wine but related generally to a specific "class of white wines from Spain and the Canaries” and the original spelling would have been “ (wyne) seck” meaning dry (wine). ODEE goes on to say that [seck] may originally have been “applied to wines of the sherry class, but later applied to others”. The Sherry connection would cover your theory on fortified wines; however, it seems that sack referred not to the wine itself but rather to one particular quality of wine – dryness. You might recognize it today as sec on French wines or seco on Spanish wines. The alteration from OE seck to modern English sack is not explained but there are, throughout the history of the development of our language, many instances of changing vowel sounds in speech which lead to changes in spelling. Too many to go into here.

Answers to last wek's quiz: 1. Domesday book 2. Cambria 3. Otter 4. He required an emergency appendectomy 5. George Bush 6. Paradine 7. Glue 8. King Hussein of Jordan 9. Egg 10. Gottlieb Daimler 11. Richard Adams 12. Dennis the Menace The quiz tomorrow will be an Easter Special! Anyone remember this one from 1950?

Not a problem! I do like a challenge and linguistics can be used to solve many historical conundrums. PS gardening questions are also welcome!

I had another look at this, but from a linguistic point of view. The English language has changed a great deal since 1739 so I was looking for similarities or changes in spelling that might have occurred. I didn't find any and the word forms have existed as written for several centuries prior to 1739. I did see one thing that got me thinking though. I know from my own experience that old handwriting can be difficult to decipher. As I mentioned above, some letters can easily be confused. Something I do is to look at the shape of words as well as the orthographic construction. Words have distinct and comparable shapes according to how they are spelled. If we consider a word as a straight line, there will be deviations upwards and downwards (rises and falls) from the line if the word contains: capital letters, which will produce a rise. The letters b, d, f, h, k, l and t will also produce a rise. while the letters f, g, j, p, s and y will produce a fall (the old 'f' and 's' had a tail. There are even some variations depending on the year of writing as hand style has also changed over the years. 'Honey' begins with a rise and ends with a fall. 'Sack' begins and ends with a rise. Using that pattern I've had a look around some old maps. I found something interesting, to me at least. A name that pops up often is Coney Garth (same pattern) just north east of Bothal It’s a huge farm with seemingly huge amounts of land. I’ve found it as far back as the OS First series 1805-1869 and a reference to it on Speed’s 1610 map as Cunny Garth. It might be worth thinking about if the hand style is difficult to read.

Thanks Eggy! I've had another look at the death certificate after reading your reply and I think it is only one word 'Chargeman' but the handstyle isn't the best so I can't be certain. Myself, I was wondering if "charge" could be anything to do with explosives.

Don't thank me Vic! Thank the corona viruset that's forcing me (and many others) to find ways of keeping track of the days, weeks and months when the usual landmarks have been obliviated by restrictions. The usual group activities that divided up my week: water aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Spanish group on Mondays and OAP group on Friday are no longer fixed points. We've had to find other landmarks. For me that's become: Letter writing on Tuesdays (I've adopted two elderly people in residential care and they both get a letter in the post on Wednesday/Thursday). I hope that's a landmark for them as well, now that visiting is restricted. Thursday I prepare a quiz for friends and family and post the answers to the previous week. Friday I post the new quiz. Wednesday night has become 'Tapas night'. We are steadily working our way through a Tapas recipe book I got from a spanish friend. Mind you, some of the ingredients are hard to get here. There doesn't seem to be any great demand for bull's testicles (sliced and fried are delicious apparently) or pigs blood. I wonder why!! We reckon we'll get another 10 Wednesday nights out of the book then we'll have to fill the slot with something else. I'm glad you like the quiz. It's not a bad idea to keep the grey cells active, particularly in these trying times.

Can any of you miners help me? On a death certificate dated 1913 the profession of the informant is given as "Coal miner (Charge man)". Previously the same person has been recorded as Coal miner, Hewer (underground) so there seems to have been some sort of change. Can anyone tell me what a "Charge man" is/was?

I can't help you there i'm afraid. I've never heard of it. I think it's an odd name - honey and sack are not two words I'd automatically put together. 'Money Sack' might be better. H and M are sometimes hard to distinguish in old handwriting. There's a farm and a place at Stannington called 'Make me rich' and I understand that it's an old name, so Money Sack sounds feasible. I do know that the second Lord of the manor married into a coal-mining family and bought land all over the area which probably included many farms. I have a book somewhere about the Ridley estate. Heaven knows where but I'll see if I can find it. It might give a clue.

New reports today indicate that covid restrictions here will probably continue for a few months at least! There are endless problems with obtaining vaccines and endless changes to the priority listing of recipients of said vaccine. Looks like you'll have to put up with my quiz a while longer. It breaks the week up for me and provides a fast point in my existence as well as polishing the old bumps of knowledge. I hope it's doing the same for you! This week I am asking: 1. William the Conqueror ordered the compilation of which historical log? 2. What is the Medieval Latin name for Wales? 3. What type of animal lives in a holt? 4. Why was the coronation of Edward VII delayed for six weeks? 5. When Ronald Reagan was President who was his vice president? 6. What is David Frost’s middle name? 7. What binding medium is used in gouache painting? 8. Which king married and divorced an Englishwoman name Toni Gardiner? 9. Which ingredient, vital to choux pastry is missing from puff pastry? 10. Which German motor car manufacturer produced the first motorcycle by fixing an engine to a frame in 1885? 11. Who wrote Watership Down? 12. Who had a dog called Gnasher? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. Tutankhamen’s coffin weighs 2 450 lb. Answers on Thursday next week.

Well, I for one, can't agree with that. I get a greater quantity of intelligible information from your reports than I get from some other sources - the operative word here being 'intelligible'. A (comparitively) short, plain, no nonsense, down-to-earth text that simply tells it like it is, gets more points from me than a long-winded, multi-page report full of tables, figures, and terminology - and I say that as a woman with a master's degree in English.

I'd like to make a slight change to that last sentence - 'Some of us ARE making things happen' would be more accurate. OK, some of these things are not moving mountains but even the little things - like easy access to a shovel full of grit, can make a real big difference. It's great that somebody realizes that and gets to grips with the problem. Keep up the good work Malcolm. PS I'm loving these video reports. More like this please!

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. Oil, pitch or anything flammable. ‘Fire’ is also acceptable. 2. Leicestershire 3. Coracle 4. Sundew 5. Paul Gascoigne 6. None 7. Mae West 8. Florence Nightingale 9. Zinc 10. Walk on the moon 11. Prince Harry 12. Porsche Spyder New quiz tomorrow.