God's Own County

Flying Scotsman or Not

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Hortoris

bolton-abbey-steam

Sorry I need to get out and find a photograph of the real thing.

Flying Scotsman in Yorkshire

A free exhibition until 19th June in The National Railway Museum Gallery. It is focusing on the celebrity of arguably the world’s most famous locomotive.

Why is Flying Scotsman so well-known and how has that fame manifested itself?
What is it about this particular engine that has captured the imagination of generations worldwide?
Where can we see the engine in full steam?
Capture some truly special shots at our morning and evening photography sessions. This event takes place at Locomotion Shildon

1 June	The Tynesider (Cleethorpes to Morpeth via York)
15 June	London Euston to Holyhead (Flying Scotsman hauling Crewe to Holyhead return)
25 June	The Yorkshireman (London Victoria to York)
2 July	The Hadrian (Leicester to Carlisle)
10 July	The Waverley (York to Carlisle)
17 July	The Waverley (York to Carlisle)

Posted in Transport and Travel | Comments Off

Duncan Preston Soap and Shakespearian Actor

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Hortoris

How many Yorkshire actors do you know that combine soap humor and Shakespeare? Well straight from The Bradford Playhouse and the Civic Playhouse via RADA I give you the career to date of Duncan Preston.
Duncan Preston is a Bradford-born actor who recently starred as Doug Potts in ITV’s Emmerdale. Duncan has now moved back from London, where he studied and excelled at RADA, to live near ‘Hotten’.

Duncan is well known for his roles in the TV sitcoms Dinnerladies, Surgical Spirit and Acorn Antiques. His successful collaboration with the late Victoria Wood has seen him take on many characters in Victoria’s sketch shows and her All Day Breakfast.

Duncan Preston’s impressive range of theatre credits include roles in various Royal Shakespeare Company productions such as Romeo & Juliet and Midsummer Nights Dream.
Duncan must be hard working as his TV credits include roles in The Professionals, All Creatures Great and Small, Bergerac, Heartbeat, My Family, Casualty, The Bill, Harry Enfield and Chums (as Kevin the teenager’s Dad) Robin of Sherwood, Coronation Street, The New Statesman, Press Gang, Boon, Peak Practice, Coogan’s Run, Midsomer Murders and Holby City.

Film credits include A Passage to India, Porridge, If Tomorrow Comes, Pat & Margaret, Happy Since I Met You, Scandalous, Macbeth and Milk

A range of DVD’s featuring Duncan Preston are available from Amazon. Try to raise a laugh, titter or smile when you go back down memory lane watching any of the classic series that featured Duncan.

Duncan Preston Other Interests

Duncan is a passionate supporter of The Alzheimers Society

The Bradford-born actor has been watching the Bradford Bulls play since the age of three, and that is in the last century! Duncan has been a campaigner to help save and refund the rugby club even trying to encourage the former chairman Chris Caisley to return to the helm.

Duncan received an honorary doctorate from Bradford University in 2000

Posted in Yorkshire Folk | Tagged actor | Comments Off

Sir Fred Hoyle Astronomer, Cosmologist and Sci-fi Author

Posted on June 8, 2016 by tejvan

Sir Fred Hoyle FRS 24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001 a Yorkshire man who coined the phrase ‘ The Big Bang’ and missed out on not one but two or three Nobel prizes for physics.
Fred Hoyle was born in Gilstead and went to Bingley Grammar school and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. During the war he worked on radar and assessing the height of enemy planes. After the war and a period as a lecturer at St Johns College he reached the top of ‘world astrophysics theory’ and was appointed to the illustrious Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge University.

Fred Hoyle: A Life in Science by Simon Mitton

A fascinating biography ‘The scientific life of Fred Hoyle was truly unparalleled. During his career he wrote groundbreaking scientific papers and caused bitter disputes in the scientific community with his revolutionary theories. Hoyle is best known for showing that we are all, literally, made of stardust in his paper explaining how carbon, and then all the heavier elements, were created by nuclear reactions inside stars. ‘
Fred Hoyle: Fellow of the Royal Society, Astronomer, Stellar nucleosynthesis, Cosmology, Big Bang, Science fiction, Geoffrey Hoyle.

Looking at Stars not Feet in Shipley Glen

In 1997 at the age of 82, while hiking across moorlands in West Yorkshire, near his childhood home in Gilstead, Fred Hoyle fell down into a steep ravine we know as Shipley Glen.
It was approximately twelve hours before Fred Hoyle was found by a search dog deep in amongst the rocks and trees.
He was hospitalized for two months with kidney problems as a result of hypothermia, pneumonia and a smashed shoulder.
It is probable that he never fully recovered as from around that time he suffered from memory and mental agility problems.

Quotes from Fred Hoyle

It seems Fred Hoyle had a way with words and could help the uninitiated get their heads around difficult astronomical concepts as he did with his use of the phrase the ‘Big Bang’ as opposed to his own theory of ‘steady state’.

‘Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards.’
‘When I was young, the old regarded me as an outrageous young fellow, and now that I’m old the young regard me as an outrageous old fellow’. Well I guess that generally goes with being outrageous.

‘The Cambridge system is effectively designed to prevent one ever establishing a directed policy — key decisions can be upset by ill-informed and politically motivated committees. To be effective in this system one must for ever be watching one’s colleagues, almost like a Robespierre spy system.’ Not exactly a tow the line academic!

‘The successful pioneer of theoretical science is he whose intuitions yield hypotheses on which satisfactory theories can be built…..’ Fred put this to the test many times with his own theories. Many of his views were disproved or ridiculed by the establishment and he certainly used intuition in developing his own inimitable style.

‘Things are the way they are because they were the way they were.’

Fiction some co-authored with his son Geoffrey include The Black Cloud, The Westminster Disaster, Molecule Men, In to Deepest Space and Fifth Planet from Amazon

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work, Yorkshire Folk | Tagged Author, Novel | Comments Off

How Many Politicians will it take to change the EU?

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Hortoris

Now you are asking! Will the EU really change? Will the excessive levels of UK government ever become fit for purpose? The formula for the number of politicians currently required seems to be y(x + 1) when x is the existing number of politicians and you should not need to ask Y.

Size of UK Government Politicians

Members of Parliament MP                                                             650
Members of Scottish Parliament MSP                                           129
Members of Welsh Assembly AM                                                   60
Members of European Parliament MEP                                        751
Members of Legislative Assembly Northern Ireland MLA        108

Total reasons to vote Brexit 1698

The House of Lords has another 790 unelected ‘politicians’ and bishops.

The European Union ‘Government’

European Union has seven principal decision making bodies of the European Union.

The European Parliament – the 751 MEPs share the legislative and budgetary authority of the Union with the Council of the European Union
The European Council – is the group of heads of state or government of the EU member states. It has no formal legislative power but is a strategic and crisis-solving body that provides the union with general political directions and priorities.
The Council of the European Union – the Council of Ministers or just the Council is a body holding legislative and some limited executive powers and is thus the main decision making body of the Union. It comprises all the heads of state of each member country. The current president is Donald Tusk
The European Commission – or the EC is the executive arm of the Union. It is composed of one appointee from each of the 28 states but is theoretically designed to be independent of national interests. It drafts all law of the E U and proposes new laws and bills. It also deals with the day-to-day running of the Union. The current president is Jean Claude Junkers
The Court of Justice of the European Union – is the EU’s judicial branch responsible for interpreting EU law and treaties.
The European Central Bank – is the controlling bank for countries using the Euro currency
The Court of Auditors – should ensure that taxpayer funds from the budget of the European Union have been correctly spent. The court provides an audit report for each financial year to the Council and Parliament.

Thanks to Wikipedia and others

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Philip Davies Quips at Prime Ministers Question Time

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Hortoris

Like him and his politics or not you have to admire the MP for Shipley, Philip Davies. He regularly asks pertinent and punchy questions of our prime minister.
Generally Philip uses a degree of humour and a pithy turn of phrase to try and blindside at ‘Prime Ministers Question Time’. Here are a couple of recent examples.

Corruption
“…… stop pouring hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into Nigeria, Afghanistan and other corrupt countries.” and would my right honorable friend like to say where on the list of corruption he would place the European Union which has not had its accounts signed off for 20 years.

Dodgy Dossier
Mr Davies also asked “Why isn’t the Chilcot report being published before the European Referendum, is it because the prime minister and the chancellor do not want the public to be reminded how the government of the day and the establishment are prepared to prepare dodgy dossiers, make things up and distort the facts, to con the public into supporting something they otherwise would not ahead of the EU referendum.”
“Publishing Chilcot before June 23 would remind people of the lies the country were told about Iraq and how Britain had to get involved and did not have a choice. We have already seen a leaflet sent to every household at a cost of £9.3 million which claimed to be factual about the European Union, but it contained no facts just scaremongering and to no surprise left out important facts about how much money we pay to the European Union each year for membership.”

Getting Involved for Shipley
Shipley MP Philip Davies has spoken more times in the Commons this year than any other MP. He has contributed 438 times in Parliament over the last 12 months, beating second place Kettering MP Philip Hollobone on 397. The 2015-2016 parliamentary year saw Parliament sit for 151 days and pass 24 Bills, meaning Mr Davies spoke in the Commons, whether that is a debate or questioning a minister on local or national issues, an average of three times a day

Mr Davies said: “Speaking in the Commons is a way to get the views and concerns of my constituents across to ministers and departments. I take advantage of all the options open to me to raise issues and problems that need to be tackled in my constituency. I want the Shipley constituency to be actively represented in Parliament and I will continue to work hard to ensure that is the case.”

As a sideline Philip is also the Parliamentary Spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness. I bet he has a bit to say about that as well.

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Wit and Humour | Comments Off

Sir Patrick Stewart

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Hortoris

After waiting for God only knows how many decades (well 6.9 actually) the Mirfield lad made good with an OBE in 2001 and a Knighthood (KBE) in 2009.

He was the Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. ‘Sir Pat’ is also a Patron of Refuge, the national charity supporting women and children who are victims of domestic violence and has sponsored a scholarship for a three-year full-time doctoral study in the area of children and domestic violence at Huddersfield. Patrick Stewart has also been a committed human rights activist. He tells the story of how he got involved in human rights advocacy when he heard of an Eastern European theater troupe that got jailed for trying to perform a Shakespeare play. ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ may be an apposite quote from Hamlet.

Of his role in Star Trek he is reported to have said ‘you know all of those years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, all those years of playing kings and princes and speaking black verse, and bestriding the landscape of England was nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair of the Enterprise.’

As CNN said the ‘Queen says make it so‘ and we want to add our congratulations to Sir Patrick.

Posted in Yorkshire Arts & Music, Yorkshire Folk | Comments Off

Big Daddy – Shirley Crabtree

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Hortoris

With a name like Shirley Crabtree you were bound to learn to fight and so it must have been for young Shirley in Halifax in the 1930’s. Early stints as a miner and in the Coldstream Guards did not prepare him for a regular place in the team at Bradford Northern so he took his 64 inch chest into professional wrestling. After a collection of ‘stage names’ the Blond Adonis, Mr Universe and Battling Guardsman Shirley opted for ‘BIG DADDY’ for his matches and became a cult TV personality.

During a wrestling gig in the 1970’s at the Kings Hall in Ilkley, Shirley popped into the Midland pub next to the venue ordering 2 pork pies plus a steak and kidney with his drink. After being served be told the landlady to have the same ready for the halftime interval except the other way around. “2 steak and kidney and one pork pie”.

Big Daddy feuded with Mick McManus, Steve Veidor and Giant Haystacks among others and would also be noted as the first man to remove the mask from Kendo Nagasaki during a televised match. I wonder who wrote that script, everyone knew who was going to win but we had to go through all that nonsense before hand before Big Daddy was once again declared the winner. World of Sport on ITV was the escapism with Dickie Davis and Saint and Greavesy from the more serious Grandstand on the BBC and the All in Wrestling was a major part of the attraction.

According to Shirley Crabtree entry in wikipedia ‘In August 1987, Big Daddy bowed out of the professional wrestling spotlight after a turn of events during the final moments of the match against Mal “King Kong” Kirk. After Big Daddy had delivered his belly-splash, rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an unhealthy colour and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk’s death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, Crabtree was devastated and nevertheless blamed himself for Kirk’s death. ‘

Shirley Crabtree Jr was born in Halifax on November, 14, 1930.Shirley died in 1997 at the age of 67 after being big Daddy to six children.

Barnsley t’ capitol o’ Yarkshear? I’s niver od see much tripe in arl me barn dees! But aye, Barnsley ses it arl, that’ll be why the’s tarkin’ like a southerner/foreigner.
‘ere in Castleford we call people from us rival town Featherstone flatcappers, ironically lodes er old blokes wear flatcaps in Castleford too.
my spell checker has gone mad

Credits
TV Shows We Used To Watch – 1970s – Wrestling by brizzle born and bred, CC BY-NC 2.0

Posted in Yorkshire Folk, Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes | 4 Comments

Yorkshiremen Climbing Everest

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Hortoris

Heroic Barnsley Hero

If you have spent grueling days climbing to the top of the world to reach your dream? If it has cost you a fortune in time, cash and goodwill from the family? If you are near the top of Mount Everest what would make you abandon the attempt?
Leslie Binns a 42 from Barnsley, who had lost an eye in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan, turned back just over a thousand feet from the summit. He said “I noticed someone sliding down the fixed climbing lines towards me. All I could hear were the screams of terror as they gained speed. I braced myself to try and stop whoever it was – and managed to do so. I helped her upright and looked at her oxygen regulator. It was registering empty.” The climber with another party Sunita Hazra was helped by Leslie get down safely even to the extent of sharing his oxygen supply.

Earlier Report of a Yorkshireman on Everest

Years before the successful attempt on Mount Everest celebrated on the day of the Queen’s coronation to the throne, a Yorkshire eccentric set out to be the first to make the climb. ‘Maurice Wilson a Yorkshireman on Everest’ is endearingly remembered in a book by Ruth Hanson

The forward is by Doug Scott an English mountaineer noted for the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. He sums up ‘the quintessential Yorkshireman, tough, sentimental, stubborn. honest and certain of himself – convinced – and this one prepared to die for his convictions and did.’

2nd Lt Maurice Wilson MC was a British soldier, mystic, mountaineer and aviator who is known for his ill-fated attempt to climb Mount Everest alone in 1934. At the age of 36 this Bradford lad thought he could teach himself to fly and learn to climb so he could reach the summit of Mount Everest. In the first he succeeded but he died in his attempt to become a mountaineer.

Two years after Maurice set out on his climb British climbers approaching the foot of Mount Everest’s North Col found the body of a man dressed in a mauve pullover and gray flannel trousers sitting by the tattered remains of his tent. He had been deep-frozen in the process of removing his boots. They discovered Maurice’s partly completed diary confirming rumors of his demise.

‘When people say climbers are crazy, I think the phrase was originally intended for Wilson.’ Says suburban mountaineer

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work, Yorkshire Folk | Comments Off

Manor of Northstead – Resignation of MPs

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Hortoris

Why isn’t the position of ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’ one of the busiest public offices in Yorkshire? Under the Act of Settlement a person who holds an office of profit under the Crown is disqualified from being an MP. Surely we are over governed by Europe and regional assemblies to say nothing of the houses of parliament.

The Manor of Northstead was once a collection of fields and farms in the parish of Scalby in the North Riding of Yorkshire. By 1600 the manor house had fallen into disrepair (like the reputation of our Houses of Parliament). The manor was purchased by King Richard III and although Scarborough Corporation purchased the land known as the Northstead Estate from the Crown in 1921, the lordship of the manor was retained by the Crown. The site of what may have been the manor house is now covered by the lake in Peasholm Park.

The position Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead is now used as a procedural device to effect resignation from the House of Commons, since British MPs are not permitted simply to resign their seat. This office is used alternately with the ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds’ as a means of removing someone who is no longer able or wants to be an MP. Recent holders of the office at the Manor of Northstead include Boris Johnson (too allow him to become Major of London), Peter Mandelson, Enoch Powell, Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant (victim of a kiss and tell sexual affair), Ian Paisley, Robert Kilroy Silk and Mathew Parris.

Many MPs have treated their job and expense accounts as for personal profit. Come on the ‘Expenses Scallies’ do the decent thing now! Do not wait for the next election to stand down and take up your new post at The Manor of Northstead right now.

Size of Government

Members of Parliament MP                                                            650
Members of Scottish Parliament MSP                                           129
Members of Welsh Assembly AM                                                    60
Members of European Parliament MEP                                        751
Members of Legislative Assembly Northern Ireland MLA        108

Total reasons to vote Brexit 1698

In 1950 there were 625 MP’s in control of our UK government. That leaves a lot of room for the use of the ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’ to bring the number down.

Do not get me started on the House of Lords with another 790 expense guzzlers.

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire Folk | Comments Off

Pylons Current Puns

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Hortoris

Yorkshire Electric sent a man to read our gas and electric meter at the same time. YE came I don’t know. I guess it saves some energy although he wasn’t impressed when I said he could read the water meter at the same time. I have just found out I can be delighted if I do not pay the bill!

I don’t want to ‘Pylon the agony too much but here are a couple of bright sparks from Monty Pylons Flying Circuits telling jokes.

The last Yorkshire man to be executed in the electric chair was Fred Watt. His obituary writer wanted to put on the best face so he wrote :-
“Fred Watt occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important American government institution, he was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock.”

Why did the lights go out?
Because they liked each other.

A vacuum salesman appeared at the door of an old lady’s cottage and, without allowing the woman to speak, rushed into the living room and threw a large bag of dirt all over her clean carpet. He said, “If this new vacuum doesn’t pick up every bit of dirt then I’ll eat all the dirt.”

The woman, who by this time was losing her patience, said, “Sir, if I had enough money to buy that thing, I would have paid my electricity bill before they cut it off. Now, what would you prefer, a spoon or a knife and fork?” jokes4all.net/

If that didn’t shock you you may be interested in joining the Pylon Appreciation Society. Get your whats & amps before you go Ohm.

Photo Pylons at Kirkstall Road by BP

Posted in Wit and Humour | Comments Off