Facts Not Opinions

It's amazing what grabs your attention.... I was on the bus on Monday in Central London, having just come back from a long weekend in Edinburgh. I was physically and emotionally weary. And the bus passed by a building named after a man called David Kirkaldy...

Kirkaldy (1820–1897) was a Scottish engineer who pioneered the testing of materials as a service to engineers during Victorian times. He built a large hydraulic tensile test machine, later moving the machine to larger purpose-built new premises at 99 Southwark Street. This is now known as the Kirkaldy Testing Museum. Over the door of the building is the motto "Facts not Opinions".

I took the picture at the top of this post on Monday morning... because the motto yelled out at me. I had to blog about it...

Facts. Not Opinions.

A useful motto for me this week, with my feelings literally all over the place at the moment. I don't know whether I'm coming or going... getting it right or horribly wrong... on top of things or sinking fast...

I need some solid facts at the moment. Not just opinions...

R is for Ravens

There is a superstition that states that if the Tower of London's six ravens are lost or fly away, "the Crown will fall and Britain with it". Undoubtedly, this is just a piece of British legend - the Tower's official historian has himself stated that the "tower's raven mythology is likely to be a Victorian flight of fantasy".

According to that legend, they have kept ravens here ever since the reign of Charles II - and reportedly against the wishes of the king's astronomer at the time, John Flamsteed, who complained the ravens impeded the business of his observatory in the White Tower. (The Observatory was subsequently moved to Greenwich.)

Nevertheless, the modern-day Beefeaters are not taking any chances. As of 2018, the names of the current Tower ravens are Jubilee, Harris, Gripp, Rocky, Erin, Poppy and Merlina. There are seven ravens at the Tower - the required six, plus they keep one as a spare! Their wings aren't clipped - the Tower's Ravenmaster occasionally trims some of the ravens' primary and secondary flight feathers to encourage them to stay at the Tower. All the ravens are thus able to fly but are happy to call the Tower their home. The ravens are free to roam the Tower precincts during the day and can be seen during the tour of the building.

N is for Nursery Rhymes

Do you remember some of the nursery rhymes you were taught as a kid? ... many of the meanings are lost or disputed, but here's a few that made me think...

Many scholars agree that Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is a reference to a tax on wool introduced in 1275 by King Edward I. Under these rules, a third of the cost of a sack of wool went to the Crown, another third went to the church and the last to the farmer. The wool of black sheep is said to have been especially prized as it could be made into dark cloth without dyeing.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush is often sung as part of a nursery game. According to historian R. S. Duncan, a former governor of England’s Wakefield Prison, the song originated with their female prisoners, who were exercised around a mulberry tree. "On a cold and frosty morning..."

Jack and Jill is commonly seen as a nonsense verse, particularly as the couple go up a hill to find water, which is usually found at the bottom of hills. However, an woodcut that accompanied the first recorded version of the rhyme showed two boys (not a boy and a girl) and used the spelling Gill not Jill. This may be related to the fact that a Gill is an Imperial unit of fluid measure, defined in the Imperial system as a quarter-pint. In the same system of measure, a Jack is defined as a half-gill. So, Jack and Jill (Gill) represent a eighth-pint and quarter-pint respectively. It has therefore been suggested that the rhyme records the attempt by King Charles I to reform the taxes on liquid measures. Curious...

And finally, Ring A Ring O' Roses  (in the US Ring Around The Rosie)- the most popular contention is that this verse refers to the 1665 Great Plague of London. Sorry, no - even Snopes labels this as false now, and quotes folklorist Philip Hiscock with a more likely suggestion: That the nursery rhyme probably has its origins in the religious ban on dancing among many Protestants in the nineteenth century. The debate continues...  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ring-around-rosie/

L is for London

One of the key stops in a tour of Central London are the Houses of Parliament, which is situated on on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster.

The buildings are actually officially known as the Palace of Westminster and it is actually the largest palace in the country. It is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

The Elizabeth Tower and the clock contained within it are both commonly referred to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, which is itself an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general.

The Palace of Westminster has eight bars, six restaurants, 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, 11 courtyards, a gymnasium, a hair salon, and a rifle-shooting range. Despite persistent rumours to the contrary, it has not been permitted to smoke anywhere inside the Palace since 2005. Members of Parliament may not eat or drink in the Parliamentary chamber; the exception to this rule is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who may have a beverage of the Chancellors' choice while delivering the Budget statement. Traditionally this is an alcoholic beverage, although recent Chancellors have opted for water.

V is for Victoria Coach Station

Victoria Coach Station is the largest coach station in London, located right in the centre of the City of Westminster. It was opened in 1932 by London Coastal Coaches, a consortium of coach operators. The building is currently owned and operated by Transport for London.

It serves as a terminus for many long distance coach services in the United Kingdom. I still fondly remember using the station when I was younger, when I would set off around the country (cheaply!), exploring and meeting up with friends.

S is for Shaftesbury Avenue

Shaftesbury Avenue can be found right in the centre of London. The street itself is named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and was built in the late 19th century to provide an important connection in the heart of the capital. It's generally considered to be at the heart of modern London's West End theatre district.

However, during the last century, the area has also seen a considerable growth of Chinese residents, who set up their businesses in order to cater to Chinese sailors who were frequently in the docklands. Today, you can find London’s 'Chinatown' off of Shaftesbury Avenue, with over 80 restaurants offering London's finest and most authentic Asian cuisine - Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Malaysian and Taiwanese.

O is for the O2

The O2 is a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London. It was built largely within the former Millennium Dome, thus The Dome remains a name in common usage for the venue.

The site comprises an indoor arena, a music club, a cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars and restaurants. The Arena alone has a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, and is reportedly the busiest music venue in the world.

N is for Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. As the name suggests, it is home to some 80 million specimens, covering botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. That means it covers everything from dinosaurs to massive mammals, and even the smallest insect, so you really get a chance to explore the whole diversity of life on Earth.

The museum is recognised worldwide as a centre of research in these fields. However, remarkably, it does not charge an admission fee...

G is for Greenwich

Greenwich has played a significant role in the history of navigation and astronomy. The town was originally the site of a royal palace and was the birthplace of many Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The Royal Observatory that was established there in 1676 was commissioned by King Charles II for the special purpose of “rectifying the motions of the heavens and the places of the fixed stars and in order to find the desired longitude of places in order to master the art of navigation.”

The place gives its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and consequently to Greenwich Mean Time. The whole site is now maintained as a Heritage Centre and tourist attraction.

Being a mere 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from the City Centre, Greenwich is now a suburb of Greater London.