Category: Religion

Gentlemen vs. Players

Cricket in the 18th Century

Like many cherished colleagues I was brought up with a cricket ball in my cradle, ready for my inevitable success as a player. My Dad was a mean swing bowler and played for Armstrong Siddeley every fine summer Saturday, while Mum was an official scorer, dotting and crossing in all the right boxes. My sister and I soon learned how to do it and waved back to the umpire whenever required.

At more rarified altitudes than ours, the game was socially divided between amateurs and professionals: gentlemen and players – until 1962 when Fiery Fred Trueman (a player of course) referred to it as a ‘ludicrous business…thankfully abolished’. But the distinction had reflected the long history of cricket as a social catalyst. Or was it?

The Beeb had an article only yesterday on that very idea. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16821779. Romantic and salutary apparently. But I wonder. I’m not convinced that peasants performing for the entertainment of their betters (!) represented anything but an expression of the feudal order. Fraternity, Equality and Liberty it wasn’t! Didn’t the gentlemen and players have separate dressing rooms? Or am I mis-remembering?

A moot point

Our resident lawyer has raised a vital issue:

… how are there going to be ‘British’ embassies to no longer promote whisky? … (whatever name you come up with for the rest of the Disunited Kingdom).

If Nova Caledonia floats away, Britain will be diminished! Britannia’s rump will be……what? Anglia, including West Anglia?

This problem would never have arisen if Victoria’s desire to rename Scotland ‘North Britain’ had been adopted. Britain would now survive any minor pruning by hysterical apostates.

Please submit name suggestions for un-Jocked Britain – there’ll be prizes of course: 1st prize a week in Stirling, 2nd prize 2 weeks in Stirling.

A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)

Yesterday I read Charles Moore’s review of Stephen Spielberg’s latest film, War Horse. Having seen and thoroughly enjoyed the play, which I saw inLondon, 18 months ago, I read the review with some interest. Without going into details,Moore was less than enthusiastic, criticising Spielberg for the gratuitous sentimentality. What was perhaps more interesting, was the comment section, some of which dealt with aspects of the Great War and the vast tragedy attached to it. Continue reading “A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)”

This could mean War !!

Shock! Horror!   ITV bans Tim Minchin.

Tim is Australia’s answer to Tom Lehrer, but infinitely more talented and funnier.   He is well on his way to being an Australian satirical hero.   He must be good, he regularly performs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

This little Christmas ditty was banned on the grounds that it might offend Christians.

If you go to the Youtube page, you can read Tim’s rant about it.
You may have to click on ‘Show More’ when you get there.

Here’s a short extract –

It’s 2011. The appropriate reaction to people who think Jesus is a supernatural being is mild embarrassment, sighing tolerance and patient education.

What a load of bollocks!

I have just watched the film, ‘Black Swan’. What a completely crap, pretentious load of bollocks it was. That it won an Oscar for Natalie Portman baffles me. Except it didn’t, once I saw the names of the people involved in its making, at which point, I am afraid my worst tendencies came to the forefront. I am not a particular fan of Mel Gibson, especially following such films as Brave Heart and Patriot, but I think he and Charlie Sheen have a point.

Nice ‘nisser’

Just a note of appreciation for the Chariot’s seasonal banner depicting what are known locally as ‘nisser’, maybe ‘elves’ in English. They are at the heart of yuletide culture hereabouts, far more popular than any modern notions of supernatural events. In fact they are in evidence the whole year round. A house is said to have ‘a good nisse’ if it feels like home. But for children it’s the special nisse, the ‘julemand’ (Father Xmas) who deserves most attention. This little fella hails from Norway and lives in a barn.