Shakespeare's cultural influence extends far beyond literature. As Mahlerman explains, the Bard has influenced musicians and composers across the world... The term, first invoked by G B Shaw at the birth of the 20th Century to indicate idolisation or, at the very least, an 'excessive admiration' for our greatest poet and ... Read More...
Month: November 2013
This was one of John Lennon's pranks that had passed me by; sounds like the sort of thing that Russell Brand would like. Today's Wikiworm uncovers an early example of studenty idealism... Bagism is a term which was created by John Lennon and Yoko Ono as part of their peace campaign ... Read More...
Frank reveals the history of the mysterious ghostly goo... During the heyday of spiritualism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the dead chose somewhat curious ways of communicating with the living. Through their mediums, they rapped on tables, shifted or levitated furniture, caused sudden drops in room temperature, played ... Read More...
In the second of today's reviews, Elberry shares his thoughts on this uncompleted 'third book' from Fermor's famous european journey. There were an archbishop and several bishops and archimandrites besides the abbot and his retinue. They officiated in copes as stiff and brilliant as beetles' wings, and the higher clergy, coiffed with ... Read More...
Today on The Dabbler we present a double bill of reviews of a popular recent book club choice - The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor, which has garnered a large amount of praise and opinions. First up with her take, we have Fermor-fan Monix: In 1962, Patrick Leigh Fermor was ... Read More...
Selling Scottish genealogy to Americans is big business. Pity it's mostly a load of bunk... Exploring my father’s bookcase on one of my visits home, I came across a curious little pamphlet entitled 64 Common Errors in Scottish History. My father had quite an extensive library but I had never known ... Read More...
Henry passes on a useful tip for Anglophones trying to handle French wine terms... When I was taught French at school, we learnt it orally for the first year. I remember how shocked I was when I saw written French for the first time. It looked nothing like it sounded. The ... Read More...
What is the worst opening line to a song ever written? I’ll submit this from Suede’s Savoir Faire (1999): She live in a house, she stupid as a mouse. That epigram was penned by the band’s frontman Brett Anderson, and it pains me to mention it because, aside from Mervyn Peake and ... Read More...
This week Stephen celebrates an unfairly overlooked poet... Many of my favorite poems have been written by poets who I consider to be "neglected." There are various reasons for this neglect. Perhaps it has to do with literary "reputations" and (Heaven forbid) literary "criticism." (I am not an unremitting foe of ... Read More...
Sadly not a story about football supporters meeting their maker, but instead a bizarre superstition from South Korea in this week's trawl through the weirdest articles on Wikipedia... Fan death is a a widely believed urban legend in South Korea. Despite there being no scientifically verified cases, the phenomenon posits that sleeping in ... Read More...
