Mellified Man

Another strange wikipedia article for this saturday's Wikiworm, and disappointingly nothing to do with George Melly... Mellified man, or human mummy confection, was a legendary medicinal substance created by steeping a human cadaver in honey. The concoction is mentioned only in Chinese sources, most significantly the Bencao Gangmu of the 16th-century Chinese pharmacologist Li Shizhen. Relying on a second-hand ... Read More...

Judith And Holofernes

The ever-industrious Mr Key has lately embarked upon a complete retelling of The Bible (including the Apocrypha) in the Hooting Yard style. Here is an exclusive extract... “How now, Holofernes,” said Judith. Holofernes put down his sack of grubbings on the floor and leaned to kiss the back of Judith’s hand. “Your moustache ... Read More...

The sheer unlikeliness of CB Fry

'His party trick was to jump backwards onto a mantelpiece from a standing position'. Jon Hotten salutes the incomparable sporting Renaissance man, CB Fry... John Arlott called him 'the most variously gifted Englishman of any age,' and Arlott, conjuring his musty magic from an old typewriter set next a glass of ... Read More...

A Walk in the Woods in Midsummer

Today is midsummer, and Professor Nick Groom turns his attention to the woods. Trees are a special part of our national identity, and they need us as much as we need them... Woods occupy a special place in the imaginative topography of England. The greenwood is the haunt and habitat of ... Read More...

Forgotten Symphonies

This Sunday Mahlerman revives four masterful symphonies that have 'somehow slipped through the net of recognition and lie, unknown and unloved, on the coroner's slab'... If, unlike Igor Stravinsky, you accept that symphonic music is capable of 'saying something', you would probably agree that the high point of symphonic music was ... Read More...

Unobtainium

Imaginary minerals are the topic of today's bizarre Wikipedia article, brought to you by the Wikiworm, ceaseless miner of useless knowledge... Unobtainium is a word used in engineering, fiction, and thought experiments, to describe any fictional, extremely rare, costly, or impossible material, or (less commonly) device needed to fulfill a given design for a ... Read More...