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The CUK Water Cooler

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    #21
    Originally posted by NigelJK View Post
    I'll chip in something all CUKers can associate with.

    In the mid-victorian era making cloth dyes 'fast' was achieved using a process developed by the ancient Romans. This involved reducing down large quantities of Urine. This was done in the North of England (some things never change). This therefore involved chartering large numbers of ships to transport it. Now, a ships Captain was a 'pillar of the society job' so they got invited to all the nobs do's. Of course if it got out what the normal cargo was they'd get taken down a peg or two, so if you got accused of 'taking the p*ss' this was a fairly serious allegation you wanted to avoid.
    And did you also know that "getting taken down a peg or two" dates from medieval times when ale would be passed round in a large wooden jug?

    On the inside of this jug was a gradation each stage of which was demarcated by a wooden peg. The idea was that you drank until the level of the ale reached the next peg and then passed it to your neighbour. If, for some reason, you didn't like the person sitting next to you, you would carry on drinking until the level reached the peg after next hence drinking his share of ale or taking him down a peg or two.

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      #22
      I had to dive off the A303 last night so I could answer the call of nature in a car park in the Wiltshire village of Mere. As I pulled into the car park I noticed a building that had the style of a provincial branch line railway station with the typical white dagger board decorative edging adorning the canopy that extended from its front elevation.

      This building, I noted, was the headquarters of the Mere and District Model Railway Society and the chap that was stood on the threshold enjoying a cigarette informed me that the building was, in fact, a pastiche as there had never been a railway station in Mere. At the time of the construction of the London Waterloo - Exeter line, the villagers had rejected the proposal to route the line through Mere and instead it passes some 7 miles south through the Dorset Town of Gillingham.

      Anyway, I thought it nice that such a facility existed for the teenage boys of the area. Whenever my brothers went into town to exhibit their layouts at the local girls sixth form college, they often returned home in the presence of a police officer.

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        #23
        Persistent rumour has it that Pink Floyd recorded the sprawling, terrible multi-million selling 'The Wall' in an attempt to recoup substantial losses they had incurred after investing unwisely in skateboards in the mid 70's.

        A pre-Blondie Debby Harry was very nearly the victim of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, who managed to lure her into his car. Her lucky escape is depicted in a fine art print by artist Robert Williams (who dun the cover for Appetite For Destruction) entitled 'Debbie Harry's Fears 1990'. Debbie and husband Chris Stein are the owners of the painting which hangs in their apartment.

        In 1986, the good citizens of Ironton, Indiana burned copies of the theme song to the charming TV comedy show Mr. Ed because they claimed that, played backwards the song contains Satanic messages! Legend also has it that in order to get Mr. Ed to appear to be 'talking', electrodes were attached to delicate parts of the horses hindquarters and the current switched on whenever it was one of Ed's lines.

        Americans often find themselves bamboozled by the complexities of the English language. When toothy pop-star Peter Noone visited the states with Hermans Hermits, he was surprised to hear on the tannoy at La Guardia "paging Mr. No-one, paging Mr. No-one...".

        Soul legend Arthur Conley ('Sweet Soul Music') was a country boy born and raised and found himself slumped into a depression during a tour of Britain and it's dark, satanic mills. Seeing his plight, his record label inquired whether they could help him in any way. "Yes," replied Conley, "Get me a pig," as you do. So a piglet was obtained from Smithfield Market and Conley passed the rest of the tour in his element, porker on his lab, delivering impromptu duets along the lines of "Do you like good music, (thwack, squeal) that sweet soul music..."

        December 1981: Iggy Pop supports the Rolling Stones on their US tour. When it reaches the Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan (Iggy's home state) the singer is booed offstage after performing only two and a half songs. Items thrown onstage at Iggy include 34 automobile hubcaps, 62 pairs of underpants, $73.18c in loose change, two dummy grenades, 36 pocket combs, one rainbow afro wig, 21 aluminium folding chairs, portions of 250 hot dogs and one bowling ball.

        Ace 60's girl group The Shangri-La's responsible for such classics as 'Leader Of the Pack' and 'Give Him A Great Big Kiss' may have sounded angelic but the RSPCA wouldn't have agreed. One of their fave on-tour amusements was to buy job lots of white mice from the pet store, attach small parachutes to them and catapult them from windows of hotels, tour buses, etc...

        George Formby was awarded the Order Of Lenin and made a Hero Of The Soviet People by Stalin, a devoted fan.
        Brexit is having a wee in the middle of the room at a house party because nobody is talking to you, and then complaining about the smell.

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          #24
          Norman Wisdom is a hero of Albania and has statues in his Honour.

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            #25
            Originally posted by darmstadt View Post

            Ace 60's girl group The Shangri-La's responsible for such classics as 'Leader Of the Pack' and 'Give Him A Great Big Kiss' may have sounded angelic but the RSPCA wouldn't have agreed. One of their fave on-tour amusements was to buy job lots of white mice from the pet store, attach small parachutes to them and catapult them from windows of hotels, tour buses, etc...
            I was once apprehended by my father on my way to the local railway viaduct to try the same thing with the family cat

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              #26
              Originally posted by NigelJK View Post
              Norman Wisdom is a hero of Albania and has statues in his Honour.
              When I learnt that over a decade ago I thought it was as I use to watch a load of his films as a kid.
              "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

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                #27
                Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
                When I learnt that over a decade ago I thought it was as I use to watch a load of his films as a kid.
                He could have been a really big star but he missed his chance by trying to break into America.

                Had he not been doing that, he could have had his own TV show and been a huge star of the 70s like Emery, Yarwood & co.

                As it is, those few films of the 60s featuring Mr Grimsdale etc are the sum of his creative output.

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                  #28
                  Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
                  When I learnt that over a decade ago I thought it was as I use to watch a load of his films as a kid.
                  Quite a nice light read: https://www.amazon.com/One-Hit-Wonde.../dp/0091882109
                  Brexit is having a wee in the middle of the room at a house party because nobody is talking to you, and then complaining about the smell.

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                    #29
                    Billy Talent

                    I've been listening to some of their records recently and I have to say they really are quite good.

                    I was introduced to them by a friend of mine when I went round to her house the other night & she got some of her records out.

                    Any of you listen to Billy Talent?

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                      #30
                      Inneresting little factoid for you.

                      Take 5 by the Dave Brubeck Quartet was the biggest selling jazz 45 of all time.

                      And the biggest selling Jazz LP?

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