I wouldn't have a clue about how fast a swallow can fly - but am reasonably sure that coconuts arrived in England in the late 17th century, brought by the explorer William Dampier, the first pom to explore Australia.
Ok. I think this one is a bit obscure - Coconuts first arrived in England as a result of the journeys of Vasco Da Gama, and were brought by the Portuguese from Goa in the early 16th Century. Hence the name coconut which comes from the Portuguese 'cocoruta' meaning a skull (together with eyes etc.). Thus coconuts could not have been in England at the time of King Arthur (unless they floated over). The speed of an unladen European swallow (and thus the answer which avoids being thrown into the gorge) has been calculated at 24 mph - a calculation presumably done by Monty Python fans. Frenchie was the closest (close ish) in knowing that Monty Python was the inspiration for this rather vague question. Over to you Frenchie.
Yes. I see that he died today at the age of 87 which is quite amazing with his lifestyle. All yours cologne.
Cheers Frenchie. Another musical one - which group took it's name from the fact that they were all under 5 foot five inches in height ?
Cheers cologne. It's getting harder and harder to think of questions, so I've probably asked this one in the past. Who is the only Scottish footballer to have lifted the World Cup?
I think we're talking about women's football here - Rose Reilly who took up Italian citizenship and won the World Cup with them ?
Yes, that's the one. Her's is an interesting story - this is what the Guardian wrote about her a few years ago about her if anyone wants to read it - https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2017/jul/17/rose-reilly-scottish-footballer-world-cup-italy-milan? Back to you...
Cheers BB. The following quote always appears in the programme notes for a music piece originally written for the New York Symphony Orchestra - a piece which lasts about 13-14 minutes. ''A place perfectly accordant with man's nature - neither ghastly, hateful, nor ugly, neither commonplace, unmeaning, nor tame, but, like man, slighted and enduring; and withal singularly colossal and mysterious in its swarthy monotony''. Which place is being referred to and who was the composer ?
The quotation is from Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native I think, or is connected to it. The place would be Salisbury Plain in the real world because that is what the heath in the novel is based on. Is there a piece of music based on the novel? I don't know it if there is, but it would have had to been written no earlier than the end of the nineteenth century. So probably a classical composer (New York Symphony Orchestra). "Swarthy monotony" suggest someone like John Adams rather than the lyrical minimalists but I'm guessing.
You're right about the source of the quote NZ. Now we just need a composer who was sufficiently close to Hardy to dedicate a piece of music to him and to name it after the area concerned - this being done about 3 weeks after his death. By the way the heath concerned in so many of his novels is thought to have been in Dorset not Salisbury plain (although Tess of the D'Urbervilles does stray onto Salisbury Plain as well). The composer was a very famous one, and a personal friend of Hardy.
All yours Yorkie. It was Gustav Holst who was commissioned to write an orchestral piece for the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1927, three weeks after the death of Thomas Hardy - the piece is entitled 'Egdon Heath'. Apparently the 2 were very good friends with it being said that Holst had walked from Cheltenham to Dorchester in order to visit him (he liked walking !). Take it away.
