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Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

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About Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

  • Birthday 12/07/1950

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    near Salisbury
  • Interests
    sport (RL [obviously!], table tennis [as a player], ice hockey, GAA, shinty), choral music (especially the Anglican tradition), family history (in Shetland), bird-watching

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  1. As I recall (so could be completely wrong!), they also recorded an introductory tune for Money Box, the BBC Radio 4 programme. That programme is extant, but the signature tune, sadly, isn't.
  2. My flippant suggestion that, with a resident male called William, the new female would be called Kate, has, I am pleased to report, proven unfounded. She is to be called Mel. Here is the explanation from the cathedral's website: "Mel is named after Melesina Trench (1768 –1827), Irish writer, diarist, poet and social campaigner who’s Latin epitaph is still visible opposite the North Transept today" So now you know!
  3. A great post, UP, and I am with you in almost all the tone and content. Like one or two others, I would be more sympathetic to Instant Sunshine, and, as has been noted, not all were doctors. Miles Kington was also the 'inventor' (or at least chronicler) of Franglais, prompting some to, of course, dub him Kilometers Kington, which in terms of alliteration is - er - miles better! For me, ploughing a career in the public and third sectors, the Guardian was de rigeur reading, at least on Wednesdays when all the relevant jobs were advertised to a pre-internet audience. By happy coincidence, that was also the day of Hugo Young's column. I recall once saying to somebody that there were two or three journalists, whose regular columns were a brilliant lesson in how to construct a well structured piece of written English. Hugo Young was one; Hugh McIlvanney was another and he also translated this outstanding skill to TV documentaries too.
  4. I seem to be settling into a routine of watching three SL games a week rather than the previous offer of two. An attractive fixture on another source might increase that to four on occasional weekends. That fourth one might be on The Sportsman (as it was on Sunday for the Post Office Road clash which I watched) or one of the televised French Elite 1 games. So, I suppose that I am now watching more than before. To be honest, I have too much else that I want, or need, to do to watch more than that. I also sense I have a limit to how much rugby league I want to watch; three games usually suffices.
  5. I had assumed that when we hear the video ref call for a particular camera, we are seeing exactly and all of what he is seeing, hence my surprise at no request for a side view. I think potentially all the cameras can be shown on our TV screens. I wholly agree with you that there is absolutely no justification for the subsequent Beaumont rant. Bernard Guasch was rightly fined when he lashed out verbally after, I think, the GF defeat against St Helens. So consistency dictates the same for Beaumont.
  6. You may well be right. However, as an armchair viewer a couple of hundred miles away, I was surprised that the video ref didn't ask for anything from the side to determine whether the player's foot was raised. From the head on view, I, for one, couldn't tell whether his foot was or was not raised and I don't think either my eyesight or my telly are that bad!
  7. This is the proverbial 'peau de banane' for Catalans. I expect them to edge home, nevertheless, but by fewer than ten.
  8. Sad, but ultimately inevitable, news from Winchester. Winnie, the female star of the cathedral's peregrine webcams, has been found dead. Her first mate, called Chester (of course!), predeceased her about two years ago and she had mated with a younger male. A younger female had been noted early this year and was aggressive towards Winnie, who has clearly come out second best. It is assumed and hoped that this younger female will now mate with the male; he was given the name William when he arrived on the scene, so what price she is called Kate! Winnie was thought to be about 15, which I understand is a good age for a peregrine falcon. She had successfully helped to rear 27 chicks. Peregrines usually lay three eggs, sometimes four and very rarely five. If more than three are laid, the last chick to hatch will often starve, as it is pushed out by its bigger, slightly older siblings. However, the other year, Winnie and her partner amazingly successfully got all five of that year's chicks to the fledging stage - a fantastic achievement.
  9. Can I thank Dave T, Worzel, Harry Stottle et al for the very civilised way in which they are making their points on this thread? It's good to be reminded of two things. First, quite complex and nuanced points can be put forward, dissected by others and debated in well constructed contributions. And second - and arguably even more importantly - we are being reminded that it is perfectly possible to disagree, but do so in a constructive and friendly tone. Thanks guys!
  10. I understand that languages develop and change over time. However, I do feel that where two words have related, but definitely different, meanings, we should not be so lazy or stupid that we assume them to be interchangeable. The BBC (of all people), in at least some of their reports, are stating that tonight's Southampton -v- Preston North End soccer match has been 'cancelled' due to a major fire at an industrial unit next to the football ground. No it hasn't; it's been postponed.
  11. Great post, JonM, which makes me unbelievably jealous! Since my job-enforced move south almost thirty years ago, the single sound which I miss the most from the Dales is of the wonderful burbling call of curlews in spring.
  12. 'Speaking about building a new stadium, he said: "Trafford Park is where the industrial revolution began.." ' Mmm, an interesting claim by Sir Jim - and utter nonsense I would suggest. The industrialisation of Trafford Park dates from the closing years of the 19th century. If Sir Jim thinks nothing of industrial significance had happened before then, maybe he ought to enrol on a GCSE history course!
  13. Interesting post, Kayakman, for which thanks. No, we don't have either over here. Looking at pictures of towhees, they look like the type of bird we would call a bunting, with specific species including the corn bunting, snow bunting and very rare cirl bunting. We do, however, have one bird that can sound like a distant cat and that is one of our larger birds of prey, the buzzard. As they circle overhead, they often call to each other. Indeed, birdwatchers tend to describe their call as 'mewing'.
  14. I have seen the first reports of calling chiffchaffs in Hampshire this year. The reporters of them seem to think they will be birds that have just migrated here, but why they conclude that I have no idea. Apparently, nowadays, an increasing number of this species never bother migrating south in the autumn. Talking of chiffchaffs, I wonder how many other birds have a common, or local dialect, name based on their call. I can think of curlew, kittiwake and the various informal names for lapwings. Peewits is quite widespread, I think, but I have also seen reference to (but never heard in use) tewits (in the East Riding) and tuets (in Airedale), while my Aberdonian mum called them teuchits, the 'ch' being pronounced in the soft, gutteral way as in the more well known Scots word 'loch'. Teuchit appears in the text of the 'bothy ballad' MacGinty's meal-and-ale, MacGinty's Meal-And-Ale (mysongbook.de) Any more examples of avian name onomatopoeia?
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