Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

With respect, Griff, I think you are missing the point. The Greggs link is to a meat pasty/pie, but, as far as I can see, it has no dried fruit in it. What Futtocks was reminding us is that, historically, mincemeat consisted of both dried fruit and meat, the former, I imagine, to help to preserve the latter in days when refrigeration was not an option, at least for the masses.

Oh, come on, GJ. It's not like you to get in the way of others' prejudices!

I give up, DM, so give us all some help. Who are the editors in question and which schools did they attend? That would make it easier to answer your question.

This newspaper quotation relates to an incident 100 years ago today: The Northern Government have arrested Mr [Éamon] De Valera under the provisions of their own Act of Parliament which empowered them to make prisoners of men without warrants and hold them in jails without charge or trial. The Act is extra-Constitutional; it is practically identical with martial law, which has been described as “the negation of law”. All Ireland knew that the Act existed and that it had been utilised; the Government openly proclaimed their intention of utilising it in connection with Mr De Valera’s journey to the Six Counties: therefore nothing unexpected happened at Newry and Derry. Northern Nationalists stand outside this little quarrel.

Thanks for posting this, Futtocks. The last edition of Private Eye posted some of their favourite cartoons of his. They included my favourite in which behind a cricket stadium, with a handful of spectators in (I presume for a county championship match), a massive dinosaur is tearing down houses and factories. The umpire at the bowler's end has turned round to watch this. The caption is in inverted commas, so clearly the words being said by a match commentator: "...and once again we have interruption of play caused by movement behind the bowler's arm..." RIP McLachlan.

Dame Cleo Laine (aka Lady Dankworth) is 97 today.

I once saw a cartoon, possibly by the recently deceased Ed McLachlan, that has two people in a car, with the doors flung open. They are covering their ears and one is asking the other why they chose Brian Blessed for the sat nav voice!

Good luck, Phil. As I am sure you realise, the whole of this fans' forum is rooting for you!

Are you all sure this Serbia -v- Wales match is real? I just ask because the RL fixtures page of the dear old Beeb's website says of today, "We have no events to show on this date" and they would obviously appreciate the importance of a world cup qualifier involving one of the home nations... ...wouldn't they?

Geoffrey Boycott and Manfred Mann are both 84 today.

For some reason, Treize Mondial seems to think that I need the French translated every time, just because I did once ask for that. Thus, I can tell you that the one-sided Lord Derby Cup tie today ended as follows: Living Room 0, VARL 58.

There are now at least a thousand waiting for the broadcast to start in about seven minutes time.

Damn clever, these sheepdogs.....oh, Lasse...sorry!

On this day in 1951, Snowdonia was designated as the first Welsh national park. There had already been two designations in England - the Peak District and the Lake District. Others followed in England and Wales, followed by a lapse of some decades. More recently, there have been two more national parks in England - the South Downs and the New Forest - while Scotland has also got its first two - Loch Lomond & the Trossachs and the Cairngorms. I think that, in East Anglia, the Broads is maybe, technically, not a national park, although for all intents and purposes, it is one. I seem to recall reading that it was set up under its own legislation, as it were, and not that under which England's other national parks were established.

Cesar Rouge?

Oh no he doesn't.....

No, WWE. I think you hit the wrong letters on your keypad! Understandable: T is only two along from W; E and F are almost diagonally adjacent.

"Shoes that having..."? Is something afoot...?

I'm very much like you, Dunbar. Wigan were my team back in the 1960s when I was introduced to the sport, but nowadays my first choice is Les Dracs. So, a Wigan win would certainly not disappoint me, but victory for KR would be great for the game. For any of you attending the game, I hope that your travel arrangements go smoothly and that you have a good day.

I can get like that now, usually after a few pints!

Very sad news. I hadn't realised that he was Roger Millward's cousin - what a family!

Can I just check, please? Is it possible to put forward a complete article for 'Pseuds Corner' in Private Eye?

That sounds tastily familiar, Futtocks!

The reference to Lancaster makes me go all nostalgic, Padge. Even as I type this at my computer desk, there are, near me on the desk, four still full (never opened) bottles of beer. They include one of Yates & Jackson's 'Nut Brown' and one of Mitchell's 'Centenary Ale - 1880-1980'. For the record, the other two bottles are from Traquair House (brew no. 20, bottle no. 28352, according to the handwriting on the label!) and Hall & Woodhouse (t/a Badger Beers) from Blandford Forum; it's one of their 'Bicentenary Ale - 1777-1977' bottles. When Mrs WWD and I got wed, at Long Preston church, we had a DIY reception at Long Preston village hall, for which I got in draught beer from Yates & Jackson, Mitchell's and Hartley's of Ulverston - a very happy day for various reasons!

Happy munching, HG, but I won't be joining you in searching out commercially produced ones. As luck (for me!) would have it, Mrs WWD is an excellent cook; hardly surprising given that we first met in the cafe her mother owned and ran in Skipton - truly, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! Making mince pies for Christmas is something she does regularly. The pastry for the pies will be home-made, as will the mincemeat. They are excellent. In some years, she has too much mincemeat, so she just saves it until next year. No doubt its alcohol content helps with the preservation process! So it's home-made or nothing for me! That preservative effect, incidentally, would be, I think, why mincemeat traditionally consisted of a mix of real meat, with fruit, spices and a bit of booze, as Futtocks noted above. The meat, I imagine, would thus have been preserved by the other ingredients; hence, it wouldn't go 'off' and thus wasn't wasted.