Exiled Townie

Dewsbury 52-8 Cornwall Doncaster 20-10 Oldham Hunslet 30 -12 Midlands Hurricanes Rochdale 18-28 Workington

Dewsbury Rams 20 v 18 Hunslet Oldham 28 v 22 Rochdale Hornets Workington Town 36 v 26 North Wales Crusaders Cornwall 12 v 36 Doncaster

Cornwall 10-18 London Skolars Midlands Hurricanes 10-28 Workington North Wales Crusaders 20-26 Oldham Rochdale 24-32 Dewsbury

Town by 4

Sylvia Syms, 89, starred in Ice Cold in Alex and dozens more British films.

On all the tv news channels this morning, 'We're running out of tomato's, cucumbers and peppers, rush out and panic buy, we have photos of empty shelves, panic, panic, panic.' Went to Morrisons with the wife a little later, no empty shelves, no shortages of any veggies as far as I could see. Mentioned it to the girl putting vegetables on to the shelves and she said they are getting the same amount of fruit and veg delivered as they always do and there is not a problem - other than some people putting five cucumbers and half a dozen lettuces in their trolleys.

If I had been told it was a retro shirt & seen it without a badge I would have guessed Dewsbury or Bradford. Good looking shirt, nice one Salford.

Same here, no idea how this season will pan out... definitely going to be interesting.

London Skolars v Workington Town - by 10 Doncaster v Hunslet - by 4 Midlands Hurricanes v Cornwall - by 18 North Wales Crusaders v Dewsbury Rams - by 12

I have always thought that if the names were changed to North London Skolars and West London Broncos that might generate a bit of local 'belonging', (and rivalry) and that still leaves room for a South and an East team to pop up too.

Roland the Farter (known in contemporary records as Roland Le Fartere and Roland Le Petour) was a medieval flatulist who lived in twelfth-century England. Roland the Farter's given name was George, but he changed it as Roland sounded more regal. He was given Hemingstone Manor in Suffolk and 30 acres of land in return for his services as 'Royal Farter' for King Henry ll. His 'piece de resistance' that he was obliged to perform each year at the kings Christmas feast was "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum", a dance that ended with “one jump, one whistle, and one fart” executed simultaneously.

In the 1st century AD, the Romans used to buy bottles of Portuguese urine and use it as a mouthwash. Importing bottled urine became so popular that the emperor Nero taxed the trade. The ammonia in urine was thought to disinfect mouths and whiten teeth, and urine remained a popular mouthwash ingredient until the 18 th century.

He was a great hero in Victorian times, but as time passed and attitudes changed, he has been largely forgotten. I think I read that he has three statues in Northern Ireland, an obelisk to his memory in Pakistan and his grave in Delhi is classed as a protected monument by the Indian government.

Been reading about John Nicholson, a legendary Anglo/Irish British army officer during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Described by some as the man who saved British India and by others as an imperial psychopath, some of the tales are astounding - One famous story recounted in Soldier Sahibs is of a night during the Rebellion when Nicholson strode into the British mess tent at Jullundar, coughed to attract the attention of the officers, then said, "I am sorry, gentlemen, to have kept you waiting for your dinner, it will be a little late as I have just been hanging your cooks." (He had been told that the regimental chefs had poisoned the soup. When they refused to taste it for him, he fed it to a monkey – and when it expired on the spot, he proceeded to hang the cooks from a nearby tree without a trial.) When appointed a district commissioner, Nicholson was ruthless in bringing peace and order to the region with a zero tolerance attitude on crime or any perceived disrespect shown towards the colonial government, often using flogging to both punish and humiliate any who dared infringe the law. He often dispensed justice with the head of an infamous outlaw pickled in a jar on his desk beside him. At first he was feared, but Nicholson soon gained the respect of the Afghan and North Punjabi tribes in the area for his fair treatment to all, as well as the almost complete elimination of crime. The respect that Nicholson gained from the Sikh people and then the Punjabi tribes turned into an almost religious worship as the "Nikal Seyn" cult developed, which worshiped Nicholson as a saint who brought justice to the oppressed by punishing the strong. Amazingly, this cult survived into the 20th century. Rather than be flattered by this religious devotion, Nicholson found his Christian beliefs offended by the worship of himself, and would promptly whip any of the devotees who publicly practiced this cult in his presence. Unfortunately this only expanded the cult. Reading about it, I couldn't help but think it led to scenes like in the 'Life of Brian', I'm not the Messiah Will you please listen, I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Girl: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.

A little know fact that is glossed over in the majority of history books I read about the battle of Agincourt. From Juliet Barker's book 'Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle' :- Many of the English and Welsh archers were suffering from dysentry, and were reduced to removing their soiled breeches and undergarments in an attempt to allow nature to take its course more easily ie not wearing anything from the waist down — an option not available to the men-at-arms, encased in their padded steel plate suits, they just had to 'go' in their armour. Grim though the sight of them must have been, the smell was probably worse. Imagine being a French knight,being attacked by naked from the waist down archers, followed by men at arms with poo squelching out of their armour - they don't teach that in history class.

Alexander The Great, Leonidas, Archimedes.

Just call it "Proper Rugby" and be done.

Guess I am quite lucky as the wife loves to cook, and is very good at it. She makes home made mince pies or a regular basis throughout the year, along with fruit cake, biscuits and apple pies. The only time I eat a shop bought mince pie is at other peoples houses and usually at Christmas (what's wrong with mince pies at any time of year) so can't really comment on shop bought ones. I also like malt loaf.

Every single western film about Custers Last Stand - battle of the Little Big Horn - seems to have a glorious last stand with the cavalry surrounded by hoards of Indians as they all go down fighting. In reality it was a major mess up by Custer and the 'battle' was just a shambolic retreat by 200 soldiers from 3000 Indians.

I like my history and I can forgive most 'historical bloopers' but when it comes to Braveheart, don't get me started ..... well, ok then, here's just a few - Battle of Stirling Bridge, one of Wallace’s few victories, is missing two key elements, the armies main leader Andrew de Moray who many historians claim won the battle for Wallace, and, perhaps more crucially, the bridge itself. Braveheart was the name given to Robert the Bruce and not Wallace, Wallace’s father wasn't killed by the English when Wallace was a boy, and was likely still alive during his son's rebellion. The romantic liason with Isabella of France never happened, she was 3 at the time of Wallace's rebellion. Wallace was not a wild, hairy highlander from farming stock, painted with woad (1,000 years too late) running amok in a tartan kilt (400 years too early). He was a Scottish nobleman. King Edward the 1st didn't die at the same time as Wallace, he died a few years later. As one critic said 'This film couldn’t have been more inaccurate if a plasticine dog was added to the cast and the film was retitled 'William Wallace meets Gromit.'

I am embarrassed to say I am watching this as well, it's car crash tv. . I never watch reality tv, and came across this by accident. I had to laugh when one of the players described a group as made up of the alpha males and macho men - this was just before two of them burst into tears after being suspected as 'traitors', and the third ran out of the room after suffering a case of 'the vapours'. There's a few strong women in there, but not a great advert for the great British male.