Fun Monday # 80 Trivia
The lovely ladies over at mama drama have set us today's assignment they are wanting to find out.....
'What funny trivial fact do you remember that you probably should have forgotten a long time ago?'
Well here in the UK you can substitute James Garfield for any number of Kings and Queens, knights, Prime Ministers all with funny little stories such as...
King Alfred who burnt the cakes (probably bread if it happened at all)
St George (patron saint of England) who slew the dragon
Sir Francis Drake -was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when told that the Spanish Armada had arrived. He apparently declared that there was time to finish the match and then to defeat the Spanish; he lost the game, but won the battle.(myth probably)
Sir Walter Raleigh is supposed to have laid his clock at the feet of Queen Elizabeth to stop her walking in a muddy puddle. He is also said to be responsible for introducing tobacco and the potato to England (again myths).
So my head if full of this sort of useless trivia picked up from school.....
.....however one thing that does stick in my head is that when I was in junior school we had to learn poems and this is one that really appealed to me not that I could get my head around a lot of the words when I was about 10 years old. Now, I only ever remember bits of the last verse:
Cargoes
QUINQUIREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
by John Masefield
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
by John Masefield
I'm looking forward to extending my education this week so will see you all later!
Archives:
2007: Pay it Forward
Labels: Fun Monday, poem, trivia
posted by ChrisB @ 8:26 am
28 comments
28 Comments:
so much trivia so little time!! love the poem
Oh I remember all those stories. Fabulous, and that poem rings a bell too. When we were little we learnt a poem called 'The Marrog from Mars' which always stayed with me. :D
i can understand why you were perplexed at that poem!
great poem!!!
Loved this Fun Monday. Mine is posted. Hopefully this is a bit on the 'FUNny side' too. Drop by if you can, won't you? Happy day to you.
Wonderful poem!
For a minute I thought you said playing bowels. I like the salt-caked smoke stack bit.
Good go get som info. from across the pond.
When I was ten I think we were still working on Jack and Jill went up the hill.... You have some great trivia in that head of yours!
great trivia, too bad I won't remember it at all!
Funny poem. Some of that stuff has got to be true. I've heard the one about Walter Raleigh before.
Fun and thank you for the poem!
(I'm enjoying the image of Queen Elizabeth treading on Sir Walter's clock!)
Wow, you are full of good bits of trivia! And a poem too!
That's quite a poem for a ten year old.
I love a good poem. Somewhere around that same age, we had to learn Tennyson's "half a league, half a league, half a league onward. Into the valley of death rode the six hundred."
The tempo fairly reverbrated with the sound of hooves.
Thank you.
I learn so much here!
The poem is great Chris!
What a nice poem, but I have to admit, it's still hard to wrap my head on it, and I've got several times 10 years on it.
I'm with some of the other commenters.....I can't believe you were able to memorize that poem at 10 years old!
I'm thinking Sir Walter Raleigh saved his tobacco slips to plant in the colonies. Did he also help Ireland with their seed potato supply?
Re his cloak--they don't make 'em like that anymore, do they?
Ah … enjoyed your ‘trivia’ … but especially liked the poem … one I’d not read before. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs and blessings,
My head is spinning from all that trivia!
:)
Thanks for playing!
Margaret
http://blogs.chron.com/mamadrama
interesting! I loved it
Love the poem. I am really enjoying this Fun Monday.
that poem some of the words I don't think I could get my mouth around now let along when I was ten.
that is some poem to remember!!!
And you could keep this difficult poeme in your mind all these years ?? Congratulations ! then my mind is like a dutch cheese !
Thanks for all the lovely comments but it's only fair to say that it's the last verse that I highlighted that sticks in my mind.
You remember so much! Great tidbits.
Very good poem and a great post!!
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