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editor
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 Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:57 pm Post subject: Welshers |
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WELCOME!
Welshers:
Punters, true, but a posher crowd, in our view. The Welsh are people of a lush green land of deep mountain lakes, of great singers, legendary poets and rugby players, many of whom are good at all three. Yes, and we will not soon forget a recent performance by baritone Bryn Terfel (see below), who boldly let fly the Welsh colors during a recent concert of the endless, dreary old British Proms, Land of Hope and blah, blah, blah... Enough!
Horatio Hornblower
The Complete Adventures
DVD
Featuring Cardiff heartthrob Ioan Gruffud
| Quote: | In the first episode entitled, The Duel, midshipman Hornblower inspects the crew and discovers a man whose face is lacerated following a night of vigorous rat-baiting.
Hornblower: Styles, sir. What's the matter with your face?
Finch: Oooh, he gets bit---- (Matthews elbows Finch in the ribs).
Styles: Boils, sir. Awful bad.
Hornblower: Have you done anything about them?
Styles: Oh, yes, sir.
Hornblower: Well?
Styles: I've put plasters on them, sir.
Hornblower: Very well...What's funny, Oldroyd?
Oldroyd: Nothing, sir.
Hornblower: Mathews?
Mathews: Nothing, sir.
Hornblower: All right. Carry on. About your work, now.
Styles: Aye, aye, sir. |
But later on, below deck:
| Quote: | Oldroyd: Time, Styles! Aye. I have five [rats] dead. Pay all bets, evens or better.
Styles: Six.
Oldroyd: Five.
Several men: There, that one's dead!
Oldroyd: Oh, no, he ain't! Come on.
Styles: Look! Yes he is. Back's broken.
Hornblower: Who's in charge here?
Styles: We're not on watch, sir.
Hornblower: No, you're gambling. |
Of course, Hornblower is somewhat hard-pressed to say much on the matter of gambling. He is himself a quietly astute card player and frequently visits the tables to supplement a reduced seamen's income during inclement peacetimes.[/quote]
Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel
Under the Stars
DVD
(Way, way better than Terfel's tired performances with an otherwise enchanting Cecilia Bartoli. The magic
of the home crowd, perhaps, or the soft summer night by a lake).
Watch the Youtube video of Renee singing Dvořák's Song to the Moon from Rusalka at the 2003 festival - in Czech.
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2068#2068
Last edited by editor on Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:02 pm; edited 19 times in total |
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editor
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Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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Over Seventy
An autobiography -- with digressions
Hardcover
By P.G. Wodehouse
| Quote: | The news in my daily paper that in certain parts of Wales the latest craze is snail-racing has turned my attention to these gasteropods after months and months during which I don't suppose I have given more than a passing thought to them.
As a writer I have always rather kept off snails, feeling that they lacked sustained dramatic interest. With a snail nothing much ever happens, and, of course, there is no sex angle. An informant on whom I can rely says they are 'sexless or at least ambivalent.' This means, broadly speaking, that there are no boy snails and no girl snails, so that if you want to write a novel with a strong snail interest, you are dished from the start. Obviously the snail-meets-snail, snail-loses-snail, snail-gets-snail formula will not help you, and this discourages writers from the outset. Almost all we know of snails from English literature is Shakespeare's brief statement that they creep unwillingly to school.
But this snail-racing should mean a change for the better and give authors more of a chance. The way it works, I understand, is that each entrant pays a small fee and the owner of the first snail to pass the judges' box takes the lot. The runners have their owners' colours painted on their shells and 'are attracted to the winning-post by a pile of wet ivy leaves', with a delirious crowd, no doubt, shouting "Come on, Steve" or words to that effect. Any competent author ought to be able to make something of this...the hero's fortunes depending on the big race, his snail Forked Lightning trained to the last ounce, the villain sneaking into Lightning's stable to nobble him by sprinkling him with salt and substituting powdered sugar. There is surely a wealth of material here for something the Nat Gould vein, and I shall probably have a go at it myself. (From Bridges, Snails and Meteorites at p. 99) |
Wodehouse On Wodehouse
The Complete Memoirs
Paperback
More of the usual Wodehouse cocktail, straight up with a lemon twist.
More punters.
Fighting Irish.
More unusual bets.
Impossible Odds.
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2587#2587
Last edited by editor on Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:37 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Cup of Gold
A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with
Occasional Reference to History
Paperback
By John Steinbeck
| Quote: | "I would like to stay, my father, but you know - "
"Yes, boy." Robert nodded. "It is my sorrow that I do know. I cannot be angry nor forbid your going, because I understand. I wish I might prevent it and whip you, thinking that I helped you. But go to bed, Henry, and think and think when the light is out and the dark in around you."
Old Robert sat dreaming in his chair after the boy had gone.
"Why do men like me want sons?" he wondered. "It must be because they hope in their poor beaten souls that these new men, who are their blood, will do the things they were not strong enough nor wise enough nor brave enough to do. It is rather like another chance with life; like a new bag of coins at a table of luck after your fortune is gone. Perhaps the boy is doing what I might have done had I been brave enough years past. Yes, the valley has smothered me, I think, and I am glad this boy of mine finds it in his power to vault the mountains and stride about the world. But it will be - so very lonely here without him." (From Chapter One at p. 12) |
Steinbeck at his most winsome, which is saying something: the early years.
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2945#2945
Last edited by editor on Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:49 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Paris 1919
Six Months that Changed the World
Paperback
By Frostback history champ Margaret Macmillan
| Quote: | Lloyd George like to talk of his origins in a humble cottage, but in fact he came from the educated artisan class. His father, who died when he was very young, was a schoolmaster; the uncle who brought him up was a master cobbler and lay preacher, a figure of stature in his small village. Wales was always important to Lloyd George as a reference point, if only to measure how far he had come, and also for sentimental reasons (although he grew quickly bored if he had to spend too much time there). He had early on seen himself on a larger stage. And what larger stage than the capital of the world's biggest empire? As he wrote to the local girl who became his wife, "My supreme idea is to get on."
He was fortunate in his uncle, who gave him unstinting devotion and support. When, as a boy, he discovered that he had lost his belief in God, the lay preacher forgave him. When he decided to go into the law, his uncle worked through a French grammar book one step ahead of him so that he could get the language qualification that he required. And when he decided to go into politics, a huge gamble for someone without money or connections, his uncle again supported him. The old man lived just long enough to see his nephew become prime minister. (footnotes omitted) (From Lloyd George and the British Empire Delegation, p. 39) |
Link to this entry
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack
Hardcover
By Robertson Davies
| Quote: | Dear Pil:
I am making a short stay in Wales with my Uncle Fortunatus before coming back to Canada, and to work. You have never been to Wales, I believe? A great country, and the people have immense charm. For some reason the English seem to think of the Welsh as rascals and cheats, and this unjust notion has taken hold in Canada. Of course some Welshmen are curmudgeons, but on the whole I think they are wonderfully high-spirited. As a matter of fact, the only man in medical history who died of joy was a native of the very district where I am now staying. His name was Edward Burton, and in 1558, when Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, his won patriotism and the celebrations drove him into such a frenzy of delight that it killed him. He died while roaring with laughter, and uttering loyal yells.
He was refused burial in the chrchyard of St. Chad's, in Shrewsbury. Presumably the authorities took the view that no real Christian can be as joyful as that, and didn't want him making trouble among the glum ghosts. So he was buried at home. I would like to meet Burton in the hereafter, and ask whether the strainge manner of his death caused him any trouble with St. Peter.
...Yours,
Sam.
(-- p. 25) |
| Quote: | Posted by ESC on September 16, 1999
In Reply to: Welsher posted by Joanne Taylor on September 15, 1999
: Does anyone know the origin of "welsher" or "to welsh on a bet?"
From Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins:
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origin
Hardcover
Edited by William Morris
"welsh -- to anyone with Welsh blood in his or her veins, the old nursery rhyme 'Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief' is an outrage and a slander. There is no objection to the first statement: 'Taffy' is a generic name for Welshman, a corruption of 'David,' the patron saint of Wales. But we greatly resent the implied slander on an entire nation in the second line...Even worse is the verb 'to welsh,' meaning 'to renege on a bet,'...The term welsher became common in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the argot of race-track bettors. But from a reader came a comforting word for all Welshmen, one which gives a touch of logic to the use of the term: 'It was ENGLISH bookies who, having too many long shot winners against them, fled over the border to 'boondock' Wales to become the original welshers and escape irate bettors looking for their payoff.' Signed 'Taffy' Hoxie. 'P.S. You guessed it. I, too, had Welsh ancestors.'" (From The Phrase Finder) |
Link to this entry
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editor
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Posts: 2940
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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British Heritage
Magazine Subscription
The National Eisteddfod of Wales
With its roots in the bardic tournaments of the 12th century, scores of thousands gather every August for the rites, competitions and festivities of this fanciful clebration of Welsh identity
By Siân Ellis
July, 2007
| Quote: | ... The National Eisteddfod of Wales, alternating location each year betweent the north and south part of the country and lasting up to nine days, is Europe's largest popular festival of competitive music, poetry, literature and performances. Bolstered by 800 years of traditiion, it remains (pace erstwhile doubters) a flourishing icon and bastion of Welsh arts, language and culture. ...
On average some 8,000 adults and children pit their skills, with passion and excellence, in contests as varied as folk singing and step dancing, choral performances and monologues. Months before the eisteddfod at Swansea, I spoke to Layton Watkins, top tenor with Morriston Rugby Football Club Male Choir ... and he had confided that "the boys" had begun practising their pieces as early as the previous November. "It's not the prize (£750), it's the honor of winning a National Eisteddfod that is the motivation," he said. ...
To get an idea of just what special place the eisteddfod occupies in Welsh hearts, you need to dip into its evolution. Eistedd is Welsh for "sit" and the term "eisteddfod" originally denoted a meeting of bards, either in poetic contest or to discuss professional matters. The earliest known Welsh bards worked in the courts of princes in the 6th century, competing to win a seat of honor at the lord's table that would bring patronage and a livelihood.
The first recorded bardic tournament, however, was not until 1176, held at Cardigan Castle by Rhys ap Gruffydd. Called a gwledd arbennig (special feast) rather than eisteddfod, it offered two miniature silver chairs as prizes for poetry and music, and attracted competitors from England and Scotland as well as Wales. The term eisteddfod was used for the first time at Carmarthen in the middle of the 15th century, an occasion that was significant also for tightening the rules governing strict Welsh poetry. You need to be a mental gymnast to understand the intricacies of cynghanedd - poetry that involves patterns of consonance, alliteration and internal rhyming in prescribed meter. Further eisteddfods at Caerwys in 1523 and 1567, sought to safeguard professional standards by licensing three classes of bard: anyone who didn't make the grade had to find alternative labor or be treated as a vagbond. ...
... To be admitted to the ranks of the bards amid the Gorsedd circle of stones is considered a great honor and is bestowed on those who have made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh nation, language and culture. Members range from world-famous opera singer Bryn Terfel to former rugby star Gareth Edwards and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams (coincidentally a native of Swansea). (-- pgs. 18-21) |
Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel
Under the Stars
DVD
(Way, way better than Terfel's tired performances with an otherwise enchanting Cecilia Bartoli. The magic of the home crowd, perhaps, or the soft summer night by a lake).
Watch the Youtube video of Renee singing Dvořák's Song to the Moon from Rusalka at the 2003 festival - in Czech.
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=4174#4174 |
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