…not sure if I mentioned, but I did score a few at Stockport County. I like Edgeley Park
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Groucho's Fact Hunt
- Thread starter Groucho
- Start date
…not sure if I mentioned, but I did score a few at Stockport County. I like Edgeley Park
….why do men have buttons on the right and women have buttons on the left?
When buttons were first introduced they were expensive and mainly for the well off. As wealthy women generally had maids to dress them, buttons were put on the left.
When buttons were first introduced they were expensive and mainly for the well off. As wealthy women generally had maids to dress them, buttons were put on the left.
Also, the initial fact will be incorrect in the near future.…not sure if I mentioned, but I did score a few at Stockport County. I like Edgeley Park
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Vintage
Player Valuation: £60m
In 1887, Robert Ledru was a 35-year-old Paris police detective who was considered one of France’s best, and so when the authorities in Le Havre asked for help with a mysterious case of missing sailors, Ledru was sent to lend them a hand. He arrived in the Normandy port in evening and went to bed early. When he awoke the next morning, he was surprised to discover that his shoes and socks were wet.
When he got to the Le Havre police station, he was told that the missing sailors’ case was now a low priority, as there had been a murder during the night at the beach of a prominent businessman by the name of Andre Monet, who was discovered face down, shot through with a bullet. The victim had not been robbed, and nothing pointed to any reason, motive, or suspect.
Ledru went to the beach to investigate the crime scene, and noticed footprints leading up to and away from the corpse. After examining them, he seemed troubled, and remarking that they looked familiar, ordered plaster casts made of the clearest footprints. When that was done, he sat right there on the beach, looking at the plaster cast footprints for hours. Finally, he got up and told the gathered gendarmes that there was no need for further investigation, as he had solved the crime: the killer was Robert Ledru, although for the life of him he had no memory of shooting the victim. However, one of the footprints had a missing big toe and matched that of Ledru’s, who was missing a big toe. There was also an empty chamber in his revolver, which was always kept fully loaded. Finally, there were the wet shoes and socks he woke to that morning. From all the preceding, Ledru concluded that he had been sleepwalking on the beach that night, when he encountered and shot the victim.
The police were skeptical at first, and Ledru’s bosses thought their star detective must be suffering some temporary crisis caused by overwork and stress that led him to imagine himself a killer. However, ballistics testing proved that the bullet recovered at the crime scene had been fired from Ledru’s revolver, so that sealed it. He was jailed for his own good, and kept under constant watch.
While in prison, the authorities gave him a revolver loaded with blanks. One night, Ledru got up and fired it at a guard, which convinced the authorities that he was, indeed, a homicidal sleepwalker. From then until his death fifty years later in 1937, Ledru was kept in a secluded farm outside Paris, watched over by doctors and armed personnel
When he got to the Le Havre police station, he was told that the missing sailors’ case was now a low priority, as there had been a murder during the night at the beach of a prominent businessman by the name of Andre Monet, who was discovered face down, shot through with a bullet. The victim had not been robbed, and nothing pointed to any reason, motive, or suspect.
Ledru went to the beach to investigate the crime scene, and noticed footprints leading up to and away from the corpse. After examining them, he seemed troubled, and remarking that they looked familiar, ordered plaster casts made of the clearest footprints. When that was done, he sat right there on the beach, looking at the plaster cast footprints for hours. Finally, he got up and told the gathered gendarmes that there was no need for further investigation, as he had solved the crime: the killer was Robert Ledru, although for the life of him he had no memory of shooting the victim. However, one of the footprints had a missing big toe and matched that of Ledru’s, who was missing a big toe. There was also an empty chamber in his revolver, which was always kept fully loaded. Finally, there were the wet shoes and socks he woke to that morning. From all the preceding, Ledru concluded that he had been sleepwalking on the beach that night, when he encountered and shot the victim.
The police were skeptical at first, and Ledru’s bosses thought their star detective must be suffering some temporary crisis caused by overwork and stress that led him to imagine himself a killer. However, ballistics testing proved that the bullet recovered at the crime scene had been fired from Ledru’s revolver, so that sealed it. He was jailed for his own good, and kept under constant watch.
While in prison, the authorities gave him a revolver loaded with blanks. One night, Ledru got up and fired it at a guard, which convinced the authorities that he was, indeed, a homicidal sleepwalker. From then until his death fifty years later in 1937, Ledru was kept in a secluded farm outside Paris, watched over by doctors and armed personnel
….’knockers up’ were frequent in industrial Britain before WW2 and even continued in northern cities into the 60s. The amount paid depended on how early you needed to get up;
The people who knocked up the knockers up must have been raking it in.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Listened to a really good podcast about this a couple years back. Here’s the link in case you’re interested:
Matters of Time - Page 2 of 4 - 99% Invisible
Knocker Uppers by Joe Rosenberg As Britain began to adapt to new standards around time, the regimentation of London time in particular grew increasingly important. In fact, there were entire professions devoted to keeping track of conveying the time in the 19th century, including...
99percentinvisible.org
Wonder if it is this coming back into use, or just co-incidence, that lots of (young?) ppl the last few years use the term "tea" when talking about gossip.
What about the missing sailors tho?
I wonder is there a link between the knockers up and the term getting knocked up (Getting pregnant) as it can't be a coincidence that knockers up use big rods.
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…..mmm, I think that’s a bit of a tenuous link especially as some used pea shooters
I just went on to do some internet research and it appears the origin of the term knocked up has some debate around it. But my 'wondering' seems to have been very wrong.…..mmm, I think that’s a bit of a tenuous link especially as some used pea shooters
Strawberries aren't actually berries and banana's and tomatoes are
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Your morning fact of the day.