The Book Of General Ignorance Part 13

Baseball (originally base ball) was invented in England and first named and described in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket Book A Little Pretty Pocket Book. The book was very popular in England and was reprinted in America in 1762.

Baseball is not based on rounders, the first description of which didn't appear in print until 1828, in the second edition of The Boy's Own Book The Boy's Own Book. The first US mention of rounders is in 1834 in The Book of Sports The Book of Sports by Robin Carver. He credited by Robin Carver. He credited The Boy's Own Book The Boy's Own Book as his source, but called the game 'base ball' or 'goal ball'. as his source, but called the game 'base ball' or 'goal ball'.

In the first chapter of Northanger Abbey Northanger Abbey, written in 1796, the young heroine Catherine Morland is described as preferring 'cricket, baseball, riding on horseback and running about the country to books'.

The baseball authorities were so paranoid about the non-American origin of the game that in 1907 they carried out a shameless fraud. In a report into the game's origins commissioned by the major league's executive board, they advanced the story that the game was invented by the Civil War general and hero Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.

A legend was born. Despite the evidence of numerous bat-and-ball games being played all over early Puritan America, and the fact that Doubleday never visited Cooperstown, or ever mentioned baseball in his diaries, it stuck firm in the American psyche. As one wag put it, 'Abner Doubleday didn't invent baseball, baseball invented Abner Doubleday.'

If any one person should be credited with inventing the modern US game, it is Alexander Cartwright, a Manhattan bookseller. He had been a volunteer fireman and in 1842 founded the Knickerbocker Baseball Club (after the Knickerbocker Fire Engine Company).

He and other firemen played on a field at 47th and 27th Streets. The rules of the modern game are based on their by-laws and Cartwight was the first to draw a diagram of the diamond-shaped field.

He was finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.

[image]

How did the game of rugby begin?

According to the irrepressible old folk tale, rugby football was invented at Rugby School in November 1823, when seventeen-year-old player William Webb Ellis 'with a fine disregard for the rules' first picked up a ball and ran with it.

Even at Rugby they don't believe this. It's been acknowledged as a myth since 1895, when an investigation by the Old Rugbeian Society admitted that the only source for the story was an 1876 article in the school magazine by an old boy who had barely known Ellis and had left the school three years before the 'famous' incident. Other contemporaries had no memory of Ellis as either a rebel or a particularly gifted footballer (he became a low-Church evangelical Anglican priest). What they did confirm was that the rules at the school were complicated and that, while running with the ball in hand was definitely forbidden at the time, it did happen. In the unlikely event that Ellis did run with the ball, he certainly wasn't the first.

Games similar to rugby, involving the kicking and catching of b.a.l.l.s, have been played throughout history, all over the world. The ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese and Mayans all had their own versions of the running-with-a-ball game. Closer to home was caid in Ireland, criapan in Wales and the various English versions of Shrovetide football, where vast crowds of players hacked at and tripped up one another at will. Henry IV, Henry VIII (despite being a keen player himself), Elizabeth I, James I and Charles II all had it banned.

Nevertheless, by the early nineteenth century, some version of the game was being played at most major public schools. Handling the ball was common in many of them. What made Rugby stand out was that a group of boys produced a printed set of rules in 1845, the first written rules for any game of football.

This formed the basis for the code adopted by the Rugby Football Union, founded at the Pall Mall Restaurant in London in 1871. Eight years earlier, the Football a.s.sociation had been established, using a largely hands-free version played at Cambridge University. This marked the formal split between the two sets of rules, which evolved into the modern sports of soccer and rugby union. (Rugby league split from rugby union in 1895.) From time immemorial, all b.a.l.l.s for such games had been made from inflated pig's bladders, so they were always more egg-shaped than spherical. But, in 1862, Richard Lindon, a local Rugby shoemaker, whose wife had died from lung cancer caused by blowing up hundreds of diseased pig's bladders, was inspired to develop a leather version with a rubber inner tube and so produced the world's first round football. A request from Rugby School for an oval alternative (whose shape made it easier to catch and throw) meant that Lindon also gets the credit for the first proper rugby ball. Its distinctive shape was formalised in 1892.

Unfortunately, Lindon didn't patent his invention, although through it he had rather more influence on rugby's development than William Webb Ellis, who died in obscurity in France in 1872, completely unaware that, four years later, he would be immortalised as the 'father of rugby'.

[image]

What's the only sport invented entirely in the USA?

Basketball.

And although it was invented in the United States, it was actually devised by a Canadian, James Naismith, in 1891 the same year that ping-pong was invented.

Naismith was a PE instructor at Springfield College (then the YMCA training school) in Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, from 1890 to 1895. He was asked to create a sport that could be played indoors without special new equipment. He is supposed to have thought of the idea as he screwed up sketch after sketch of ideas for games and aimed the b.a.l.l.s of paper at his waste-paper basket across the room.

Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down any old indoor s.p.a.ce. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket nailed to a balcony or high on a wall. It was twenty-one years before anyone got round to putting a hole in the bottom of the basket. Until 1912, after every score, someone had to climb a ladder up to the basket or poke the ball out with a long pole.

In 1959, twenty years after his death, James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (now called the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame).

One of the apocryphal reasons given for the success of VHS in becoming the world standard videoca.s.sette is that the original Sony Betamax was slightly too short to record an entire basketball game.

[image]

What do you call someone from the United States?

Not American, that really irritates the Canadians.

In fact there is no agreed right answer. In the UK, the use of 'US' as an adjective is common in media and government house-styles. In Spanish americano americano tends to refer to any resident of the Americas; English spoken in Latin America often makes this distinction as well. In the North American Free Trade Agreement (1994), the Canadian French word for an American is given as tends to refer to any resident of the Americas; English spoken in Latin America often makes this distinction as well. In the North American Free Trade Agreement (1994), the Canadian French word for an American is given as etatsunien etatsunien; in Spanish it is estadounidense estadounidense. This is clumsy in English. US-American is better and that's what the Germans tend to use (US-Amerikaner).

Some (not all serious) suggestions for a specific English word meaning 'citizen of the US' have included: Americanite; Colonican; Columbard; Columbian; Fredonian; Statesider; Uessian; United Statesian; United Statesman; USen; Vespuccino; Was.h.i.+ngtonian. And Merkin from the way Americans p.r.o.nounce 'American'.

The likely source for Yankee is the Dutch name Janke, meaning 'little Jan' or 'little John,' dating from the 1680s when the Dutch ran New York. During the Civil War, 'yankee' referred only to those loyal to the Union. Now the term carries less emotion except of course for baseball fans. The word gringo gringo is widely used in Latin America to mean a US citizen, particularly in Mexico, though not necessarily in a pejorative way. It's thought to come from the Spanish is widely used in Latin America to mean a US citizen, particularly in Mexico, though not necessarily in a pejorative way. It's thought to come from the Spanish griego griego, 'Greek' hence any foreigner (as in English 'it's all Greek to me').

STEPHEN What's the right word for someone who's from the USA? What's the right word for someone who's from the USA?

JOHNNY VEGAS 'Obese.' 'Obese.'

GRAEME Is it 'burger-eating invasion monkey'? Is it 'burger-eating invasion monkey'?

What was Billy the Kid's real name?

a) William H. Bonney b) Kid Antrim c) Henry McCarty d) Brushy Bill Roberts Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York City. William H. Bonney was just one of his aliases, the one he was using when he was sentenced to death.

Born in New York City, his mother Catherine was a widow who resettled with Henry and his brother Joe in Wichita, Kansas in 1870. It was a wild place, the centre of the cattle trade. 'In Wichita', according to a contemporary newspaper, 'pistols are as thick as blackberries.'

By November 1870, the town had 175 buildings and a population of nearly 800. Mrs McCarty was well known in town for the hand laundry she ran on North Main Street. The family later moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Billy's mother was married to William Antrim, a homesteader.

It was in the deserts of New Mexico that Billy began to rustle cattle and make a name for himself as a gunslinger. By 1879, with perhaps seventeen deaths to his name, he was offered an amnesty by the Governor of New Mexico, Lew Wallace, best remembered today as the author of Ben Hur Ben Hur, the best-selling American novel of the nineteenth century.

Billy turned himself in, then had second thoughts and broke jail. He was pursued and finally killed by Pat Garrett in 1881, but not before he had sent a series of letters imploring Wallace to honour his promise of an amnesty. They went unacknowledged.

Despite the official death warrant, there were persistent stories that the Kid had survived. In 1903, Wallace's successor as Governor of New Mexico had the case reopened to establish whether he had really died and whether he deserved to be pardoned. The investigation was never concluded.

In 1950, a member of Buffalo Bill the bison-killer's Wild West Show known as 'Brushy Bill Roberts' died claiming that he was in fact Billy the Kid.

Billy the Kid is said to be the real-life person who has been most depicted in films; he's portrayed in at least forty-six movies.

Carty/Antrim/Bonney didn't become known as Billy the Kid until the end of the last full year of his life. Until then, he was known, simply, as 'the Kid'.

[image]

What do we have Thomas c.r.a.pper to thank for?

a) The manhole cover b) The bathroom showroom c) The ballc.o.c.k d) The flush toilet All of them except the last one.

Thomas c.r.a.pper (18361910) was a London plumber who held nine patents: for manhole covers, drains, pipe joints, and, most notably, the ballc.o.c.k.

His innovative Chelsea showroom was a big hit, though ladies were said to faint at the sight of the unmentionables on display. c.r.a.pper's, on the King's Road, started by his nephew George, only closed in 1966.

c.r.a.pper & Co. held four royal warrants. When the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) bought Sandringham in 1880, they did all the plumbing.

In Flushed with Pride Flushed with Pride (1969), the author Wallace Reyburn claimed c.r.a.pper invented the flush toilet, and was knighted and cited in the (1969), the author Wallace Reyburn claimed c.r.a.pper invented the flush toilet, and was knighted and cited in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. As any plumber will tell you, none of these things is true. As any plumber will tell you, none of these things is true.

Though c.r.a.pper's 'Silent Valveless Waste Water Preventer' was a flush toilet, the patent was not his: it was filed by a Mr Alfred Giblin in 1819.

The first flush toilet was discovered in China in 2000 in the palace of a king of the Han Dynasty (206 BCAD BCAD 220). It is a stone latrine with a seat, armrest and a system of pipes for flus.h.i.+ng the pan. Arguably, the first modern WC was invented in 1592 by Sir John Harington, a G.o.dson of Queen Elizabeth I. 220). It is a stone latrine with a seat, armrest and a system of pipes for flus.h.i.+ng the pan. Arguably, the first modern WC was invented in 1592 by Sir John Harington, a G.o.dson of Queen Elizabeth I.

As for c.r.a.pper's surname being the origin of the slang for a lavatory, this is just possible. The word doesn't appear in print until the 1930s. 'c.r.a.p' dates from 1440, but it meant 'chaff' and had fallen out of use by 1600. Victorians would not have understood the word 'c.r.a.pper', let alone found it funny.

The story goes that English settlers took the word with them to America, where it was vulgarised to its present meaning. When American GIs came to Britain in the First World War, they found the name c.r.a.pper engraved on all the lavatories hilarious, and the name stuck.

Wallace Reyburn went on to publish Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto t.i.tzling Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto t.i.tzling (1971), a ludicrous fiction about the supposed inventor of the bra. (1971), a ludicrous fiction about the supposed inventor of the bra.

STEPHEN The ball ... c.o.c.k. Erm ... sorry. I don't know why that's funny. Sorry that it's funny to say ball ... c.o.c.k. Yes! I learned at the University of Rowan Atkinson, me! The ball ... c.o.c.k. Erm ... sorry. I don't know why that's funny. Sorry that it's funny to say ball ... c.o.c.k. Yes! I learned at the University of Rowan Atkinson, me!

What was Mozart's middle name?

Wolfgang.

His full name was Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He usually called himself Wolfgang Amade (not Amadeus) or Wolfgang Gottlieb. 'Amadeus' is Latin for Gottlieb and means 'G.o.d's love'.

Other memorable middle names include Richard Tiffany Gere, Rupert Chawney Brooke, William Cuthbert Faulkner and Harry S. Truman, where the S stands for nothing, despite the full stop.

Apparently Truman's parents couldn't agree whether he should be named after Anderson s.h.i.+pp s.h.i.+pp Truman or Truman or Solomon Solomon Young, his grandfathers. Young, his grandfathers.

For punctuation fiends, we draw your attention to The Chicago Manual of Style The Chicago Manual of Style: 'all initials given with a name should for convenience and consistency be followed by a period even if they are not abbreviations of names.'

[image]

How did Mark Twain get his name?

He stole it.

The usual explanation is that he took the name from the call of the leadsman on a Mississippi paddle-boat steamer. 'Mark Twain' was the second mark on the lead line used to calculate the river's depth. It indicated a depth of 2 fathoms (12 feet), which was 'safe water'.

This isn't wrong, it's just that someone else had got there first. The name was already being used by Captain Isaiah Sellers (180263), a river news correspondent.

The young Samuel Longhorn Clemens (18351910) cut his teeth writing parodies of Sellers under the pen-name Sergeant Fathom. According to Clemens, Sellers was 'not of a literary turn or capacity' but was 'a fine man, a high-minded man, and greatly respected both ash.o.r.e and on land'. The Sergeant Fathom burlesques mortified him. Clemens later wrote: 'He had never been held up to ridicule before; he was sensitive, and he never got over the hurt which I had wantonly and stupidly inflicted upon his dignity.'

This didn't stop him stealing the pen-name, as Twain (Mark II) explained in a letter to a reader: Dear Sir, 'Mark Twain' was the nom de plume of one Capt. Isaiah Sellers, who used to write river news over it for the New Orleans Picayune New Orleans Picayune. He died in 1863, and as he could no longer need that signature, I laid violent hands upon it without asking permission of the proprietor's remains. That is the history of the nom de plume I bear.

Yours truly, Samuel L. Clemens

[image]

What was the surname of the Swiss Family Robinson?

We don't know, but it certainly wasn't Robinson.

Johann David Wyss (17431818), a Swiss clergyman and former military chaplain, wrote the original stories as an entertainment for his four sons on long hiking trips. One of the boys, Johann Emmanuel, ill.u.s.trated them and many years later, another one, Johann Rudolf (already famous for having written the words to the Swiss National anthem) edited them into a book. Der Schweizerische Robinson Der Schweizerische Robinson (literally 'The Swiss Robinson') was published in German in 1812. (literally 'The Swiss Robinson') was published in German in 1812.

The story follows the adventures of a Swiss family stranded in the East Indies after a s.h.i.+pwreck on the way to Australia, and is told from the point of view of the father (who is not named). Wyss intended the stories to offer his sons practical guidance on family values and self-reliance, inspired by the work of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (171278) and Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe (1719). (1719).

The enduring popularity of the basic idea has survived endless liberties taken with the original text. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature comments: 'with all the expansions and contractions over the past two centuries (this includes a long history of abridgements, condensations, Christianisings and Disney products), Wyss's original narrative has long since been obscured, and the book is chiefly characterised by its improbable profusion of animals penguins, kangaroos, monkeys and even a whale conveniently gathered together on a tropical island.' comments: 'with all the expansions and contractions over the past two centuries (this includes a long history of abridgements, condensations, Christianisings and Disney products), Wyss's original narrative has long since been obscured, and the book is chiefly characterised by its improbable profusion of animals penguins, kangaroos, monkeys and even a whale conveniently gathered together on a tropical island.'

As for the confusion over the family's name, this wasn't a problem for William G.o.dwin (17561836), husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, father of Mary Sh.e.l.ley and influential social philosopher. He and his second wife produced the first English translation in 1814, calling it quite logically The Family Robinson Crusoe The Family Robinson Crusoe.

In 1818, for some reason, the t.i.tle was changed to The Swiss Family Robinson The Swiss Family Robinson (surely The Swiss Family Crusoe would have made more sense?) and this unlike the details of the plot, the names and the s.e.xes of the characters and the underlying moral lessons is about the only part of it all to have stood the test of time. (surely The Swiss Family Crusoe would have made more sense?) and this unlike the details of the plot, the names and the s.e.xes of the characters and the underlying moral lessons is about the only part of it all to have stood the test of time.

It won't surprise you to learn that roughly a third of the endless film and TV adaptations have hammered home the mistake by unambiguously (and without a shred of embarra.s.sment) calling the Swiss family 'Robinson'.

How did Nome in Alaska get its name?

a) By mistake b) To attract good luck: 'Nomes' are a type of Alaskan pixie c) After Sir Horace Nome (181472), Scottish explorer d) After an Inuit greeting: Nome nome Nome nome ('Here you belong') ('Here you belong') It was a spelling mistake.

In the 1850s, a British s.h.i.+p noted the existence of a prominent but unnamed point of land in Alaska. A s.h.i.+p's officer scribbled 'Name?' next to the point on a ma.n.u.script map. When the map was being copied at the Admiralty, a cartographer misread the scribble, and wrote in the new point's name as 'Cape Nome'.

In 1899 the burghers of Nome tried to change the name of their town to Anvil City, but the US Postal service objected on the grounds that it risked confusion with the nearby settlement of Anvik, so the name stuck.

As the city's community website www.nomealaska.org reminds us: 'There's no place like Nome.'

What is the name of the capital city of Thailand?

Grung Tape.

The city's day-to-day name, which means 'City of Angels' (the same as Los Angeles), is an abbreviation for the official name, which is the longest place name in the world.

Only ignorant foreigners call it Bangkok, which hasn't been used in Thailand for more than 200 years. For Europeans (and every single one of their encyclopaedias) to go on calling the capital of Thailand Bangkok is a bit like Thais insisting that the capital of Britain is called Billingsgate or Winchester.

Grung Tape (the rough p.r.o.nunciation) is usually spelt Krung Thep.

Bangkok was the name of the small fis.h.i.+ng port that used to exist before King Rama I moved his capital there in 1782, built a city on the site and renamed it.