There is a weekly game online called ABC Wednesday that has been around forever and there is also a man named Ian who lives in Yorkshire,* England, United Kingdom, and calls himself Shooting Parrots. Fortunately for the rest of us, Ian and ABC Wednesday found each other. In the current go-round, which began in January, Ian has produced some fascinating glimpses of obscure figures from the recent and not-so-recent past:
1. A is for Angelsey (18 January 2012)
2. B is for Backing Britain (25 January 2012)
3. C is for George Cayley (1 February 2012)
Interlude: Rolling Rice Krispies (2 February 2012)
4. D is for Dr. Dicky Doyle (8 February 2012)
5. E is for Edgar the Etheling (15 February 2012)
6. F is for Charles Fey (22 February 2012)
7. G is for Sir Humphrey Gilbert (29 February 2012)
8. H is for Silvester Horne (7 March 2012)
9. I is for Kikunae Ikeda (14 March 2012)
10. J is for Jerome K. Jerome (21 March 2012)
11. K is for Wrestling (28 March 2002)
12. L is for Ruby Loftus (4 April 2012)
13. M is for Marcus Morris (11 April 2012)
14. N is for Horatio Nelson (18 April 2012)
15. O is for Annie Oakley (25 April 2012)
16. P is for Harry Pollitt (2 May 2012)
17. Q is for Fred Quimby (9 May 2012)
18. R is for Gilbert Romme (16 May 2012)
19. S is for B. F. Skinner (23 May 2012)
20. T is for John Tarrant (30 May 2012)
21. U is for Donald Unger (6 June 2012)
22. V is for Vesna Vulović (13 June 2012)
I had heard of only four of these people (Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Horatio Nelson, Annie Oakley, and B. F. Skinner) before Mr. Parrots gave them their day in the sun.
If you do nothing else, take nine minutes and 40 seconds of your valuable time and watch the wrestling match at letter K.
Heaven only knows (and so does Mr. Parrots, of course) who he may have in mind for W, X, Y, and Z (weeks 23, 24, 25, and 26, respectively), but no matter who he chooses, each one -- much like Shooting Parrots himself -- is sure to be an interesting character.
* [Editor's note. I have been duly informed by both Shooting Parrots and another blogger, Yorkshire Pudding, that Shooting Parrots does not live in Yorkshire. Shooting Parrots lives in Manchester, Lancashire. A thousand pardons. --RWP]
Dear Mr Brague,
ReplyDeleteI regret to inform you that the aforementioned Ian Shooting-Parrots does not fulfil the requirements for Yorkshire citizenship. In spite of repeated applications, he has been condemned to live out his days in the suburbs of a nondescript Lancashire cotton town known as Manchester.
Regards,
Y.Pudding
(Yorkshire Citizenship Vetting Committee)
hey hey hey<><>my grandpa ernie from the fields of salford in 1897 came to utah on the boat erie as a boy seventeen years of age alone and ready for bear
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind Mr Plague, but as Mr Pudding points out, I hail from the Red Rose County of Lancashire (ultimate victors in the War of the Roses, of course).
ReplyDeleteIt is true that my great-great-great-grandfather, George Rhodes, was born in Yorkshire, but he had the good sense to leave in 1835.
I have done my best to set prejudice aside and promote the deeds of Yorkshiremen, but that has got me in no end of trouble, particularly the tale of Maurice Wilson. And though it reads like fantasy, it is actually a true story.
Pudding and Parrots,, my profound apologies to both of you, to Pudding for calling Parrots a Yorkshireman and to Parrots for calling you a Yorkshireman. I repent in sackcloth and ashes.
ReplyDeletePutz, I would give a year's wages to have seen your great-great-great-grandfather come to Utah on a boat. To the U.S. maybe, but all the way to Utah? On a boat? No way.
Putz, I continue to be confused as to why you told us about your great-great-great-grandfather coming from the fields of salford in 1897 to Utah on the boat erie as a boy seventeen years of age alone and ready for bear. Could you elaborate as to what prompted you to leave that comment? Was there something in one of Shooting Parrot's essays?
ReplyDeletejust that manchester and salford are really one and the sme place and shooting might have wanted to know our similar heritages
ReplyDeleteoh and that salford also being fields where now the fields are all filled up with glass works, people and industry
ReplyDeletei have so much english in me and i think it shows
ReplyDeletealso they used to grow barley in salford and barlow is derived from barley<><><>burma shave for the five comments on this post
ReplyDelete