© The Bunbury Press
BYRON’S BRAIN
‘Presuming that the respective weights of the brains of certain great men are known, I shall be glad to know the weight of Lord Byron’s. Also, what is the average weight of the human brain?’
SPUR MONEY
‘Two or three years ago a party of sappers and miners was stationed at Peterborough, engaged in the trigonometrical survey, when the officer entered the cathedral with his spurs on and was immediately beset by the choristers, who demanded money of him for treading the sacred floor with armed heels. Does anyone know the origin of this singular custom?’
TOAD-EATERS AND TOADIES
‘Will any of your readers be kind enough to explain the origin of the word toady?’
VORACIOUS HEDGEHOGS
‘In the few books on natural history to which I have access the voracity of the hedgehog is not noticed.
I beg, therefore, to ask whether a tragical event which has recently taken place in my house is consistent with the habits of this animal...’
THE DEVIL AND DR FAUSTUS
‘In a curious Welsh work of 1703 it is incidentally stated that the Devil appeared to play his own part in the interlude of Dr Faustus when acted at Shrewsbury. What is the foundation for this story?’
USE OF RATS IN MILITARY OPERATIONS
‘Charles James, in his Military Dictionary, has stated that “rats are sometimes used in military operations, particularly in enterprises for the purpose of setting fire to magazines of gunpowder. On these occasions a lighted match is tied to the tail of the animal...” Can any instances be given of powder magazines having been exploded in this way?’
CHESHIRE CATS
‘Will one of your correspondents explain the origin of the phrase “grinning like a Cheshire cat”? The ingenious theory that Cheshire is a county palatine, and that the cats, when they think of it, are so tickled that they cannot help grinning, is not I think quite satisfactory...’
‘Presuming that the respective weights of the brains of certain great men are known, I shall be glad to know the weight of Lord Byron’s. Also, what is the average weight of the human brain?’
SPUR MONEY
‘Two or three years ago a party of sappers and miners was stationed at Peterborough, engaged in the trigonometrical survey, when the officer entered the cathedral with his spurs on and was immediately beset by the choristers, who demanded money of him for treading the sacred floor with armed heels. Does anyone know the origin of this singular custom?’
TOAD-
VORACIOUS HEDGEHOGS
‘In the few books on natural history to which I have access the voracity of the hedgehog is not noticed.
I beg, therefore, to ask whether a tragical event which has recently taken place in my house is consistent with the habits of this animal...’
THE DEVIL AND DR FAUSTUS
‘In a curious Welsh work of 1703 it is incidentally stated that the Devil appeared to play his own part in the interlude of Dr Faustus when acted at Shrewsbury. What is the foundation for this story?’
USE OF RATS IN MILITARY OPERATIONS
‘Charles James, in his Military Dictionary, has stated that “rats are sometimes used in military operations, particularly in enterprises for the purpose of setting fire to magazines of gunpowder. On these occasions a lighted match is tied to the tail of the animal...” Can any instances be given of powder magazines having been exploded in this way?’
CHESHIRE CATS
‘Will one of your correspondents explain the origin of the phrase “grinning like a Cheshire cat”? The ingenious theory that Cheshire is a county palatine, and that the cats, when they think of it, are so tickled that they cannot help grinning, is not I think quite satisfactory...’