Things that turn into a Private Eye parody of themselves as they go on and on

[Gurke and Hare]

NOTES & QUERIES:
What and where is the "Aintree Iron" mentioned in the song Lily The Pink by The Scaffold?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Your Mum

[steve98]

It's "Thank You Very Much", not Lilly The Pink. (This is a good start.)

[jenna appleseed]

NOTES & QUERIES:
What and where is the "Aintree Iron" mentioned in the song Lily The Pink by The Scaffold?

<not clicking the link to confirm/deny my memories> Oh god, I remember when that actually happened, at some point it turned into somebody writing in claiming it wasn't a place but rhyming slang for Bran Epstein being gay. Iirc somebody or more people responded in the next column or so that that was basically a load of bollocks).

[steve98]

That's right. It was the guy from The Scaffold that wrote the song that responded, saying it was nowt to do with the Aintree-dwelling Epstein being an Iron hoof (poof). Neither was it anything  to do with railway storage yards, in Liverpool, housing acres and acres of iron products. He doesn't say what it does actually mean though, just looks forward to the next 30, 40, 50 years of daft guesses.

[buzby]

That's right. It was the guy from The Scaffold that wrote the song that responded, saying it was nowt to do with the Aintree-dwelling Epstein being an Iron hoof (poof). Neither was it anything  to do with railway storage yards, in Liverpool, housing acres and acres of iron products. He doesn't say what it does actually mean though, just looks forward to the next 30, 40, 50 years of daft guesses.

Edge Hill wasn't a storage yard of iron products - a gridiron in railways is a marshalling yard, where trucks or carriages are sorted and assembled into trains, usually using gravity to propel them. Edge Hill was the first example in the world and got the 'Gridrion' name because it fanned out into multiple parallel shunting sidings, so the tracks looked like a grid made of iron.

Here is is in 1905 - most of it was dismantled in the late 70s and 80s due to the decline in wagonload freight coming to and from the docks, and the northern section next to the LNWR main line to Manchester where the gridirons and sorting sidings were was turned into Wavertree Technology Park:


Besides all that, it's nowhere near Aintree (it's in Liverpool for a start, and not Sefton - cue 'What colour's yer bin?' discussions) so nobody from here would ever call it 'The Aintree Iron'.

[Blumf]

Isn't it a kind of toffee or mint? But not Cadbury's Roses!

[dissolute ocelot]

If a policeman fires a Taser at a man holding a gun to his own head, would it make him involuntarily pull the trigger, and if so, would it be suicide or homicide?

One for Raoul Moat fans, there.

[buzby]

Isn't it a kind of toffee or mint? But not Cadbury's Roses!

That's Everton Mints you are thinking of, which used to be made by Barker & Dobsons in Anfield until their factory closed in the mid-80s and are now made by Taveners in Kensington (not far from Edge HIll, in fact).

The 'iron foundry' reply refers to Richard Spencer Foundries, which were in Rice Lane, Walton (it went bankrupt in 1985, the site is now the Sainsburys and again, in Liverpool rather than Sefton) who allegedly used to have 'Aintree Iron' on their letterheads. I think that must have come after the record though, as the company was only formed in 1971.

In truth, only Mike McCartney knows the real meaning (if indeed there is one), and he may well take it with him to the grave.

[Blumf]

That's Everton Mints you are thinking of

I was thinking of something like the Everton mints, but not them specifically. Sure I've heard of some confectionery reoffered to as 'iron', some 1950s or earlier regional slang.

A lazy google did bring this unrelated factoid up:

https://wikidiff.com/iron/toffee

As nouns the difference between toffee and iron is that toffee is (uncountable) a type of confectionery made by boiling sugar (or treacle, etc) with butter or milk, then cooling the mixture so that it becomes hard while iron is pencil.

There you go, iron is pencil.

However... https://wikidiff.com/arse/elbow

[buzby]

I was thinking of something like the Everton mints, but not them specifically. Sure I've heard of some confectionery reoffered to as 'iron', some 1950s or earlier regional slang.

Never heard of toffee being referred to as 'iron' round here. Also, there's no sweet manufacturing ever been associated with Aintree. The closest you get would be Jacobs biscuit and cracker factory or the former Hartleys and Nelsons jam factories on Long Lane in Fazakeley

[beanheadmcginty]

Isn't it a kind of toffee or mint? But not Cadbury's Roses!

Iron probably gets used in a mint for making coins, so maybe you're thinking of that.