"F**k my Hat, I didn't know that!" Amazing things you've only just found out

[Sebastian Cobb]

He is small for an antiques dealer, who average 6'1.

He looked bigger than he is 'cos he was often stood next to Dudley Sutton.

[KennyMonster]

Probably already mentioned but I was watching some Roman history stuff the other day and it dawned on me that Caesar might have something to do with Caesarian births.

Apparently there is a legend (though easily falsifiable) that Caesar was born by what we now call a Caesarian.

Can't believe i had never clocked that and thought it some new medical terminology thingy.

I think the dog food Caeser is made from the remnants of botched Caesarians too.

[Sin Agog]

Probably already mentioned but I was watching some Roman history stuff the other day and it dawned on me that Caesar might have something to do with Caesarian births.

Apparently there is a legend (though easily falsifiable) that Caesar was born by what we now call a Caesarian.

Can't believe i had never clocked that and thought it some new medical terminology thingy.

I thought it was his short-lived child with Cleopatra who was supposedly born that way.  The child's name, incidentally, being Caesarion.

[koeman]

The actual procedure is called the Pfannenstiel Incision which, although it's named after someone, actually means 'panhandle' (literally the steel bit of the pan). It's my other half's original surname so when our twins were born caesarian, the doctors had a field day.

Is your other half related to Lutz Pfannenstiel, the well-travelled goalkeeper and only player to play in all six FIFA confederations? Or is Pfannenstiel like the German Smith?

Lutz was apparently on Forest's books for two years in the mid-nineties but I'd never heard of him until he turned up on the radio a couple of years ago.

[studpuppet]

Is your other half related to Lutz Pfannenstiel, the well-travelled goalkeeper and only player to play in all six FIFA confederations? Or is Pfannenstiel like the German Smith?

Lutz was apparently on Forest's books for two years in the mid-nineties but I'd never heard of him until he turned up on the radio a couple of years ago.

No - but his book is worth a read - he's the only footballer to have played on all continents (and that includes Antarctica):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unstoppable-Keeper-Lutz-Pfannenstiel/dp/1909534285

It's not a common name, but there are a few about (quite a few in the US). The name is as humorous in German as it is in English.

[studpuppet]

That Michael Winner seemed bizarrely well-respected despite mostly directing trash.

He gets grudging respect for hoodwinking Jenny Seagrove into having consensual sex with him (although, he does have a touch of the Philip Greens about him).

[Paul Calf]

Perhaps not an amazing thing, but still something I probably should have known: Saddleworth Moor is in the Dark Peak, not the Western Pennines.

[Paul Calf]

Fuzz Townshend, drummer for Pop Will Eat Itself and The Wonder Stuff, is an expert motor mechanic who has his own National Geographic TV series.

[Maurice Yeatman]

Amongst who? I thought he was widely regarded as a fatuous mound of blubber with all the filmmaking talent of a bogey?


That said, Death Wish 3 is an incredible film.

The Jokers (1967) is great. Script by Clement & La Frenais. (It's almost a tradition to say that whenever Winner's criticised.)
Full film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ejC4p-sLg

[KennyMonster]

Fuzz Townshend, drummer for Pop Will Eat Itself and The Wonder Stuff, is an expert motor mechanic who has his own National Geographic TV series.

And Bently Rhythm Ace, and made dance records in his own right (used in Spaced series 1) and apparently owned the worlds smallest nightclub (his shed).

Didn't know he drummed for The Stuffies, presumably it was during some comeback period? (although I saw them this year and don't recall Fuzz being on drums)

[H-O-W-L]

Michael Winner directed Death Wish 3.

That Michael Winner seemed bizarrely well-respected despite mostly directing trash.

Winner seems like an arch-cunt honestly and I have no idea why he was held in decent regard. His personal politics were absolutely morally black and he inserted rape and murder into all of his stories purely to satiate his weird, dark fantasies. He made a particular clunker called Parting Shots where several effigies of people he formerly knew and disliked were killed off by a morally-absolved protagonist who got away with his arseholery. It was like Breaking Bad but for giga cunts.

[Captain Crunch]

How Hovis got its name:

The original name was 'Smith's Patent Germ Flour' which did little for the product, and so a competition to find something snappier was organised in 1890.  It was so very nearly 'Yum-Yum' but the £25 prize went to London student Herbert Grime for his abbreviation of hominis vis which translates as 'the strength of man'. 

[seepage]

^ Herbert Grime is a top name. He should have also submitted: 'Herbert Grime's Grime for Herberts'

[Ferris]

You can get a mathematical estimate for π by throwing matchsticks at the floor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffon%27s_needle#Estimating_π

[seepage]

^ that looks similar to the Monte Carlo method, to my untrained eye

[bgmnts]

One of the alternate but un-filmed endings to Freddy vs Jason was going to be Freddy and Jason being dragged to hell whilst fighting, to where Pinhead would come out and say "What seems to be the problem, gentleman?"

This would have set up a sequel with Feddy, Jason, Myers etc in hell I think.


How fucking incredible would that ending have been? And that sequel is mouthwatering!

[New Jack]

Freddy vs Jason vs Ash vs Pinhead vs Aliens vs Predator vs Hulk Hogan vs Gremlins vs The Ghoulies vs Critters vs Puppetmaster

... goddam, I need to write an all-monster Battle Royale script. It'll make zillions

[George White]

The first original TV series on HBO, and indeed on pay cable was the BBC's The Pallisers, coproduced with HBO's partner Time-Life. Premiered on HBO rather than PBS in the states.

So, arguably, the Golden Age of Modern Television begins with Philip Latham and Susan Hampshire.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

That Boris Johnson's brother is an MP, was a minister and that he's very anti Brexit.

[TrenterPercenter]

And Bently Rhythm Ace, and made dance records in his own right (used in Spaced series 1) and apparently owned the worlds smallest nightclub (his shed).

Didn't know he drummed for The Stuffies, presumably it was during some comeback period? (although I saw them this year and don't recall Fuzz being on drums)

I used to serve Bently Rhythm Ace when I worked at Sainsburys (their garden was the other side of my best friends garden fence - still is).


True story.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Winner seems like an arch-cunt honestly and I have no idea why he was held in decent regard. His personal politics were absolutely morally black and he inserted rape and murder into all of his stories purely to satiate his weird, dark fantasies. He made a particular clunker called Parting Shots where several effigies of people he formerly knew and disliked were killed off by a morally-absolved protagonist who got away with his arseholery. It was like Breaking Bad but for giga cunts.

Looking up Parting Shot gave me the FMH moment of finding Chris Rea and Felicity Kendal appeared in a serial-killer film.

[Pseudopath]

That Boris Johnson's brother is an MP, was a minister and that he's very anti Brexit.

Yeah...I was thinking this too. I knew about Boris's dad and sister, but the fact that he had a brother in politics (and with a Cabinet position to boot) seems to have been a massive secret all along.

[petril]

I used to serve Bently Rhythm Ace when I worked at Sainsburys (their garden was the other side of my best friends garden fence - still is).


True story.

did you sort Bentley out?

[Maurice Yeatman]

Yeah...I was thinking this too. I knew about Boris's dad and sister, but the fact that he had a brother in politics (and with a Cabinet position to boot) seems to have been a massive secret all along.

Johnny, the other brother, is much more open about the whole Johnson bandwagon.

[George White]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0618440/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_65 John Laurie and William Shatner (and Roddy McDowall) costarred on NBC in the 50s, in a play,

[Sebastian Cobb]

The first original TV series on HBO, and indeed on pay cable was the BBC's The Pallisers, coproduced with HBO's partner Time-Life. Premiered on HBO rather than PBS in the states.

So, arguably, the Golden Age of Modern Television begins with Philip Latham and Susan Hampshire.

HBO and the beeb have always been pretty tight; HBO even claim they based their subscription model (so they can show what they like without worrying about advertisers pulling their funding) on the way the BBC is funded.

Which is ironic given how many ingrates want to ditch the BBC and still watch GoT on Sky.

[Icehaven]

Yeah...I was thinking this too. I knew about Boris's dad and sister, but the fact that he had a brother in politics (and with a Cabinet position to boot) seems to have been a massive secret all along.

Johnny, the other brother, is much more open about the whole Johnson bandwagon.

There was a (not that great) docu-drama about Boris and David Cameron a few years ago which I'm sure seemed to be trying to imply Cameron came from wealth and privilege while Boris didn't and grew up on a farm, and there was even a bit where Boris makes some comment about Cameron having a 'silver spoon' to which he sheepishly admits. A 2 minute glance at Boris's (or Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to use his full name) Wikipedia page shows this to be utter claptrap, he grew up in London and Brussels with his wealthy, upper middle class parents and (famously) went to Eton. What were they trying to pull I wonder?

[MojoJojo]

Something interesting from one of the dullest concepts for a docu-drama ever. I doubt they were imaginative enough.

[gilbertharding]

There was a (not that great) docu-drama about Boris and David Cameron a few years ago which I'm sure seemed to be trying to imply Cameron came from wealth and privilege while Boris didn't and grew up on a farm, and there was even a bit where Boris makes some comment about Cameron having a 'silver spoon' to which he sheepishly admits. A 2 minute glance at Boris's (or Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to use his full name) Wikipedia page shows this to be utter claptrap, he grew up in London and Brussels with his wealthy, upper middle class parents and (famously) went to Eton. What were they trying to pull I wonder?

I have half a memory of ABdP Johnson's episode of Who Do You Think You Are. I remember him trying to play the bullied outsider card on that, too.

If I recall correctly the triumphant conclusion to the search of ancestors was that he has some distant connection to Turkish royalty.

This all might seem ridiculous to us as normal people who weren't picked on at Eton for being arriviste parvenu, but for all we know this might be a genuine part of his psychological hinterland...

[Trojan_Jockey]

Geiger counters are made with steel produced before 1945. All steel produced since contains trace radiation as a result of nuclear weapons testing. One source for this steel is the scuttled boats of the German WW1 navy in Scapa Flow.