Lumpyproletarian

Lumpyproletarian t1_j29pqec wrote

Reply to What's the best looking book you own? by editingtabletremblin

I am, very slowly, collecting The Pilgrim Edition of Dickens’ Letters. They cost an arm and a leg but they are beautifully made, thin but impermeable paper, sewn binding, endless footnotes for every possible reference.

Unfortunately, they are getting more and more expensive and further and further out of my price range.

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Lumpyproletarian t1_j1tqgoq wrote

Reply to TIL that British troops developed a diss song against Nazi leaders during World War II titled "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball." It was quickly picked up and sang by Allied troops. by collarpoppppppin

Years ago I, possibly more than 50, I saw a programme on the BBC about folk music and there was one song mocking the insufficiency of Napoleon’s “codlings”. Codlings are an old word for apples and also where the word codpiece comes from.

So the British have been mocking their enemies’ testicular troubles for at least two hundred years.

Also on Test Match Special (Cricket commentary radio show famous for digressions and ability to keep talking when rain stopped play) they once produced a version that went

Willis has bowled the odd no-ball

Henricks bowls hardly any at all

Willey is just as silly

But Old bowls no no-balls at all.

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Lumpyproletarian t1_ixufyhl wrote

Reply to TIL In The 1930s, Baseball rivaled Soccer In England, attracting 10,000 spectators per game. In 1938, at the inaugural Baseball World Cup, Great Britain defeated the USA 4 games to 1. The outbreak of WWII interrupted the sports ascendancy, and it never recovered its prewar popularity. by contextual_somebody

I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but 10,000 spectators is very few compared to most professional football and cricket games of the period.

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