Sloane Ashworth

One properly sourced fact most days. Usually history, language or science. Occasionally books, London and proof I leave the house.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@vintagemapstore Calling it “the honey-eater” feels less like a nickname and more like an attempt not to upset it 😂😂😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@HistoryToday The Crown’s oldest outstanding lost-property claim is now 810 years overdue 😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@atlasobscura Fifteen thousand mannequins and still nobody available when you need another size 😂😂😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@qikipedia The fourth little piggie moved to Canada and built with snow 😂😂😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Sources:

“Defender of the Faith” — British Library
https://t.co/YNRqz4CkTC

“The King and Faith” — Royal Household
https://t.co/yTlvBdYqiU

The BL dates Parliament’s restoration of the title to 1543; some references give 1544.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Why is Britain’s monarch “Defender of the Faith” when the title came from a pope?

On this day in 1521, Pope Leo X gave it to Henry VIII for a book attacking Martin Luther. Henry later broke with Rome and lost it; Parliament restored it.

The Pope went. The branding stayed.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

The pond has received an unannounced inspection. The fish are unavailable for comment.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Source: “Hair” — Victoria and Albert Museum.

The V&A describes Victorian hair artists turning locks into jewellery and catalogues promising that customers’ hair would not be muddled or substituted.

https://t.co/y2cBjikrio

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

How did Victorians make grief wearable?
Hair artists turned a loved one’s locks into brooches, rings and bracelets. Catalogues even promised the locks would not be muddled or substituted.
Nothing says devotion like confirmation you’ve received the correct relative.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Source: “The London ‘knocker-up’ — archive, 1914” by Francis Perrot, The Guardian: https://t.co/7qHQNs8atZ

The figures describe one South London knocker-up, not the whole trade.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Would you pay someone to wake you by tapping on your window?
In 1914, a South London knocker-up had 20 clients paying sixpence a week. One slept through ten minutes of the loudest alarm clock, but woke at a single tap. Nothing wakes you up like remembering you’re paying for it! 😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@qikipedia Victorian English really could make a cup of tea sound like misconduct 😂👊

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Sources:

London Museum — The Great Stink of 1858
https://t.co/0kJLiTT6F6

UK Parliament — Commons debate on the state of the Thames, 25 June 1858
https://t.co/1DsjlsaYEZ

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

How bad did the Thames have to get before Parliament acted?

In 1858, its stench was so dreadful that MPs soaked the Palace of Westminster’s curtains in chloride of lime. Parliament rushed through funding for Joseph Bazalgette’s sewer system.

Public health had finally become a problem MPs could smell.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@qikipedia A crossbow bolt and one shoe. History’s least reassuring lost-property office 😂😂😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Sources:

US Naval Observatory — Introduction to Calendars
https://t.co/Q3m5TfFlVa

Library of Congress — Inter Gravissimas
https://t.co/1eMfTu4Zfv

Image: Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII by Lavinia Fontana, before 1585. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
https://t.co/awKCvaxIoI

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Ever wished a day had never existed?

In Rome, 5 October 1582 didn’t. To correct drift in the Julian calendar, Pope Gregory XIII ordered Thursday 4 October to be followed by Friday 15 October.

The Vatican’s most successful attempt to make a problem disappear!!!

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

@qikipedia Every other planet got a deity. Ours got the equivalent of “the ground” 😂😂😂

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Source: Historic Royal Palaces, “The Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London”

https://t.co/C37Ofm2RCt

The historical record describes a “white bear”, presumed to have been a polar bear.

[Sloane Ashworth @factumdrops]

Why was a polar bear fishing in the Thames?

In 1252, Norway’s king gave Henry III a white bear, probably a polar bear. Kept at the Tower, it was muzzled and tethered with a stout cord while it hunted for fish.

The king accepted graciously, then delegated the consequences.