Apparently, Southwark Bridge is the only place in England that you can see two cathedrals from street level (Southwark is peeking out at the bottom of the Shard).
The OED doesn't record "pigs-in-blankets" as meaning "sausages wrapped in bacon" until 1999. First recorded in the Birmingham Evening Mail.
But "pigs-in blankets" had meant "oysters wrapped in bacon" since 1880, and subsequently meant hot-dog and sausage roll.
Here’s a little factoid about the theatre in Shakespeare’s time from ‘Rhyme & Reason’. Theatre was very popular.
(And Rhyme & Reason is available on Amazon)
In Rhyme &Reason I said that "most people" could quote one line from each of the Big Six romantic poets: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats and Shelley. My fiancée made me change it to "some people". To settle the question, how many could you do?
TOMORROW NIGHT!
Join us in Stockport for an entertaining and enlightening evening with bestselling author Mark Forsyth as he gives us a light-hearted and very funny tour through English poetry in support of his new book RHYME & REASON
Mon 17 Nov | 6.30 | £5.00
Tickets 👇🏻
I'm engaged!
So, naturally, I've written a blogpost about the history of engagements (military, professional etc), and the real rules for rings. https://t.co/hV0dWYfUWa
Lord Byron sold more copies of his poem The Corsair in a single afternoon (10,000) than Austen's Pride and Prejudice sold in it's first three decades (3,000).
For more strange facts about poetry, buy my new book Rhyme and Reason. https://t.co/Z17jgn5icY
I absolutely loved listening back to yesterday’s podcast episode with author and etymologist Mark Forsyth - @Inkyfool
True to form, Mark is both fascinating and at times hilarious.
Have a listen: https://t.co/uM2VNmXFXd
Or search Sketchplanations wherever you listen