# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 427
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8531 "2024-01-02T17:13:59Z")
And both bells, Liberty and Big Ben, were made by the same company. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8532 "2024-01-02T17:15:29Z")
Good information, now I know where I won’t buy my next giant bell… ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8533 "2024-01-02T18:42:17Z")
Are they still in business? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8534 "2024-01-02T18:54:09Z")
Their Wikipedia article uses “was” instead of “is.” However, it’s not clear when they stopped operations, nor what the status of its purchase by an investment firm is. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8535 "2024-01-02T18:57:27Z")
It says :- > The foundry closed on 12 June 2017, after nearly 450 years of bell-making and 250 years at its Whitechapel site ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8536 "2024-01-02T19:04:27Z")
Yes, I was sad to see recently that they had gone out of business. Long story, but my wife and I had a memorable visit there in the '80s, on our honeymoon. The “lads” took us out to their favorite pub, the Pride of Spitalfields, and we got thoroughly drunk. Had to hold each other up on our way back to the Tube. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8537 "2024-01-02T19:22:44Z")
> [@Topologist](#): > > Yes, I was sad to see recently that they had gone out of business. Never ask for whom the bell tolls. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8538 "2024-01-02T21:01:10Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Good information, now I know where I won’t buy my next giant bell… If you’re shopping over here you’re going to struggle to buy a bell at all - bell founding is a critically endangered craft. > # Bell founding > > The casting of bells for use in churches, clocks and public buildings. Also includes the casting of musical handbells, cup bells, ships bells, handled bells and clock bells. > > **Status** Critically endangered And regarding the Whitechapel Bell Foundry > The Whitechapel Bell Foundry premises were sold, and casting under the Whitechapel name was transferred to Westley Group Ltd. Whites of Appleton Ltd bell hangers purchased pattern equipment to continue making Whitechapel components and a new tuning machine which enables them to offer a high standard of tuning to church bells. Whitechapel musical handbells are available to purchase from Bells of Whitechapel Ltd, along with the entire range of Whitechapel presentation bells, door bells, bracket bells and ships bells, all of which continue to be cast and finished in London. So spares for the Liberty bell (etc) may be obtainable.\* Those two quotes taken from: > **[The Red List of Endangered Crafts](https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/)** > > The advocacy body for traditional heritage crafts (This is the 2023 list, despite the date given in the panel above. I think I’ve linked to it in this thread before - it has more interesting random facts than you could shake a stick at. **Rabbit Hole Warning**.) j \* - I’m not being entirely serious. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8539 "2024-01-02T21:10:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Never ask for whom the bell tolls. That was the problem: > [@](#): > > It tolls for free ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8540 "2024-01-02T21:48:35Z")
Rabbit Hole challenge accepted. I recall a story from the 70’s, when a recreation of a Medieval English village was being constructed, and they had to recruit a team of Japanese thatchers. Things haven’t improved. Hand-blown sheet glass is still done in Germany. Mostly colored, with swirly Abstract Expressionist-looking designs. A healthy young person stands over a trench a blows a glass bubble, which gravity causes to become a tube. The blower and an assistant slice the tube lengthways over an iron tabletop to create a sheet. Most sheet glass was made like this until Sir Alastair Pilkington invented the process of pulling molten glass out along the surface of a tin bath. The endangered scissors-maker craft was surprising, after seeing [this video of the high-end Sheffield factory.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bK4AWtTV3h4&pp=ygUZQmlzb25lc3MgaW5zaWRlciBzY2lzc29ycw%3D%3D) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8541 "2024-01-02T21:56:31Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Rabbit Hole challenge accepted. Admirable pluck! j ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8542 "2024-01-03T16:06:33Z")
I stumbled on the page of this fellow: [Revilo P. Oliver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revilo_P._Oliver#Name_and_pseudonyms). Odious anti-semite, but the fact that his name is a palindrome that has been handed down in his family is interesting. I pity all of the normal Revilos out there who must labor under the name. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8543 "2024-01-03T20:14:42Z")
Copied from reddit Victorians had three things on the dinner table, the way we have salt and pepper. Two were a salt cellar and a white or black pepper shaker. No one knows what the third was. It was so ubiquitous in the Victorian age that they didn’t name it or talk about it in diaries, recipes, house keeping journals, etc. It’s usually a small square box-shaped porcelain thing, usually with a lid. Our best guess is that it’s powdered mustard. It’s possible that different families used it for different things. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8544 "2024-01-03T20:24:51Z")
I see these on dining room tables in old movies. Never could tell what went into each bottle [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/27400899/r/il/e9f27a/5502208257/il_794xN.5502208257_2i5w.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/27400899/r/il/e9f27a/5502208257/il_794xN.5502208257_2i5w.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8545 "2024-01-03T20:29:30Z")
I don’t think Reddit is correct here. One, the Victorians wrote _endlessly_ about table settings, in mind-numbing detail. It’s simply not credible that they failed to mention something. Two, the box as described here might well be used for butter, which is pretty standard but not at all mysterious. (Why would you have powdered mustard at the table? It’s more of an ingredient.) ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8546 "2024-01-03T20:48:37Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Are they still in business? no, their… _no-questions-asked-lifetime-guarantee_… was murder ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8547 "2024-01-03T22:52:13Z")
Without looking at videos, I assume that “Big Ben”, and its associated bells, are fixed in position, since they are rung by a tap on the outside (rather than by a clapper on the inside). Wikipedia provides the following: 12 August 1949: The clock slowed by four and a half minutes after a flock of starlings perched on the minute hand. New Year’s Eve 1962: The clock slowed due to heavy snow and ice on the hands, causing the pendulum to detach from the clockwork, as it is designed to do in such circumstances, to avoid serious damage elsewhere in the mechanism – the pendulum continuing to swing freely. Thus, it chimed-in the 1963 new year nine minutes late. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8548 "2024-01-04T02:07:04Z")
I’ll lay odds that two of those are for oil and vinegar ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8549 "2024-01-04T13:42:05Z")
TIL I somehow learned about [pebble-mound mice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble-mound_mouse#Behavior). They sound charming and slightly fictional! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8550 "2024-01-04T13:54:46Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > (Why would you have powdered mustard at the table? It’s more of an ingredient.) You wouldn’t - you’d use the pot for made mustard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=426) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=428)