When Mr and Mrs Simpson wished to dissolve their marriage in 1936, Edward Simpson went to the town of Bray to undertake the ritual act of adultery required to be committed by the husband if an unopposed divorce were to be granted.
The divorce was heard at Ipswich on 27 October 1936 and a decree nisi was granted.
Good catch by Northern Piper. Actually, I wasn’t thinking of Ted - I should’ve written, “during her lifetime.”
In play:
King Edward VIII’s 1936 instrument of abdication was witnessed by his brothers, all royal dukes, including his next-eldest brother, the Duke of York, who immediately succeeded him as King George VI.
Less than two years before the abdication of the Edward VIII, King Prajadhipok of Siam abdicated after ten years of rule, which largely escaped the attention of the western world.
After abdication King Prajadhipok of Siam retired to England, died during WW2 and his remains are buried in Golders Green Crematorium in London.
Amongst many other famous people, Golders Green also holds the remains of Larry Adler and Mark Bolan (musicians), Doris Lessing and Enid Blyton (authors) and Sigmund Freud (psychoanalyst).
The former King Prajadhipok of Siam and his wife, Rambhai Barni, lived in Surrey, England, in the early years of World War II, and had to move twice due to German bombing during the Blitz. He died of a heart attack, not as a result of military action.
IPA: for most of us these days it stands for India Pale Ale, but for Freud it’s International Psychoanalytical Association. Freud was its founder in 1910.
Ninja’d by EH so I will add: King Prajadhipok of Siam’s remains are buried in Golders Green Crematorium in London, where Freud’s remains also rest.
<aside> I never said he died serving in the WW2, or as a result of enemy action. Only that he died *during *WW2, which he did.
Back to game…
India Pale Ale was so called as it was especially brewed to survive the long voyage out to India.
When Winston Churchill’s regiment, the 4th Hussars, was posted to India, they made it their regimental goal to field a top-notch polo team against the other British and Indian Army Regiments.
The 4th Hussars achieved this ambition, winning the inter-regiment Cup in their first year in competition. This was the one and only time that a newly arrived regiment won the Cup.
Part of their winning strategy was to buy an entire string of well-trained polo ponies from another British regiment, which was being posted back to Britain after several years of service in India.
Winston cigarettes were introduced in 1954, to take advantage of TV advertising to sell R J Reynolds new product line. By 1966, Winston became America’s largest selling cigarette, thanks to ads on “The Flintstones” showing Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble smoking cigarettes. The name derives from Winston Salem, North Carolina, the headquarters of R J Reynonds, who also introduced Salem menthol cigarettes at the same time.
Flintstones Chewable Vitamins, manufactured by Miles Laboratories, originally included the Flintstones car but not Betty Rubble. After twenty years, a grassroots campaign finally succeeded in getting Betty added to the mix, but the car was removed. Other chewable characters are Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, Barney, Bamm-Bamm, Dino, and The Great Gazoo.
Yeah, Betty is definitely chewable.
In play:
The Ferrari Dino was a marque for affordable Ferraris with mid engines, rear drive, and fewer than 12 cylinders. It was named after Enzo Ferrari’s son, Dino Ferrari.
Now if only someone would tell us where King Prajadhipok of Siam and Sigmund Freud are buried!
In play:
Enzo Ferrari was in business on his own from 1928-38 before being hired by Alfa Romeo. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is currently Ferrari’s parent company.
In Casablanca, Sydney Greenstreet played Signor Ferrari, owner of the Blue Parrot Bar, the chief competitor to Rick’s Café Americain, which he buys when Rick leaves town. One condition of the sale was that Ferrari continue to employ Sam as the piano player.
A low-budget 1953 film “The Blue Parrot” referred to a Soho night club. There is no species of bird properly called the Blue Parrot, but Brazil’s Hyacinth Macaw, the largest bird of the parrot family, is often called a blue parrot.
The word ‘species’ comes from the Latin species, meaning ‘sight, appearance, form’. *Species *is a fifth declension noun. The fifth declension has the fewest number of nouns in Latin.
Before Linnaeus revolutionized taxonomy, species of animals were indeed arranged by “sight, appearance’ form”, and bats were classified as birds, regardless of any physiological difference between them, based merely on the fact that they were observed to fly.
The French word for a bat is chauve-souris, literally a ‘bald mouse’.
The Black Bat was a short lived pulp character of 1933 who appeared in several stories of Black Bat Detective Mysteries, written by science fiction great Murray Leinster. The character may have influenced Bob Kane and Bill Finger in the creation of Batman; the fins on the Batman’s gloves were pointed out by Finger when the comic was being created.
The three provinces into which New Zealand was originally divided were New Ulster (the North Island), New Munster (the South Island) and New Leinster (Stewart Island).
Stewart Island, from time to time, declares independence, but they are fund-raising publicity stunts. The population of 360 generates a few thousand dollars with such promotions.
