Thursday December 11th 2025 "Do YOU still watch 'Corrie'? It's tough going after 65 years isn't it haha!!!!!"

Yes, Friends, do YOU watch "Corrie" - the famous Coronation Street 'soap', still going after 65 years, would you believe? One local man is "keeping the faith" apparently, according to this morning's Onion News!

Poor Bryce!!!!!

But so-called "marathons" aren't always a bad thing, and, generally also "not doing things by halves" (!). 

And here in leafy Liphook, Hampshire, the Onion Story brings a bit of a wicked smile to the lower part of my face, and that of my wife Lois today, as we do our annual check on the winners and losers in this year's Nobel Prize competitions, to put it mildly!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And it certainly hasn't harmed that Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, who has just won this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, according to an email today from our Hungarian penfriend Tunde. Laszlo doesn't believe in doing things by halves, and his long sentences and unbroken paragraphs, sometimes going on for pages, has certainly impressed the prize's Swedish judges, that's for sure!

His debut novel "Satan's Tango" has been made into a 7-hour film, which is regarded as one of the best arthouse films of all time.

Yikes, a seven hour film !!!!  Lois and I are interested in seeing the film, but I think we shall have to do some serious 'marathon' training first, like local soap-watcher Bryce (see Onion News story above!) before we'll have a chance of "staying the course" (no pun intended!!!!) for the full 7 hours!!!

In the story, a charming and charismatic con-man, named Irimias, manipulates some Hungarians in a run-down village with promises of untold wealth. However, he ends up just pocketing all their money and leading them on to a drunken 'dance of death' at a local inn.

"drunken dance of death at a local inn" - a scene from 

the 7-hour film version of Hungarian novel "Satan's Tango" 

Stories about con-men are always fascinating, though, aren't they, but "drunken dances of death" are now banned in all reputable East Hampshire pubs, I believe - which is probably for the best !!!

14:30 And talking of marathons, this afternoon Lois and I have to contend with another rowdy "marathon" meeting of our online "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, the local U3A group that we manage "for our sins" (!!!!). 

me and my wife Lois trying to control another rowdy meeting of our

"Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, that we manage

"for our sins" (!!!!!)

Our interest in the Danish language began in 2012, when our daughter Alison and her family moved to Copenhagen. And here we are, 13 years later, still trying to master the "lingo", and, with our little local group, working our way through Danish crime novel "Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss) by Danish writer Anna Grue.

Just like that Hungarian novel "Satan's Tango", this Danish novel "The Judas Kiss" is also all about a charismatic and persuasive con-man. 

(left) Danish author Anna Grue, and (right) her crime novel 

"Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss) about a young Danish con-man

and the women he conned

In "The Judas Kiss", a young Danish conman and gigolo, Jay, makes a career out of getting into bed with single, older, Danish women, and then getting into their bank accounts.

And in the chapter we read with our online group this afternoon, Jay is theorising about the best women to "go for", if he wants to maximise his earnings, while avoiding police investigations. 

The ideal age for his victims, Jay says, is 60 to 75, because when he steals money from their bank accounts, they rarely report the theft to police, out of embarrassment over the sex part. Women under 60 will probably be willing to swallow their humiliation and risk the scandal. Women older than 75 are afraid they'll just be pitied if their story gets in the news. It's all a bit reminiscent of Anne Bancroft, the "older woman" in "The Graduate". 

Anne Bancroft, who plays "Mrs Robinson"

in "The Graduate" 

Jay says, however, that the 60-75 age women, who have just entered the menopause, can still remember "being constantly on the dance-floor with men at Christmas parties and getting 'salacious offers' [Danish: sjofel tilbud] ". As a result these women are suckers for anything that suggests that they've still "got it" and that they can still "pull". What madness !!!!!

Interesting analysis isn't it, however - and your comments welcome (postcards only!!!!), especially if YOU can remember getting 'salacious offers' haha (!!!!).

And at least when Danish con-man Jay gets into bed with his menopausal victims, the couple don't have any spectators, which must have been a relief, both for him and, more importantly perhaps, for his somewhat embarrassed, older, "squeezes" (!).

At least they get some privacy, unlike some of our British kings and queens of the past, as we learn from tonight's fascinating episode in Channel 5's "Secrets of the Royal Palaces" series, to put it mildly !!!!! 

Everything, but everything, in royal marriages was public in those crazy times, including the wedding night, as historian Professsor Kate Williams explains in tonight's programme. 

In 1486, Henry VII was marrying Elizabeth of York at Westminster. There was a lavish feast put on to celebrate the end of the "War of the Roses", but the main event wasn't the feast, or the "wedding ceremony", it was the "bedding ceremony", seemingly (!). 

What madness!!!

The royal couple were stripped by their courtiers, put to bed, and served a concoction of wine and spices "to get things going". And then the place was turned into a giant theatrical spectacle, "where everyone had a good old look at the wedding night actually taking place, live", Professor Kate explains. 

A scene pretty terrifying, particularly for the royal brides, who, the first time they encountered their future courtiers, were lying half-naked in a bed, being fondled by their husbands, and they knew that everyone was watching, to see exactly what went on. 

What was crucial was, that the royal marriage was confirmed to have been successfully consummated, because the most important job for a royal bride, in those days, was to have a child. 

For the wedding guests, watching the proceedings was a spectator sport, says Professor Kate, and it was like watching an X-rated movie for entertainment, only this time it was the King. And the "bedding ceremony" really showed the royal bride that every part of her body and of her life in the palace was public property. 

Absolutely nothing was private!

What a crazy world they lived in, back in those far-off days!!!!

[Go to bed! Now!!!! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!

Wednesday December 10th 2025 "Has YOUR kids' teacher been frightening them recently? They may need some extra TLC tonight! Just saying!!!!"

Yes, Friends, it's a common dilemma, isn't it, particularly for parents of school-age children! How to bolster your kids' confidence after their teacher has been scaring the living daylights out of them!!!!

What would YOU do to help YOUR kids in this kind of situation? There was a case in point reported in the local Onion News for East Hampshire this morning. It's a bit of a head-scratcher, isn't it!!!! 

Yikes!!!! And if YOUR kids are in Ms Frederickson's class, they may need a bit more TLC than usual when they come home tonight. I've included this terrifying Onion News story here today now, as a bit of a "heads up" to local parents.  

Just saying!!!!!

Certainly, when Yours Truly and my wife Lois (a.k.a. Mrs Yours Truly!) pop in for a "little light lunch" at local farmshop Applegarths' restaurant today, we were relieved to find all the chairs in their usual position, and not made into one of Ms Frederickson's "giant circles", which was nice!

Applegarths Farm Shop Restaurant, near Grayshott, Surrey

The place is certainly "rammed" this lunchtime, what with co-worker groups, friends and families celebrating with a pre-Christmas "nosh-up" (!). Luckily, however, Lois and I are able to get an intimate table-for-two next to the toilets, which for most people would be a bit of a drawback, but, as we're both 79, and "knocking on" 80, the proximity of the bathrooms proves a definite plus, to put it mildly!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

So no, if Lois and I are put off our stroke by anything this lunchtime, it's not "chairs in a giant circle", thankfully!!!  It's more Applegarths' giant meals that are scaring the pants off us today! We normally eat very sparingly, but today we have to cope with some giant burgers and piles of chips, although we squirrel at least a third of the food away in our serviettes when we leave, so not as bad as it sounds!!!!!

We decide to drop in at Applegarths at the end of a long walk over lovely Luddshott Common, 700 acres of heathland, once owned, 1000 years ago, by one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings, Edward the Confessor, but, since then, let out free to the area's "commoners" to graze their pigs, cattle, sheep and goats in/on, which was nice! And during World War II, our Canadian allies practised their tank manoeuvres here, when they came over to help us in our hour of need.

flashback to this morning: Lois and me on our daily walk, which today takes us over

lovely Ludshott Common, once owned by King Edward the Confessor, would you believe!!!

Luckily we've had lots of rain this last summer and autumn, but in dryer years, this lovely heathland has been hit by bush fires, particularly during the hot summers of the 1970's. During the last of these, in 1980, pretty much the whole common - 600 out of 695 acres - was burnt away, and residents in nearby Headley Down even had to be evacuated from their homes - yikes!!!!

one of the many bush fires that have ravaged this heathland in the past

Yes, fire is a bad master, but a good servant, as people say. And on the BBC News today, there's a story revealing just how long human beings have been using fire "as a servant". New archaeological discoveries in  the county of Suffolk Eastern England have indicated that it has been much much much longer ago than previously believed, that people discovered how to do it - to make fire.

According to the recent excavations, it wasn't a "mere" 50,000 years ago, but at least 400,000 years ago that it started happening: a discovery which is a bit of a game-changer for historians, to put it mildly!!!!

Researchers have just uncovered evidence of the earliest known instance of human-created fire, which took place in the east of England 400,000 years ago. The new discovery, in the village of Barnham, Suffolk, pushes the origin of human fire-making back by more than 350,000 years, so far, far earlier than previously thought.

the 2025 excavations at Barham, Suffolk

As the BBC report explains, the ability to create fire, whenever it happened, was the moment that changed everything for humans. It provided "warmth at will", and enabled our ancestors to cook and eat meat, which made our brains grow. It meant we were no longer a group of animals struggling to survive – it gave us time to think and invent, and to become the advanced species we are today.

The team say they found baked earth together with the earliest Stone Age lighter – consisting of a flint that was bashed against a rock called pyrite, also known as fool's gold, to produce a spark. Sparks are created when the pyrite is hit with a flint axe, enough to create a fire when it lands on dry tinder. It was the first known lighter. 

(right) a piece of iron pyrite, very rarely found naturally in Suffolk, but brought

into the area, and used to make fires and keep people warm around 400,000 years ago

The team conducted geological studies which reveal just how rare iron pyrite is in this landscape. The conclusion: that ancient people went far and wide to seek it out the pyrite they needed because this "fool's gold" was, to them, the most precious mineral in the whole world.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it! [If you say so! - Ed]

20:00 And still today, 400,000 years later (approximately!!!), many people even light fires in their own houses, I'm told, and experts say that it's usually quite safe to do so, although it's a good idea to make sure your chimney is regularly "swept" - Colin's "tip of the day", if you like!

a typical chimney sweep, sweeping a modern chimney

The profession of "chimney sweep", however, is not everybody's idea of a pleasant occupation, although it's one that's been certainly useful to human society over the millennia.  And who can forget Dick Van Dyke's "Cheerful Cockney Chimney-Sweep" in the 1964 film "Mary Poppins". Certainly his British fans have never let Dick forget it !!!!

Chimney sweeping is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!. And there are sometimes some unexpected perks to the job.

Oover 200 years ago, a couple of French chimney-sweeps had a bit of a surprise when they were sweeping the chimneys at France's iconic Versailles Palace back in the days of Queen Anne-Marie Antoinette, as Lois and I find out this evening, while watching the latest programme in the fascinating Channel 5 series, "Secrets of the Royal Palaces".

Lois and I didn't know that a couple of chimney sweeps happened to be working in Versailles at a particularly tense time. It was the week that the Queen Marie-Antoinette went into labour, expecting her first baby after trying fruitlessly for 8-years, during the early years of her marriage to the French king, Louis XVI.

As historian Kate Williams explains, in France a royal birth was made into a public event, firstly to say that the birth was legitimate, that everybody saw it being born. So no pretenders, no time-wasters (!), this was the actual monarch of the future. And for 8 hours only, the Queen's body became "the property of the nation" (!). It was a celebration, a party. And everybody who could, was going to go in and have a jolly good old look at her, while she was doing it, that's for sure!

Including two chimney sweeps who just happened to be doing the palace chimneys that week. 

What madness!!!!

Oh dear! Poor Queen !!!!

Those two chimney-sweeps must have got "quite an eyeful" from the tops of their ladders. And they must have come away with some good stories to regale their friends and family with, for the rest of their lives, that's for sure!!!!

But what a crazy world they lived in, back in those far-off times !!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!

Tuesday December 9th 2025 "Got anything alive in YOUR wallet? Check it out, and do it now!!!"

Yes, Friends, "life" is a unstoppable force, isn't it! And you find it in the most unexpected places, as Onion News was reporting just this very morning! 

Quite a story, isn't it! And it brings a bit of a lop-sided chuckle to the "chops" of me and my wife Lois, here in rural semi-grassy Liphook, Hampshire, as we stop to grab a quick breakfast this morning.

my wife Lois and me grabbing breakfast - a recent picture

We're laughing because we're wondering if there are now any species of anything anywhere in the world- be it insect, mammal, tree, flower, human-being, even, still left to be identified! Or have our scientists got everything "sewn up" now, we wonder!

It was different in Victorian times, when, like, billions of unknown species - more, probably! - were just waiting to be discovered. And on the agenda for us this morning is the latest monthly meeting of our local U3A group, "Intermediate Local History for Old Codgers", due to take place in Liphook's iconic Millennial Hall, starting 10:30 sharp!

(left) us in the "Canada Room" of Liphook's iconic Millennial Hall this morning, 

waiting with all other "old codgers" for the talk to begin, and (right) Lois having a word with this month's speaker after the talk.

This month's talk is all about adventurous Victorian lady, Mrs Robb, a Liphook resident, who went about the world collecting rare or unknown species of plants and trees and bringing them back to Britain, hidden in her luggage, so she could get past HM customs without any argy-bargy, would you believe! 

Although billed as "uncelebrated horticulturalist", because she's never received any official "kudos" for her work, Mrs Robb has still become famous in Britain, because of the name given to one of her most prized discoveries, "euphorbia amygdeloides", which is popularly known as Mrs Robb's Bonnet. The name comes from the method by which she concealed the plant from the Customs man - by hiding it under her bonnet when she arrived back in Britain from a trip to Turkey.

The plant has sometimes been described, perhaps unfairly, as "a bit suggestive looking", I can't think why, and also as "a tough old boot of a plant". However, it's got its own charm, as you can see from one of the slides we were shown today.

Liphook resident Mrs Robb's great discovery - a rare plant she discovered in Turkey

and smuggled into Britain under her bonnet to foil HM Customs

And actually Mrs Robb is celebrated throughout much of the world - and in the discussion after the talk Lois and I are able to exclusively reveal to the group, that, even in the US, the plant has got Mrs Robb's name attached to it: Steve, our American brother-in-law had previously explained to us that, over there, it's called "Mrs Robb's Hatbox", which in a way is a more accurate description of Mrs Robb's plant-smuggling methods (!).

Mrs Robb was married to a Royal Navy sea-captain, John Robb, who saw action in the Crimean War at the siege of Sevastopol in 1854. She married him in 1856, and got two sons out of him before he sadly died two years later. 

(left) Chiltley Place, Liphook, the massive Victorian mansion where the Robbs 

started their married life, and (right) Goldenfields, the slightly reduced size mansion

into which the widowed Mrs Robb later moved into  - photo taken by us after the talk today:

it's now been turned into several separate houses. What madness !!!!

It's interesting to Lois and me that Mrs Robb was brought up in the tiny village of Great Tew, Oxfordshire, and is also buried there. 

Great Tew, a place most people have never heard of, was one of mine and Lois's favourite haunts when we were "courting" - we explored some suitably secluded spots in the Oxfordshire countryside to have our "courting picnics" in, and Great Tew was our first time, so of especially nostalgic interest!

flashback to 1970: Lois and me on one of our  courting afternoons at Great Tew 

or some other secluded spot, deep in the Oxfordshire countryside - awwwwww!!!!

Happy days!!!

Besides the talk about Mrs Robb today, this morning's meeting is also the group's AGM (annual general meeting) at which the group leader Barry gives us a taste of what he's got planned for the group in 2026, as shown in this slide:

group leader Barry's slide of events planned for 2026

In other words, plenty of excitement in store - so watch this space!!!!

[I'm not holding my breath! - Ed]

14:00 And one species that definitely hasn't gone extinct yet, Lois and I can exclusively reveal, is the talented teenage vocalist! Witness our grandson Isaac who, with his boy-girl band New Horizons, was performing yesterday at a special Rockschool showcase performance, up at the legendary Dingwalls Live Music Centre in Camden Town, North London, would you believe! 

Go Isaac !!!!

flashback to yesterday: our grandson Isaac (15), vocalist with his own

boy-girl rock group New Horizons, performing in North London at

Campden's legendary Dingwalls live music venue - go Isaac!!!

Dingwalls became popular as a live music venue in the 1970's, hosting big US acts such as Blondie, Etta James, the Drifters and REM, as well as lot of more recent British bands that Lois and I have never heard of.

Well, we are both 79, you know, although unquestionably still "marvellous for our age" (!).

[Stop telling us that - somebody might believe you one of these days haha! - Ed]

21:00 So, both 79, but still thirsty for knowledge, we decide to go to bed on this week's edition of QI XL, the comedy science quiz, presented by the UK's favourite Dane, Sandi Toksvig. The current series is "sponsored by the letter W" (pace Sesame Street!!!!!), and tonight the teams are focussing on the popular question words "Who, What, Why".

Sandi asks the teams what question words - who, what or why - that toddlers use the most. Comedian Daliso Chaponda thinks it's probably 'why'.

However, 'what' is used the most, because that's how a child learns the most fundamental things about life. 'Why' questions gradually increase, but they never wholly surpass the number of 'whats', which is interesting. If you're under two, 'why' question typically make up only 3% of the total.

Of course! And that's why parents remember the why's more than the what's !!!

This questioning madness doesn't go on for ever, however, and parents of young children will be relieved to know that the hourly rate of children's questions plummets as soon as they start school, as Sandi explains. And a psychologist by the name of Susan Engel looking at kids in elementary school in America, found that, typically, school-age children were asking only 2 to 5 questions over a 2-hour period.

Is this reduced enthusiasm for questions the fault of today's schoolteachers today? The study quoted a particular example that Engel came across, at one school.

What madness!!!

And arguably, is it our teachers today that should be going back to school, maybe?

I wonder.....!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!