The devils are in the detail
QUESTION Did John Milton invent most of the devils in Paradise Lost?
PARADISE Lost is an epic poem by the 17th-century writer John Milton. It elaborates the story of the Fall of Man from the Biblical book of Genesis: the temptation of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Milton’s devils are mostly derived from the Bible. The chief devil is Satan (which means ‘adversary’ in Hebrew), an arch-angel also known as Lucifer (which means ‘light bringer’ in Latin) because of his brilliance. He leads the rebellion of angels against God that causes him to be imprisoned and tortured in Hell.
In Book II of Paradise Lost, Satan leads a lengthy debate in Hell with his minions as to how they will continue their war against God.
Despite Satan being Milton’s protagonist, he does not appear in Genesis. His first Biblical mention is in the Book of Job, working for God by putting the righteous to the test.
Among Satan’s acolytes is Moloch, the sceptered king, who was a god of the Ammonites. He features in several books of the Bible, including Leviticus 18:21: ‘You shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Moloch.’
Passing through the fire was an abominable practice in which people sought to appease Moloch and seek benefits by sacrificing their children by burning them alive.
In Paradise Lost, he is an aggressive devil who preaches war against God, using violence rather than cunning.
Belial means ‘the worthless’ or ‘lawless one ‘in Hebrew. This devil is outwardly graceful, humane and handsome, but is false and hollow. He argues against further war with Heaven, but does so only because he is the embodiment of sloth. His eloquence and learning is great, so he is able to persuade many of the devils with his faulty reasoning. As it says in the letter to the Corinthians: ‘What concord is there between Christ and Belial?’
Mammon’s name in the Syriac language means ‘riches’. In Paradise Lost, Mammon always walks hunched over, as if he is searching the ground for valuables.
In the debate among the devils, he argues against war, seeing no profit to be gained from it.
He believes instead that Hell can be improved by mining its gems and minerals.
Mulciber, the architect of Pandemonium, Satan’s palace in Hell, is an alternate name for the Greek god Hephaestus, a deformed metallurgist known as Vulcan to the Romans.
Beelzebub, also known as Baal, Lord of the High House, is next in rank to Satan.
Once worshipped in Palestine, he was given the name Lord Of The Flies by the Israelites to symbolise his corruption.
It is Beelzebub who suggests the devils should attack Paradise by tempting Adam and Eve into disobedience through eating the fruit of the Forbidden Tree.
Nigel Probert, Porthmadog, Gwynedd.
QUESTION Where was Ireland’s first jail?
THE first proper jail in Ireland was the original Newgate Prison in Dublin, which dated back to the late 15th century.
New Gate, one of the original entrances to Dublin, was at Cornmarket, near Christ Church Cathedral. It was built about 20 years after the Anglo-Norman invaders landed in Co. Wexford in 1169. Then in 1485, this gate, which marked the western boundary of Dublin, began to be used as the city’s main prison.
Eventually, a new version of the Newgate prison was built, in the late 18th century, close to St Michan’s church, just across on the other side of the River Liffey. But it was short-lived, being demolished in 1893 after a century in service.
It is understood that many 1798 rebels died in this prison.
Patrick O’Halloran, Wexford.
QUESTION Why was Johnny Horton’s song Sink The Bismarck banned by the BBC?
MANY songs have been banned by the BBC — several for the strangest of reasons.
The Who’s song My Generation was banned for a time because it might be offensive to stutterers. Lola, by The Kinks, was in trouble for advertising — the offending lyric being ‘cherry cola’ — rather than its racy subject matter.
With lyrics such as ‘it was a graveyard smash’, the BBC failed to see the funny side of Bobby Pickett’s Monster Mash, banning the song for being too morbid. Sink The Bismarck, a marching song released in 1960 by country music singer Johnny Horton and songwriter Tillman Franks, is based on the pursuit and eventual sinking of the German battleship in May 1941.
It was a follow-up to Horton’s biggest hit, 1959’s The Battle Of New Orleans.
The song was inspired by the 1960 British war movie Sink The Bismarck! and was commissioned by 20th Century Fox, which was worried about the subject’s relative obscurity in the USA.
While the song was used in cinema trailers for the film in the States, it does not feature in the film. Horton released it through Columbia Records and it reached No. 3 in the US charts.
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The reason for the BBC ban was that the song contained historical inaccuracies, including the date of the outbreak of World War II. It began: ‘In May of 1941 the war had just begun . . .’
Also, the first pressing of the single spelled the name of the ship incorrectly as Bismark.
After critics panned the single, the BBC stopped playing it. Despite the ban, however, the song went to No. 3 in the UK charts in May 1960.
Johnny Horton was tragically killed in a car crash five months later, aged just 35.
Howard Smith, Wolverhampton, W. Mids.
QUESTION How popular was sparrow pie in Britain during World War II?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, I grew up on a farm in Lancashire. From 1943, local farms were allocated two Italian PoWs. Every morning they were marched down the lane from their camp.
They were excellent workers and no trouble. When they finished work each evening, they asked permission to trap sparrows. Each man caught 20 birds, skinned them and took them back to camp to boil up into a stew.
As a young boy, I was fascinated by this and asked if I could taste sparrow meat. They brought me some stew and Italian bread — it was delicious!
By the end of the war, the two Italians had been replaced by a German prisoner. He did not want to go home because he had lived so well on the farm diet.