DADDY FELL INTO THE POND
Is there anything you’re yearning to know? Send your questions, on any subject, to the contacts given below, and we will do our best to answer them...
QJill Butcher, Alfriston, Polegate, East Sussex
AThe first Alexandra Rose Day was held on June 26, 1912, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Princess Alexandra of Denmark arriving in the UK to marry the future King EdwardVII.
Princess Alexandra – our Queen’s great-grandmother – wanted to help London hospitals and came up with the idea of selling silk roses on the streets.
It raised £32,000 – the equivalent of more than £3million today. It spread nationwide and was the first fundraising event where people got something to wear for their donation.
The charity dropped having one main Rose Day in 2012, changing its focus to food poverty. It now provides vouchers for needy families to exchange for fruit and veg from market stalls.
However it has not ruled out bringing back a Rose Day.
Qattack, which is why scar tissue forms instead. But not having that ability means cells do not have much scope to mutate into cancer.
The heart is also not as exposed to cancer-causing carcinogens Most heart tumours are benign, but they need to be removed so they do not block blood flow.
Secondary cancers can spread to the lining of the heart from nearby organs.Again, this is rare.
QASusan Massey, Cheltenham, Glos
The Swiss Guard is the world’s smallest army, acting as bodyguard to the Pope.
It has protected popes for more than 500 years. Back then, Switzerland was a poor country, and men would seek work abroad as mercenaries. They became known as loyal, professional and deadly. They served noblemen and monarchs across Europe, including the last king of France, Louis XVI, whose Swiss Guard defended him during the French Revolution and were slaughtered in their hundreds.
On May 6, 1527, 190 Vatican Swiss Guards were killed during the Sack of Rome.Their stand against thousands of troops allowed Pope ClementVII to flee.
That is why theVatican swears in new Swiss Guards every May 6.
Its members must be single Catholic males, no older than 30, who have completed Swiss military service.They even have a YouTube channel to entice new recruits.
QAGraham Cresswell,Walsall, West Midlands
Brer Rabbit and Brer Wolf are found in Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories from the late 19th century.
These African-American folklore tales feature Brer Rabbit outwitting his larger foes.They were supposed to represent the struggles in the Southern United States and getting one over on your oppressor.
Such stories had been overheard by Harris, a white Irish American, when he was working for a newspaper that was printed at a plantation in Georgia.
He spent time with the slaves, then wrote the tales up in their dialect.
The “patter-rollers” were police patrollers, set up to crack down on slave escapes and revolts in the South.
They often wore white robes to give a ghostly appearance and beat people with paddles when they found them.
They were also known as paddy rollers and travelled in what was known as a paddy wagon, a term still used today for a police van.
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● Unfortunately we cannot reply individually, but we will feature the best questions on this page. FORMER primary school teacher Sheila Hill, from Hollywood, Birmingham, remembered former pupils loved to hear the poem Daddy Fell Into The Pond by Alfred Noyes. She would like to read the full version. Alfred Noyes (1952) Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say. We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And there seemed to be nothing beyond,
THEN
Daddy fell into the pond! And everyone’s face grew merry and bright, And Timothy danced for sheer delight. “Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He’s crawling out of the duckweed.”
Click!
Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee, And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft
And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.
O, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t respond
WHEN Daddy fell into the pond!
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