The red herring of Errol’s derring-do!
QUESTION What is the origin of the expression derring-do?
Derring-Do is a curious term that to the cinema-goer feels as if it was designed to describe the swashbuckling antics of the Thirties Hollywood actor errol Flynn, star of Captain Blood and Adventures of Don Juan. But its origins predate Flynn by several centuries.
The word has come down to us through a series of mistranslations. The earliest form can be found in geoffrey Chaucer’s Troylus And Criseyde, circa 1374: ‘And certainly in storie it is y-founde, That Troylus was nevere unto no wight, As in his tyme, in no degree secounde in dor-rynge don that longeth to a knyght.’
‘Durring’ and ‘don’ were simply the 14th-century manner of writing the words ‘daring’ and ‘do’. Troylus was ‘daring to do what appertains to a knight’.
The poet John Lydgate paraphrased Chaucer in Troy Book, 1420: ‘in dorryng do, this noble worthy wyght.’ This was misprinted in later versions of the work as ‘derrynge do’.
Poet edmund Spenser came across the term and used it several times in his often deliberately archaic verse to describe heroic courage and feats of daring.
He first used it in this sense in The Shepherd’s Calendar in 1579: ‘in derring doe, in manhood and chevalrie.’
He returned to it in The Faerie Queene of 1596: ‘A man of micklename, renowned much in arms and derring do.’
it was probably through Spenser that the great 19th century author and medieval revivalist Sir Walter Scott discovered and popularised the term in his novels, notably in ivanhoe, set in the 12th century: ‘o no! i will put my faith in the good knight whose axe hath rent heartof-oak and bars of iron. Singular,’ he again muttered to himself, ‘if there be two who can do a deed of such derring-do!’
Simon Archer, Solihull, W. Mids.
QUESTION Why does the Hawthorns, the home of West Bromwich Albion FC, have a quote from Psalm 23 inscribed on the main stand?
IT IS understood that Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd, was first sung by West Bromwich Albion fans on Sunday, January 27, 1974, when the Baggies travelled to goodison Park for an FA Cup fourth round clash.
At the time playing on a Sunday was unusual but the match, which finished with neither team scoring, had been moved because of the miners’ strike. This prompted a group of Albion supporters from Smethwick to respond with a tongue-in-cheek rendition of the hymn.
However, in 1976, when Albion were chasing promotion from Division Two, the words to the hymn were changed in honour of their manager Johnny giles.
Fans who met at The Britannia pub in Tipton before home matches agreed they would all sing: ‘giles is My Shepherd, i shall not want.’ it stuck when Albion regained their top-flight status.
The opening words from Psalm 23 were later inscribed on the main Halfords road Stand at The Hawthorns.
Tony Matthews, West Bromwich Albion historian and statistician, 1969-2003, Cabrera, Spain.
QUESTION Does Bangladesh have six seasons?
TWO calendars are used in Bangladesh: the Western gregorian calendar by government departments and educational institutions, while the traditional Bengali calendar is used for religious festivals and the sowing and harvesting of crops.
The Bengali calendar is based on the sidereal year (the time it takes the earth to complete one orbit relative to the stars) as opposed to the tropical year (the interval at which seasons repeat), which is the basis for the Western calendar.
it consists of six seasons of two months with new Year in the summer, marked by the festival of Pahela Baishakh.
The seasons are grishmo (summer), which runs from mid-April to mid- June; Borsha (rainy), mid- June to mid-August; Shorod (autumn), mid-August to midoctober; Hemonto (late autumn), midoctober to mid-December; Sheet (winter), mid-December to mid-February; and Bosonto ( spring), mid- February to mid-April.
Places adjacent to the indian ocean divide the weather into three seasons: winter, summer and monsoon.
T. Ali, London E2.
QUESTION Is the runaway lorry gravel trap at the bottom of Wrotham Hill in Kent one of a kind?
FURTHER to the earlier answers, there is also a gravel trap on the hill leading to Pendine Sands on Carmarthen Bay.
it was installed after an accident in which the driver of a works bus was killed when his brakes failed and the vehicle hit a wall at the bottom of the hill.
The driver bravely stayed at the wheel trying in vain to navigate around the sharp bend.
There is a plaque on a wall which reads: ‘in memory of a gallant bus driver Bryn Woodworth, aged 45 years, who gave his life on February 2, 1977, in order to save his fellow passengers.’
This was the bus i would normally have taken to work, but on that particular day i had a dental appointment and so travelled by car.
When i reached the scene of the accident and realised it was my bus lying on its side on Pendine Sands, a cold shiver went down my spine.
John Wickland, Aberaeron, Ceredigion.