THE BIG QUESTIONS
I must have played several hundred games of Simon Says with my kids during lockdown, but who was Simon? – P.
There are a couple of possibilities. The first Is Roman statesman Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) who was used to getting people to do his bidding. More likely is Simon de Montfort (1208-65) a French-english nobleman de Montfort was so powerful, he ordered the king, Henry III, to be imprisoned. It seems what Simon said, was law.
I must admit that I was enraged when I read recently that President Trump’s son, Donald Jnr, went to Mongolia on a hunting trip. While there, he shot a rare breed of sheep. I’d like to know more about the poor beast he killed. – J.
The Argali is the largest living wild sheep, native to the highlands of Central Asia, where it is believed that there are less than 25,000 in the wild.
Argali is a Mongolian word for “ram”. Mature rams can weigh 140kg (22 stone) and stand 125cm high (49in) at the shoulder. Ewes normally weigh about a third less. Both sexes have horns, but the male’s are larger.
Marco Polo was the first European to describe the sheep, in the 13th Century.
Jiggery-pokery is a word I’ve loved since first being accused of it when trying to get a bigger slice of a cake that my mum made for me and my brother. Where does it come from? – G.
It’s Scottish in origin, coming from the word “jouk” meaning to twist one’s body, and “pawk” which was a trick.
By the 17th Century, jouk and pawk had been combined into “joukery-pawkery” to describe trickery such as a magician’s sleight of hand.