The Saturday briefing
IS THERE anything you are desperately yearning to know? Are there any pressing factual disputes you would like us to help resolve? This is the page where we shall do our best to answer any questions you throw at us, whatever the subject.
IS it true George Formby’s songs When I’m Cleaning Windows and My Little Stick Of Blackpool Rock were both banned by the BBC?
Len Silver, Manchester GEORGE Formby’s cheeky lyrics did indeed fall foul of the BBC’s Dance Music Policy Committee which had to approve all lyrics that were transmitted in the 1930s. When I’m Cleaning Windows was banned as was With My Little Ukulele In My Hand. My Little Stick Of Blackpool Rock was not subject to an outright ban but certain lines were censored. ALTHOUGH I know what “Brexit” refers to and it is widely used and accepted, no such word is given in the English dictionary. Who introduced the word and when?
KG Finn, Dover, Kent THE word Brexit, meaning British exit from the EU, dates back to late 2012 and was modelled on Grexit which was coined earlier the same year to refer to the possibility of Greece exiting the euro.
Grexit was first used by US economist Ebrahim Rahbari, director of global economics at Citi Research, in February 2012.
Both words are beginning to appear in online dictionaries: Oxford Dictionaries included them on their list of new words issued in August 2015.
EVER since Richard III was reburied in Leicester I’ve been wondering about an earlier English king: Edward the Martyr, who was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978.
After his burial at Wareham Abbey miracles began to be attributed to him and his bones were moved to Shaftesbury Abbey. What were believed to be his relics were found during an archaeological dig in 1931
but for some reason they next turned up in a box at the Midland Bank in Croydon. Please can you shed any light on the veracity of this story?
Peter Turnbull, by email THE case of Edward the Martyr’s bones is an intriguing tale. When Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries began in the 16th century his bones were moved and hidden to keep them safe.
They were then lost until 1931, which led to a legal battle between rival churches over who owned them and had the right to give them a proper burial place.
One side said Edward was an English king and should be buried in an Anglican church, the other side said he was recognised as a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church and his relics should be moved to a Russian Orthodox church.
While the long-running court case disputed the owners, the bones were left for safekeeping in the vault of the Midland Bank in Woking. Finally the case was A high-end, pretty product measuring 65x85cm.
Its special cotton fibres trap up to 95 per cent of dust, mud and dirt and it can be machine washed. resolved in 1984 in favour of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and were moved to Brookwood Cemetery in Woking.
The St Edward Brotherhood of monks was organised there and the church was named St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church, under the jurisdiction of a Greek Orthodox community.
WHERE does the expression “sling your hook” come from?
Bob Brown, Birmingham THE “hook” referred to a ship’s anchor and the “sling” is the place it rests in on the ship when raised. So “sling your hook” was an invitation to raise the anchor and sail off.
However an alternative derivation has been suggested putting its origins among mining communities with the “hook” referring to where a miner would hang his clothes and “sling your hook” meant “get back into your day clothes and go home”.
The first explanation sounds more convincing but there is not Melli Mello Deco mat, £16.25. 08005 877645/ amara.com Brighten up hallways and entrances with this vibrantly coloured zebra design mat.
Made from 100 per cent polyamide-backed vinyl it makes a bold statement. Measures 45x75cm. by enough evidence to say that was definitely the origin. IF Hillary Clinton wins the US election she will be their first woman president. How many other women have become elected leaders of their countries? SINCE Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Ceylon in 1960 there have been 65 elected female prime ministers. Since Isabel Perón in Argentina in 1974 there have been 31 female presidents. There are currently 18 countries with elected women leaders.
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This attractive and wellpriced 70x40cm doormat looks far too nice to have muddy feet trampling all over it so perhaps you should politely ask your visitors to take their shoes off. P Rhodes, Leeds
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