Jolly to be a right misery
QUESTION Whatever happened to the BBC’s Scottish vicar, the Rev I. M. Jolly?
THE Reverend I. M. Jolly, an ironically named and perpetually depressed Presbyterian minister of the kirk, was a beloved comic creation by Rikki Fulton.
Born in Glasgow in April 1924, Fulton was a giant of Scottish comedy, and was best loved for his brilliant BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch & Wry.
To conclude each episode, he would deliver Last Call, a fireside homily during which he would refer to his mysterious wife, Ephesia and the antics of church organist Mr Bampot.
It was a satire of STV’s Late Call sermons by real ministers. As Fulton explained: ‘When I was making Scotch & Wry, and loving every minute of it, Katie [his wife] and I were members of New Kilpatrick church, where there was an excellent minister, Alastair Symington.
‘He was an outstanding preacher who helped his congregation leave the church with a spring in their step thanks to his uplifting and humorous sermons.
‘When we saw Late Call, the difference was unbelievable. Glum-looking ministers with dreary, gloomy sermons sent you to bed hoping you wouldn’t wake up in the morning. And thus the character I. M. Jolly was created.’ Fulton’s straight- faced, lugubrious presentation parodied a particular Presbyterian view of life.
A typical monologue began: ‘In the bleak midwinter — and never has a midwinter been more bleak — we’ve had water coming in our roof for days now. So much so that my wife, Ephesia, has taken to wearing wellingtons around the house. Her repeated suggestion that walking on water is a skill that I should master strikes me as wholly inappropriate.’
Scotch & Wry introduced other wonderful comedy creations: Andrew (Andy) Ross — Supercop, an incompetent traffic policeman; Dirty Dickie Dandruff, an unhygienic chef; Are Ye Dancin?, a spoof of dancing shows featuring effeminate hosts Francie (Fulton) and Josie (Jack
Milroy); and Aloycious ‘Tam’ McGlinchey, a colourful Rab C. Nesbitt- esque character. Indeed, Gregor Fisher got his big break on Scotch & Wry.
Even though the show ended in 1992, Fulton revived Reverend I. M. Jolly for several Hogmanay specials: Tis The Season To Be Jolly (1993); A Man For All Seasons (1994); Jolly: A Life (1995); and It’s A Jolly Life (1999). Fulton died in 2004 at the age of 79. On Hogmanay 2018, Gregor Fisher took up the mantle of I. M. Jolly to deliver one last homily, marking 40 years since the Reverend’s first appearance.
Scott Murray, Stirling.
QUESTION Is possession nine points of the law (often misquoted as 9/10ths)? What other points of the law are there?
THERE is no specific law that says possession is nine points of the law. It is simply a phrase that stresses the importance of possession in legal terms.
The proverb was almost certainly meant ironically. If possession is nine points, the points are 1. Possession; 2. Possession; 3. Possession, etc.
The term’s basic meaning is that the overwhelming majority of statutes are based on, or define and regulate, possession of things of value, such as goods, services rendered, money and land.
At its core, it’s simply a statement of a known truth. What is more, if you are in possession of something, the burden is on the other person to prove it is not yours, both in legal and practical terms.
A similar proverb appears in The Raigne Of King Edward The Third, dating from 1596. Edward III of England is challenging the throne of King John of France.
Phillip, one of John’s sons, says: ‘I say, my Lord, claim Edward what he can, And bring he ne’er so plain a pedigree, Tis you are in the possession of the Crown, And that’s the surest point of all the law.’
In 1616, Thomas Draxe, in Bibliotheca Scholastica Instructissima Or A Treasure Of Ancient Adagies has: ‘Possession is nine points in the law.’
Yet for the next 150 years the expression referred to 11 points. It’s not until the Memoirs Of His Own Life by Tate Wilkinson in the 1790s that we return to nine points: ‘Mrs Barrington had an excellent wardrobe of her own; and being the intimate of Mrs Woffington, had the entire treasure of her tragedy jewels, which at that time Mrs Barrington eyed as her own property, by having nine parts of the law in her favour — possession.’
Patronage in 1814 by Maria Edgeworth was the first to introduce fractions: ‘And save you a vast deal of trouble and vexation; “Possession,” added he, laughing, “being nine-tenths of the law.” ’
Sarah Westwood, Birmingham.
QUESTION Are there any differences in blood composition between the sexes?
WHEN blood is used for an emergency transfusion, nurses make sure the donor and recipient have compatible blood types, but they do not pay attention to the donor’s sex.
A woman’s haemoglobin levels are 12 per cent lower than a man’s, but this does not affect health. Haemoglobin is a protein found in the red blood cells that carries oxygen in your body and gives blood its red colour.
Pregnant women are not allowed to give blood, as they can suffer from iron deficiency (anaemia). During pregnancy, women make new antibodies that can make it harder to match their blood with a patient’s. The rare condition transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is caused by antibodies made in pregnancy.
Two-thirds of new blood donors are female, and there are 100,000 more female blood donors than men, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.
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