Tin miners earn a crust
The pasty is a symbol of Cornish pride. It has been popular for centuries with the county’s tin miners and farmers.
Traditionally, it contains beef skirt, potato, swede and onion.
A report in the houses of Parliament dating to 1800 hints to a probable origin of the term tiddy oggies:
‘This kind of pie, called in Cornwall a hoggan (sometimes hogen or hobban) or pasty, is the common dinner of labourers, who carry it with them in the morning when they work at a distance from home.’
Oggie or oggy is probably derived from hoggan, which is a reference to meat — hog or pig. Tiddy is Cornish/Devon vernacular for potato, similar to tatty.
The popular chant, ‘Oggie, oggie, oggie! Oi! Oi! Oi!’ is said to derive from when women would shout, ‘Oggie, oggie, oggie’ down the mine shaft when lunch was ready and the hungry miners would reply: ‘Oi! Oi! Oi!’
The distinctive crimping of the pastry allowed miners, whose hands were covered in arsenic, tin or copper dust, to hold the thick edge as a handle as they ate. It was then thrown away.
The discarded pastry was said to please the knockers, which were the spirits who were believed to live in the mines.
Alexander Teague, Falmouth, Cornwall.
QUESTION Why did fewer than half of the entrants manage to complete the 1904 Olympic marathon?
heAT, dust and a lack of water meant just 14 of the 32 competitors made it to the marathon finishing line.
held in St Louis, Missouri, the 1904 Olympics were the first to be held outside europe. Due to travel difficulties and tensions caused by the Russo- Japanese war, only 12 nations took part, with just 62 of the 651 competitors coming from outside North America.
The marathon was noted for the disqualification of ‘winner’ Fred Lorz, who hitched a lift in a car between the nine and 19-mile section of the course! Thomas hicks was awarded the gold medal, though he had kept going by using strychnine to stimulate his nervous system. his winning time was a slow 3:28:45 compared to under three hours in the first modern Olympics in 1896.
The Olympic marathon record is 2:06:32 set by Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru in 2008.
Most marathons start in the morning when temperatures are lower. But the St Louis race began at 3pm when it was hitting 90F.
After leaving the stadium, the route was mostly country roads. Race officials riding in vehicles ahead and behind the athletes created clouds of suffocating dust.
There was just one proper water station, with supplies at six miles and a well at 12 miles. It was said that race organiser James Sullivan wanted to conduct research on the impact of dehydration!
Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby, Lincs.
QUESTION What became of the notorious car number plate FU2?
FuRTheR to a previous answer, in my youth I was driving in Southern California when I was overtaken by a snazzy, opentop sports car.
It was driven by a drop-dead gorgeous young lady dressed for the beach and with a mane of golden hair blowing in the breeze. As she passed, she flashed me a dazzling smile.
As romantic thoughts flooded my brain, I noticed her number plate: LuV 2 Nu. Despite putting my foot down in my renta-wreck, she was long gone. Ah well!