Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

[StevieBee]

popeyewhite said:

Ayahuasca said:

StevieBee said:

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!

Duran Duran were from Brum

Wasn't the outstanding comedian, tv personality, presenter and cultural icon Jasper Carrott from Birmingham?

Just an aside.. Saxon may be from Brum but they most certainly are not a 'major rock band of note'. What they are though is the dog's arse of NWOBM, basking in the shadow created by Motorhead and Judas Priest and UFO etc and dragged along under the NWOBM banner with other bands that aren't very good, such as Tygers of Pan Tang, Magnum, Girlschool etc etc. All of whom Ive suffered the displeasure of seeing live many times when they supported better bands.

Yeah, there was a clear two-league thing going on with that scene. Although I would remove Magnum from the list; fabulous band and deserve greater recognition (IMO). And Paris by Air by Tygers of Pang Tang was pretty good too.

[popeyewhite]

StevieBee said:

Yeah, there was a clear two-league thing going on with that scene. Although I would remove Magnum from the list; fabulous band and deserve greater recognition (IMO)

They're playing near me. I enjoyed Kingdom of Madness but whether it's enough to persuade me to buy a ticket... .

[Ayahuasca]

Issi said:

the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Yes, nobody of cultural note has come from the Midlands. Oh, hang on, there was
Samuel Johnson - described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". There was also that chap who wrote a few plays - Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and so on.

And Slade.

[shirt]

popeyewhite said:

Ayahuasca said:

StevieBee said:

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!

Duran Duran were from Brum

Wasn't the outstanding comedian, tv personality, presenter and cultural icon Jasper Carrott from Birmingham?

Just an aside.. Saxon may be from Brum but they most certainly are not a 'major rock band of note'. What they are though is the dog's arse of NWOBM, basking in the shadow created by Motorhead and Judas Priest and UFO etc and dragged along under the NWOBM banner with other bands that aren't very good, such as Tygers of Pan Tang, Magnum, Girlschool etc etc. All of whom Ive suffered the displeasure of seeing live many times when they supported better bands.

Whilst robert plant and john bonham may have been from nr brum that doesnt make them a birmingham band. They formed in london out of jimmy page’s vision of what a rock supergroup should sound like.

[Frank7]

48k said:

So as not to confuse it with Kingston upon Thames which is shortened to....Kingston?

Anyone who has been to both Kingston on Thames, and Kingston upon Hull, and is confused between the two, DEFINITELY needs to go to SpecSavers.

[Ayahuasca]

shirt said:

popeyewhite said:

Ayahuasca said:

StevieBee said:

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!

Duran Duran were from Brum

Wasn't the outstanding comedian, tv personality, presenter and cultural icon Jasper Carrott from Birmingham?

Just an aside.. Saxon may be from Brum but they most certainly are not a 'major rock band of note'. What they are though is the dog's arse of NWOBM, basking in the shadow created by Motorhead and Judas Priest and UFO etc and dragged along under the NWOBM banner with other bands that aren't very good, such as Tygers of Pan Tang, Magnum, Girlschool etc etc. All of whom Ive suffered the displeasure of seeing live many times when they supported better bands.

Whilst robert plant and john bonham may have been from nr brum that doesnt make them a birmingham band. They formed in london out of jimmy page’s vision of what a rock supergroup should sound like.

And his vision was that it should sound like a singer from the Midlands.

Edited by Ayahuasca on Thursday 16th November 22:11

[Halmyre]

Ayahuasca said:

shirt said:

popeyewhite said:

Ayahuasca said:

StevieBee said:

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!

Duran Duran were from Brum

Wasn't the outstanding comedian, tv personality, presenter and cultural icon Jasper Carrott from Birmingham?

Just an aside.. Saxon may be from Brum but they most certainly are not a 'major rock band of note'. What they are though is the dog's arse of NWOBM, basking in the shadow created by Motorhead and Judas Priest and UFO etc and dragged along under the NWOBM banner with other bands that aren't very good, such as Tygers of Pan Tang, Magnum, Girlschool etc etc. All of whom Ive suffered the displeasure of seeing live many times when they supported better bands.

Whilst robert plant and john bonham may have been from nr brum that doesnt make them a birmingham band. They formed in london out of jimmy page’s vision of what a rock supergroup should sound like.

And his vision was that it should should like a singer from the Midlands.

Not quite, Page originally wanted Terry Reid, who was from Huntingdon. He turned down the offer (he also turned down Deep Purple Mark 2).

[Ayahuasca]

Why do Wikipedia pages about poems never contain the actual poem?

[CoolC]

Where does the phrase egg on your face originate from?

[Yipper]

Ayahuasca said:

StevieBee said:

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!

Duran Duran were from Brum

The Brummie accent is dying out. A recent study suggested it will disappear some time around the 2060s. Brummie is not a popular accent and surveys consistently rank it as the least intelligent and least sexy accent in the entire country.

[V8mate]

Is any part of our motorway network not subject to a 50mph limit under the pretence of roadworks?

Is this some kind of stealth approach to reducing the national speed limit?

[Dr Jekyll]

Does the phrase 'a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance' mean:

A) The custom is broken more than it's observed.

Or

B) Breaching this particular custom is more honourable than following it.

[Einion Yrth]

A

[deeen]

Dr Jekyll said:

Does the phrase 'a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance' mean:

A) The custom is broken more than it's observed.

Or

B) Breaching this particular custom is more honourable than following it.

A. I think of it as a virtuous thing that's talked about more than it's actually done.

[Ayahuasca]

Dr Jekyll said:

Does the phrase 'a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance' mean:

A) The custom is broken more than it's observed.

Or

B) Breaching this particular custom is more honourable than following it.

You honour a custom by doing it, nothing to do with the honourability of the custom.

[glenrobbo]

V8mate said:

Is any part of our motorway network not subject to a 50mph limit under the pretence of roadworks?

Yes, there are quite a few stretches where a 40mph limit is in place.

[glenrobbo]

Ayahuasca said:

Issi said:

the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Yes, nobody of cultural note has come from the Midlands. Oh, hang on, there was
Samuel Johnson - described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". There was also that chap who wrote a few plays - Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and so on.

And Slade.

As the post referred to cultural icons emanating from Birmingham, I am now imagining all future Shakespearean productions to be enacted using Brummie accents.

[MartG]

glenrobbo said:

As the post referred to cultural icons emanating from Birmingham, I am now imagining all future Shakespearean productions to be enacted using Brummie accents.

Have you seen 'Upstart Crow' with David Mitchell ? Shakespeare's family are all portrayed with Brummie accents

[Jonboy_t]

On the speed limit subject, what’s the point of ‘national speed limit’? Why not just 50/60/70 on the appropriate roads?

[V8mate]

Jonboy_t said:

On the speed limit subject, what’s the point of ‘national speed limit’? Why not just 50/60/70 on the appropriate roads?

Because the national speed limit applies to all roads, unless a lower limit is in force.