Photo-a-Day (Tuesday, 1st October, 2024)
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The 'Fluffy Grips' on the 8 Bell Ropes are known as Sally's, the term is thought to derive from the French word 'Sailir' which means the action of a jumping rope.
Photo: Colin Traynor (iPhone)
“No Man is an Island,
Entire thereof
Each is a piece of the continent
A part of the main
If a clod be washed away by the sea.
Each man’s death diminishes me
For I am involved in Mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
“For whom the bell tolls
It tolls for thee..”
John Donne 1574 - 1631
It was a very interesting and educational visit up there for our small group.
The monitor screen you can see on the wall gives a live viewing of one of the bells in the spire above. Interestingly when the bell is silent it faces upwards, I would have thought that it would have faced down. You learn something every day!
Veronica, I had overlooked the evocative poem by John Dunne, thinking more of the 1940 book by Ernest Hemingway set during the Spanish Civil War.
Yes the title was taken from the poem by Hemingway Colin. So evocative.
Some well-known old Standishers' names on those boards : Bob Taylor, Tommy Grounds, Joe Grey, Albert Seddon.
Reminds me of a joke, Quasimodo has been ringing the bell at Notre Dame for years and wants a week off. He asks the Priest who says yes, but asks him to train a someone to do the job while he's away, so he asks his twin brother who unfortunately has no arms. but learns to ring the bell by running into it with his face. However, on his third day of ringing the bell he misses and falls to his death on the pavement below.
The gendarme asks if anyone knows who he is?
A passing man says I don’t know his name, but his face sure rings a bell.
Another man says now that you mention it, he’s also a dead ringer for Quasimodo.
Colin, a few weeks ago you mentioned in a PaD comment about the film The Ghost Train starring Arthur Askey, I’ve recently been reading the autobiography of Frank Williams, who played amongst many other acting roles the Vicar on Dad’s Army.
(Vicar To Dad’s Army - The Frank Williams Story)
Frank Williams: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0930595/
In his book he writes that when in boarding school they would put on plays, and they did a production of the play The Ghost Train, it was he says, written by Arnold Ridley, who amongst many other acting roles played Private Godfrey on Dad’s Army. Frank goes on to say that the idea of the play came to Arnold when he was once sat waiting for a considerable time at a deserted railway station for a connecting train.
Arnold Ridley: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725965/
Frank writes that before recorded sound effects had become available for use in drama plays, the stage hands amongst their usual array of sound props had obtained a few sheets of corrugated iron and a couple of borrowed garden rollers, and these were used for the clattering sound effects of trains on railway tracks during the play.
Thanks for the info Cyril. I looked up Arnold Rigby I hardly recognised him when he was young. I saw a documentary about the Actors in Dad’sArmy and I knew he wrote plays. John Laurie was a serious stage actor as well. He didn’t think the series would last for very long. How wrong was he!