Pull rabbits out of my hat, not very relevant perhaps...

[venta]

Well, everyone who was heartily sick of me grumbling about the somewhat uninteresting dilemmas with which last year's desk calendar presented me will be delighted to hear that this year we have... the Forgotten English calendar. Every day I get an outdated word, and some random trivia.

Today's is slightly disappointing - apparently a monkey spoon is a spoon bearing the figure of a monkey. However, yesterday's trivia pleased me muchly.


Tuesday 6th, 1734 marked the death of John Dennis, English playwright and critic. In 1709, he "devised a method of simulating thunder onstage with a large mustard bowl for his dramatic work Appius Virginia."

The play flopped, but he later heard his thunderclaps being used in a production of Macbeth, and apparently exclaimed "See how the rascals use me. They will not let my play run, yet they steal my thunder!"

A quick google suggests that a mustard bowl is... well, a small bowl, to put mustard in. So presumably even a large mustard bowl wouldn't be huge. So how does one make a thunderclap with such a thing ? I guess dropping a metal bowl might suffice, but I'm assuming it was something more complicated than that, or it would hardly have needed someone to "devise" it...

Comments

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

I believe thunder effects were done by rolling metal balls down metal chutes/around metal bowls - think of the amount of noise you can get from even one of those small tibetan bowls (can't remember the name) and you get the idea.

Rumbling thunder rather than thunder claps, I would assume.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. I've got the same desk calender but i keep forgetting to bring it in. So I can turn to you for my daily triva dose if I continue to be absent minded

[http://users.livejournal.com/elle_/]

That's great - you have the best calendar!

I have a Stena Line one in my desk drawer. It says "It's Wednesday. Get on the ferry." (Or words to that effect).

[sampiano.livejournal.com]

Yay! I got the same calender for christmas.

The thing about the monkey spoon (if I remember correctly - it's at home) is that it is a spoon with a monkey on the handle given to the coffin bearers at large funerals... which struck me as somewhat random.

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

Count yourself lucky! From edling's brother Jim, I got the 2004 Duct Tape calendar - 366 "crazy" ideas for using duct tape inventively. Today's is far too long to write out, but Sunday's read: "Make yourself the ultimate armchair athlete headgear with a little duct tape and a couple of liter [sic] bottles (to be filled with the beverage of your choice)." Naturally this is accompanied by a wacky picture.