An atlas of the
British Isles, indeed one of the world, has been a fruitful place for
writers to find eccentric or comic names for characters...think of
Wilde's Bunbury or Powell's Widmerpool.
On the return trip
from Windermere (Blog 02/07/2015 ), we diverted off the M6 to take the old and,
in its wintry past, notorious, route over Shap Fell. The village of
Shap has Neolithic stone circles and a medieval Premonstratensian
abbey to catch the attention of the wandering gangril.
Shap Abbey |
The weather
was pleasant and we made our way north by minor roads.
Sign posts are
always a source of interest to the stravaiger ( Blog 09/12/2014) and we met with
a few that started a game of names and stories.
Heaning Mislet
" Oh yes,
there have always been Heanings in our family. I believe it's an old
Anglo-Saxon name.
I mean. we call him
John...that's his middle name but we christened him Heaning.. family
tradition and all that.... and Uncle Heaning is a widower and hasn't
any immediate family....
Crosby
Ravensworth and Rosgill Bampton have been friends and
allies since they were in the same house at their minor public
school. They have been
involved in several unsuccessful business ventures.
Their latest scheme is selling time shares in a naturist colony which is being developed by their Scandinavian contact Keld Thornship.
Their latest scheme is selling time shares in a naturist colony which is being developed by their Scandinavian contact Keld Thornship.
Briscoe Hill had a career as rally driver for several motor
manufacturers. An unfortunate series of accidents prevented him from
realising his potential and he eventually retired to become the motoring
correspondent of a national daily newspaper.
Closer to home, we
came across Thornton Crowhill who, we discovered, was an
amateur archaeologist in the early twentieth century. The discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun overshadowed his contributions to
Egyptology and he returned, disappointed, to the family estate to breed
dogs and paint water colours.
On a trip north we
passed...
Fintry - Douglas
and Angus
A piano and
accordion duo who had a long career as a support act to Scottish
music hall stars in the forties and fifties. As variety succumbed
to television, they continued to appear on the "nostalgia
circuits" in Canada and Australasia. They retired to their
birthplace in Fife but still gave the occasional charity performance
well into their seventies.
(The compendium
of Scottish variety performers)
Go on... have a go.
It is fun and you can meet such fascinating people.
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