No.211

WELCOME!

It’s now four months since my last post here and I’m looking forward to this new series.

My aim of course is to make it as interesting as possible, and I hope that my choice of material will have your approval.

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Are you a cat-person? If so, this picture is for you. (Dog-persons, your turn will come.)

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Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Ken.
Ken who?
Ken I come in, it’s cold out here.

When did you last hear one of those?

There was a time when “knock-knock” was all the rage and it seems to have been popular all over the world - Australia, Canada, America, South Africa, India. etc. In France they were known as “toc-toc,” in Holland it was “klop-klop” and in Japan “kon-kon.”

Here are a few that took my fancy -

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Luke.
Luke who?
Luke through the keyhole and you’ll see.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Lionel.
Lionel who?
Lionel get you nowhere, better tell the truth.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Ivor.
Ivor who?
Ivor good mind not to tell you.

Drawings of this little man peeping over a wall were to be found everywhere during World War II and, just like the “knock-knock” craze, its popularity spread all over the world.

It has been suggested that the idea came from the character called Chad, who had been created by a British cartoonist in 1938. However its popularity seemed to begin in America and, like so many other novelties, was exported to the UK and beyond.

The drawings in chalk, paint, ink - in fact anything that would make a mark on walls, lamp posts, street signs and posters, would turn up in the most unusual places and continued right into the 1950s.

There were other names by which he was known - Clem, Smoe, the Jeep, Private Snooks, and in Australia the caption was “Foo was here.”

I suppose part of the fun of “Kilroy was here” lay in the fact that it was so easy to draw - even a small child could make a good attempt at it. Why not have a go yourself? Perhaps you try it out on your neighbour’s filthy car using your finger. But make sure you’re not caught!

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This is a great view of Multnomah Falls in Oregon, showing the footbridge and the upper and lower falls.

Thanks to public-domain-images

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Bad Report - Good Manners
(Spike Milligan)

My daddy said, “My son, my son,
This school report is bad.”
I said, “I did my best I did,
My dad my dad my dad.”

“Explain, my son, my son,” he said,
“Why bottom of the class?
“I stood aside, my dad my dad,
To let the others pass.”

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Now, here’s something rather special. This painting “The Dutch Proverbs” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder is unusual; it’s said to contain illustrations of 16th century sayings and idioms, and the suggestion has been made that 100 examples are included. Obviously quite a bit of time would be necessary to see how many proverbs you recognise, but it might be fun.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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Finally, a thought to leave with you.

Did you see the closing show of the Olympics? A brilliant spectacle of course, but the music - I thought it was awful. There was just one good song in the whole show and that was “Imagine.“ In my day pop songs had great melodies and well-written lyrics. (Yes, I know we had our rubbish songs, but they belonged to a small minority.) Do you agree with me?

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NEXT POST FRIDAY 24th

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