DYKs
Did you know...
- 1 to 20
- ... that Stereo Type, by the Welsh composer Guto Puw, was written for the combination of amplified typewriters and tape and was premiered in a shopping centre in Bangor, Gwynedd?
- ... that, in 1964, J. N. L. Baker, Bursar of Jesus College, Oxford became the first member of the University of Oxford to hold the post of Lord Mayor of Oxford?
- ... that Herbert Armitage James, who was headmaster of Rugby School for 14 years, had one of the best stamp collections in England?
- ... that John Percival, when headmaster of Rugby School, gained the nickname "Percival of the knees" because he was concerned about "impurity" and insisted that boys secure their football shorts below the knee with elastic?
- ... that the military theories of the 18th-century Welsh soldier Henry Lloyd were studied by George Washington and George S. Patton?
- ... that despite being appointed to the usually profitable post of comptroller to Prince Charles in 1616, John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery later claimed that serving the Prince had cost him £20,000?
- ... that William Thomas Havard, who was bishop of two Welsh dioceses (St Asaph, then St David's), once represented Wales in an international rugby union match?
- ... that David Powel compiled and published the first printed history of Wales in 1584, which popularized the legend that Prince Madoc discovered America in about 1170?
- ... that British international rally driver Tony Ambrose was given an MG sports car by his father for winning a scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford?
- ... that the financial endowment by Edmund Meyrick, a Welsh cleric and philanthropist who died in 1713, is still awarding scholarships to students at Jesus College, Oxford in England after nearly three centuries?
- ... that Welsh lawyer Edward Wynne was, in 1714, the first landowner to grow turnips on Anglesey?
- ... that the Welsh Tractarian priest John David Jenkins, known as the "Rail men's Apostle", became President of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants?
- ... that the Welshmen Edward Edwards, Griffith Griffith, Owen Owen, Richard Richards, Robert Roberts and Thomas Thomas (and his son Thomas Thomas) were all educated at Jesus College, Oxford?
- ... that it took over 50 years to complete the foundation of Jesus College, Oxford, as one Principal lost the draft statutes and the next one kept the replacement copy in his study for several years?
- 21 to 40
- ... that Welsh politician David Lloyd George (pictured) said that he would prize no honour more highly than his Honorary Fellowship of Jesus College, Oxford?
- ... that William David Davies was the first Welsh non-conformist to obtain a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Oxford?
- ... that the first journal articles written by the entomologist Robert Perkins were published when he was a classics student with no scientific education?
- ... that Gwilym Davies was the first person to broadcast in Welsh, on Saint David's Day in 1923?
- ... that Terence Mitford, who spent his whole academic career as an archaeologist at the University of St Andrews, was a member of the Special Air Service during the Second World War?
- ... that English barrister Joseph Keble went to the Court of King's Bench every day from 1661 to 1710, but was never known to have a brief for a client?
- ... that 18th-century English historian William Rider's 50-volume A New History of England was later described by William Thomas Lowndes as one of the vilest Grub Street compilations ever published?
- ... that the equipment designed by the physicist Gwyn Jones to liquefy small amounts of helium for work at temperatures near absolute zero was made from parts of a motorcycle engine?
- ... that Robert Gentilis graduated from the University of Oxford aged 12 and became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, aged 17, below the minimum fellowship age of 18?
- ... that the Welsh priest Wallis Thomas led church services long after his 90th birthday and was described as the oldest working priest in Britain?
- ... that British civil engineer Thomas Page, who designed Westminster Bridge, suggested placing a submerged tube between England and France to be used as a tunnel?
- ... that the reredos installed in 1864 in the chapel of Jesus College, Oxford (pictured) has been described variously as "handsome", "somewhat tawdry" and looking like "corned beef"?
- ... that the BBC commissioned Carol Ann Duffy, the British Poet Laureate, to write Last Post to mark the deaths in July 2009 of First World War veterans Henry Allingham and Harry Patch?
- ... that Lord Nuffield rejected the first designs for the buildings of Nuffield College, Oxford by the architect Austen Harrison, saying that they were "un-English"?
- ... that in 1922, Henry Pellew, an American citizen, inherited the title of Viscount Exmouth, created for his grandfather who fought for the British during the American War of Independence?
- ... that the members of the Council of Keble College, Oxford had power to move the college away from Oxford?
- ... that the English ambassador to Paris, Edward Stafford, is suspected to have given confidential information to Spain before the Spanish Armada in 1588?
- ... that Stephen Reay, Under-Librarian at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, was remembered by colleagues for his habit of "hovering over hot-air gratings in search of warmth"?
- 41 to 60
- ... that the position of Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at Oxford was endowed by John Ireland (pictured), who was Dean of Westminster for more than 25 years?
- ... that the requirement to teach geometry was removed from the duties of the Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford so that Edward Titchmarsh could be appointed to the post in 1931?
- ... that the Honorary Fellows of Keble College, Oxford, have included Ronald Reagan and John Betjeman, even though neither had academic links to the college?
- ... that although the Welsh church of St Pabo, Llanbabo has a 14th-century monument to Pabo Post Prydain, its supposed 5th-century founder, there is no good evidence that he founded the church?
- ... that the 16th-century chancel window of the Welsh church of St Cristiolus, Llangristiolus, has been described as "almost too big to fit" in the east wall?
- ... that the Welsh church of St Peulan, Llanbeulan, is said to have been founded by St Peulan, the son of St Paulinus?
- 61 to 80
- ... that St Mary's Church, Rhodogeidio, Wales, was built as a chapel of ease for St Ceidio's Church, but both are now disused and St Mary's (pictured) is in ruins?
- ... that one 19th-century writer said that St Peirio's Church, Rhosbeirio was "one of the humblest ecclesiastical buildings in Anglesey"?
- ... that as a condition of paying for restoration work, a 19th-century benefactor of St Mary's Church in Bodewryd, Wales, required the church to have Islamic-style stained glass?
- ... that St Mary's Church, Pentraeth, Wales, was decorated in the 18th century with paper garlands, perhaps to celebrate parishioners' weddings?
- 81 to 100
- ... that after a fox took shelter in the ruins of Capel Lligwy (pictured), in Anglesey, north Wales, a vault was discovered containing "a large mass of human bones, several feet in depth"?
- ... that the churchyard of St Caian's Church, Tregaian, Wales, contains the grave of a man who died in 1581 aged 105 with over 40 children and 300 living descendants?
- ... that St Dona's Church, Llanddona, Wales, was rebuilt in 1873 with the rector at the time acting as the architect?
- ... that St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo, Wales, was used as a temporary mortuary following the 1859 wreck of the Royal Charter, which claimed over 400 lives?
- ... that after St Gwenllwyfo's Church in Anglesey, Wales, was abandoned in 1856 in favour of a replacement, its medieval roof took nearly 100 years to collapse?
- ... that St Edern's Church, Bodedern, Wales, is dedicated to one of the knights of King Arthur?
- ... that St Eugrad's Church, Llaneugrad, Wales, contains an Art Nouveau memorial to one of the officers who died in the wreck of the Royal Charter in 1859?
- 101 onwards
- ...that when Christopher Wren was appointed to rebuild St Paul's Cathedral, London, he was Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the [[University of Oxford
- ...that St Peter's Church, Llanbedrgoch, Wales, contains a reading desk made out of 15th-century bench ends, one of which is decorated with a carving of a mermaid?
- ... that St Mihangel's Church, Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn, Wales, was extended in 1988 by demolishing and reassembling St Enghenedl's Church, Llanynghenedl?
- ... that Arthur Phillips composed a setting of "The Requiem, or, Liberty of an Imprisoned Royalist" by Thomas Pierce?
- ... that Henry Ford was a "comparative nonentity" who got various jobs because his wife's uncle was a bishop?
|