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Grace Elliot's Blog – May 2011 Archive (7)

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The Sin Tax.

My latest post looks at King John's 'Sin Tax' and why it brought about legal change in medieval Britain.

http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 22, 2011 at 3:26pm — No Comments

Cat Gut Your Tongue?

Traditionally what are violin strings made from?

 

A)    Cat gut,

B)     Steel wire or

C)    Sheep intestine.

 

The answer, of course, is (c) – sheep intestine, so why then, do are the strings of violins, stringed instruments and tennis rackets called ‘cat gut.’ It seems the answer lies with a medieval myth about16th century saddle maker, Erasmo. (*)

 

TO READ THE FULL POST VISIT:…

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 18, 2011 at 10:46am — No Comments

Cats or Rats? Facing Phobias.

 

My mid week post involved the Emperor Napoleon and 30,000 rabbits. This reminded me of Napoleon’s reputation for being afraid of cats. Apparently this was an open secret amongst friends and adversaries alike. Indeed, during an important political debate, an opponent got the upper hand, throwing Napoleon off his stride, merely by bringing the subject of cats into the conversation.

 

Another example of this deep seated fear happened during the campaign for the Battle of…

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 15, 2011 at 2:47pm — No Comments

Exit Napoleon Pursued by Rabbits.

My midweek blog post is a blend of animals, history and trivia- to stimulate and make you smile! This is an almost Monty Pythonesque tale involving the French Emperor Napoleon, his Major General ‘Berthier the Ugly’ and 30,000 rabbits.

 

PLEASE follow the link for the full post:

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 11, 2011 at 2:49pm — No Comments

Shorter by a Head - some guillotine trivia.

For Mother’s Day I was lucky enough to be receive The Tudors DVD box set (and I didn’t even hint that hard!) So this morning you would have found me ironing along to Season Two…with tears streaming down my face. Anne Boleyn was executed. Say no more. An extremely moving episode, which is perhaps why, when it came time to write my blog post, my mind turned to thoughts of beheading… and the guillotine.

 

Where was the guillotine invented?

 

a)     …

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 8, 2011 at 3:07pm — No Comments

How Many Wives did Henry VIII Have?

My current guilty pleasure is watching The Tudors on DVD (a mother’s day present from my boys – clever chaps.) All of which set me thinking: how well do you know your Tudor history?

So here’s a simple question:

How Many Wives did Henry VIII have?

a)      6

b)      5

c)      4

d)      2

 

Now those of you with an English education will be counting on your fingers: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.

So…

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 1, 2011 at 3:24pm — No Comments

SampleSunday - an excerpt from A Dead Man's Debt.

For your Sunday enjoyment, an excerpt from 'A Dead Man's Debt.'

http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/p/samplesunday.html

 

 

In this excerpt we meet Lord Ranulf Charing and his arab stallion,…

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Added by Grace Elliot on May 1, 2011 at 10:33am — No Comments

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