Trivia Investigation Team

[myglaren]

I did watch "Misguided Angel" but there was no mandolin onstage.

I have a mandolin here but can't get any tunes out of it.

[NewcastleFalcon]

From the shores of Lake Windermere

a holiday brick, left in situ for others to enjoy, but captured by the camera.

Dave Sallery has put together a fascinating resource and pictorial database of named bricks hosted on this site here
https://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorfa/index.htm . The answer as to where that brick originated from is within the pages of that site. With it not being a complete brick the only letters discernible are...

AUGHTON.... There are I discover two letters missing at the beginning.

Now a combination of Dave's site and this give away map of the location where the brick originated from, leads to both the full name on the brick, and a bit of interesting uniqueness about the brickworks from whence it came.

A small little investigative task should anyone of an enquiring mind wish to solve the little puzzle.

The end product ideally would be the name on the brick and an image of the "interesting feature" of the brickworks

Edit...Oops forgot the map!

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

A little bit of research turned up the answers:

Spoiler: show

BFTW

BFTW

BFTW

We actually drove past it on the 2020 September Stroll and didn't realise it at the time!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

A little bit of research turned up the answers:

Spoiler: show

We actually drove past it on the 2020 September Stroll and didn't realise it at the time!!

Nicely found Mick, I thought perhaps an "H" was the missing letter but discovered it had two missing letters on various enquiries leading me to the place and its brickworks.
Nice Gallery here

Spoiler: show

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robdaniel ... 801651342/

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

From an initial post by Peter N, and subsequent posts on the "Remember these..." thread, the Shoe-shop X-ray machine once fairly ubiquitous across the USA and the UK has had a fair coverage.

The UK's leading supplier was a Company called "The Pedoscope Company Limited" of 113 Victoria Street St Albans.

Thanks to the Thackray Museum of Medicine in their collection cataloguing and retaining the correspondence, as well as the machine supplied by The Pedoscope Company Limited to Gillinghams Shoe Company of Fulham the story from order to installation is preserved.

Personally I like the formality of the correspondence and the language used.

In a click and it gets bigger fashion the relevant correspondence has been assembled in this montage and hopefully should you wish to it will be readable (looks like its not!). If not the original gallery from the Thackray Museum is here

https://collections.thackraymuseum.co.u ... t-1593-001

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

In a nutshell

The Order
9.10.1953 Please supply One Pedoscope X-Ray Shoe Fitter Type F De LuxeType F De Luxe Model Standard CabinetLight OakDelivery About Easter 1954Basic Price 269 guineas + 5%

With the Easter 1954 Delivery passed, the Director of The Pedoscope Company Ltd, John D Hartridge writes to T.J.Gillingham Esq. on August 5th 1954, and passes on some HP details, and confirms that they will be pleased to finish his cabinet in light oak as per his original order, and signs off with a courteous "Always pleased to be of service to you, Yours very truly"

Thank you for your letter of 31st ult. concerning the delivery of the pedoscope you have on order.

Never come across the term ult, which translates as the previous month.

October 14th 1954, and the Pedoscope will be despatched shortly, with a few in advance instructions about siting.

"Do not hide the Pedoscope. It's best to site it in a fairly prominent position but not where staff are likely to be working continuously in close proximity (3 feet) to the foot opening when the machine is in operation. If it can be seen by passers-by so much the better, its presence will be an advertisment and it will create atmosphere.

October 24th 1954 and the Pedoscope is installed and Gillinghams receive "Several sets of staff instructions for the use of the Pedoscope X-Ray Apparatus", and a heartfelt "wishing you every success with your Pedoscope" from the Pedoscope Company Limited.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

To conclude for now worth focussing in on the response of the British Boot Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association to the growing safety concerns about X-Ray Shoe Fitting Devices. You might expect them to say what they said at the time

and for the first time using the magic of this online text extractor from the image file here is the more readable plain text.

https://brandfolder.com/workbench/extra ... from-image

X-RAY SHOE FITTING DEVICES
It is quite proper that the medical profession and the medical press should draw attention to the dangers of uninformed use of X-rays on the human body. No doubt these dangers are very real, and overdosage
with X-rays can do serious damage of a permanent kind. But it is not right to link these warnings with any one particular use of X-rays in such a way as falsely to imply that that use is uninformed, unwise and dangerous.

When this kind of implication relates to the use of X-ray shoe-fitting devices we are interested and, naturally, a little bit sensitive about what may seem like injustice. A large number of shoe shops have these instruments and they have been used regularly in the fitting of many millions of pairs of shoes in this country over a period of thirty years. No one has ever heard of any authentic case of harm having been done by them. Carelessly constructed X-ray equipment, designed and built without due attention to health risks, would certainly be dangerous apparatus to have around, but the X-ray equipment which is used in the British shoe trade is very carefully constructed with proper regard to what is needed fully to protect both the subject and the operator of the machine.

We are not going into details of the technicalities of safety tests in this brief article: it is sufficient just to say that dosages of X-rays are measurable and that the International Commission on Radiological Protection has made recommendations which define the safe limit to which an operator of X-ray equipment may be exposed and which also give a guide to the dosage which subjects' feet can safely receive in a shoe-fitting device. In testing one of these X-ray machines, the dosage which the subject gets in putting his feet in the X-ray beam for a few seconds is measured, and, in addition, the cumulative dosage from leakage radiation which the shop assistant may receive in the course of his work over a period of time is checked.

Many tests of British fitting machines have been made in various laboratories and when this subject was being publicised in the British Medical Journal about three years ago, we arranged for some tests to be made ourselves, for we use X-ray machines frequently in our fitting trials and we naturally wanted to know quite definitely what, if any, were the risks. In all the tests with which we are acquainted, both in these laboratories and others, the type of X-ray equipment used in British shoe shops has passed with complete satisfaction, with no suspicion of its being harmful when used in accordance with instructions given when installed. Of course, if s eccentric person exposes his feet frequently all day long it would be a different matter, but there are many simple appliances both in our homes and at our work which could be harmful if used foolishly, and it is no condemnation, either of X-ray or of any other kind of equipment, to stipulate that it must be used correctly.

The above article is reprinted from the September, 1953 issue of the "Satra Bulletin" the monthly news letter of the
BRITISH BOOT, SHOE AND ALLIED TRADES RESEARCH ASSOCIATION,
SATRA HOUSE, KETTERING

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Lancashire/Yorkshire Border M62
Top:Heading into Yorkshire and the Pennine Way Footbridge
Bottom: Heading into Lancashire after passing Pennine Way Footbridge

Can't say I have ever noticed the two markers at the Yorks/Lancs border on my travels on the M62 either way, but the iconic Pennine Way footbridge is always a sight to behold, and the markers are just before it heading into Yorks, and just after it heading into Lancs.

Insignificant very probably but they do have a story and they each are grade II listed structures by Historic England, and were chosen as one of 6 Newly listed structures to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this year 2022.

https://heritagecalling.com/2022/05/24/ ... %20Markers

Construction on the M62 ended in 1970 with the completion of the final stretch through the Pennines. The new motorway opened to traffic in 1971 and became the country's highest motorway, reaching a summit of 372 metres across the Lancashire-Yorkshire border.

It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth 14th October 1971, and two plaques on pyramidal marker stones were constructed in commemoration of the achievement, one on each side of the M62, which runs through the two counties.

In place of county names, the markers instead display the historic symbols of the Red Rose of the House of Lancaster and the White Rose of the House of York; as well as highly recognised emblems of the two historic counties, the rose motifs are a reminder of the historic rivalry between the two, and the later bringing together of the flowers by the house of Tudor.

The markers further reference the motorway’s surroundings through the use of local Pennine aggregate and stone in their construction.

Official Listing https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/ ... list-entry

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

Last time I walked home from Birtley there was a theodoliteist working there. I stopped and asked him about his theodolite that was clearly a laser and he had a pole with an elaborate orange crystal on top.

Asked what was happening, he was on a footpath approaching the footbridge and he didn't know but assumed that they were going to demolish the bridge, as with several others further north.
This is a bridge over the A1M.

Won't impede me much though as there is a service area a few hundred yards south with an enclosed bridge between the north and south-bound sites. Could even buy a coffee and sausage roll from the Greggs there.
Then again, perhaps not.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yet another fascinating bit of motorway engineering on the M62 in the vicinity of the Pennine Way bridge.
Anyone fancy being a civil engineer.. not only a bit of two birds with one stone unique engineering but also a sales pitch for the profession.



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Have been on a bit of a personal trivia trail, from a brick to a controversial Bishop of Durham, so I'm jotting it down for personal reference, but if you can extract any enjoyment out of it all well and good. Also if ever you come across similar trivia whether of only personal, or wider interest, the clue is in the thread title, this is where to put it.

Stage 1 The Trivia Trail Starter

Indistinct weathered named brick found on spittal beach, Berwick-upon-Tweed

This is what I see GLEN......DS

As far as named bricks reference sites, go this is the mutt's nuts alongside the Scottish Brick History site https://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/

https://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorfa/index.htm

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Stage 2 Brick Identification


This is what I see GLEN......DS

https://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorf ... Index1.htm

The site now has a very useful index for identifying stuff by name, even when that is just a half name or a few letters in conjunction for me with the standard "find on page" option. Put "Glen" in and up comes 8 occurrences in the index including GLENYARDS

Stage 2 Brick Identification Complete

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Stage 3 Where is/was Glenyards Brickworks


No info other than a picture of a found brick with the GLENYARDS name on here
https://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorf ... =Glenyards

Yes part of the Scotland Pages as an intuitive guess would reveal, so where might there be more info...
Here https://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/ ... lingshire/

None other than Glenyards Fireclay Company Ltd, Greenhill, Bonnybridge, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

Stage 3 Brickworks Identity Complete

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Stage 4 Associated Trivia Snippets

Plenty of additional information on this page about Glenyards Brickworks (name prior to being known as Glenyards Fireclay Company Ltd ?)- AKA Greenhill Brickworks, Bonnybridge, Scott and Walker, The Glen Yards Company Limited, J Anderson & Company Ltd.

https://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/ ... lingshire/

The trivia which catches my eye is the far flung places where the Bricks have migrated to, and not just less than 100 miles down the coast and ending up on Spittal Beach. No this example was found in the region of Vladivostock.(Vladivostock being well known to the Falcon from an early age, as being a "destination" on the Waddingtons Board Game "Go!")

Gratuitous pic of game

https://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/ ... ok-russia/

Stage 4 Associated Trivia snippets examples identified

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Trivia Tangent No 1 A review of rules and gameplay with pics of of Waddingtons Go! is here. Including pics of a few "risk" cards like the "stuck in Vladivostock" card

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/370940 ... eplay-pics

Neil