Fun Monday # 80 Trivia

The lovely ladies over at mama drama have set us today's assignment they are wanting to find out.....

'What funny trivial fact do you remember that you probably should have forgotten a long time ago?'

Well here in the UK you can substitute James Garfield for any number of Kings and Queens, knights, Prime Ministers all with funny little stories such as...

King Alfred who burnt the cakes (probably bread if it happened at all)

St George (patron saint of England) who slew the dragon

Sir Francis Drake -was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when told that the Spanish Armada had arrived. He apparently declared that there was time to finish the match and then to defeat the Spanish; he lost the game, but won the battle.(myth probably)

Sir Walter Raleigh is supposed to have laid his clock at the feet of Queen Elizabeth to stop her walking in a muddy puddle. He is also said to be responsible for introducing tobacco and the potato to England (again myths).

So my head if full of this sort of useless trivia picked up from school.....
.....however one thing that does stick in my head is that when I was in junior school we had to learn poems and this is one that really appealed to me not that I could get my head around a lot of the words when I was about 10 years old. Now, I only ever remember bits of the last verse:

Cargoes

QUINQUIREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

by John Masefield

I'm looking forward to extending my education this week so will see you all later!

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