Richard Muirhead is an old friend of the CFZ. I have been friends with him for 40 years now, since we were kids together in Hong Kong. He is undoubtedly one of the two best researchers I have ever met; he and Nigel Wright both have what Charlie Fort would have no doubt called a wild talent; a talent for going into a library, unearthing a stack of old newspapers, and coming back with some hitherto overlooked gem of arcane knowledge. Twice a week he wanders into the Macclesfield Public Library and comes out with enough material for a blog post.. Dear folks
First I must apologise: I was going to present extracts from my newspaper archive of reports of octopi strandings along the south coast of Britain from 1937-1977 but lack of time means I am unable to do so today.However I will be at CFZ Headquarters in Devon early next week so if there is enough time then and it is O.K. with Jon I will present the information from there. Meanwhile,I have a report from the winter of 1814 of SOMETHING like an octopus or jellyfish off Brighton.:
“During the last few days,a great number of the fish called Golden Maids(1) were picked up at Brighton beach,and sold at good prices.They float on shore quite blind,a state to which they are reduced by the snow; and it is a fact well known,that after heavy falls,these fish are always thus found in great abundance…”
And,wonders never cease….
“On the morning of the 18th ult the frost was so severe,that a wood pigeon was taken alive in Pilfirrane-garden, near Dumferline,having its feet frozen to a cabbage,on which it had alighted but a few seconds before!” Both stories: Macclesfield Courier. February 12th 1814.page 2.
(1) Golden maids: a cursory glance at Google couldn`t reveal what `Golden Maids` were or are.
First I must apologise: I was going to present extracts from my newspaper archive of reports of octopi strandings along the south coast of Britain from 1937-1977 but lack of time means I am unable to do so today.However I will be at CFZ Headquarters in Devon early next week so if there is enough time then and it is O.K. with Jon I will present the information from there. Meanwhile,I have a report from the winter of 1814 of SOMETHING like an octopus or jellyfish off Brighton.:
“During the last few days,a great number of the fish called Golden Maids(1) were picked up at Brighton beach,and sold at good prices.They float on shore quite blind,a state to which they are reduced by the snow; and it is a fact well known,that after heavy falls,these fish are always thus found in great abundance…”
And,wonders never cease….
“On the morning of the 18th ult the frost was so severe,that a wood pigeon was taken alive in Pilfirrane-garden, near Dumferline,having its feet frozen to a cabbage,on which it had alighted but a few seconds before!” Both stories: Macclesfield Courier. February 12th 1814.page 2.
(1) Golden maids: a cursory glance at Google couldn`t reveal what `Golden Maids` were or are.
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