MUIRHEAD`S MUIRHEAD:GLEANINGS FROM FOLKLORE FRONTIERS NO.62

A few days ago I received the current issue of Folklore Frontiers, number 62. There are a few interesting Fortean zoological gleanings in it, which I thought worth recording here in this, my final Muirhead`s Mysteries before Yuletide. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.The M-Files (stuff the X-Files, what about the M-Files!?) will resume on December 28th for a few days, then properly in the New Year on January 3rd 2010.

SHELL SHOCK: 'A contestant in World Egg Throwing championship, held in Swaton, Lincs., was banned for using a bazooka.' (Daily Star,25/6/09) (1)

BEES: David Hambling, discussing colony collapse disorder, mentions that the disappearance of bees was a running theme during the 2008 season of Dr. Who, where they were an alien species (Fortean Times, No 255, 2009). It reminded me of a claim about 35 years ago in The Atlantean, which stated that bees came from Mars and this accounted for their aerodynamic characteristics being impossible for Earth scientists to explain. Hambling also touched upon the controversial (and unauthenticated) quote attributed to Albert Einstein that if bees died out mankind would survive no more than four years (or was it also a shorter timespan?) (2)

GREYFRIARS BOBBY: (Screeton-Mars Bars and Mushy peas p.113) James Cormack, 78, a chauffeur from Edinburgh recalled how he squired the former filmstar turned animal activist Brigitte Bardot when she visited Scotland ten years ago to help save Woofie, the collier-boxer mongrel ordered by a court to be destroyed after it chased and intimidated a postman. “I took the opportunity to tell her the story of Greyfriars Bobby, which she hadn`t heard before. Even though she was hearing it through an interpreter she was in tears,” said Mr Cormack. “If the decision had gone against the dog Miss Bardot had a scheme to get it out of the country, flying Woofie to St. Tropez in her private plane.”' (The Sunday Post 10/8/09) (3)

PARAKEETS (FF 44:12,passim). 'It is now 40 years since ring-necked parakeets began breeding in Britain and speculation as to their origin continues. Nature columnist Derwent May trotted out this hoary chestnut: `One legend is that the first of them got away from Shepperton Studios when The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, was being filmed` (The Times Weekend 11/4/09) (4)

This final entry has nothing to do with Fortean Zoology but I thought I`d add it anyway:

MARS BARS AND MUSHY PEAS JOKE: 'A spaceship landed in my garden last night and a small creature emerged covered from head to toe in chocolate. I said: “Are you from Mars?”' (5)

1 Folklore Frontiers no.62. p.4
2 Ibid p.5
3 Ibid. p.11
4 Ibid. p.12
5 Ibid. p.11

Happy Christmas to all readers!!


SteeleSpan – Gaudate

Gudate,gaudate Christos est natus
Ex Maria virginae,gaudate
Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina laetitiae devote redamus
Gaudate,gaudate Christos est natus