LINDSAY SELBY WRITES: Clem Skelton was a film photographer with Loch Ness Investigation people from the early days.
I was told he was a Catholic brother in the early 1960s when he first went to the loch. I can remember him having a smelly dog that everyone called "Horrible" but don't know if that was its real name.
But (and it is a but) I am sure I could remember him having a wife, which if he was a Catholic brother, would not be right. So does anyone know if Clem is still alive or if he left the faith and got married or is it my memory going?
Thank you.
Monday, March 01, 2010
BETH AND MILLIE ON TV
Dear Friends & Relatives,Just in case any of you are interested and want to see me behaving like a total dork, then I will be on TV this Wednesday, 3rd March at 1pm on BBC2! Programme called See Hear.
The programme features myself and Millie, and my other animals. At one stage Millie and I were filmed playing and I am bunched up on the floor with her leaping all over me and tugging my hair (hence me looking like a total dork) so whether this bit will be shown or not...! Anyway if you do manage to watch the programme please do let me know what you think! Am sharing the episode with England Rugby team as well.
Love Beth xxxx
Bethany Tyler-King
Hartland Wildlife Rescue
MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: 18TH CENTURY SEA MONSTER, OUT OF PLACE SEAL AND ABBERANT PIGEONS
Dear folks,
Today I am returning to my Strange Nature Scrapbook for a selection of items dating from some time in the eighteenth century up to the mid-1990s. Unfortunately the cutting from The Gentleman`s Magazine is undated, but it could date from the 1700s.
Mr. URBAN
As the ships are now said to be returned from the discoveries in the Northern regions,let me intreat you to insert in your Magazine, the following relation from Paul Egede`s* account of Greenland.
“July 6th, a most hideous sea-monster was seen, which reared itself so high above the water, that it`s head over-topped our main-sail. It had a long pointed nose, out of which it spouted like a whale. Instead of fins it had great broad flaps like wings; its body seemed to be grown over with shell work, and its skin very rugged and uneven; it was shaped like a serpent behind, and when it dived into the water again, it plunged itself backwards, and raised its tail above the water a whole ship length from its body. Our eye could rate the measure of its body to be no less than the bulk of our ship in thickness, and in length three or four times as long.”
The opinion of gentlemen who have traversed these seas, concerning the existence of such monsters, will no doubt be acceptable to the public, and particularly to, Sir, Your constant Reader, Y. D. (1)
*Egede was a Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland who translated the New Testament into the Greenland language.
This next story is from the New Scientist of January 15th 1994:
Seal that went walkabout
Bjorn Lytskjold had the shock of his life when he first noticed this dead seal in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The animal seemed to be staring straight at him. “I was really scared,” he says,” and did not expect such a terrible grin.” ….He found the seal at a spot 250 km from the coast amd at an altitude of 1300 metres. It was the second seal the team had found in a week, and the researchers have no idea how the animals ended up so far inland, or how ancient they are. They dug the perfectly preserved animals out of the ice and transported them back to Oslo, where they will be examined by Nils Ǿritsland, a biologist at the institute. His first task will be to establish when the animals died, using carbon-dating techniques. (2)
On February 5th 1994 Ron Watkins of University London replied in New Scientist:
“I can report that this seal was not the first to accomplish such a seemingly incredible feat, or at least the first to have his/her hurculean deeds recognised.
At Christmas 1988,my colleague, Chris Harris, and myself found a similarly misplaced seal carcass at an equivalent altitude and distance inland while mapping the geology of Tvora Mountain, in western Dronning Maud Land, Antartica. On this occasion, we too were astounded at the finding of the creature in such an unlikely location.
Being earth scientists, and not zoologists, we had difficulty in ascertaining whether the entire skull was preserved on the carcass which had been crushed and suffered wind ablation on the exposed surface…” (3)
Finally, those pigeons:
From the Daily Mirror of August 23rd 1994:
“BERMUDA FLY-ANGLE Pigeons get lost as comet hits Jupiter. Hundreds of racing pigeons are vanishing into mid air – because crashing comets have distubed the earth`s magnetic field, claim bird fanciers. Top breeder Graham Chupka has lost dozens of young birds, as if they were disappearing into a pigeons Bermuda Triangle.
And he believes comet activity is knocking the birds off course by affecting their homing instinct…He has lost dozens of pigeons since the comet Shoemaker Levy-9 crashed into Jupiter last month.” That could have upset the earth`s magnetic field, and in turn, upset the bird`s navigation.” he said…But a spokesman at London`s Royal Observatory doubted that the comet crashing into Jupiter would have affected the Earth`s magnetic fields. “It is unlikely that`s the reason the pigeons have been vanishing…if they were using the magnetic fields in the first place.” He said. (4)
1. Gentleman`s Magazine. Date unknown.
2. New Scientist. January 15th 1994
3. New Scientist February 5th 1994
4. Daily Mirror August 23rd 1994
Devo Big Mess
I am cowboy Kim
Cowboy Kim I am
I am a lucky cowboy
Let me tell you why
I`m a man with a mission
A boy with a gun
I got a picture in my pocket of the lucky one
I`ll announce the winner
On the radio
With my microphone
I do a super show
I wear a cowboy hat
It is my business hat
I must tell you that….
Today I am returning to my Strange Nature Scrapbook for a selection of items dating from some time in the eighteenth century up to the mid-1990s. Unfortunately the cutting from The Gentleman`s Magazine is undated, but it could date from the 1700s.
Mr. URBAN
As the ships are now said to be returned from the discoveries in the Northern regions,let me intreat you to insert in your Magazine, the following relation from Paul Egede`s* account of Greenland.
“July 6th, a most hideous sea-monster was seen, which reared itself so high above the water, that it`s head over-topped our main-sail. It had a long pointed nose, out of which it spouted like a whale. Instead of fins it had great broad flaps like wings; its body seemed to be grown over with shell work, and its skin very rugged and uneven; it was shaped like a serpent behind, and when it dived into the water again, it plunged itself backwards, and raised its tail above the water a whole ship length from its body. Our eye could rate the measure of its body to be no less than the bulk of our ship in thickness, and in length three or four times as long.”
The opinion of gentlemen who have traversed these seas, concerning the existence of such monsters, will no doubt be acceptable to the public, and particularly to, Sir, Your constant Reader, Y. D. (1)
*Egede was a Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland who translated the New Testament into the Greenland language.
This next story is from the New Scientist of January 15th 1994:
Seal that went walkabout
Bjorn Lytskjold had the shock of his life when he first noticed this dead seal in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The animal seemed to be staring straight at him. “I was really scared,” he says,” and did not expect such a terrible grin.” ….He found the seal at a spot 250 km from the coast amd at an altitude of 1300 metres. It was the second seal the team had found in a week, and the researchers have no idea how the animals ended up so far inland, or how ancient they are. They dug the perfectly preserved animals out of the ice and transported them back to Oslo, where they will be examined by Nils Ǿritsland, a biologist at the institute. His first task will be to establish when the animals died, using carbon-dating techniques. (2)
On February 5th 1994 Ron Watkins of University London replied in New Scientist:
“I can report that this seal was not the first to accomplish such a seemingly incredible feat, or at least the first to have his/her hurculean deeds recognised.
At Christmas 1988,my colleague, Chris Harris, and myself found a similarly misplaced seal carcass at an equivalent altitude and distance inland while mapping the geology of Tvora Mountain, in western Dronning Maud Land, Antartica. On this occasion, we too were astounded at the finding of the creature in such an unlikely location.
Being earth scientists, and not zoologists, we had difficulty in ascertaining whether the entire skull was preserved on the carcass which had been crushed and suffered wind ablation on the exposed surface…” (3)
Finally, those pigeons:
From the Daily Mirror of August 23rd 1994:
“BERMUDA FLY-ANGLE Pigeons get lost as comet hits Jupiter. Hundreds of racing pigeons are vanishing into mid air – because crashing comets have distubed the earth`s magnetic field, claim bird fanciers. Top breeder Graham Chupka has lost dozens of young birds, as if they were disappearing into a pigeons Bermuda Triangle.
And he believes comet activity is knocking the birds off course by affecting their homing instinct…He has lost dozens of pigeons since the comet Shoemaker Levy-9 crashed into Jupiter last month.” That could have upset the earth`s magnetic field, and in turn, upset the bird`s navigation.” he said…But a spokesman at London`s Royal Observatory doubted that the comet crashing into Jupiter would have affected the Earth`s magnetic fields. “It is unlikely that`s the reason the pigeons have been vanishing…if they were using the magnetic fields in the first place.” He said. (4)
1. Gentleman`s Magazine. Date unknown.
2. New Scientist. January 15th 1994
3. New Scientist February 5th 1994
4. Daily Mirror August 23rd 1994
Devo Big Mess
I am cowboy Kim
Cowboy Kim I am
I am a lucky cowboy
Let me tell you why
I`m a man with a mission
A boy with a gun
I got a picture in my pocket of the lucky one
I`ll announce the winner
On the radio
With my microphone
I do a super show
I wear a cowboy hat
It is my business hat
I must tell you that….
LIZ CLANCY QUOTES THE BEATLES
HELP!
Okay, that was particularly lame but I DO need help, though only a little. As Jon has already said in his own blog today, he and Corinna are going to Texas on Thursday and I'm helping man the bloggo till they come back.
So, if any of you have blog postings you would like to submit, for the next wee while, could you send them to me, please, at lizzy@cfz.org.uk ? Or Graham or Oll at their email addresses, which are exactly the same as mine, just with 'graham' and 'oll' instead of 'lizzy' to begin with....
Toodlepip
Okay, that was particularly lame but I DO need help, though only a little. As Jon has already said in his own blog today, he and Corinna are going to Texas on Thursday and I'm helping man the bloggo till they come back.
So, if any of you have blog postings you would like to submit, for the next wee while, could you send them to me, please, at lizzy@cfz.org.uk ? Or Graham or Oll at their email addresses, which are exactly the same as mine, just with 'graham' and 'oll' instead of 'lizzy' to begin with....
Toodlepip
MARCH ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE THIRTY ODD YEARS AGO
Yesterday on my mail-out to Usenet I quipped that in Woolsery March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse, and received a number of perplexed emails. Hopefully this SNL script from my youth should explain.
Chevy Chase: Last week [on Weekend Update] we made the comment that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John Belushi, with a seasonal report.
John Belushi: Thank you, Chevy. Well, another winter is almost over and March, true to form, has come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least that's how March works here in the United States.
But did you know that March behaves differently in other countries? In Norway, for example, March comes in like a polar bear and goes out like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras where March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.
Let's compare this to the Maldive Islands where March comes in like a wildebeest and goes out like an ant; a tiny, little ant about this big [holds thumb and index fingers a small distance apart].
Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a worm-eating fernbird and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their whole year is like a worm-eating fernbird.
Or consider the Republic of South Africa where March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like one has a mane, and one doesn't have a mane. Or in certain parts of South America where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a giant anaconda. There you can buy land real cheap, you know?
And there's a country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while, and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then - then - then for a couple of days it's sort of a cross between a - a frilled lizard and a common house cat.
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him] Wait, wait, wait, wait. Then it changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it goes out like a - like a wild dingo. Now, now - and it's not Australia! Now, now - you'd think it would be Australia, but it's not!
[Chevy again tries to interrupt him] Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out like a tapir. And they don't even know what it means! All right?
Now listen: there are nine different countries where March comes in like a frog, and goes out like a golden retriever. But that - that's not the weird part! No, no; the weird part is - is the frog. The frog - The weird part is- [Belushi has a seizure and falls off chair]
Chevy Chase: Last week [on Weekend Update] we made the comment that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John Belushi, with a seasonal report.
John Belushi: Thank you, Chevy. Well, another winter is almost over and March, true to form, has come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least that's how March works here in the United States.
But did you know that March behaves differently in other countries? In Norway, for example, March comes in like a polar bear and goes out like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras where March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.
Let's compare this to the Maldive Islands where March comes in like a wildebeest and goes out like an ant; a tiny, little ant about this big [holds thumb and index fingers a small distance apart].
Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a worm-eating fernbird and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their whole year is like a worm-eating fernbird.
Or consider the Republic of South Africa where March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like one has a mane, and one doesn't have a mane. Or in certain parts of South America where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a giant anaconda. There you can buy land real cheap, you know?
And there's a country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while, and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then - then - then for a couple of days it's sort of a cross between a - a frilled lizard and a common house cat.
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him] Wait, wait, wait, wait. Then it changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it goes out like a - like a wild dingo. Now, now - and it's not Australia! Now, now - you'd think it would be Australia, but it's not!
[Chevy again tries to interrupt him] Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out like a tapir. And they don't even know what it means! All right?
Now listen: there are nine different countries where March comes in like a frog, and goes out like a golden retriever. But that - that's not the weird part! No, no; the weird part is - is the frog. The frog - The weird part is- [Belushi has a seizure and falls off chair]