Wednesday, April 18, 2018

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: The case of the persecuting Welsh toads

Dear folks,

I am not being racist or toad-ist here, this really is an old story of some highly dangerous toads in south-west Wales which I found in Tony Roberts` `Myths and Legends of Pembrokeshire  (Abercastle Publications, 2016):

THE TOADS OF TRELLYFFANT

"A curious story is told of the farm called Trellyfant near Nevern. If you on the coast road from Newport to Moylegrove for about 4 miles, the farm lies down to the rigt and there is a fine prehistoric burial chamber in a field just visible from the road.

But the story, as told by Giraldus Cambrensis, (1146 - 1223 - Rich) relates how a young man, Cecil Longlegs, " during a severe illness, suffered as violent a persecution from toads, as if the reptiles (sic) of the whole province had come to him by agreement; and though destroyed by his nurses and friends , they increased again on all sides in infinite numbers , like hydras heads. His attendants, both friends and strangers, being wearied out, he was drawn up in a kind of bag into a high tree, stripped of its leaves; nor was he there secure from his venomous ( sic) enemies, for they crept up the tree in great numbers and consumed him to the very bones."

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


What has Corinna's column of Fortean bird news got to do with cryptozoology? 

Well, everything, actually! 

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.



THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HUNTS FOR TIGAHS IN INJAH

The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
 
Carl arrived yesterday evening, and much wine was drunk. I feel more fragile today than I care to admit.
 
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
 
 
And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
 
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
 
buy my novel:
buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
buy my single:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Maggie Reilly - Every...
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
ZAPPA STUFF
YES feat. ARW NEWS
YES NEWS
 
 
Gonzo Weekly #282
THE GROWING FINS ISSUE
 
Doug Harr leads us through the latest twist in the Fleetwood Mac saga, as Lindsey Buckingham is out and Neil Finn from Crowded House etc is in. Richard writes on Bill Kreutzmann, post Grateful Dead, Alan raves about Fifty Foot Hose, and Jeremy goes to see Ferocious Dog, now augmented by he who was Fruitbat from Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. And Jon? He is away with the fairies and writing about a Series of Unfortunate Events...
 
#Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, BUT Friday Night Progressive is on hiatus this week, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna, although Roy Weard, C J Stone, and Mr Biffo are sadly absent this week. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have stood around in twos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have paired up under last weekend's blue moon, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
 
This issue features:
 
Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Beatles, Brett Anderson, Yoko Ono, Yes, Johnny Marr, Justin Hayward, Belle & Sebastian, Laura Marling, Mike Lindsay, U2, Elvis Presley, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Viacheslav Koleichuk, Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin, Cecil Percival Taylor, Ronald Dunbar, Nathan Tate Davis, Yvonne Stapley, Tim Matley, Rick Wakeman, Natural Gas, Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, Michael Bruce, Man, Jeremy Smith, Ferocious Dog, Doug Harr, Fleetwood Mac, Alan Dearling, Fifty Foot Hose, Richard Foreman, Bill Kreutzmann, Kev Rowland, Witchhammer, Alestorm, Ammunition, Amor, Ampline, Anvil, Galahad, Mr Biffo,  Hawkwind, Jon Downes, Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Simon Young, Ceri Houlbrook, Madness, Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, Grateful Dead, Calpurnia
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
Issue 279 (Biffo)
Issue 278 (The Beatles)
Issue 277 (Auld Man's Baccie)
Issue 276 (Dukes of the Orient)
Issue 275 (Martin Gordon)
Issue 274 (Steve Took)
Issue 273 (Live Dead 69)
Issue 272 (George Butler)
Issue 271 (Mark E Smith)
Issue 270 (Eric Clapton)
Issue 269 (Narnia)
Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
Issue 265-6 (The Who)
Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
Issue 263 (The magic Band)
Issue 262 (DikMik)
Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
 
All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
 
You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
 
SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
 
* The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...
 
* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk
 
* We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!
 
* Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1521 - Martin Luther confronted the emperor Charles V in the Diet of Worms and refused to retract his views that led to his excommunication. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • The Houston Zoo launches $150 million campaign, un...
  • Freezing frog cells for conservation – via Herp Di...
  • UK to tighten laws on 'abhorrent' ivory trade

  • Specieswatch: spring ice has made life hard for th...

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day