HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: buying peerage
From: mnor1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (Mark Hiro           Norman         )
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 07:30:34 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

In casual conversations with friends, I have been told that it is
possible in the UK to 'buy' a title of some sort or other by donating
enough money to charities, or similar actions (endowing schools, things
like that I guess).

Is there any truth to this or have they just picked it up from tv?


-- 
Mark Norman           | My university doesn't let me send email.
mnor1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz | "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful..."
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12083 rec.arts.tv.uk:5189
From: cah@cs.bham.ac.uk (Ceri Hopkins)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK, Now: British TV in North America
Date: 2 Sep 92 18:50:25 GMT
	<1992Aug28.182604.23445@enterprise.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com>
	<2836@perl-sun.dwrsun4.UUCP>
Organization: School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK

>>>>> On 2 Sep 92 13:58:49 GMT, perl@dwrsun4.UUCP (Robert Perlberg) said:

RP> In article <1992Aug28.182604.23445@enterprise.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com>, baylor@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com writes:
> Hey, I'm a moderately well educated American, and I don't know 
> what the smeg "SMEG" means. (Seems to be used as a synonym to
> "figurative excrement".) I bet it would pass the censors.

RP> smegma smeg-ma n [NL, fr. L, detergent, soap, fr. Gk smegma, fr.
RP> smechein to wash off, clean - more at SMITE] (ca. 1819): the secretion
RP> of a sebaceous gland; specif: the cheesy sebaceous matter that collects
RP> between the glans penis and the foreskin or around the clitoris and
RP> labia minora

I noticed -- but didn't write down the details of -- a book on display
at a cotton mill in Styal (a National Trust working museum near
Manchester Airport) entitled something like "Smegmatalogia" [It
definitely started with "smegma"] written in the 19th century. The
display led me to believe that this was at the time a seminal [tee
hee] work on the art of bleaching and dyeing cotton.

Does anyone else know of this and can fill in the details? BTW the
museum is worth the visit -- especially on a wet Manchester day, which
gives ample opportunity to those in the North West (and the rest of
the UK for that matter :-().

Ceri
--
Ceri Hopkins                                    
School of Computer Science                        C.A.Hopkins@Cs.Bham.Ac.Uk
University of Birmingham			  Tel. +44-21-414-4766
From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Bill and Ben
Date: 25 Aug 92 13:06:16 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

mark@tequila.asd.sgi.com writes:

>Can anyone remember the names of the tortoise and the flower in
>the popular childrens TV show "Bill and Ben the flowerpot men"

Flub a lub liddle weeeee!!

It's on a BBC childrens video called, surprise! Watch With Mother.

"..and there they lay, quietly in the sunshine.."

"..but I think the little house knows...don't you?"

Wonder what ever happened to ol' slubalub?...... probably mutated.


Dave
-- 
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12119 rec.arts.tv.uk:5224 rec.arts.drwho:5769 alt.tv.prisoner:1285
From: dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK, Now: British TV in North America
Date: 3 Sep 92 15:51:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: pixel.1992Sep3.155150.993
Organization: :noitazinagrO

In article <1992Aug28.182604.23445@enterprise.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com> baylor@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com writes:
>In article <FLD7PB1w164w@kryton.UUCP>, ace@kryton.UUCP (Catherine Beckstead) writes:
>>perl@dwrsun4.UUCP (Robert Perlberg) writes:
>>
>>> 
>>> When I heard that they were considering an American version of "Red
>>> Dwarf" I nearly lost my lunch.  No way would the American networks ever
>>> allow a show with that level of depravity to see the light of day.  I
>>> can't even image what a sanitized version of "Red Dwarf" would be
>>> like.  "Hi, Honey, I'm Home" in outer space?  Don't tell me they're
>>> going to allow the word "smeg" on NBC.
>Hey, I'm a moderately well educated American, and I don't know 
>what the smeg "SMEG" means. (Seems to be used as a synonym to
>"figurative excrement".) I bet it would pass the censors.

You have led a sheltered life!  Although it's quite recent, the word
"smegma" is used in the US, especially by those with interests that
include gerbils and Dead Kennedys.  Legend has it that somebody got
away with using it as their vanity plate (ObTrans: personalized car
reg.) until a worldly clerk at the DMV noticed it.  BTW the word
apparently refers to "nocturnal emissions" of a masculine nature.

While we're on the subject: from time to time UK TV has to come up
with realistic sounding pseudo-swearing to lend proper colour to various
kinds of entertainment, usually comedy.  Examples include "piggin'" (The
Dustbinmen, an everyday story of trash collection), and "naff" (Porridge,
the lighter side of prison life).  "Naff" is now in the language (even
Princess Di uses it).  Any other examples?
-- 
||)) Those who wallow in ignorance      ))) Policemen are numbered in case))|
||)) must dwell in Limbaugh for a time  ))) they get lost - S. Milligan   ))|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: VNS: Wed  2-Sep-1992
Keywords: VNS,news
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:30:07 GMT
Organization: Software Engineering Institute

In article <1992Sep2.104419.5897@rdg.dec.com> evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans @ IME) writes:

>    Serious doubts about the validity of the GCSE examinations taken by
>    3.25 million 16-year-olds over the past five years were raised for the
>    first time yesterday by Her Majestys Inspectors. In a report which
>    ministers privately described as "explosive", the inspectors said that
>    they had evidence that "could point to a gradual erosion of standards"
>    since the exam replaced the O-levels in 1988.

How could this information possibly be called "explosive"?  Wasn't the
whole purpose of introducing the GCSE and scapping O-levels precisely
to foster and promote the gradual erosion of standards - a fixed goal
of British educational policy for at least the past thirty years.
From: neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Mansell out ? [was Re: VNS: Mon 17-Aug-1992]
Keywords: VNS,news,sport
Date: 23 Aug 92 16:17:02 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <Aug20.182848.58449@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> hg798502@LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Hugh Graham) writes:
>
>When Prost and Senna used to win races (remember?..:-)) they had the best
>car by a long way.  I think you are still remembering the bad old
>days when Mansell drove bad cars badly and too fiercly resulting in
>too many early retirements.  He was always fast.  When he was in the
>same team (Ferrari) as the tousle-haired French gent, he was faster.

Yes, I think that was last year aswell.

>Name me one crap driver to win the world championship.  Have you done it?

I'm waiting for Williams to reply. I'll do it for 23 dollars, instead of
mansell's requested 23 million dollars (greedy git !).

>Mr Mansell has announced that he'll either drive for Williams next
>year or retire.  So has Senna - Senna would drive for free I hear.
>Renault still want Prost to drive one of their engined cars and
>Ligier couldn't attract him last season as they are basically crap.:-)

If I don't get the best car I'm not playing. WWWWAAAAAHHHHHHH !!! Mummy !!!

>>Michael Schumacher, Martin Brundle and John Alesi are pretty promising
>>prospects for the future. I would like to see all these three in
>>competetive cars aswell.
>
>Yup.  Alesi was a disappointment this season.  Obviously he's a crap
>driver then. :-)

No, he drivers a Ferrari.

>>Apart from the engines (though Cosworth/Judd make many of the rest),
>>Formula 1 is one sport where the UK nails the rest of the world: McLaren,
>>Williams, Benneton, Lotus (among others) are all British teams.
>
>Most of the cars and engines in the US CART (Indy cars) series are
>made in Britain too as are most of the Jaguar/Le Mans sports cars
>used in the World Sports cars and IMSA series - even the Toyotas.
>This is partly because the UK has a virtual monopoly on the carbon
>as used in race cars and there is no major car industry left to soak
>up all the mechanical engineers :-)

I think Judd sell a lot of engines to US Indy, as do Cosworth engineering.

>Are there really no other sports in which the UK excells?  Snooker?
>Darts? Other beer related activities??

Footy (cf World cup), 100 metres, 400 m hurdles .....

Cricket (esp one day matches).

Neil
From: ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Water quality - a new money-saver?
Date: 27 Aug 92 12:24:31 GMT
Reply-To: ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK


There is no issue of "self-regulation". The old problem was (a) the
expense of testing all discharges and (b) the problem of getting severe
penalties (English common law doesn't have much to say about pollution
of waterways; it is an artificially created offence).

Now, to get away with pollution, polluters must deliberately falsify
the records they send to OFWAT. The law is much better at dealing with 
this; and the bad publicity for the company will be much greater.
Of course this relies on OFWAT doing random tests, but this is a lot
cheaper than having the burden of monitoring everyone all the time.
From: morna@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Morna J Findlay)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: The Celtic Cross
Date: 2 Sep 92 12:32:49 GMT
Reply-To: morna@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Morna J Findlay)
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

In article <1992Sep2.024246.8276@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA> bross@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Brian J Ross) writes:
>jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) writes:
>: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) wrote:
>: > The standing stones at Callanish are laid out in the form of a Celtic
>: > cross, but they predate Christ by a few millenia. If anything, the 
>: > Christians stole the design from the Celts!
>: 
>: The megaliths, including Callanish, were built by a pre-Celtic people over
>: a thousand years before the Celts arrived.  The Christians weren't the
>: first to steal other people's religious symbols.
>
>And they weren't the last. Seems like neo-nazis have developed an
>affinity for the Celtic cross recently.

How can anyone possibly be sure the stones at Callanish were laid out in
the form of  Celtic Cross? 

I'm sure I read in New Scientist recently that many stone circles in Britain, 
Avebury being the prime example, were dug up and laid out in the 18th
Century. 

The "archaeologists" who did this, mostly amateurs at that time naturally, did 
not have the technology available to us to help determine the original 
postitions of all the stones, and of course many of them would have their own 
pet ideas ( just as todays archaeologists have).

Does anyone know the recent history of Callanish - when were the stones
excavated? I don't expect they've been standing as they are since they
were originally errected.


M

--
Morna Findlay 					JANET:morna@uk.ac.ed.dcs 
	Thanksgiving For a National Victory (Robert Burns)
Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks? To murder men and give God thanks?
Desist, for shame! Proceed no further: God won't accept your thanks for murther.
From: limey@hri.com (Craig Hughes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: QE I (WasWRe: QE2/QE II)
Date: 31 Aug 92 15:59:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: bigbird.7143
Reply-To: limey@hri.com
Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.

In article <1992Aug31.145813.23224@ttinews.tti.com>, jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:
|> 
|> A sticky end is also threatening the QE I which has been a tourist
|> "attraction" in Long Beach harbour since the late '60s.

I thought that was the Queen Mary? For some reason, I thought Disney
owned the old boat now, and as you said, it isn't making money. Time to
do the old "buy a piece of history" routine; a bit of scrap metal
mounted on a wooden plaque for 50 bucks.....

--craig

================================================================================
| Horizon Research, Inc.		E-MAIL:   limey@hri.com
| 1432 Main Street			PHONE:	  (617) 466-8300
| Waltham, MA 02154			FAX:	  (617) 466-8323
================================================================================
From: thorntn@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Duncan Peter G. Thornton)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Bill Bryon's Job
Summary: What is it?
Keywords: Bryson job question
Date: 26 Aug 92 23:01:05 GMT
Distribution: talk
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

I've tried asking in rec.arts.books, but no one seems
able to help. I get the impression from reading
Bill Bryson's excellent travel books (_Lost Continent_
and _Neither Here Nor There_) that he works as a
journalist in the U.K. Can anybody tell me if he
has a regular column, or if he's actually employed
by a British magazine or newspaper, and if so, 
which one?

- Duncan


__________________________________________________________________
Prolongs  |                                       |  Restores 
   *      |   E*L*E*C*T*R*I*C*I*T*Y I*S L*I*F*E!  |     *
 Life!    |                                       |   Health!
__________________________________________________________________
Duncan Thornton                           thorntn@ccu.umanitoba.ca
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12108 rec.arts.tv.uk:5207 rec.arts.drwho:5750 alt.tv.prisoner:1274
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK, Now: British TV in North America
Date: 3 Sep 92 11:42:24 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

In article <1992Sep2.214059.5243@macc.wisc.edu> husted@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jack) writes:
>
>Now, would someone PLEASE enlighten me as to the origin of the
>phrase GORDON BENNETT used most often by Ace?  I assume he
>must have been infamous to have his name become an epithet.
>An American example is 'Your name is Mudd.'  I would
>appreciate the particulars on GB.
>
This usage obviously originated at a time when it was felt
offensive to use "God!" as an exclamation, so people finding
themselves using it quickly lengthened it to "Gordon-Bennet".
Perhaps this is not obvious in the USA because there, the first
syllable of Gordon-Bennet is not pronounced exactly as the word
God. The usage became so common that people picked it up as a
sort of jocular exclamation without being aware of its origin.

The phrase "Jesus wept" is similarly used as an exclamation,
because exclaiming "Jesus!" might be interpreted as "taking the
Lord's name in vain", but lengthening it to "Jesus wept" turns
it into a pious biblical quote (the shortest verse in the Bible
consists of these two words). The American exclamation "Gee"
derives from a shortening of "Jesus!", again in order to avoid
offence by seeming blasphemy.

Attempting in mid-speech to avoid the use of "four-letter" words
gives rise to a similar phenomenon, with exclamations like "oh
sugar" or "oh fudge".

Matthew Huntbach
From: czl30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: WPC Fletcher
Date: 1 Sep 92 16:09:09 GMT
Reply-To: czl30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Sep1.110603.27575@dscomsf.desy.de> tls@brspva.enet.dec.com () writes:
>
>But also there is a precedent - remember the Libyan diplomat that came
>out of his embassy, shot dead policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, wandered back
>inside again...claimed diplomatic immunity nd went home unpunished (and
>not even identified)...

Actually, she was shot from inside the embassy. I think the Libyans were
going to shoot up some anti-Gadaffy Libyan students who were protesting
outside the embassy. As far as I can remember, the demonstrators were
kept behind barriers, with the met wandering between them and the embassy
to prevent them getting too close. Yvonne Fletcher was one of the police
at the demo. I suspect that the Libyans didn't mean to shoot her, but
that's no excuse. In a country where everybody is traditionally unarmed
(including the vast majority of the police) that kind of shooting is
particularly callous, and I think that if the victim(s) had been the
intended target(s) in the demonstration, the result would have been the
same: people, even diplomats, aren't allowed to go around shooting other
people in Britain.

The embassy (I think they actually called it "The Libyan People's Bureau")
was closed, and the diplomats expelled. But the police organised the buses
to the airport. They stopped off first at some army camp, where the
diplomats and their luggage were searched with a fine tooth comb. Obviously
this was in contravention of the various diplomatic immunity conventions,
but the government turned a blind eye because of the magnitude of the
Libyan offence. The gun was not found in the luggage, so after the embassy
was vacated, that was searched and the gun found.

Afterwards Libya made official complaints about the treatment of their
diplomats. But I don't think they got much sympathy. They retalliated
by expelling the British diplomatic community in Tripoli.

All in all, I think we behaved in a remarkably restrained manner. But
diplomatic immunity should require that diplomats behave in a reasonable
manner, and respect the host country's laws and traditions.

Chris Lee
From: endebrock@rrzn.uni-hannover.dbp.de (Peter Endebrock)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Help needed: R. M. S. Balmoral Castle
Date: 27 Aug 92 16:40:33 GMT
Organization: RRZN/Universitaet Hannover
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A6C2D08CA901056B@mace107.rrzn.uni-hannover.de>
X-Xxdate: Thu, 27 Aug 92 17:33:48 GMT
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d9

I am a collector of playing-cards, and I have a pack of <antique>
souvenir 
playing cards that I try to date (they are approximately from between
1910 and 1930).

On one of the vards is the mail steamer R. M. S. Balmoral Castle leaving
from 
Durban / South Africa for England. 

Can anybody tell me when that ship was running?

It will also help if you can tell me where to look things up, as I will
be in London 
next month.

Please email your answers!

Peter
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Endebrock                         
endebrock@rrzn.uni-hannover.dbp.de      RRZN / Universitaet Hannover
Tel. +49-511-762-4666                   Schlosswender Str. 5
fax: +49-511-762-3003                   D-3000 Hannover 1
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: bross@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Brian J Ross)
Subject: Re: The Celtic Cross
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Brock University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 23:08:35 GMT

egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson) writes:
: In article <1992Sep2.024246.8276@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA> bross@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Brian J Ross) writes:
: =>jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) writes:
: =>: 
: =>: The megaliths, including Callanish, were built by a pre-Celtic people over
: =>: a thousand years before the Celts arrived.  The Christians weren't the
: =>: first to steal other people's religious symbols.
: =>
: =>And they weren't the last. Seems like neo-nazis have developed an
: =>affinity for the Celtic cross recently.
: 
: A very long time ago, our school outing included a trip to see the Swastika
: Stone at Heber's Ghyll, which you will immediately guess is in Yorkshire -
: within driving-with-a-bus-load-of-small-children distance of Leeds. I forget
: who put it there, but it was apparently some band of 'old-age' travellers,
: predating the Nazis by a thousand years or two.

The swastika is a fairly ancient symbol, Sanskrit in origin I believe.  
At the beginning of this century, it had intellectual connotations -- until
the Nazis "borrowed" it.  My undergraduate university has a 1920's era
building with swastika patterns formed in the floor tiles.  I'm surprised
the floor wasn't torn out during the war.

The Celtic cross, however, seems to be growing in popularity with modern
neo-fascists of the skinhead variety. They loosely render it with as a
circle with a cross  chaotically aimed at the middle.
I wish they'd leave the Celtic cross alone, and use something else instead,
say, the Kool-Aid pitcher. Or the Ghostbuster's logo.

b.
-- 
Brian Ross                         "At the end of the day, all money gets you
bross@sandcastle.cosc.brocku.ca     is a better place to watch television."
                                    -- Dana Carvey
From: kp@cc.uow.edu.au (Karen Pepper)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Bill and Ben
Date: 28 Aug 92 02:14:02 GMT
Organization: University Of Wollongong

stephen@cc.uow.edu.au (Stephen Nicholson) writes:

>However, as media folklore would have it, when the series first came out,
>Bill and Ben used to live in the same pot. Gasp horror! cried the moral
>watchdogs - we can't have two male characters living in the same pot!
>Its digusting! The old farts made the two puppets live in separate pots.

.... with WeeeEEEEeed in between the pots as chaperone, of course.

Similar allegations have been made against Noddy and Big Ears, and
frankly I believe every word of them.

-- 
* Karen Pepper                  *                                     *
* Moth Wrangler and Stylist     *  " Fingite me mortuum esse. Dicite  *
*                               *    aliquid belli. "                 *
* kp@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au       *                        - Petronius  *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: feldman@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Todd J. Feldman)
Subject: "The New Statesman" - How many series?
Organization: CS Department, Stanford University, California, USA
Date:  4 Sep 92 07:42:03 GMT

Does anyone know how many series of "The New Statesman" there are?

I'm quite sure that there are either 3 or 4, but I can't remember.

Don't three of them end with B'stard getting hanged, shot, and stranded
in Siberia?

PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks VERY much!

Todd
From: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: London -- Breweries???
Date: 26 Aug 92 07:05:48 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England


In article <464@esun_server40.gdc.com>, wiehn@gdc.com (John Wiehn) writes...
> 
>I plan on being in London come September and would like to tour a
>brewery.  Are any breweries open for tours????
> 
> 
The two real ale breweries in London are Young's and Fuller's

Both make excellent beer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Reading, England.     Suas
  Internet: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com                           leis
  UUCP:..!decwrl!edieng.enet.dec.com!cockburn                      a'
                                                                   Gha\idhlig!
  Views here are my own, and are not necessarily those of Digital
From: wiehn@gdc.com (John Wiehn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: London -- Breweries???
Date: 25 Aug 92 12:37:34 GMT


I plan on being in London come September and would like to tour a
brewery.  Are any breweries open for tours????


John Wiehn
Email: WIEHN@EVAX.GDC.COM