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Daily Dose Of Interesting Information

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#24. Little Tommy.



Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper,
What shall we give him? Brown bread and butter.
How shall he cut it without a knife?
How shall he marry without a wife?

 “Tommy Tucker” was the colloquial term used to denote an orphan. With no one to care for them or feed them the orphans were forced to begging for food or “singing for food”.

 Tommy Tucker is so poor that he does not have even a knife, to cut the bread, which any generous person might give him!

 Tommy Tucker’s inability to marry and have a wife is due to his dire poverty and his low standing within the community and society! Such was the pathetic condition of orphans in those days and may be to some extent even now!

 This rhyme was first published in the year 1829.

Visalakshi Ramani


 
#25. Pussy Cat.


“Pussycat pussycat, where have you been?”
“I’ve been up to London to visit the Queen.”
“Pussycat pussycat, what did you dare?”
“I frightened a little mouse under her chair”
“MEOWW!”

 The origin of this rhyme goes back to the 16th Century Tudor England. One of the ladies waiting on Queen Elizabeth I had an old cat. It had the freedom to roam through the Windsor Castle.

 On one occasion the cat ran beneath the throne of the Queen, brushing her foot with its tail.The Queen was startled but did not get angry, as she had a sense of humor!

 The “good Queen Bess” decreed that the cat could wander about freely in her throne room, as long as he kept it free of mice!

Visalakshi Ramani
 
#26. Elephant Rhyme.





 It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”

 The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”

 The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”

 The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”

 The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”

 The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”

 And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
The Moral of the Elephant Rhyme:

 So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!!

 This rhyme is also known by the name The Blind Men and The Elephant. This was written by the American Poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887).

 The moral of the rhyme is that people should not proclaim their views on subjects they know very little about or on things which they have never seen!

 The six blind men touch the different pats of the elephant and form their impressions about it. Each one is staunch in his belief and proclaims that only he is right!

 The first man says that the elephant is like a wall; the second man says that it is as sharp as a spear; the third man says that it is like a snake; the fourth man says that it is like a tree; the fifth man says that it is like a fan and the sixth man says that it is like a rope!

 Each of them was partly correct and yet all of them were totally wrong!

 It is better and safer to remain silent on topics we know nothing about and listen to people who have something to say and learn from them!

Visalakshi Ramani
 
#27. An Apple a Day.





 An apple a day keeps the doctor away
Apple in the morning – Doctor’s warning
Roast apple at night – starves the doctor outright
Eat an apple going to bed – knock the doctor on the head
Three each day, seven days a week – ruddy apple, ruddy cheek

 This rhyme encourages the young children to eat healthy and not indulge in junk food, the way the modern kids do!

 Children usually love to eat sweet, soft and sticky food and thereby keep busy all the doctors and the dentists of the world. The children dislike to eat healthy vegetables and fruits.

 In order to make children understand and remember, we have to catch them young and teach them young! This rhyme encourages them to eat raw fruits which are good for their body as well as their teeth.

 The author and date of publication of this rhyme are not known!

Visalakshi Ramani


 
#28. A Wise Old Owl.





 A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

 The origin and history of this rhyme is not known. It teaches young children the good qualities of remaining silent and listening. Truly the more we see, the less we speak! The less we speak, the more we listen to and learn!

 The owl watches and waits for its prey, while hunting. In all the stories, folklore and fairy tales, owls are depicted as very wise and old! All the other animals seek their advice, in matters of importance.

 Legends about the owls are abundant in Greek, Celtic and Native American mythology. In Greek mythology, owl is closely associated with Athena-The Goddess of Wisdom. Athens is named after Athena and its emblem is The Owl.

 As a rule children should be seen and not heard! The reason-they are angelic when seen and demonic when heard!

Visalakshi Ramani


 
#29. Hot Cross Buns.


Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny – Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons
One a penny two a penny – Hot cross buns

 Hot Cross Buns are small, spicy fruitcakes. They are decorated with a white cross and served with a butter spread. They are usually sold at the time of Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified.

 In the 19th Century, street vendors and sellers used sell various products directly to the consumers. Hot Cross Buns were hawked and sold at the price of one a penny or two a penny.

 Those who indulged in this butter coated sweet in excess, would eventually end up with bulging midriffs, like Mr. Bumble of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist!

Visalakshi Ramani
 
#30. Twinkle Twinkle.



 Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?
Up above the world so high , like a diamond in the sky
When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark, thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye, ’till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark lights the traveler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are – twinkle, twinkle little star.

 This beautiful rhyme was written jointly by two sisters Ann Taylor and Jane Taylor. It was first published in 1806.

 This is one of the most popular nursery rhymes in the world. With its soft music it really enchants the listeners!

 The word “Twinkle” automatically suggests the “Winking” of the stars. The star is just a speck so high in the sky. So it is a “little star” !

 “Like a diamond in the sky” is a beautiful simile! It teaches the children how to compare two objects which look alike. Indeed the twinkling star does look like a diamond placed on a deep blue velvet cloth!

Visalakshi Ramani



 
Dear Mr. Alvan,

I studied Physics, Maths, and chemistry in College. Other things I am learning after I left the college:)

Wait for more topics in more subjects, which will be appearing in this column one per day.

But if you have time and interest you are welcome to my blog at wordpress.com

The link is <visalakshiramani.wordpress.com>

with warm regards,
V.R.
 
Hello VR,
Thanks for the reply.I already read some of the topics you have posted and replies my views.
alwan
 
Dear Friends,

All the articles presented here were written by me in the past two years. I have my own library of reference books. Later on I have enhanced them be referring to the Internet also.

The illustrations are done with Google images, by my D.I.Law Mrs Rupa Raman.

All these are blogged in <visalakshiramani.wordpresss.com>
I am just presenting them one per day in this Forum.

with warm regards,
V.R.
 
#31. Wee Willie Winkie.


Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown,
Tapping at the window and crying through the lock,
Are all the children in their beds, it’s past eight o’clock?

 Wee Willie Winkie is the children’ version of a town crier!

 Before the various powerful media like newspapers, Television and Internet came into existence, Town Criers were solely responsible for passing on information and spreading the latest news to the public.

 Wee Willie Winkie is the children’s town crier. He wants to make sure that all the children are in their beds since it was past 8 O’ clock!

 This teaches the children the healthy habit of going to bed early so that the next day they can get up early and be fresh to meet the tasks lying ahead!

 Author of this rhyme is William Miller ( 1810 -1872) and this was published in 1841.

Visalakshi Ramani
 
[FONT=comic sans ms,sans-serif]# 32.
FICTION AND FACTS.
Very often we find the characters found in fiction very realistic and life-like.We often wonder how the authors could imagine so vividly-right up to very minor details. This is possible since many fictitious characters are based partly or fully on real life personalities. We will compare a few popular fiction heroes and their real life models. [/FONT]
 
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#33. James Bond 007.


James Bond is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in 1953, featuring in twelve novels and two short story collections.

 According to Ian Fleming Memoirs, Dusan Popov, a Siberian born super agent of MI6, was the inspiration for James Bond. Born in a wealthy family in 1912, Popov was recruited by MI5. He worked as a double agent between 1940 and 1944!

 Popov was famous for his playboy-lifestyle and the dangerous missions he performed. He spoke fluent German and had several well placed connections in Germany. He hated Nazis secretly for occupying his country.

 He was signed up as a spy by Anti Hitler Abwehr agents early in the war. He offered his services to U.K. He became a double agent and came to live in London.

 Popov was a ladies’ man! He lived in extravaganza in U.S and in London. He published his memoirs “Spy, Counterspy” in 1974.

 Many researchers are of the opinion that James Bond is a romanticized version of Ian Fleming himself, a jet-setting womanizer! Both Fleming and Bond attended the same school, preferred the same food, had the same habits, had the same notion about women, had similar naval careers, had the same hair style and eye color!

 Apparently Fleming chose Popov as his model and added his own Charisma and personality traits to create James Bond. He wanted the name of the hero he had created to be “as ordinary as possible” and yet as masculine as it was unromantic!

 There was a Namesake James Bond (1900 – 1989) who was a leading American Ornithologist. Ian Fleming himself was a keen bird watcher.

 The name of the ornithologist appealed to him and he named his hero as James Bond with the permission of the original James Bond!

Visalakshi Ramani




 
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#34. Sherlock Holmes.


It is said, “Set a thief to catch a thief”. The best legendary example to this statement is the life of a convict turned detective, Eugene Vidocq. Yes! He was a criminal turned to a police chief!

 A Frenchman and an ex-criminal, Vidocq, utilized his first hand knowledge of the underworld, to create a whole newly formalized “Criminal Investigation”. He made crime fighting a highly organized social science. His rare achievements are being used widely even today, while he himself has been pushed into obscurity most ungraciously!

 Some of his novel ideas included introduction of record keeping, Criminalistics and the Science of ballistics into the police work. He introduced the system of making plaster-of- Paris casts of the foot and shoe impressions, to be used in the investigation.

 He was a master of disguise and surveillance. He was an inventor too. He held the patents on the indelible ink and unalterable bond paper. He was the founder of the first modern Detective Agency. He was the first ever bona fide private eye!

 The success of Vidocq inspired the world class authors so much that, they borrowed some of his brilliance, to add credibility to their own fictional heroes. Sir Canon Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes was based on Vidocq. In Hugo’s Les Miserable, both Jean Val Jean and the inspector were based on Vidocq.

 Vidocq was a philanthropist helping the poor, wretched and the abandoned dwellers of Paris. He hunted the guilty and freed the innocent. Conventional people who lacked his sheer love of life, condemned him.

 Vidocq was a fugitive, an under cover agent, a private investigator, an author, an inventor, an actor, a master of disguise, a humanitarian and a philanthropist all rolled into one.

 Indeed Vidocq was a very unusual man with many rare talents. While Sherlock Holmes based on Vidocq has earned world wide popularity, he himself has been unduly pushed into obscurity!

Visalakshi Ramani




 
#35. Roderick Spode.



Roderick Spode, often known as Spode or Lord Sidcup, is a fictional character from the Jeeves novels of P.G.Wodehouse. He is portrayed as an amateur dictator and a leader of the fictional Fascist group of London called The Black Shorts!

 Spode is portrayed as a large intimidating figure. He is constantly in love with Madeline Basset, whom he wishes to protect from men “playing fast and loose”. He marches his followers around London and country side and preaches loudly the dissoluteness of modern society.

 Spode is modeled after Sir.Oswald Mosley-leader of British Union of Fascists-nicknamed as Black Shirts. The name Spode was probably suggested by the famous Spode Pottery made in Stafford Shire and Mosley’s family connection to those pottery areas.

 Sir Oswald Mosley, Sixth Baronet (November 1896 to December 1980) was a British politician. He was the founder of British Union Of Fascists. Mosley’s family were prosperous landowners of Stafford Shire. He was a member of Parliament from Harrow (1918 to 1923) and from Smethwick (1926 to 1931).

Visalakshi Ramani
 
fiction and facts

Hello VR,
Simply great for the Flood of Information.Keep continue.
alwan
 
#36. Alice in Wonderland.





 Alice Pleasance Liddell ( 1852- 1934) inspired the Children classic Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She was the middle of the three daughters of Henry Liddell (Dean of Christ Church, Oxford) and Lorina Hanna Liddell. She was a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth II. She married Reginald Hargreaves in 1880.

 On 4th July 1862, in a row boat traveling from Folly bridge, Oxford to Godstow for a picnic party,ten year old Alice Liddell asked Charles Dodgson (whose pen name was Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her two sisters Edith (age 8 years) and Lorina (age 13 years) with stories.

 Dodgson told the girls a fantastic story of a girl names Alice and her adventures, after she fell into a rabbit hole. Alice Liddell insisted that he should write down the story for her.

 The manuscript “Alice’s adventures underground” was ready in November 1864. “Alice’s adventures in the wonderland” illustrated by John Tenniel, was published in 1865, under his pen name Lewis Carrol.

 A second book “Through the looking glass and what Alice found there” followed in 1871. In 1886 the original manuscript that Dodgson gave to Alice Liddell was also published.

Visalakshi Ramani




 
#37. Lolita.


Lolita is a world famous novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955, in Paris. Later it was translated to Russian and published in 1958 in New York.

 The novel is famous for its controversial theme in which a middle aged man Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed worth a 12 year old Dolores Haze. The other names of Dolores are Dolly, Lolita, Lola and LO!

 The plot of the novel is the story of Florence Sally Horner who was abducted from new Jersey in 1948 by a child molester. At the age of eleven, Sally stole a 5 cent note book in Camden, New Jersey, USA.

 Frank La Salle, a 50 year old mechanic caught her stealing. He posed as an agent of FBI and threatened to send her ” to place for girls like you”. He abducted the girl and spent twenty one months traveling with her to different American states, holding her as a sex slave!

 Several details of Sally Horner and Dolly Haze rhyme and seem to run almost parallel! Both Sally and Dolly were nice looking youngsters; both had widowed mother and both had brown hair. Lolita’s Florentine hands and breasts evoke the memory of “Florence” -the first name of Sally.

 Copying La Salle, Humbert too terrorizes his victim. He even alludes to the case of Frank La Salle. Both Frank and Humbert take the girls to the different states of USA. Both the girls die very young. Sally dies in a car accident and Dolly dies during the child birth.

 The appearances and names of the girls as the well as the plots are strikingly similar. No doubt the Lolita of Nabokov’s novel is Sally Horner of New Jersey.

Visalakshi Ramani
 
#38. Psycho.


Norman Bates was a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch, as the central character in his novel Psycho. It was later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960.

 Both the novel and its film adaptation by Hitchcock explain a severe emotional abuse of Norman Bates. He suffers in the hands of his mother Norma who preaches him that sex is evil and that all women are wicked! The mother and son live together, in an unhealthy atmosphere of mutual emotional dependence.

 When Norma takes a lover, Norman becomes insanely jealous and kills them both! He preserves his mother’s corpse in his home. Troubled by the pangs of guilt, he develops dissociative personality disorders.

 Bloch sums up Norman Bates’ multiple personalities thus: Norman Bates is a vulnerable child dependent on his mother; Norma Bates his possessive mother and Normal Bates-the adult who lives his day to day life!

 Norman Bates’ character is based on Edward Theodore Gein (1906-1984)
-an American murderer and a grave robber. Heinous crimes committed by him around his hometown Plainfield, Wisconsin, have made him notorious world wide!

 When the authorities discovered the gruesome relics and trophies he had made out of the skin and bones of his victims and the bodies dug out of graves, the whole world was shocked!

 Like Norman Bates, Ed Gein had an unhappy childhood. His father George Gein was an unemployed alcoholic who abused both his sons, Henry George Gein and Edward Gein.

 Mother Augusta Gein prevented the outsiders from influencing her sons. She taught them that drinking was evil and all women are the wicked instruments of The Devil himself!

 After the death of his father and elder brother, Ed Gein lived with his mother, doing odd jobs for a living. When his mother too died in December 1945, Ed Gein lost his only friend and became all alone in the world.
 Ho boarded up all the rooms in his house and started living in a small room next to his kitchen. He became interested in Death-cult magazines and adventure stories.
 In November 1957, a hardware store owner Bernice Worden’s disappearance was linked to Ed. The ensuing search by the authorities brought to light, the real nature of the seemingly mild mannered Ed!

 Gein does not fit in the traditional definition or description of a serial killer. Nevertheless his real life case has influenced the creation of several fictional serial killers including Norman Bates from Psycho, Jame Gumb from The Silence of the Lambs and The Leather Face from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Visalakshi Ramani
 
#39. Dracula.





 Dracula, the villainous hero of Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, has captured the public interest ever since the book got published in 1897. But only a few know that this character is based on a real life villain Dracula, The son of Dragon, The King of Wallachia.

 Wallacia was one of the provinces of the Medieval Rumania, situated between Transylvanian Alps and the Danube river. One of its rulers in the 15th Century, was Vlad Dracul( meaning “Vlad the Dragon). He had adopted the Dragon as his personal emblem.

 When his son, also called Vlad, became the king, he was given the title “Dracula” meaning the “son of Dragon”.

 Vlad Dracula was infamous for his cruelty, right from an early age. He became “Vlad the Impaler”. Impaling on a blunt stake was his favorite form of punishing people.

 His other crazy actions included nailing the head gears into the skulls of the Turkish Emissaries. Their crime was that they did not remove their head gears in his Royal presence!

 He detested weaklings and deformed people. Once he had all the beggars and cripples rounded up in a large hall and set fire to it–after barring all the doors and windows of the hall. Women found guilty of adultery were skinned alive. He was a monster of cruelty. It is believed that he impaled, skinned alive, boiled and roasted more than 50,000 persons in his brief reign of ten years.

 He himself met an appropriate violent end–fit for tyrants. One fine day, his severed head stuck on a stake, was put for public display, by an unknown murderer. With the spread of the new printing techniques, Vlad’s atrocities became widely known to the public.

 His misdeeds hint at cannibalism and blood rites. Whether or not he enjoyed the taste of blood, he definitely enjoyed the sight of it. Soon rumors of his being a demon or vampire began to circulate, paving the path for the novel Dracula.

 Both the geographical background of the novel as Transylvania and the name of the central character as Dracula are firmly rooted on facts, making the work realistic and authentic!

Visalakshi Ramani




 
#40. The Ugly Duchess.





 During her adventures in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice meets an ugly and sour-tempered duchess. A classic illustration by John Tenniel in the First edition portrays the duchess as a grotesque, wide mouthed old woman, in a medieval dress!

 The loathsome character is not a product of the author’s pure and vivid imagination. She was modeled on a real duchess, who certainly was one of the wicked women of all times!

 Duchess Margaret of Tyrol was born in 1318. Since she had no brothers, she inherited the dukedom from her father Duke Henry. When she turned 12 years old, she married John Henry, the King of Bohemia.

 Soon she divorced her husband–something unheard of among Royal families at that time! Later she married Louis, the son of the German Emperor.

 She got rid of her political rivals and persons by whom she felt threatened, with the help of her bottle of poison.

 She is believed to have killed even her husband and her son, just to remain in power. She was ugly beyond description. Her wide gaping mouth had earned her the nick name of “Pocket- Mouthed-Meg”.

 She was as ugly as she was wicked. Her ugly form and wicked character were very well matched. She was rightly called The Ugly Duchess.

Visalakshi Ramani


 
#41. Jame Gumb.



Jame Gumb-also called as The Buffalo Bill-was the main antagonist in the 1988 novel Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris.
Gumb murders over weight women so that he make a “woman’s suit” from their skins! Gumb considers himself to be a transsexual but he is too disturbed to qualify for the sex reassignment surgery.

 Gumb is abandoned by his alcoholic prostitute mother and lives in foster homes from the age of two years till he is adopted by his grand parents at the age of ten. He kills his grand parents just for the thrill of the kill, when he is just 12!

 Later his modus operandi becomes this; to approach women pretending to be injured and ask for their help in loading something heavy in his van. He then gives a surprise attack from behind knocking them off.

 He holds his victims prisoners and starves them until their skin becomes loose enough to come off easily. He strangles his first three victims and shoots the fourth.

 He skins his fourth victim, places a Death’s head moth on her throat and dumps her body. He is fascinated by the moth’s metamorphosis- a process he wants to undergo by becoming a woman!

 He thinks of his victims as “Things” and not as real people. Harris based Gumb on not just one but five real life serial killers.

 1.Jerry Brudos, who would dress up in his victims’ clothing and keep their shoes.

 2.Ed Gein, who fashioned trophies and keepsakes from the bones and skins of his victims.

 3.Ted Bundy, who would wear an arm brace, pretend to be injured and seek the help of his victims.

 4.Gary M Heidnik, who kidnapped six women and held them as prisoners and slaves.

 5.Edmund Kemper, who like Gumb killed his grand parents “just to see what it felt like”

 So five hideous monsters in human form have been rolled into one,to create the unforgettable and unforgivable Jame Gumb!

Visalakshi Ramani.
 
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