| wibble the lobster
|
| 17278. Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:13 pm |
 |
|
being the art of bell-ringing and a good source of double-entendres for the programme, I would have thought, were it not for the fact that I cannot think of any popular misconceptions about bells.
I used to share an office with a keen campanologist who would spend time examining the peculiar series of markings/scratchings that would enable him to memorise a peal. As a member of the "ancient society of college youths", he would go at lunchtime to what I suppose are the equivalent of the premier churches (I'm off to Westminster Abbey Wibble, he would say with a merry smile on his face) to have multiple yanks on a rope, only to return depressed because the peal hadn't gone well and they had to give up after 20 minutes of yanking.
His wife was more into the hand-held bells. Couldn't quite see the attraction myself (and the bells were just plain silly, etc.)
This site tells you more than is decent to know about bells and reveals that Nottingham has a goose fair.
http://www.oxfordcitybranch.org.uk/about.htm
_________________
i'd love to spread manure in your bed of roses |
|
|
|
 |
| tethys
|
| 17281. Thu Apr 07, 2005 9:50 pm |
|
|
| I always thought only Tavistock in Devon had a goosey fair......but it seems that a lot of towns have now copied the idea :O) |
|
|
|
|
| Jenny
|
| 17288. Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:34 am |
|
|
| Nottingham Goose Fair is one of the oldest isn't it? Although I think Hull Fair might be a bit older. Didn't know Tavistock had one too... |
|
|
|
|
| Caradoc
|
| 17291. Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:09 am |
|
|
| wibble the lobster wrote: | I cannot think of any popular misconceptions about bells.
|
Big Ben is the bell not the clock
_________________
You can't get the wood you know. |
|
|
|
|
| tethys
|
| 17293. Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:30 am |
|
|
| oh Tavistock's Goosey fair is legendary! I think it's been going since before geece evolved :O) |
|
|
|
|
| dr.bob
|
| 17307. Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:53 am |
|
|
Campanology, of course, is the source of the word "dumb-bell". Novice bell ringers apparently exercise and build up the muscles necessary for bell ringing by practicing with a bell which has no clapper. This is referred to as the Dumb Bell as it makes no noise.
However, the same Radio4 show I heard this on also claimed the people who ring bells a lot don't like being referred to as campanologists. They claim this was a word invented by non-bell ringers (that is, people who don't ring bells, not people who ring non-bells) and they don't seem to like it much.
Maybe it's too camp :) |
|
|
|
|
| Jenny
|
| 17317. Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:12 pm |
|
|
| The 'dumb bell' thing was new to me, but makes sense - thanks for that Dr Bob :-) |
|
|
|
|
| Gaazy
|
| 17318. Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:21 pm |
|
|
Fascinating stuff, full of Bob Majors, Stedman Caters, Grandsire Triples and Bristol Surprise Maximuses.
Ringing the changes means ringing all the bells in all possible orders, but that can take some time. 6 bells have only 720 permutations, but 8 bells have 40,320, meaning that a full "extent" (all the changes) should take 22 hours (it has been done in 18). 12 bells, on the other hand, present 479,001,600 permutations, and an "extent" on them would take over 30 years.
By the way, the first peal of which records exist was rung on May 2nd, 1715 at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich.
Also, in Britain, the bells are hung in a manner which is completely different to that of the Continent - the rest position being "mouth up".
Last edited by Gaazy on Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
| KingJim82
|
| 17331. Sat Apr 09, 2005 12:04 am |
|
|
| And they weigh a lot too! |
|
|
|
|
| Caradoc
|
| 17336. Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:03 am |
|
|
| KingJim82 wrote: | | And they weigh a lot too! |
Ding, Dong - Leslie Phillips
_________________
You can't get the wood you know. |
|
|
|
|
| Frances
|
| 17343. Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:12 pm |
|
|
| A good book with a background about bell-ringing os 'The Nine Tailors' by Dorothy Sayers - old, but still worth reading. |
|
|
|
|
| Flash
|
| 17361. Sun Apr 10, 2005 1:08 pm |
|
|
The phrase "going like the clappers" is campanological, isn't it? Not sure how interesting that is, though.
I got fired from the bell-ringing team in my village for breaking the stays on two of the bells. The rest of the team feel a bit awkward about this, so now they try to practise their ringing in secret so as not to hurt my feelings. Not an easy thing to do. |
|
|
|
|
| dr.bob
|
| 17424. Mon Apr 11, 2005 2:33 pm |
|
|
| Gaazy wrote: | | Also, in Britain, the bells are hung in a manner which is completely different to that of the Continent - the rest position being "mouth up". |
Interesting. I wonder if there's any good reason for doing this.
Apart from being different to Johnny Foreigner, obviously :) |
|
|
|
|
| Gaazy
|
| 17428. Mon Apr 11, 2005 3:56 pm |
|
|
| dr.bob wrote: | | I wonder if there's any good reason for doing this. |
Apparently the highly methodical activity of change-ringing, with its emphasis on accuracy, isn't practised on the continent, where bells are "chimed" rather than rung in the British manner. This means that the bell is tugged a short way from its mouth-down position so that the clapper hits the side; the exact timing of this stroke isn't controllable by the ringer, whereas (apparently) the action of swinging a bell 360 degrees from mouth-up to mouth-up is.
Here's an example of the kind of explanation available on the Web. |
|
|
|
|
