What is it like to grow up in a castle? Can you name Cambridge's most famous landmark? And who is the Welly Wanging World Record Holder? All this and more is revealed in today's Dawn Chorus.
Welcome to The Dawn Chorus, our daily round-up of news, nature and fun stuff. Each day, either James (Fisher, Deputy Digital Editor) or I (Toby Keel, Digital Editor) will bring you the big story in the world of Country Life, plus all sorts of things that you might otherwise have missed. We hope you enjoy it.
The art that’s literally a load of old rubbish
A Dutch museum has had to pick one of its exhibits out of the bin after a worker mistook it for rubbish. You can understand the mistake: Alexandre Lavet’s All The Good Times We Spent Together consists of two meticulously painted beer cans, which have been ‘displayed’ in various places around the museum, but which were at the time on top of the gallery’s glass lift.
View this post on Instagram
‘The museum bears no ill will towards the lift technician who made the mistake,’ the museum said in a statement, which is unsurprising consdiering they’ll be able to replace it for a couple of Euros at the local corner shop.
Quiz of the Day
1) Which Cambridge college has a bridge of sighs?
The Bridge of Sighs, Cambridge. A sketch of this exact view was the cover picture of Toby’s pad of lined A4 paper when he did his A-Levels about a million years ago. (It was as close as he ever got to going to Cambridge.)
2) What does a lepidopterist collect?
3) In which country was current England cricket captain Ben Stokes born?
4) What is the pole used to propel a punt called?
5) Which male singing voice type comes between tenor and bass?
The world-record welly wanger unmasked by the BBC’s cricket live text
Those who followed England’s progress in the first Test match in Pakistan on the BBC sport website will have been delighted by the theme of discussion during the evening session: world record holders.
It started off when someone wrote in to claim that they once held the ‘Cricket Marathon World Record’, which prompted live text journalist Matthew Henry to ask if any other readers held any world records. The responses were suitably ridiculous.
Mike from Cornwall messaged to say that he was the former ‘Welly Wanging World Record Holder’, which involves throwing a Wellington boot the longest distance. Ben from London was ‘briefly’ the co-holder of the record for the ‘biggest pillow fight’ while a student. Richard in Ilkley once played table soccer in 1988 for 111 hours ‘to raise money for the local maternity unit’. James’s personal favourite, however, was Rich B from Sevenoaks, who was one ‘the 5,877 people who made up the Largest Coconut Ensemble in Trafalgar Square in 2007’.
Karl ‘out in the fens’ admitted that he wasn’t a world record holder, but was a 3-times Countdown champion ‘with iconic teapot’. Not quite what was asked, but impressive nonetheless.
It’s fun to be in the RSPCA
The year is 1824. Napoleon has long since been defeated, and has indeed been dead for three years. Slavery in the British Empire has long since been abolished. And so, the great and the good — including iconic abolitionist William Wilberforce himself — turned their gaze to the plight of animals, and created the RSPCA, or the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
That’s not quite true true: it was originally just the plain-old, non-royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Queen Victoria granting its ‘royal’ moniker in 1840.
Two centuries on, it is the oldest, and largest, animal welfare organisation in the world, and still a leading voice on animal welfare — but the RSPCA’s work remains ongoing, and today in Parliament, Labour MP Ruth Jones will call on her government to ‘prioritise and lead’ on strengthening the protections we give to our animals.
Read this, even if it makes you cross
The right to ‘wild camp’ in Dartmoor — the only place in England where it was permitted without the permission of the landowner — is being challenged in the Supreme Court. Alexander Darwall, the landowner at the centre of it all, wrote about his reasons for going to the top court exclusively for Country Life. You might agree, you might end up shouting in rage at your screen, but you should read for yourself where he’s coming from.
Property of the Day
For sale for the first time in its history, 10-bedroom Kingston House on the edge of the Chilterns is a Victorian delight. Not only does it come with 36 acres, but also room for 20 horses and has undergone a recent refurbishment. Have a look around here.
Podcast
Is growing up in a real-life castle just as fun as you’d imagine it to be?
Yes, says Cosmo Linzee Gordon on our podcast this week.
Is actually owning, and being responsible for the upkeep of said castle just as much of a headache as you’d imagine it to be?
Yes, says Cosmo Linzee Gordon.
That’s it — see you tomorrow
Quiz answers
1) St John’s
2) Butterflies and moths
3) New Zealand
4) A quant
5) Baritone
Dawn Chorus: Will 2024 be a bumper year for Autumn colour? Plus take the quiz of the day and more
A year of staggeringly wet weather across most of Britain has caused all sorts of ups and downs for gardeners
Dawn Chorus: Riding through the kitchen on horseback, and other classic English country house pursuits
A spectacular view of Snowdonia, the intelligence of owls and our quiz of the day are all highlights of this
Dawn Chorus: The wild creatures back in the West Country for the first time since the reign of Queen Victoria
Pine Martens are back on Dartmoor — but why?
The Dawn Chorus: Real-life Jurassic Park tech saving the rhino, a 10-hour nature epic and our Quiz of the Day
The man who's been trying to resurrect woolly mammoths has turned his gaze on the animals of today which need
The Dawn Chorus: We’re waking up today to a Britain free of coal-powered electricity for the first time in 142 years
Britain's last remaining coal-fired power station has been turned off for good, we reflect on one of Britain's most beautiful
