Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 94

The Denby Dale Giant Pies

Denby Dale is a village in England that makes a big deal out of pies. Or rather a big deal out of big pies. Pies the size of tables…and bigger.

1788. The village decided to celebrate King George III’s official recovery from his many mental health problems. (Or his officially announced recovery—an episode lasting several months ended in 1788, but he was besieged by episodes for the rest of his life.) But how to do that, while also draw attention to the small village in West Yorkshire? A giant meat and potato pie.

 1815. The tradition was revived to commemorate a major British victory. In June 1815, British troops under the control of the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon’s army in the Battle of Waterloo. This pie was even larger, containing 20 birds and two sheep.

1846. From 1815 to 1846, the “Corn Laws” were in effect in the United Kingdom, which kept grain prices high by imposing huge tariffs on imported grain. They were repealed in 1846, which dropped food prices almost overnight. Denby Dale celebrated by making a very big (and consequently much more affordable) giant pie. However, 15,000 people from around England showed up for the festivities and crowded onto the stage. The stage collapsed, and the pie fell to the ground and a riot ensued as those in attendance grabbed for handfuls of ground-pie.

August 1887: This year marked a year-long celebration across the British empire of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, or 50 years on the throne. Once again, a large crowd mobbed the finished pie…which was so big that it couldn’t be properly cooked. The huge steel and iron cooking dish was too large for an oven, so finished bits of pie were poured into it as they were cooked. It quickly spoiled as it stood in the hot August sun all day. When town leaders finally got those in attendance to stop scavenging, they buried it in quick lime.

September 1887: A smaller replacement pie was baked and presented by the local women’s guild to 2,000 invited guests. The unveiling and eating of “The Resurrection Pie” went off without a hitch.

1896: The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was so monumental that its 50th anniversary was celebrated, including another giant Denby Dale pie. Once again, exactly 2,000 portions were served…by volunteers behind wooden barricades.

1928: Before England had nationalized health care, hospitals were funded by donations. Denby Dale did its part in 1928 with the Huddersfield Infirmary Pie. More than 200 volunteers baked and served pie to 40,000 people to raise £2,000 which helped endow a bed at the nearby Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

1964: An unprecedented four babies were born into England’s royal family in 1964, including Queen Elizabeth II’s fourth child, Prince Edward. Before the big pie unveiling day, however, four of Denby Dale pie building committee members were killed in a car crash after returning from London to appear on a TV show about Denby Dale giant pies. The pie baking commenced in their honor, and proceeds from the sale of pie servings, 2,000 souvenir plates, and a benefit concert by the Swinging Blue Jeans to build the Denby Dale Pie Hall.

1988: Guinness certified this year’s Denby Dale pie as the biggest meat and potato pie in the world. It served 90,000 people (who paid £1 a slice). The occasion? The 200th anniversary of the first Denby Dale pie.

2000: The most recent pie is the biggest in Denby Dale history. The Millennium Pie was 40 feet long, nine feet wide, and weighed 13 tons.

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New Year’s Eve Around the World

Why head to Times Square when you could attend one of these more unique gatherings instead?

Sao Paulo, Brazil

the exception of its annual Carnival celebration, December 31st is the most exciting night of the year in Sao Paulo. Massive street parties swamp many of the city’s major thoroughfares and fireworks fill the night air. Two million celebrants alone are expected to flow into the Avenida Paulista this year. The locals also like to ring the new year by wearing “lucky” underpants—yellow ones for wealth, and red ones for those hoping to fall in love. Other regional traditions include taking a dip in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after midnight and eating twelve grapes to honor each of the preceding months of the year. Some Brazilians also refuse to eat chicken on the 31st because they “kick” their legs backwards while they walk and nobody wants to enter the new year the wrong way.

Amsterdam

The Dutch love fireworks, but they can only be legally sold in the Netherlands for a short period of time every December and many people buy the most powerful stuff that they can get their hands on. Amsterdam becomes especially chaotic on New Year’s Eve. As the hour approaches midnight, the streets of the Dutch capital are filled with exploding M80s and mortar shells. Needless to say, high powered explosives when coupled with copious amounts of alcohol can lead to mayhem. Every year, dozens of people are injured across the country and millions of Euros in property damage ensues, which is why a lot of cities are now creating “fireworks free” zones near zoos, hospitals, and elderly care facilities.

Tokyo

Drinking culture is huge in Japan so lots of people in Tokyo tend to get very tipsy every December 31st. Otosou, a type of spiced sake, is especially popular and those who opt to stay home to watch Kohaku Utagasen, an annual singing competition that’s as popular over there as Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest is in the United States. New Year’s Day, however, is considered the more important of the two occasions. Many people place decorations around their homes, eat special types of food, send their friends and loved ones nengajo cards and visit temples on January 1st. One popular tradition involves hanging a hamaya (a wooden arrow) in the home in order to ward off evil spirits.

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The Strangest Man in Fashion

At the last Fashion Week in Paris, in addition to the clothes and models, the talk of the town was, as always, Chanel art director and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

Karl Lagerfeld was born in Germany in 1933. His real last name is Lagerfeldt (he changed it to be “more commercial”). He also denies he was born in 1933, calling it a rumor made up by a cousin.


He may be kooky, but his staff is loyal. His director of Atlier, Anita Briey, has worked with Lagerfeld for more than 50 years. She was his intern in the early 1960s.


Lagerfeld sketches all of his couture ideas not with pens or pencils, but makeup. He favors eye shadows made by Shu Uemura, especially a red shade custom made just for him.


Lagerfeld shoots his ad campaigns in a makeshift photo studio in the back of a bookstore in Paris. (He also owns the bookstore. He also reportedly owns more than 300,000 books.)


For some reason, he owns more than 100 iPods, all with different music depending on his mood. He carries them all around with him wherever he goes in a $1,500 Fendi suitcase.


Lagerfeld designed the world’s most expensive safe. The Narcissus weighs 2,000 pounds and costs more than $350,000.


Karl has his own line of emoji. Available on the EmotiKarl app, it offers tiny cartoon versions of Lagerfeld, his cat, and his signature black gloves.


In 2001, animal rights protestors ambushed him and threw a pie in his face. Reason: He used real fur in his clothes. But not anymore. Ever since, he’s opted for faux-fur.


Lagerfeld is very prolific. While still working with Fendi, he has also been the art director at Chanel, as well as his own line, Karl Lagerfeld, as well as creating clothes for stores such as H&M and designing a special line of bottles for Coca-Cola.


His 2014 Paris show for Chanel was supermarket themed, down to dozens of grocery items with “Chanel” labels. As the show ended, there was a stampede as those in attendance tried to grab cans of things like “Chanel Peas.”


Choupette Lagerfeld has more than 48,000 followers on Twitter. Who’s that? Karl Lagerfeld’s cat.

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Just Plane Crazy

If the tiny seats, delays and bad food weren’t bad enough, there’s a chance that you might encounter someone like these guys the next time you set foot on an airplane.

Gray Area

During a KLM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam last September, a Scottish man named James Gray attempted to open one of plane’s doors. Despite its numerous warning signs, he began fiddling with the latches before he was stopped by the cabin crew. Gray was told to return to his seat and was informed that he would be arrested when the plane landed at Schiphol Airport. He later said that he briefly mistook the door for the entrance to the bathroom and that the crew overreacted. Gray was fined $660, had to spend the night in a detention center, and has been banned from flying on KLM for five years.

The Peeing Passenger

There’s no telling what was going through the mind of Jeff D. Rubin during a flight from Anchorage to Portland last September. The 27 year-old passenger slept through most of the three hour flight but awoke with a full bladder. Thirty minutes before the plane was scheduled to land, he stood up and began urinating through the crack between the seats in front of him. Then he lost his balance, fell backwards into his seat and continued peeing. After soaking his fellow passengers and their belongings, he was eventually arrested at PDX and charged with two criminal mischief and offensive littering.

The Fresh Air Flyer

Last December, a first time flyer on a flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu in China decided that the cabin was way too stuffy. Just before takeoff, he opened the emergency exit to, as he put it, “get some fresh air.” The cabin crew managed to get the door shut, and the plane managed to arrive in Chengdu on time. While later being questioned by authorities, the naive man admitted that he had no idea that his decision was a serious security breach that put the lives of both himself and his fellow passengers in extreme danger.

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6 Famous People With Famous Godparents

Celebrities: They’re all such good friends with each other! Some are so close that they name them their children’s godparents.

Jake Gyllenhaal. The actor’s parents are director Stephen Gyllenhall, close friends with Jamie Lee Curtis, Jake’s godmother. Jake Gyllenhall himself is godfather to Michelle Williams’ daughter Matilda. (Matilda’s father is Heath Ledger, Gyllenhaal’s Brokeback Mountain costar.)

Gwyneth Paltrow. Her parents are actors Bruce Paltrow and Blythe Danner, and are good friends with Steven Spielberg. The director is Paltrow’s godfather (and also gave her her first film role, in 1991’s Hook.)

Drew Barrymore. Spielberg is her godfather, too, and he cast her in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. When Barrymore posed nude for Playboy in 1995, Spielberg went full-godfather and sent her a quilt with a note that said “cover yourself.”

Frances Bean Cobain. The only child of late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain and Hole singer Courtney Love has Drew Barrymore as her godmother—she and Love were good friends in the early ‘90s (but reportedly haven’t spoken in years).

Nicole Richie. Lionel Richie adopted her shortly after writing “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson, and named the King of Pop one of her godfather. Her other one is “We Are the World” producer Quincy Jones.

Bryce Dallas Howard. The star of Jurassic World is the daughter of director and child star Ron Howard. His Happy Days costar Henry Winkler is Bryce’s godfather. And the godfather of Bryce’s son Theo is Frozen and The Book of Mormon star Josh Gad, who is childhood friends with Howard’s husband, Seth Gabel.

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5 Facts in the Key of (Kenny) G

Kenny G is still a famous saxophonist, but he’s arguably more famous for his hair.

Kenneth Gorelick grew up in Seattle and became infatuated with the saxophone after watching a musician play one on The Ed Sullivan Show. He started taking lessons when he was 10 years old and later tried out for his high school’s jazz band.


Despite his pretty outstanding sax skills, Kenny enrolled at the University of Washington and studied…accounting. But, he kept playing with various local bands and in 1982 signed a deal with Arista Records.


His first five albums sold well and became staples of easy listening radio (and store speakers, and elevators, and while you’re on hold with customer service), but its his sixth album, Breathless (1992) that became the bestselling instrumental album of all time. To date it’s sold 12 million copies.


The musician also once set a world record in 1997 for playing the longest continuous note on a saxophone. Using a technique called circular breathing, in which he can inhale air and play at the same time, Kenny G maintained an E-flat for an astonishing 45 minutes and 47 seconds.


Kenny G is also incredibly popular in China. One of the reasons why? “Going Home,” a song recorded for a 1989 live album, is used to signal the end of business hours at train stations, shopping malls, health clubs, and other locations all across the country. However, Kenny angered many people in China when he posted photos on social media of a visit he made to the site of the 2014 Hong Kong Protests. He later apologized and said that he had no idea what was happening when he stumbled across the demonstrations.

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Meet Krampus

Unlike Santa Claus, who (legend has it) lives at the North Pole, works alongside reindeer and elves and tends to be pretty jolly, the Saint Nicholas who delivers gifts to Austria and a few other European countries employs a much nastier seasonal helper.

The myths surrounding this fearsome beast date back to medieval times but it’s tough to determine exactly when he was created. The word “Krampus” is derived from a very old German word for “claw” and he definitely lives up to his name. Krampus is a muscular monster covered in fur with horns and razor sharp teeth. He looks like a cross between Bigfoot and a bighorn sheep.

In Austria the gift-giving portion of Christmas is celebrated on December 6th. The night beforehand is set aside for the monster to strike fear into the hearts of poorly behaved children. Different regions celebrate “Krampus Night” in different ways but it typically involves volunteers dressing up as the monster to visit homes and businesses to warn kids that, if they don’t mind their manners, Saint Nicholas won’t bring them any presents. Even worse, Krampus will return and punish them. The threats can involve everything from beating children with chains, eating them alive, or dragging them to Hell.

Meanwhile, thousands more love the monster and flock to Krampus Night events all across the country and beyond. Many communities host a “Krampus Run,” which involves dozens of actors (typically fueled by plenty of alcohol) marching along a parade route dressed as the mythical beast while shaking fake chains and other weapons at kids on the sidelines.

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The French Clauses

The two Santas that deliver gifts to well behaved kids in France are pretty weird. One of them also has a very crazy sidekick.

The Christmas legend in Fance: Saint Nicholas brings children gifts on the night of December 5. Unlike Santa Claus, he’s tall and carries a cane. He also has a helper but he’s a lot rougher around the edges than Rudolph and the elves that can be found at the North Pole. His name? Père Fouettard. According to one legend, he once worked as an innkeeper. During a great famine in the 12th century, he became so desperate to keep his guests happy and fed that he lured three children into the inn’s basement. After killing them, he chopped them up before pickling them and tossing them in a barrel. Fortunately for the kids, Saint Nicholas was passing by and used his magical powers to bring them back to life.

Fouettard immediately repented and agreed to give up his day job and become the saint’s assistant. However, his nasty disposition remained. Fouettard was tasked with punishing naughty children while Saint Nicholas rewarded the good ones with presents. The imposing holiday helper wears dark robes, has a long beard and tangled hair, and will happily use his whip to punish misbehaving kids. He also likes to hand out lumps of coal instead of gifts

After Saint Nicholas and Fouettard finish their rounds on December 6th, they make way for Père Noël. This gift-giver delivers presents on Christmas Eve, typically while children and their parents are at mass. Beforehand, kids place their shoes next to a chimney with carrots in them for his donkey, Gui (whose name is French for “mistletoe.”).

Père Noël also wears a red cloak that’s lined with white fur. He likes to wear its hood over his head in order to hide his identity. Christmas Eve is a very busy time for him and Gui. In addition to bringing presents to children in France and other areas of Europe, they also have to make deliveries to the French speaking regions of South America. Noël also been known to pop up in Cajun households in Louisiana. He doesn’t bring Gui with him, but instead relies on a magical boat pulled by a team of eight alligators. The head lizard: Nicollette, who has scales that are as white as snow.

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7 Facts About F. Scott Fitzgerald

75 years ago today, F. Scott Fitzgerald died at age 44. Today he’s most famous for The Great Gatsby, a book not widely appreciated in his lifetime…which was difficult to say the least.

Fitzgerald became an overnight sensation in 1920 with This Side of Paradise, a huge hit novel about post World War I youth culture. His second novel, The Great Gatsby, is widely regarded as one of the finest novels ever written, but at the time of its release in 1924, it was a middlingly-reviewed flop.


His entire output: five novels and 160 short stories. Fitzgerald primarily made his living from the sale of his short stories. Fitzgerald’s short stories were extremely popular, particularly in the Saturday Evening Post, who in the 1920s paid him $4,000 per story. That’s about $50,000 in today’s money.


While there is a boat cruise that takes Great Gatsby fans on a tour of sites mentioned in the novel, there is no “F. Scott Fitzgerald House,” the way there are similar houses/museums dedicated to Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, or Ernest Hemingway. That’s because Fitzgerald never owned a house. He came from a middle-class Minnesota family and always rented his home, be it a house, hotel room, or apartment, which were often located near the sanitariums where his wife, Zelda, was being treated for schitzoprenia.


By the late 1930s, The Great Gatsby was out of print. (Fitzgerald reportedly went to a major New York bookstore to find a copy for his daughter, and couldn’t find one. He was told he’d have to write the publisher for a copy of the book.) What brought the book back from obscurity? Librarians, publishers and other book people recommended it be included in the run of Armed Services Editions, cheaply-printed novels sent overseas to entertain World War II troops.


When Fitzgerald could no longer make a living from his books, he became a script doctor in Hollywood. Among the scripts he worked on, uncredited: Raffles, The Women, Honeymoon in Bali, Everything Happens at Night, and Gone With the Wind.


Fitzgerald’s time in Hollywood inspired his final novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon. He didn’t finish it before he died…but it was published anyway.


What killed Fitzgerald? He lost his battle with alcoholism. Toward the end of his life, he reportedly drank a quart of gin and 12 bottles of beer every day.

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3 Weird Fast Food Flops

Much like customers at a fast food joint, these menu items came…and left.

In September 2013, McDonald’s introduced Mighty Wings—breaded bone-in chicken wings. It seemed a natural fit for the fast food behemoth, but it ended up being one of the chain’s most costly mistakes. After purchasing 50 million pounds of chicken wings from poultry suppliers, more than 10 million pounds were still left by December 2013. At $1 a wing, they were more expensive than most other McDonald’s menu items.

The company unsuccessfully tried to sell them off by the end of the year at 60 cents a piece (but still had millions left that they had to throw away).

In 1985, Wendy’s became one of the first major fast food chains to introduce healthier menu alternatives to burgers and fries. But while salads and grilled chicken sandwiches are now drive-thru staples, Wendy’s Tomato Surprise was a bomb. It’s no surprise: the Tomato Surprise was a large beefsteak tomato hollowed out, filled with cottage cheese, and then topped with a slice of pineapple. It was gone in less than six months.

Pizza Hut is not normally associated with “natural” food, and in 2009 the chain tried to change customers minds with a pizza called The Natural, purporting to have more wholesome, farm-fresh ingredients. The crust was made from stone-ground multi-grain, the sauce with slow-simmered vine-ripened tomatoes, and the cheese was “all natural.” However, there is no legal distinction on the term “natural,” so nothing about the pizza was remotely different than usual Pizza Hut fare…other than the $1 extra it charged for The Natural. Naturally, The Natural disappeared within a year.

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