Raff's new web site.

[Pengelli]

Birmingham has probably got more trees than Wales!

[Gareth Vaughan]

It depends what part of Wales. I'd rather live in most parts of Wales than any part of Birmingham.

[Peter1953]

Mark, what a wonderful, informative article on Tchaikovsky's view of Raff you have added to the Raff website. My congratulations!
How I love Tchaikovsky's Orchestral works (except his op. 56) and the Piano Trio, but what a strange, pathetic attitude the man had towards Brahms.

[Pengelli]

So would I Gareth.A purely rhetorical statement, It is merely strange to live in parts of Wales where there are hardly any trees,and then you live in parts of Birmingham with all these tree lined streets & parks full of huge trees. It is indeed a statistical fact that Wales is one of the least wooded countries in Europe. Where I live all they do is keep cutting them down,yet London itself is full of trees,and England has far more trees than Wales. At the same time,like you, I would prefer to live in Wales,where I have, incidentally. lived all my life,except for that short period in Birmingham. Anyway,enough of this......it is ,after all, an 'Unsung Composer' forum,not an 'Unsung Birmingham Woodland' forum..............

[mbhaub]

To get further off topic, since some of you live there, I have some questions that my public school education overlooked.

1. What is the relationship between Great Britain, the United Kingdom and other political descriptions? And Ireland?
2. I was watching a very good, old movie and the character was talking about something costing half a crown. Is that a lot, a whole lot, or not much (by say 1950 reckoning).
3. I was watching this funny show on BBC (The Hotel Inspector). She mentions a room costing 30 quid. What's a quid?
4. Another BBC show You Are What You Eat weighs everyone in Stones, which I discovered is about 13 pounds. Do people in England use stone weights for other things, or just body size?
5. Is wallpaper as popular in England as it would seem if you watch enough of BBC TV? Over here it's been on the way out for many years and I don't know anyone who uses it at all. We just paint everything to death.
6. What's the most popular beer that people in England drink? Please don't tell me it's Bud Light! Personally, I'm a Newcastle junkie.

Thanks in advance for your consideration!

[Alan Howe]

To knock this diversion on the head:

1. Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales
    United Kingdom = England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
    Ireland = Eire, an independent country.
2. A crown = 5 shillings (today: £0.25)
    Half a crown = two shillings and six pence (today: £0.125).
    When my grandfather gave me half a crown in the 1960s I thought 
    I had become a millionaire!
3. A quid = £1
4. One stone = 14 lb (14 pounds). We only use stones to measure
    weight. We almost never use pounds on their own to measure
    someone's weight!
5. Dunno - depends. We don't have any. My mother has it everwhere.
6. It's probably not beer at all - it's almost certainly lager, such as Stella
    Artois. Personally, I hate the stuff. I like Belgian fruit-flavoured beers!

BTW in the UK, a 'public school' is an expensive species of private school, e.g. Eton or Harrow. What you know as 'public schools', we call 'state schools'. 

[JimL]

Thanks, Alan.  I had forgotten what you guys called your "public schools".  And it is nice to take a little break from the music to learn a thing or two about other lands that it might be hard to find out any other way.