Trivia Investigation Team

[NewcastleFalcon]

and to complete the shipping angle 2 vessels of the Royal Australian Navy were named Ballarat

HMAS Ballarat (J184), a Bathurst-class corvette serving from 1940 to 1947

HMAS Ballarat (J184)
Green, Allan C., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons


HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155), an Anzac-class frigate commissioned in 2004 and active as of 2019

HMAS Ballarat with a US Navy helicopter in May 2012
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Mel Orr, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

The Fourth SS Ballarat of P&O




Of note: on 21st November 1966, she carried the first containers of Australian canned fruit - three 20ft containers, which were unloaded at London

Not the first shipment of canned fruit from Australia of course, but pioneering in the use of Containers.

This could well be one of the Experimental Containers being unloaded in London in 1966.

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Another couple of F&L today, but this time from the source Cornsay Colliery Durham.
The Darker one on the left is a "fished out of the Stream" example with the resultant years of river patina.

The new Foster one...most likely from Backworth

Henry Foster & Co, Hotspur Brickworks, Backworth, Newcastle which opened in 1877. The works was taken over by General Refactories in 1955 and closed in 1967

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Another delve into the world of shipping on the back of this.

The post box from RMS Berengaria has made its way to Ushaw College Durham

British Pathe has some film of its last voyage up the Tyne to Jarrow to be broken up. As is says on the information note on the posting box, it was picked up along with a couple of other items at the disposal auction. What a treasure trove that disposal auction must have been.



REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Linked The RMS Olympic was also broken up on the Tyne at Jarrow, purchased by John Jarvis MP as was subsequently the RMS Berengaria. The disposal auction of items from the RMS Olympic ended up with the First-class dining room being purchased and installed at the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick...still there today.

RMS Olympic was the largest ocean liner in the world for two periods during 1910–13, interrupted only by the brief tenure of the slightly larger Titanic (which had the same dimensions but higher gross register tonnage) before the German SS Imperator (which became RMS Berengaria of Ushaw College Letterbox and the Cunard Line fame) went into service in June 1913. Olympic also held the title of the largest British-built liner until RMS Queen Mary was launched in 1934, interrupted only by the short careers of Titanic and Britannic.

On 11 October 1935, Olympic left Southampton for the last time and arrived in Jarrow two days later. The scrapping began after the ship's fittings were auctioned off. Between 1935 and 1937, Olympic's superstructure was demolished, and then on 19 September 1937, her hull was towed to Thos. W. Ward's yard at Inverkeithing for final demolition which was finished by late 1937.

RMS Olympic arriving Jarrow for scrapping
Enrique L, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The RMS Olympic dining room at The White Swan Hotel Alnwick

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the ... ining-room



When she (RMS Olympic) was auctioned off and made her final voyage up the Tyne River to Jarrow in 1935, she was stripped of her dining room. A local hotelier, Mr. Algenon Smart, successfully bid on the original oak wood paneling, stained glass windows, mirrors, and ceiling from the First Class Lounge, along with its revolving door and the Aft First Class Staircase.

He installed these features, nearly identical to the Titanic’s dining room attributes (they were both designed and fitted by the same team of craftsmen at nearly the same time), in the White Swan Hotel (Alnwick) where they’ve remained since. As you enter the hotel, you pass through the original revolving door used on the Olympic to keep sea breezes out of its restaurant.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Moving pictures



REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Moving pictures in colour!



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Bulgarian Number Plate what does it tell us?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r ... ia%3A%20BG.

The characters displayed in the main field of the plate are:

a one- or two-letter province code
four numerals
a final two-letter code, known as the "series".

The format is thus XX NNNN YY, where XX (or X) is the province code, NNNN is the serial number, and YY is the series. Since 1992, only glyphs that are common to both the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets have been used on Bulgarian plates.

Province code
H


Bulgaria license plate codes
derivative work: TheFlyingDutchman (talk)
Bulgaria_Provinces_Map_Blank.png: Walden69, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

There is more...

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

H is Shumen Province, in north-eastern Bulgaria named after its main city Shumen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumen_Province


Monument and Shumen
Izvora, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

A small flavour of Shumen

Shumensko is a Bulgarian beer brand (Bulgarian: ???????? ????) from the town of Shumen.

The brewery was founded in 1882 by merchants from Shumen and the Czech master brewer Franz Milde, who arrived in September and founded the Bulgarian Brewing Association (????????? ????????? ?????????) on 26 October.

There are currently 6 brands:

Shumensko Light (???????? ??????, 4.3% ABV)
Shumensko Premium (originally ???????? ?????????, 5% ABV)
Shumensko Dark (???????? ?????, 5.5% ABV, available only in winter)
Shumensko Twist (3 citrus-flavoured brands – lemon, orange and grapefruit, 2% ABV, available only in summer)
A red ale was also temporarily available (???????? ???????) in the early 2000s.

The beer labels are exclusively written in the Cyrillic alphabet on glass bottles and in Roman script on cans; plastic litre-bottles have each on either side.



Shumensko Premium
LeeKeoma, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

[CitroJim]

Fascinating stuff Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Following on from the Pickled Egg Jukebox Mandolin tracks with what I consider to be the cream of tracks featuring the mandolin, there are corners of the internet which fill many pages with such deliberations.

Yes The Mandolin Cafe

Every so often within the pages of the mandolincafe.com forum thread "list of Rock songs w/mando", a long list gets updated from contributions made.

This link goes to the state of play after 10 pages and takes a further 2 posts to cover the list accumulated on an A-Z basis.

Links
A to H https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/thre ... ost1056497
I to P https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/thre ... ost1056498
Q to Z https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/thre ... ost1056499

Some regular Pickled Egg Jukebox appearers on the list. Cowboy Junkies have many tracks, Elton John has a few, Richard Thompson has many, much of Jethro Tull's catalogue, Sting makes an appearance, Kate Bush, Mike Oldfield, Fairport convention have loads.

Here's Elton John's list, whether the mandolin can be discerned on each of those tracks by the ordinary mortal, may be questionable, but the occupants of the Mandolin Cafe putting the list together are likely to be in the higher echelons of Mandolin geekery, and recognise even an individual twang!

Elton John - Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Elton John - Holiday Inn
Elton John - Texan Love Story
Elton John - Ballad Of The Boy In The Red Shoes

Regards Neil

[Hell Razor5543]

Does Captain Corelli frequent that café?

[myglaren]

I made a bit of an effort to find a Cowboy Junkies track with mandolin, I remembered that Jeff Bird plays mandolin for them. Listened to a few tracks then wandered off in a different direction

[NewcastleFalcon]

These were the ones which at that time made the list

Cowboy Junkies - 200 More Miles
Cowboy Junkies '- Cause Cheap Is How I Feel
Cowboy Junkies - Escape Is So Simple
Cowboy Junkies - Mariner's Song
Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
Cowboy Junkies - Powderfinger
Cowboy Junkies - Rock And Bird
Cowboy Junkies - The Wrong Piano

Regards Neil