what I have learned today.

[Basil]

That there was a period of just 3 giddy weeks of English history between the last Viking invasion being successfully defeated and the first Norman invasion being successful.

Maybe everyone who did English history already knew this, but I'm just catching up on the Dark ages at the mo.

That was my favourite pub quiz moment.
Q.  Where did King Harold do battle against an invading army on <date and month> 1066?
I thought, that's much too easy and obvious.  "Stamford Bridge " call I.   Rest of team were just saying "don't be daft, it's Hastings, everyone knows that.
I didn't know the actual dates of the two battles but I insisted.
We were the only team to get that point.

We still lost.

[hatler]

That there was a period of just 3 giddy weeks of English history between the last Viking invasion being successfully defeated and the first Norman invasion being successful.

Maybe everyone who did English history already knew this, but I'm just catching up on the Dark ages at the mo.

Harold's opponent at the Battle of Stamford was a remarkable character. Def worth a read of his wiki entry.

[rogerzilla]

That would be a UK cultural reference? 

It was the theme of Stella Artois adverts for most of the 1990s and 2000s.

[clarion]

At Stamford Bridge, the stout yeomen of Yorkshire defeated a strong invader.

Then the softy Southerners let us down...

[Cudzoziemiec]

But you Yorkshiremen are meant to be pacifists? As well as stout. 

[T42]

That would be a UK cultural reference? 

It was the theme of Stella Artois adverts for most of the 1990s and 2000s.

Yup, that sounds like UK culture.

[Mr Larrington]

At Stamford Bridge, the stout yeomen of Yorkshire defeated a strong invader.

Then the softy Southerners let us down...

Though Harold's army having to march three hundred miles with a hangover probably didn't help.

[clarion]

See, there wasn't a standing army, so it was basically only the Court who made the trek.  Troops were raised locally.

[PeteB99]

Think it was a mixture of the two. The Kings personal troops fought in both battles, in each case they were reinforced by troops raised and armed locally.

[Jayjay]

D'Artagnan really existed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Batz_de_Castelmore_d'Artagnan

There's a statue of him in Auch, as well.

[rogerzilla]

But what about Dogtanian?

[Legs]

I challenge you to listen to the Dogtanian theme again; it's almost beyond the range of adult human hearing.  Just one of those things I didn't realise when I was a littlie.

[T42]

That highly sophisticated Android app "Sound Spectrum Analyzer"* puts most of it in the 30 Hz-1.8 kHz range with the peak at 236 Hz and an isolated fragment at 14 kHz, but the last is always present so I think it comes from the phone itself.

* great for bitching at noise levels in cafés and brats on mopeds everywhere.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That in Sri Lanka it's illegal for women to buy alcohol.

[Kim]

But what about Dogtanian?

I learned everything I know about the Catholic church from a combination of Dogtanian and Monty Python.

Through a combination of bad ears and worse televisions, for years I thought the lyrics to the theme tune were "One foot one, just one foot one..."  a clear reference to the title character's height.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Clearly qualifying yourself for the You Know You're Middle Aged thread, Kim, heights in feet...

[Kim]

Clearly qualifying yourself for the You Know You're Middle Aged thread, Kim, heights in feet...

I'd never measure the height of anything other than an aircraft in feet, but it was standard practice in the days when I watching Dogtanian, and remains inexplicably popular.  Anyway, song lyrics are almost never metric.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I got a girl, six foot four,
Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet out the door

I got a girl, one hundred and ninety-three centimetres,
Sleeps in the field with the anteaters

I see what you mean...

[David Martin]

At Stamford Bridge, the stout yeomen of Yorkshire defeated a strong invader.

Then the softy Southerners let us down...

Chelsea v. Sheffield Wednesday? Surely the Yorkshire folk would have been the away team?

[pcolbeck]

Robert Fripp and Toyah Wilcox have been married 25 years.

[Beardy]

Robert Fripp and Toyah Wilcox have been married 25 years.

Wikipedea says 35 years

[rafletcher]

Both are correct of course.

[Nuncio]

It's not a mystery then.

[T42]

Do I need to find out who they are?

[Legs]

He King Crimson guitarist; she early-80s squawker and voice of Teletubbies.  You're not missing out on much.