💡👂🧐🌎🎧🌟🎨📚💥
Spring is coming, hibernation is over, World Book Day is here and it’s the month we celebrate International Day of Happiness 😊
In volume 3, Fifteen Minutes explores pi, the myth of Nessie, and the Master of the Electric Guitar. It looks at a non-violent leader, the Fourth Plinth and Methusela who supposedly died at the age of 969! I found a poem to confuddle your brain and I've chosen a non-fiction book that not only is a really good read, it's one you can refer back to again and again. Happy reading Fifteeners!
💡 Words
Pi
3/14 or 14th March is officially known as Pi Day in the USA. I’m sure everyone knows it is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and can be used for a number of formulae. Although Archimedes is often credited with the first calculation of pi, research suggests that its existence goes way back to the Babylonian era.
🥧 Pi facts
The pi symbol 𝛑, is a Greek letter and the first of the word periphereia, or periphery.
Pi has its own language, Pilish. Poems, short stories, Haikus and even a book have been written in it. It is a language where the letter counts of sequential words follow the digits of pi. (3.1415926535). 🤯
There is a Pi search page where you can search the first 200 million digits of pi. Try your birthday or house number to see how it works. Why not have a go yourself?
Peter Trueb, used a computer with 24 hard drives and a program called y-cruncher to calculate pi to more than 22 trillion digits — the current world record for the enumeration of pi. If you read one digit every second, it would take you just under 700,000 years to recite all those digits.
👂 Poem
January was a Spike Milligan poem. February, it was Brian Bilston and this month, it’s a mind-boggling Edwin Morgan creation, take a look to see if you can fathom it out…
The Loch Ness Monster’s Song 🦎
By Edwin Morgan
Sssnnnwhuffffll?
Hnwhuffl hhnnwfl hnfl hfl?
Drublhaflablhaflubhafgabhaflhafl fl fl -
gm grawwwww grf grawf awfgm graw gm.
Hovoplodok-doplodovok-plovodokot-doplodokosh?
Splgraw fok fok splgrafhatchgabrlgabrl fok splfok!
Zgra kra gka fok!
Grof grawff gahf?
Gombl mbl bl -
blm plm,
blm plm,
blm plm,
Blp.
Edwin Morgan (1920 - 2010)
from Poems on the Underground (Cassell, 1995)
Edwin Morgan was a Scottish poet and translator associated with the Scottish Renaissance. He is one of the greatest Scottish poets of the 20th century. In 1999, he was made the first Glasgow Poet Laureate and in 2004, he was named as the first Makar or National Poet for Scotland.
In 2000, he turned eighty and a book of poems was released in his honour Unknown Is Best. His own poem ‘At Eighty’ was characteristic of his work, embracing change and pushing forward into the future: ‘Push the boat out, compañeros / Push the boat out, whatever the seas…. push it all out into the unknown! / Unknown is best, it beckons best…’.
In 1940, he was called up to serve but he horrified his family by registering as a conscientious objector. He ended up serving in the RAMC and spent his war time in Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine.
In 1963, he met and fell in love with John Scott but due to the repressive legislation and attitudes at the time, they hid their love and never lived together.
Morgan was considered the most influential poet of his generation. His linguistic resources, formal invention, intellectual curiosity, sense of humour and humane vision combined to produce a poetry of extraordinary range and emotional reach.
Source: Scottish Poetry Library
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/edwin-morgan/
🧐 Curiosity
On May 2, 1933 the newspaper Inverness Courier told the story of a local couple who claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface”, the editor referred to the being as a moniker and it immediately became a media phenomenon with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland. A circus offered a £20,000 reward to anyone who managed to capture the beast. 🦎
Source: This Day in History
325,000 visitors joined a Loch Ness tour last year.
The Loch Ness Monster is worth nearly £41 million a year to the Scottish economy.
What do you think, does the monster of Loch Ness exist?
🌎 Geography
Loch Ness is the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area after Loch Lomond at 56 km2 (22 sq mi), but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume in Great Britain. Its deepest point is 230 metres (126 fathoms; 755 feet). It contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, and is the largest body of water in the Great Glen.
Source: Wikipedia
🎧 Music
Jimi Hendrix (1942 - 1970)
Jimi Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.
Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15 (1957) and in 1961, he began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit. He played with a number of bands before moving to the UK in late 1966 where he was an instant success earning three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary".
He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US. The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death in London on September 18, 1970.
Jimi Hendrix is #6 of The Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Artists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR13r55Avjc
🌟 Inspirational people
Mahatma Gandhi
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.”
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian political leader who was a leading figure in the campaign for Indian independence. He employed non-violent principles and peaceful disobedience as a means to achieve his goal. He was assassinated in 1948, shortly after achieving his life goal of Indian independence. In India, he is known as ‘Father of the Nation’.
Born in 1869, in Porbandar, India, Gandhi was from the social cast of tradesmen. His mother was illiterate, but her common sense and religious devotion had a lasting impact on Gandhi’s character. On the death of his father, Gandhi studied law in England. He was asked to translate the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and he also studied the Bible. He was struck by the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially the emphasis on humility and forgiveness.
On completing his degree, Gandhi went to South Africa to practise law. There, hei was appalled at the level of racial discrimination and injustice experienced by Indians. In 1893, a white man threw him off a train at the station in Pietermaritzburg complaining about him travelling in first class. This experience was a pivotal moment for Gandhi and he began to represent other Indias who experienced discrimination.
He soon became the unofficial leader for Indians in South Africa. It was there that he experimented with campaigns of civil disobedience and protest; he called his non-violent protests satyagraha.
After 21 years in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement campaigning for home rule or Swaraj.
Gandhi successfully instigated some non-violent protests. The British sought to ban opposition, but the nature of non-violent protest and strikes made it difficult.
Gandhi also encouraged his followers to practise inner discipline to get ready for independence. He said the Indians had to prove they were deserving of independence.
He frequently called off strikes and non-violent protests if he heard people were rioting or violence was involved.
In 1930, Gandhi led a famous march to the sea in protest at the new Salt Acts. In the sea, they made their own salt, in violation of British regulations. Many hundreds were arrested and Indian jails were full of Indian independence followers. “With this I’m shaking the foundations of the British Empire,” he declared.
However, whilst the campaign was at its peak some Indian protesters killed some British civilians, and as a result, Gandhi called off the independence movement saying that India was not ready. This broke the heart of many Indians committed to independence.
Source: Biography Online
🎨 Art
The Fourth Plinth sculpture: Antelope by Samson Kambalu
Antelope by Samson Kambalu was unveiled on the Fourth Plinth on 28th September 2022.
Antelope restages a photograph of Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley as a sculpture.
The photograph was taken in 1914 at the opening of Chilembwe’s new church in Nyasaland, now Malawi. Chilembwe has his hat on, defying the colonial rule that forbade Africans from wearing hats in front of white people. A year later, he led an uprising against colonial rule. Chilembwe was killed and his church was destroyed by the colonial police.
On the plinth, Chilembwe is larger than life, while Chorley is life-size. By increasing his scale, the artist elevates Chilembwe and his story, revealing the hidden narratives of underrepresented peoples in the history of the British Empire in Africa, and beyond.
This is the 14th commission in the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth Programme.
Source: London.gov.uk
The Fourth Plinth
The Fourth plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. It was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds. For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was debated; in 1998, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) commissioned three contemporary sculptures to be displayed temporarily on the plinth. Shortly afterwards, Chris Smith, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, commissioned Sir John Mortimer to seek opinions from public art commissioners, critics and members of the public as to the future of the plinth.
Mortimer's final report recommended that the commissions remain a rolling programme of temporary artworks rather than settle permanently on one figure or idea to commemorate. In 2003, the ownership of Trafalgar Square was transferred from Westminster City Council to the Mayor of London and this marked the beginning of the Mayor of London's Fourth Plinth Commission as it is now known.
📚 Book Talk
Be Confident, be You by Becky Goddard-Hill
The two things you have the power to control in life are your thoughts and your actions. This is great news because these both have a huge impact on how your life turns out. Change your thoughts and you change your world. This book is packed with ideas to try from practising positive self-talk, to making a coping kit and tackling fears, plus you’ll learn the science behind why they work.
Celebrate International Happiness Day on 20th March by learning how to be more confident.
💥 Fun Fact of the Month
Methuselah
Methuselah was the oldest person on record in human history, dying at the age of 969 (Genesis 5:27) . Methuselah is listed as a descendent of Adam, who also lived nearly a millennium. Methuselah and Adam are not the only persons mentioned in the Bible living over 900 years.
Adam lived to be 930 years old
Adam’s son Seth lived 912 years
Seth’s son Enosh (or Enos) lived to be 905 years old
Methuselah’s grandfather Jered lived to be 962 years old
Methuselah’s grandson Noah lived to be 950 years old. Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born and he died in the year of the flood when Noah was 600 years old.
Though Methuselah lived 693 years after Adam, it is likely they knew each other since Adam lived for another 237 years after Methuselah was born.
Interesting Facts about Methuselah
1. The meaning of Methuselah’s name is believed to be “Man of the Dart,” or “Man of the Javelin."
2. Methuselah was the oldest person on record in human history.
3. Methuselah died in the same year of the Flood – yes, that flood.
4. The oldest living tree is named after Methuselah.
5. “Old as Methuselah” means someone or something is very old
Source: Christianity.com
