One explanation I read of the origin of phrase 'Cock and Bull story' is that it refers to communications from the Vatican, which were termed 'Papal Bulls', the said Bulls' bore the official Vatican seal, which was a cockerell - the cockerell being a symbol of St. Peter. The source claimed the phrase took hold during the English reformation as performative term for Vatican missives, and by extension, nonsense. Cf the use of the term 'pontification' meaning pomposity in speech and writing, which took hold at the same time, deriving, of course, from 'pontiff' meaning the pope.
@wingshad0w009822 жыл бұрын
“I’m staying at a hotel named the cock. Stop snickering at that!” Never.
@trevordance51812 жыл бұрын
Is it the Cock Inn? (Asking for a friend)
@davidbennetts6162 жыл бұрын
A similar expression for a tall story here in Australia is referred to as a furphy. The Furphy was a brand of water cart built in Shepparton, Victoria. These water carts, now collectors items, were introduced in the late 19th century, and used by the military in the time of World War I. The soldiers would gather around the water carts and swap stories, many of which were of dubious authenticity. Hence referred to as a furphy. Thanks Jago for your interesting take on history.
@RichardFelstead19492 жыл бұрын
Shepparton is about a 2 hour drive from where I live in Albury NSW.
@kimvibk92422 жыл бұрын
Sounds like the origin of the tradition of chatting with your colleagues around the water cooler...!
@Colt45hatchback2 жыл бұрын
They still make them dont they?
@dj_efk2 жыл бұрын
@@Colt45hatchback water coolers? Yes absolutely
@Colt45hatchback2 жыл бұрын
@@dj_efk nah i meant the furphy water carts. Im pretty sure the company i work for supplies things to j furphy and sons.
@pjxr22 жыл бұрын
Jago, was delighted to hear you recall the history of Stony Stratford, my local. It is widely believed and if you add in the supposed history of Dick Turpin’s hide out being in the area, the coach man would embellish their stories of being held up between the two hotels, it was 10 highway men nah it was 20 etc, etc. It’s also of note, the coachman’s bar, the vaults, is in between the two hotels. It all adds plausibility to the tale of enlarged tales…
@pmichael732 жыл бұрын
The Withnail and I reference did not go unappreciated.
@sh87362 жыл бұрын
I did not get it my claim to fame is to have consumed cake in the chemist !
@geoffreypiltz2712 жыл бұрын
At the end of the novel Tristram Shandy (itself a Cock and Bull story) published in 1767 the author Laurence Sterne uses the phrase to describe the novel. Interestingly Tristram Shandy contains passages taken word for word from The Anatomy of Melancholy.
@sianwarwick6332 жыл бұрын
Please don't tell me I now should re-read Tristram Shandy, and not look at the film , as a crib.
@austenhamilton73122 жыл бұрын
I have always understood that Tristram Shandy doesn't have an end - like all the best shaggy dog stories (to coin another phrase Jago might like to muse upon)., rather that it just stopped because Sterne died.
@johnfry10112 жыл бұрын
A fascinating diversion and lovely video on something I’d never even considered the origins of. Next week, back to the underground and the phrase “Barking up the wrong tree”…
@paulsengupta9712 жыл бұрын
Barking, on the wrong branch line?
@johnfry10112 жыл бұрын
@@paulsengupta971 that took me longer than it should have 😂
@rickymherbert28992 жыл бұрын
This actually refers to Dick Whittington slapping a preservation order on the wrong tree in Barking that his cat was using as a scratching post at the time. 🙃
@jammin0232 жыл бұрын
No doubt it was originally "from Barking up to Becontree"...
@paulsengupta9712 жыл бұрын
@@jammin023 Maybe they were supposed to be going to Elstree, Braintree, Manningtree, Fairoaks or Sevenoaks. Maybe Burnham Beeches, Pinewood or Poplar. Possibly even Mountain Ash.
@jodyarmstrong2 жыл бұрын
Cool as ever, you are the diversion to my lunchbreak.
@johna56352 жыл бұрын
Oddly, the other pub-related 'Bull reference' that springs to mind is "Bull & Bush" (...as in the popular old Musical Hall song "Down At The Old Bull & Bush"). This would appear to make a [potentially unfortunate] link between "The Cock" and... "The Bush" - let's hope that's coincidental.
@thomasburke26832 жыл бұрын
Ah, the good old days, those wonderful 1970s when Leonard Sachs presided over the variety show of the same name. His use of alliteration enthralled me, not to mention the beautiful costumes. "Down at the old Bull and Bush" was the signature tune.
@johna56352 жыл бұрын
@@thomasburke2683 I actually have an MP3 of a 1905 version of that song recorded by Florrie Forde on my phone! Of course MP3's were much larger (and coated in wax) in those days!
@neilthehermit46552 жыл бұрын
The explenation I heard as a child was that the phrase came from farmers. Imagine that you have spent all week working hard on your farm and no-one to talk to except your family. Come the weekend you go to the pub and have the chance to talk to friends and neighbours,so... five or six days a week you are looking forward to that pint of beer and a good chat, you are going to be thinking of what to say and be the center of attention. Walking between the cowshed and the hens you'll be thinking up good conversation......Possible ? Likely? Or is the phase coming from multiple different places and times?
@neilthehermit46552 жыл бұрын
@@creamwobbly I resemble that remark !😀
@SFNightOwl2 жыл бұрын
As a farmer with both cocks and bulls, I can concur. Some of the best conversations I have are with them, and the only pushback I tend to get are demands for head scratches from the bulls. They like to listen, though bribery with grain is always helpful.
@dj_efk2 жыл бұрын
@@creamwobbly horrors indeed!
@SornGeorge2 жыл бұрын
Sounds like a cock and bull story if you ask me
@1258-Eckhart2 жыл бұрын
Stony Stratford was the scene of Edward V's only political action as king, when he protested strongly to his uncle (later Richard III) at the arrest of his half-brother Richard Grey and his maternal uncle Anthony Woodville. They were imprisoned, was was Edward himself not long afterwards.
@Canisporc2 жыл бұрын
You missed a picture nearer to your usual subjects. At the back of the passage between the main building of the Bull Hotel and the Vaults Bar is a large barn-looking building now used as a parking area; this used to be a shed for the rolling stock of the Stony Stratford to Wolverton tramway
@atraindriver2 жыл бұрын
Given that Watling Street links London and Holyhead, I can't really see Stony Stratford being a centre of east-west coaching (although it certainly had a lot of coaches linking London, the west midlands and the north-west), or indeed any east-west coaching being affected by the opening of the London and Birmingham railway which didn't go west-east. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was that I can fully understand using Stony Stratford to represent Penrith because (apart from it being oop north), Penrith doesn't look much like what people think a historic town should look like.
@garrymartin64742 жыл бұрын
So if the story originated with the two coaching inns in the small market town where I now live it would be a George and Lion story 🤔
@Erdnussbuttertoast2 жыл бұрын
not super proud to say that i thought the term was "cock and ball story"... to be fair i'm not a native english speaker and never saw it written
@JacobBax2 жыл бұрын
Think in dutch this is "een broodje aap verhaal" "a monkey sandwich story"
@JagoHazzard2 жыл бұрын
Now there’s a phrase with a story!
@bobcosmic2 жыл бұрын
Now we are on to names of hotels and coaching inns. I’m still intrigued !
@johntait4912 жыл бұрын
In the early 70's, The Bull had an excellent Folk Club. Folk Clubs of course have gone the way of the Dodo..!! It was run by Matt Armour a resident of Stony Stratford.
@greybeardp2 жыл бұрын
Gilbert and Sullivan "Yeomen of the Guard" (1888), Act II, "Hereupon we're both agreed" chorus: "Tell a tale of cock and bull, Of convincing detail full Tale tremendous, Heav'n defend us! What a tale of cock and bull!"
@PeterT19812 жыл бұрын
I do enjoy your absolutely brilliant writing style. The research that you apparently do for each of these episodes boggles the mind. Thank you Jago!
@ZGryphon2 жыл бұрын
I wonder about the connection (if any) between this phrase and the similarly-employed adjective "cockamamie". Also, I propose co-opting the name of our favorite Tube station along the same lines, as in, "What a load of Cockfosters."
@TheWinnipegRailfan2 жыл бұрын
I had to double take on the video’s title, LOL interesting little town there!
@pamelamckirdy2942 жыл бұрын
i just searched for "cock and bull" in our NZ newspaper archive and got a hit from 1855 which references Nosatradamus' predictions. "The following is taken from an old volume of predictions, written in the 15th century, and now in possession of a gentleman residing at Chard, Somerset: - “ In twice two hundred years the Bear The Crescent will assail; But if the Cock and Bull unite. The Bear will not prevail. In twice ten years again, Let Islam know and fear, The Cross shall stand, The Crescent wane, dissolve, and disappear.” Could a cock and bull story be a reference to Nostradamus' crazy tales? I love your channel!
@stephenspackman55732 жыл бұрын
It seems more likely that some tale of a cock and a bull came first, and one inn being named the Cock (or perhaps the Bull) the other named itself the Bull (or perhaps the Cock) in rivalry. If we knew which inn was named first, we might even guess which animal came out on top in the original tale. But cf. also the Stacked Animals of Bremen, whence the all knowing Wikipedia directs us to The Bull, the Tup, the Cock, and the Steg, though written references to that date only to the turn of my century. Why, my life's changed, ever since I discovered Stackable Livestock®.
@sianwarwick6332 жыл бұрын
Very good ! That would make a terrific kids' illustrated story
@nixer652 жыл бұрын
I lived in Stony Stratford for 13 years (although I am now in Cambridgeshire) and I very much miss the place. I highly recommend the vaults in the Bull!
@williammallender83912 жыл бұрын
I agree with your version - havng lived in MK for a few years I was told of the origin of the saying and saw no reason to doubt it.
@ronwhitmill70682 жыл бұрын
Keep an eye out around march for the MKC Raleigh Chopper ride out ;)
@davidemery15572 жыл бұрын
That little tale made me home sick. Other interesting subjects for you the deviate to could be the fenny poppers in Fenny Stratford, the tar barrels in Ottery St Mary, or the hot pennies in Honiton.
@chrissaltmarsh67772 жыл бұрын
What fun. Next - Elephant and Castle. I know of two reasons for that name, both almost certainly wrong. But it has got an underground; the London Stratford also has but the Stony lacks.
@thomasburke26832 жыл бұрын
Enfant de Castille, sort of anglicised as Elephant and Castle, abbreviated by underground staff to Elephant.
@chrissaltmarsh67772 жыл бұрын
@@thomasburke2683 Except probably not, the timing is all wrong. Um, a historian looked at that and said it just didn't work. Can't remember his name. How about Heffalump and Parcel?
@frglee2 жыл бұрын
To Leighton Buzzard, next, please! There's plenty to see there, too, film and charmingly ramble on about. And a sweet narrow gauge heritage railway, England's longest and oldest apparently.
@BrunoAlexLUX2 жыл бұрын
6:45 that full brake in the background though
@simongleaden28642 жыл бұрын
Jago, some of the adverts you do for your sponsors are more entertaining than some other KZbin-ers' actual videos!
@9tophat Жыл бұрын
Wonderful stuff Jago. Do keep a firm grasp on silly things from time to time; they make for interesting back stories and speak to how many things really don't make sense, though someone at some point wanted them to or thought they did. It's always a pleasure to enjoy your offerings. Cheers!🙂
@SportyMabamba2 жыл бұрын
Stony Stratford also had the Wolverton Works Steam Tramway running through it, so if you are looking for another video there’s that. The surviving trailer car is in the Milton Keynes Museum; which also has a lot of LNWR ephemera from the Works as well as a 1:1 Replica of a Bloomer steam locomotive outside built by Works Apprentices. Wolverton is also the first Railway Town, beating out Swindon. Indeed, Brunel visited to get ideas for his works’ town. BIG UP Stony Stratford, BIG UP Wolverton, BIG UP Milton Keynes 😁
@ben-cansonthetraina61822 жыл бұрын
Lovely to see this. Hope you had a pint in each pub. There’s some nice Railway signage at the back of the Fox & Hounds.
@StrawbyteWorkshop2 жыл бұрын
Lovely seeing Stony Stratford. Bags of history. What’s more interesting for me is the shop Odell and Co. which appears in a few of your shots. It’s a hardware shop which has stood on the same site and been in the Odell family for 275 years. Impressive as B&Q or Block and Quayle has only been around the 50 plus years I’ve been around. Oh, and if you haven’t covered this on your channel, the Wolverton works is just down the road.
@allenwilliams13062 жыл бұрын
I have heard a story on Radio 4 about a British visitor to the USA who went to a “store” and noticed that practically every customer produced a card at the till and got a discount. Therefore, they tried their (obviously) British B&Q card. Asked what the B and Q stood for, they replied “Bush and Quayle”, and got 10% off with no further questions asked.
@stepheneyles21982 жыл бұрын
@SW: Well I never knew what B&Q actually meant, thank you for that!! Here's a Wiki for anyone interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%26Q
@andrewschildhauer28982 жыл бұрын
I grew up not too far away from Stony Stratford, and went to school in Wolverton, where I too heard the same story regarding the two coaching inns. I haven't been back to Stony for decades and it was lovely to see it again. As you say, it could also be a Cock and Bull story about a Cock and Bull. We will never know for sure.
@TheEulerID2 жыл бұрын
I have stayed in the Cock inn, but that was something like 35 years ago, so my memories of it are none too fresh. However, the Cock and Bull story was just about the first thing you hear about the town.
@rjjcms12 жыл бұрын
I used to visit Stony Stratford (accessed from the main road network by driving through Old Stratford) often when I was working in several locations at Buckingham,Deanshanger,Newport Pagnell,etc. in the "noughties" and very early 2010s,and frequented both the Cock and Bull from time to time. One of them,and yes I'm pretty sure it was the Bull,did a steak sandwich to which I was partial when dropping in for some brunch/lunch while in the town on business/work-related duties such as paying visits to the banks. A chap I used to work for used to take me with him to a gun shop located in the hinterland behind the Cock and Bull coaching inns,between the main drag and Ostlers Road (or is it Lane? It's been a while). An ex-army marksman rendered spinaly injured by a motorcycle accident,he acquired four pellet-shooting pistols,which we had fun doing target shooting in his house and garden and used to visit that shop to stock up on paper/card targets,pellet ammo,little gas canisters that one of the pistols used to run on,etc. He also bought a metal contraption that had four metal ducks in a kind of mini-shooting gallery that would fall backwards once struck,and a lever which would stand them back up again. He chose to prop in on an opened drawer in a wooden chest of drawers in his bedroom,and there it stayed for quite a while for sessions of target practice. When doing a bit of dusting and cleaning for him one day,I moved it and discovered that the drawer behind it had been shot full of holes. Naturally,it wasn't long after I started visiting Stony Stratford that I began to hear by word of mouth,with interest,that the two aforementioned coaching inns in the town were the origin of the Cock and Bull story. There were a couple of specific tales,at least one involving a failure of punctuality by an operative stopping in the town en route in their journey,that were claimed to be the origin,but after almost 20 years I'm damned if I can remember then precisely to relate now.
@Mitch-Hendren2 жыл бұрын
What have you got against bin lorries ? It was Quickly edited out there !! Signed a bin lorry driver 😊
@RJSRdg2 жыл бұрын
"An ancient Roman road" - as opposed to all the roads the Romans have been building round here recently ;-)
@apolloc.vermouth56722 жыл бұрын
"I've come to a wedding by mistake, are you the farmer?!"
@MKAdamski2 жыл бұрын
Slight correction on the town's name origin - Stratford is a Saxon name meaning " river crossing on a Roman road" and the Stony part means that the crossing point has a lot of stones in it. You also mentioned Fenny Stratford (about 10 miles south also on Watling Street) which means a marshy river crossing on a Roman road. a mile or so north of Stony is Old Stratford.
@steveaskey2 жыл бұрын
"Stoney"(or "Stony") as a prefix or suffix often indicates that a place was a Roman settlement.
@frglee2 жыл бұрын
🙂I remember regularly passing by Newton Poppleford station regularly in my Devon childhood days. Only recently did I find that 'popple' is a local word for 'pebble'. So, the 'poppleford' was a pebbly ford. As Michael Caine would say "Not a lot of people know that".
@iankemp11312 жыл бұрын
@@frglee What a lovely explanation for one of our most euphonious place names.
@LiqdPT2 жыл бұрын
@@frglee so "new town at the pebbly crossing"?
@teecefamilykent2 жыл бұрын
The Romans never "built" straight roads, they just paved over preexisting dirt tracks. Bloody Romans, what have they done for us. Btw brilliant video n keep up the awesome work.
@garrywatters11402 жыл бұрын
I used to drink in the Bull pub back in the late 70's early eighties. Howard was the landlord and he used to regale this tale all the time.
@captaincodpiece32632 жыл бұрын
Most of us have met or known that man who boasts of his sexual prowess to the disbelief of those listening and bull cults go back a few thousand years seemingly based on its strength and usefulness in agriculture, pulling a plough and carts etc. So maybe it could relate to masculine bravado and exaggeration, or just rivalry in telling a tall yarn, judging by medieval chronicles some people seemed to have believed or advocated some pretty wild tales in their time. However, Jago’s suggestion that it once related to a well known tale , a discourse between a cock and a bull, may have something going for it. In Europe there is a genre of tales known as fox and bear stories, which deal with the supposed rivalries between foxes and bears, indeed it’s quite probably the Goldilocks and 3 bears nursery story started out this way a later writer deciding a little girl would be more appealing than a wily old fox (in the initial version she wasn’t blonde , a later writer still made that change). The earliest mention of Robin Hood come as asides, someone knows the tale of Robin Hood as any man, kind of thing, without saying what that tale was as their audience would know it all too well. Now today the ballads of Robin Hood survive but imagine if they didn’t and people used the phrase A Robin Hood Story to mean a tall story or for some other general context but no one knew why? Anyway, well done Jago for another episode with a vague railway connection, the more the merrier, now I wonder where that phrase originated?
@boohaka2 жыл бұрын
Oh Jago! You are excelling yourself. I love this, you’re brilliant!
@sempriestrhetoric38432 жыл бұрын
I liked this video. Very nicely done. I was discussing a possible idea for a thesis about coaching inns, and this video came up in the conversation.
@JonniePolyester Жыл бұрын
V. Good. I knew the tearoom wasnt in Penrith which you can tell straight away. Hobson’s Choice is another interesting phrase… I believe Hobson was an ostler at a coaching inn where fresh horses maybe hired. He would present you with whatever horse he felt like and as travellers were often in hurry to quibble it became a phrase that meant no choice at all. 😊
@GeorgeChoy2 жыл бұрын
I have relatives there, I need to check these two venues out when I next visit them.
@redmist58902 жыл бұрын
Are you sure it not all C & B, Keep up the good work !!
@sh87362 жыл бұрын
Stony Stratford is very near me mortified I didn’t see you filming in the high street! Surprised you didn’t visit Wolverton whilst you were here. You do have a brief shot opposite the pub the old school house of the local dance school which was the tram ticket office back in the day. I sadly can’t offer a lot of local historical insight as to whether the cock and bull story is true but have heard it many times. Do come and visit again I think you’d enjoy the Milton Keynes museum which I recall has an old tram and railway coaches 😊
@BillyNoMates19742 жыл бұрын
Are you going to cover 'the dogs bollocks' ? That has an interesting history from the printing press days
@DD-qq8sn2 жыл бұрын
I thought that was from Meccano - two standards of sets were Box Deluxe and Box Standard which were translated by young scamps to Dogs Bollocks and Bog Standard. What's your understanding of the printing press history? Sounds an interesting alternative
@thomasburke26832 жыл бұрын
Good heavens! And Jago afraid of trouble with KZbin for his mention of a hotel named after a poultry male.
@DD-qq8sn2 жыл бұрын
@@BillyNoMates1974 Interesting astuff Billy. The early bits really just say that the word bollocks goes back a long way, but the bit about printing presses really takes me back. At school, we had an old printing press that I was allowed to use during art classes, so a lot of the terms you use in your comment resonate. I remember picking type from the upper case and lower case, the upper case being a bit further to reach but that didn't matter as you didn't use capitals as much. I remember minding my 'p's and 'q's as the backwards p is identical to the right way round q and vice versa. I don't remember anything made out of dog leather though, that had probably stopped by the early 1980s and replaced with chamois or something. I think the Meccano sets allowed the phrase to come into popular use, but your history just shows the richness of the language and the fact that it is difficult to have a definitive 'this is where it is from', as other comments have suggested about the whole 'Cock and Bull' thing. If someone comes up with a really plausible explanation of where 'Cock and Bull' comes from, they might just be spinning a cock and bull story themselves....
@SFNightOwl2 жыл бұрын
Must say, your presentation style works wonderfully well with etymology. If you ever wanted to start another channel focusing on it I'd subscribe in a hot second. No bull.
@RJSRdg2 жыл бұрын
Stony Stratford was a station on the Revd Peter Denny's original "Buckingham Branch Line" - replaced by Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) in later versions.
@AJSAN19712 жыл бұрын
I've never heard Stony described as "delightful". I'll try to remember that next time I'm there.
@robclarkson2 жыл бұрын
Loved this one! And all filmed 10 minutes walk from my house! Watling Street is fascinating, it runs past the end of my garden and was a big factor in us choosing to move here. Jago, it strikes me as the sort of book you would already be aware of, but if you haven't yet come across John Higgs' 'Watling Street' then I highly recommend it.
@neilbain87362 жыл бұрын
An interesting deviation, a tale well told. Also, gallus means talkative. Now there must be a connection there somewhere. I don't know if gallus is a Scots word or not, but I always seem to hear Scots using it. It certainly backs up the notion that the value and strength of words are an outward part of character or programming and that you could therefore speak an entirely different language using entirely the same one. American and English are ideal candidates for this notion.
@SeverityOne2 жыл бұрын
Do you get a fine in Stony Stratford if you don't have the Union Jack outside, or were they celebrating "The Government Has Survived For Two Fortnights Day"? (Taking into account the delay between filming and publishing.)
@sh87362 жыл бұрын
Flags were left up along with bunting from the queens jubilee celebrations only recently taken down
@SeverityOne2 жыл бұрын
@@sh8736 Considering that she's no longer alive, that feels a little overdue.
@ArcAudios772 жыл бұрын
Excellent Sir, well put together. Regards from Scotland.
@jackiespeel63432 жыл бұрын
The Cross Keys pub - probably relates to a nearby past or present church dedicated to St Peter's Close to Highbury and Islington Station are The Cock Tavern and The Hen and Chickens Theatre Bar - perhaps the pairing is the base for another tale?
@camenbert58372 жыл бұрын
Cross Keys probably originally refers to the throne of st Peter, ie the pope
@SussexHistory2 жыл бұрын
I first heard the expression "A cock and bull story" when the Geography teacher used it in reference to a pupil who had not done his homework and could not provide a convincing explanation. You could get the cane for not completing school work in those days, so the pupil had an incentive to tell a "Cock and Bull Story"! Thanks for uploading.
@adrianrutterford7622 жыл бұрын
Wonderful stuff as ever. Thanks Mr H.
@RobinWootton2 жыл бұрын
3:18 The giant gold lettering across the façade is quite tasteful isn't it
@mryeti18872 жыл бұрын
My sister dumped me at The Crown in Stony Stratford for an hour or so last year while she was running errands. It was dark and I had no idea where I was. Now I know.
@Trek0012 жыл бұрын
Oh, Jago... I wondered how you would end and you did not disappoint with a little latin thrown in for good measure
@stepheneyles21982 жыл бұрын
yes that was impressive, wasn't it? :-D
@frankupton58212 жыл бұрын
Although it is almost completely irrelevant, when it comes to funny pub names, I should like to record that the Castle and Ball pub in Marlborough - another former coaching inn - is locally known as 'The Tower and Testicle'.
@JamesNagington2 жыл бұрын
I live in the new town of Telford made up of old towns such as Wellington (Shropshire). Watling St goes through Wellington and also on a busy junction of Watling St is the Cock Hotel!
@t.a.k.palfrey38822 жыл бұрын
"Where every brick tells a tail"?? This is a strange phrase to write on a board outside an inn. Was it the bull's tail or the cock's? We must get to the bottom of this!! 🙄🤭
@ianpatterson65522 жыл бұрын
Stony Stratford’s other claim to fame relates to the apprehension and detention thereafter of Edward V by the Uncle Richard of Gloucester in 1483.
@DavidShepheard2 жыл бұрын
I was expecting a story about a London Underground Station, called The Cock and Bull, that never got opened. 🤣
@cantliff92 жыл бұрын
Our town had a Cock Hotel. It was recently leveled and a new care home was built on the site.
@eliotreader82202 жыл бұрын
didn't realise Dickens had visited the pubs both look as if they have come straight out of his stories
@mr514062 жыл бұрын
An updated version of the expression would be a Fox and Sun story. 😜 Now you should go off and try to find a pub called the Shaggy Dog.
@ronwhitmill70682 жыл бұрын
Spent many a happy hour in the old George (GREAT KARAOKIE NIGHTS!!), as well as some time in the bars of Cock and bull... Most favourite moment was leading well over 50, yes FIFTY Raleigh choppers Through the arch of the Cock inn, out onto the high street and leading them, all strung out behind, straight up the road heading back towaRDS MKC.
@Russell_G2 жыл бұрын
Also spent many happy hours in the Old George (thanks for showing it BTW) playing in various bands, its a lovely pub and no mistake. The tale I heard re Cock and Bull is a slight variation in that the news the coachman would tell in one pub, was skewed somewhat by the consumption of ale by the time they got to the 2nd pub, with the disparity being referred to as a load of cock and bull.
@ronwhitmill70682 жыл бұрын
@@Russell_G Thats about what I heard too, but then, I also heard of the fact that both tales were abound at the same time. Coachmen bringing news, then going to the bull and skewing it, but also that each place tried to out-do each other with wild stories. Re: the Old Geaorge. I love the fact that the floor level is that of the original road level. Spent many hours sitting in the windows or "out back" in the "patio" area, those Creaky stairs and the small space for the toilets upstairs only add to the charm, have to watch your head when using the stairs though! Kardamon lounge opposite and slightly up the road is great and there is a "decent enough" chippy close by as well.
@qwertyTRiG2 жыл бұрын
Etymology and history! Awesome stuff.
@tenalafel2 жыл бұрын
Just to clarify... the French expression Sauter/Passer du Coq à l'Ane ( jump from the cock to the donkey ) is not related in any way to Cock & Bull stories. Sauter du Coq à l'Ane means moving from one topic to another that is in no way related to the previous topic without any transition. Usually it's done by somebody that got cornered during a discussion to get people moving on to another topic, or to deflect a discussion on a topic they would prefer not talk about into another topic. Now I have to say that it's a bit like trying to explain to a French what Being Sent to Coventry means for a British. ( been there done that, I'm not certain half those I explained it understood )
@iankemp11312 жыл бұрын
Interesting. Though sometimes, a cocksure person ends up looking a total ass. Probably not the etymology, but it's a nice coincidence.
@the-real-iandavid2 жыл бұрын
We have a similar term in English for that. It's called "poly-tish-an"! 🤣🤣
@burprobrox91342 жыл бұрын
Beautiful little hamlet
@sams30152 жыл бұрын
I enjoyed this, I loved hearing about coaching inns and stuff
@stephenpegum97762 жыл бұрын
A very interesting divergence from your normal transport-related fare Jago - cheers 🍺🍺
@stepheneyles21982 жыл бұрын
"Don't forget to be awesome" says the sign at the end!! Certainly an awesome tale, we don't really worry about the true origins of the phrase, we just enjoy watching awesome videos by our fav KZbinr! ;-))
@pullformore2 жыл бұрын
Yes, all very interesting BUT WHICH PUB SERVES THE BEST ALE?!? I feel this is a hole in your research! 😀
@fuzzylon2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for an interesting video. You get bonus stalker points for this one! My mother lived in Stony Stratford for part of her childhood.
@timsully89582 жыл бұрын
What amazes me is that the fella coming out of Cox and Robinson was so distracted when crossing (perhaps by the sudden appearance of the grey dude with the hat) the road that he caused the driver to brake smartly…but did he learn? Oh no! Same scenario at the end…and it happened again! 🤷🏻♂️ What are the odds? 🤔 I don’t know how but you always seem to throw in a three or four word phrase that makes me do a sort of inner smug intellectual guffaw. In this case, “Paging Mr Aesop” caused said effect 🐋 🦊 🦫 🐻 🦅 🦔 🐢 🐇 🐓 🐮 😅😅😅 This is certainly one of those conundrums which throws up a great degree of supposition and wonder. It’s also one of those things that rather odious people will swallow whole in order to sound interesting and doubtless get shorty if you dare to question the solidity of the evidence of their assertions. I am sure we all know a few of them: they’ll be the ones who bring up a subject like Jack the Ripper at a party when everyone was quite happy discussing the documentary they saw on Victorian pottery the previous evening 🤣😂😅 I think that in fairness there is merit in most of the suggestions as to the origin of the phrase, but since one could surely never truly get a definitive answer, let’s allow Stoney Stratford this little gem. Let’s face it, we’re at a stage where most people below 30 have sod all idea about Withnail & I, let alone comprehend the relevance of “Monty, you terrible c***!”, so perhaps this is a more likely longer lasting legacy for it to cling to in its attempts to distance itself from the coma-inducing mundanity of being seen as just a part of Milto Key…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
@sevenowls77762 жыл бұрын
And out of the blue comes a time-tunnel journey... The story of cock-and-bull I was told in Stony Stratford 30 years ago when I went there for a course on Yourdon SASD. Cheers Jago!
@knuckles12062 жыл бұрын
I'm convinced that james may is infact not from bristol but rather milton keynes, and that CBT was invented there.
@LarryJohnVA2 жыл бұрын
Milton Keynes?! Why, yes, Milton Keynes! ;-)
@AFCManUk2 жыл бұрын
"...'Strat' meaning 'Street', and 'Ford' meaning 'River Crossing'...." The 'Stony' bit, I would assume, refers to the state of those roads!!
@stephenbrasher2 жыл бұрын
There is an English folk story called "The Bull, the Tup (sheep), the Cock and the Steg (gander)". Sort of similar to the Musicians of Bremen.
@rainyfeathers91482 жыл бұрын
I love these little history lessons😃👂🏾.
@kidmohair81512 жыл бұрын
the mighty and all prescient wiki-o-pedia is fully on your side Mr Hazzard...
@ThePlayerToBeNamedLater2 жыл бұрын
YTs automatic subtitles don't show the word 'cock"!!!
@JagoHazzard2 жыл бұрын
Ha, brilliant!
@tsungiraichiramba2 жыл бұрын
Brilliant as always Jago
@anthonytull1611 Жыл бұрын
it could be that stories get more exaggerated as customers go from one inn to another and then back to the first.
@keatiki52542 жыл бұрын
Nah... "Cock and bull" is derived from a misunderstood 16th Century Dutch/Flemish phrase "kok ende boel" meaning "cook and mess", referring to Jan Vandepypersele-Werbroeck, cook at the dukes of Burgondy's court in Brussels and who was such messy person that on an evening he mixed chocolate, milk and sugar, heated this with hazelnuts and produced a bar of Côte d'Or chocalate. Dare me ! 😉😁🍫
@iangriffiths98402 жыл бұрын
Thank you for all your videos. Perhaps you could pull the other one!
@iankr2 жыл бұрын
Love the Withnail And I script parody. Oh, and the rest of the video.
@johnjephcote76362 жыл бұрын
A cock and a bull is also so spelled in W S Gilbert's 'Mikado'.
@maifantasia36502 жыл бұрын
I'm wondering at which of the inns a coach would stop for the full complement of geriatric shoe makers to alight. Or, as some might say, 'a load of old cobblers.' I'll get my coat . . . Regardles of the topic you cover, love your research, your wit and your productions. Edit to correct the spelling of 'complement.'
@1963archer2 жыл бұрын
Ah yes. Good old Stony Stratford. I do miss it so.
@PabloBD2 жыл бұрын
More farm animal stories, please
@MrBillmcminn2 жыл бұрын
Were you hinting that your video about the Northeastern terminus of the Piccadilly Line was demonetized?
@JagoHazzard2 жыл бұрын
No, but the KZbin bots are subtle and quick to anger. You never know what’s going to incur their wrath.