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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-05-12, Page 2Some Odd Jobs At The Royal Palace Staid British court officials were startled when a recent Honours List announced the *ward of a silver medal to the ;Queen's Yeoman Bed Goer, Most people had forgotten that Ouch an attendant existed, let +Rione that he could win the 14oya1 Victorian Medal, awarded for meritorious personal services to the Sovereign. Believe it or not there are four Yeomen Bed Goers to-day—and four Yeomen Bed Hangers! The office dates back to the days when Yeomen of the Guard fetched straw for the King's bed and jumped up and down on it until it was settled arid comfort - Cele. The Yeomen hangers had to hang the canopy and make sure no intruder was hiding within the folds. The Yeomen were at- tendants personally responsible for the monarch's safety. Nowa- slays their duties are chiefly eeremonial, but a small gratuity and a decoration is usually giv to honour each veteran's retire- unent. Many more people were sure Prised when the sudden death of a Clarence House office worker focussed . attention on the little• 9cnown,du; es of Coroner to the Quee iisehold. kIa • s+ e is seldom called on to held—inquests on "bodies ly- ing within the limits of the ;Queen's palaces," to quote his stately writ of office. Yet, just to make matters more difficult, there is also a Queen's Coroner whose job has nothing to do with inquests. He is a legal official, mainly concerned with keeping the an- cient documentary records of the Crown. And he in turn is not to be confused with the Keeper of the Queen's Archives; who flakes care of all the Queen's pri- vate papers filed at Windsor. The Royal Household has been thoroughly modernized in recent years, but even in 1960 over 400 officials are still attached to the Court in such roles as the Gen- tleman Usher to the Sword of State, the Hereditary Grand Al- moner and the Clerk of the Cheque. Many of these posts are vol- untary and unpaid. Yet the strength of the Gentlemen -at - Arms had to be reduced not long Ago because the royal purse could not afford £70 a year "Gentleman's pay" on top of Army pay. Not long ago an ambitious young amateur actor wrote to the Lord Chamberlain pointing eut that it was some 300 years since the last court jester died. He asked whether the job could be revived in his favour. Sadly, be had to be told that there was not the slightest possibility of A new appointment ever being made! But John Masefield, Poet La- ureate, still receives his annual cheque for £72. In the past eight years he has also received £216 in lieu of the wine formerly al- lowed to rotval poets to encour- rlge inspiration. A Royal Bargemaster, too, was appointed for the present reign, though his duties have altered strangely, The last of the great state barges was given away to * museum. It is forty years since the eight Queen's Water - men, resplendent in scarlet coats, propelled the gilded craft known es the Queen's Shallop down the Thames. The Bargemaster used to es- cort the State Crown from the Tower of London to Westminster by river, Now the Crown travels by road, but he still se - companies it whenever it is used for the State Opening of Parlia- ment, As Barge -master, Bert Barry— former sculling champion — sometimes assisted Fred Turk, the Queen's Swan Master. A few weeks ago he was retired, to make way for a younger man. All the swans in England were declared royal birds during the reign of Elizabeth I. Licences to own swans were subsequently issued to the Vintners' and Dy- ers' companies. All young cygnets have to be rounded up and marked each year, only the Queen's swans be- ing left unmarked. The ancient task of the Roygl Swat -master, in -fact, ensures revenue for the Crown . , . thanks to the brisk trade in surplus swans as tasty banquet dishes. The Chief of the Board of Green Cloth—the Duke of Ham- ilton—'recommends" on the re- newal of licences for four public houses within the boundaries of the Royal Palace of Westminster, teehettcally Within the Queen's domain • ' The %oi'4.. Chamberlain is a CdneWsleal, and the Queen aletiteteketeltpay the fees of a WelesSeialeilen who censors all new plays written in Welsh. In Scotland, the post of Queen's Painter end Limner Iles been revived. Traditionaly he is supposed to draw or paint pic- tures to adorn the royal palaces,. but one "Court painter" was a bishop who knew little of art and another spent his time draw- ing scenes of war and battle, Just before the Coronation, scores of people tried to revive the rituals that once surrounded the monarch. A Surrey farmer sought to prove his right to be- come Chief Waferer—whose job was .to put the sealing wax on royal letters. The hereditary Grand Carver of Scotland and the Chief Lard- erer both hoped that they might help in a Coronation feast. These suggestions were taken seriously and a special tribunal, the Court of Claims, was set up to decide whether these tradi- tional rights should be upheld. The Duke of Liverpool claim- ed that his niece should be Chief Herbstrewer, and the ownership, of a piece of land near Steven- age had to be questioned to de- cide whether anyone could act as Queen's Cup -bearer. A descendant of the King's Cock-crower — who used to "crow" to awake King George III—swore hia willingnese to act as It human alarm -clock. From Scotland the great-grandchildren of Ben MacGrigor asserted their right to fasten the laces er' buck- les of the Queen's shoes, Old Ben, A Balmoral gillie, always performed this service for Queen Victoria during High- land picnics and was allowed five shillings a day for the ser- vice. When the Queen ceased to visit the Highlands, this sum be- came a pension for life. Fortunately for the Queen few of the "odd job" claimantswere successful. The Queen still has four Yeomen Bed Goers but she dispenses with a Taster of the Queen's Wine and no longer needs a Hereditary Poulterer to ensure chicken for dinner where - ever site goes. !LILIES OF THE FIELD — Loretta Stephens is surrounded by Easier tures in H:. " , 1, &srmucfo, 14EXT WITNESS — Mrs. Rita Sakes and daughter acre ,doing fine. The child wee born in e Chicago, III., courtroom where the father was being erreipnecl for burglary, 'ABLE TALKS IE you wish to make use .af left -over baeon fat and 'want to make certain that no bacon fla- vour is transferred to the finish- ed product, heat the fah in q kettle and fry slices of raw pota- toes in it. The potatoes should be slieed.into the cold tat, which io then heated 'gradually until the slices of potato are well browned. Remove them to some absorbent paper, and, If you like, sprinkle them with salt: ,they can be discarded, at course,but they will make good nibbling. The remaining fat in the ket- tle will then be free.from odours and can be used es' freely es you would use any tad, for the po- tatoes will have absorbed the bacon flavour. The same pro- cess can be used to free lard or any fait of the cooking odours from onions, fish, or other recent foods. * * * Baked ham, always popular, may look the sant* year atter year, but you can change your garnish and your glaze to give. it a new look and a new taste too. The glaze, AA you know, is some glassy coating spread over Over the fat side of the ham after it has been almost cooked, peeled, and acorad. The ham is then returned to the oven to finish cooking. A simple and easy giese ias. made ca gifted brown augur and honey. Just tilt the ham that le ready for the glaze and silt the brown sugar over it In a uni- form coating. Using a spoon, drizzle honey over the sugar. Return the hart to a 400 degree F. oven to melt the sugar and brown the glaze. It is permis- sible and wise to peek at your ham to gee if any spots on it need a little more honey to give it a uniform brown. Fifteen minutes should do the brown- ing. . A few glazes that require 45 minutes use prepared mustard for an ingredient - and glazes with the tang of mustard are widely popular. If you like mus- tard, try one of these: Combine 1 sup apple butter with ei cup prepared mustard. That's all. ' Or, substitute either whole cranberry sauce or apricot pured for the apple butter, Or, if you like that added subtle taste of molasses on harm, combine =/s cup unsulphured mo- lasses with 4 cup prepared mus- tard and then add '/ti teaspoon Tabasco sauce. Be sure to use a large platter, if you intend to surround your ham with s. colourful garnish -- this prevents the decorations from interfering wibh the carv- ing. One of the simplest garnishee 1 know about is spineapplo chunks and Maraschino cherries on a toothpick. Arrange these around the ham .alternately with sprigs of green cress or parsley, and serve garnishes with each serving of ham, writes Eleanor Richey Johnston in the Christian Science Monitor, There ate several ways in which hard -cooked eggs may be used to wreath a baked haat. (1) Shell them and dip in water coloured with a few drops of food colouring: then trim cuff part of the tinted white to ex pose the yolk at one end—your imagination will make a flower out of each egg when you have Sten -ivied it with sprigs of cress. (2) Cut tinted hard -cooked eggs in half, remove yolk, and devil them in your favourite way: re- fill eggs and serve en crisp let• •tuce leaves ereund ham. (31 Cut tinted eggs in half eros: ways and eut off the ends; slancd them up like flowerpots with •tiny artificial tulips, jonquils. and narcissus in them. • if you ere ,`lever with the scissors, you can make flowers af'raw turnips for your garnish. Cut thin slices of the vegetable crosswise and, with a sharp knife, trim each slice into 4 petal' shapes. Tint some of the slices e pale pink. Draw a tiny eprlg of parsley through the center of the 'dower" — it becomes the flower centre on top and the stem on the bottom. Or, using yellow turnips, cut slices . as above and then cut each slice into several petals; arrange them around the ham with a ripe oliveinside each to make the centre of the flower. Ar- range ceese between the flowers. * # * of you are a beginning home- maker, you may want to study eons 'sianple rules for using the ham that is left atter the first day. Ham is, the' very best and easiest meat to use as a founda- tion far such dishes. Hem goes well with many other foods — and, if you wrap and chill the ham it 'keeps 'in the refrigerator for aver a week (you may freeze it to keep it longer, if you wish), Here are a few rules — don't serve the. memo leftover meat every day, skip a day or two between serv- ing it. Don't make too big e leftover dish, or you may have a leftover leftovers; Don't nae any leftover meat In the same, type of dish twice. Don't grind all your leftover ham — slice Dome, dice some, sliver some; that use it for different dishes, Remember, salads, Sandwiches, ,and even soaps may be improved 'teeth ham. HAM PIE COMBINATIONS Cleans your harp to make e. pie — that is, cube it and put it in a white sauce or in celery or cream - of - mushroom soup; then put anequal amount of creamed ham and cooked mild vegetables such as peas, celery end diced potatoes in a casser- ole. Top with mashed potatoes and bake. Or, if you like a bis- cuit crust, heat the ham -vege- table mixture and top with bis- cuits and bake at 425 degrees F. * * .N If you want a quickie dish that's really good, try this sour cream topping on harm patties, HAM PATTIES WITH SOUR CREAM 8 cups ground cooked ham 1 teaspoon minced green onion to cup soft bread crumbs let cup milk 1 egg, beaten slightly Dash pepper ljj cup sour cream Combine all ingredients ex- cept sour cream, mixing lightly. Television In The Holy Land Slowly the eeatnera looks ahead down the narrow empti- ness of the legendary Via Dolo- rosa in Jerusalem. It pauses and focuses on a worn spot among the ancient cobblestones. A quiet voice explains: "This is where they say Jesus — weaken- ed beyond endurance from the scourging he had received at the hands of the soldiers swayed under the weight of the cross and fell for the first time." Then, the camera moves on down the Street oe Sorrow, through the timeworn gate, and on to the hill, called Calvary. In scenes like this, the settings of the Easter story — from the entrance into Jerusalem and the vigil in Gethsemane to the agony of the Crucifixion and the glory of the . Resurrection — was shown by NBC recently. Beau- tifully photographed, poetically written, "Way of the Cross" uses no actors an does not need then. The latest of NBC's "World Wide 60" documentaries, the program is the rather extra- ordinary product of a long-dist- ance collabroation between pro- ducer Louis Hazam, who wrote the' script In New York, and his associate, Itay Garner, who di- rected the filming in Jordan, Not having had enough time to produce a working script be- fore the production crew de- parted for its two months of shooting on location, Hazam sent the script piece by piece at it came out of his typewriter, "First, we used airmail letters, and then cablegrams," he re- called last month. "However, this got to be too expensive, so we resorted to a Biblical code. I knew Ray would soon be on his way home when I got a cable from him last month which read; "Second Epistle John, 12'" As a result of his research, 49 - year -old Hazam became a Bibli- cal expert of a sort. The only trouble was that the more he dug into the subject the more he dis- covered how much the scholars didn't know. "For instance, Gar- ner couldn't flnd the house where the Last Supper had taken place," he said. "There is also no record in the Bible of what happened on Wednesday of Holy Week — absolutely none." The short, baldish Hazam, who Shape mixture into six patties and brown on both sides in shal- low fat in moderately hot skillet, Remove patties to hot platter and top with the sour cream whish you have heated .slightly. Serve a few ohopped onion tops on cream. Serves :4. 5 5 * Make your lettovens artistic ,by placing in centre of a round chop :plate a dish of mustard sauce and surround the dish with green parsley sprigs. Put individual haari loaves around this in spokelike fashion. INDIVIDUAL HAM LOAVES WITH MUSTARD SAUCE g cups ground cooked ham le cup each, chopped green pepper and chopped onion 1 cup fresh bread crumbs zip cup milk Combine ingredients and make into 7 small oblong loaves..Place loaves in shallow pan and bake uncovered for 30 .minutes at 325 degrees•1., MUSTARD SAUCE 2 eggs 2 teaspoons dry mustard les teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons vinegar rk cup butter ee cup milk Beat' eggs until thick; add all ingredients except milk. Cook in top of double boiler until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add milk gradually, beating all the time. Continue .beating until smooth. Makes 1 cup sauce, is of Lebanese descent and was reared as a Roman Catholic (It* now attends his wife's Congre- gational Church in Silver Spring, Md.), commented on the enter- prise: "Nowadays you can scarcely see Raster for the bun- nies. I wanted something un- usual, something artistic. I think this en exciting story, If others don't agree, then the show could lay the biggest egg anyone has ever seen. ToShave .,.Or Not To Sheave ! To shave or not to shave? That was the question last month Af- ter razor-sharp swimmers trim- med twelve U.S. records during the national Amateur Athietia Union championships at Yale. What set off the debate was the disclosure by John McGill that be had shaved all the hair off his legs, arms, and chest before win- ning the 200 -yard individual medley in 2:03.3, three seconds below the listed American rec- ord and eight seconds faster than McGill had done before. "The 'only possible answer for McGill's- sudden improvement," said swimming coaeh Phil Mori- arty of Yale, "lies ,in the fact that he shaved the hair off his body (and cut down water re- sistance)," Had McGill discovered a sec- ret Weapon that would help U.S, Olympic swimmers this summer? Probably not, Several Australian swimmers shaved their bodies during the 1956 Olympic Gaines in Melbourne and at Rome this summer the Ausies will again be shorn. "At first," Moriarty said, "1 thought it was all psychological, But I'm iinpressed now. I have never seen a case where there wasn't a tremendous improve- ment after shaving." Experts in the hydrodynamics laboratory at Stevens Institute of Technology backed up Moriar- ty's impression. "I'm not posi- tive," said one fluid dynamleist, "but I'd guess that shaving or not shaving could make as much as 5 per cent difference in swimming time." The scientist paused. "Of course," he said. "it would depend on how hairy the swimmer was to start with." These People Know Their Onions An expert onion grower in Spain has been trying to find out where onions originated. He's well on the scent when he says that he thinks it must have been Egypt, although onions have been cultivated in many countries from time immemorial. The ancient Egyptians certain- ly ate onions and used the onion as an .emblem on their tombs. They became so fond of one species of onion that they ac- corded it divine honours. But if you want to know your ,onions nowadays, go to any oe the Mediterranean countries. The warm climate increases the su- gar or rather the sweet sacchar- ine content in the bulb and se lessens the strong acidic taste so typical of species of onions grown elsewhere. Housewives, of course, think it a crying shame that onions make their eyes water, but experts say they don't really do this. "They merely increase the normal flow of tears over the eyeball," we're told. 'The tear ducts, in our eyelids are con- stantly sending cleansing liquid to clean our eyes and that is why we blink. The onion con- tains a white, acrid, volatile oil which attacks the nerves of our noses and eyes. This stimu- lates the tear ducts — hence those tears!" Some years, ago a Californian gardener claimed that he had produced an odourless onion. ISSUE 18 — 1960 FINE WEATHER FOR (ARMY) DUCKS - Three little flood refugees - Joni, 4; David, 3, and Cathy Vence, 2 - find warmth in Army blankets and protection in an amphibious duck. A rescue team of soldiers pulled them end their parents from fiood•ihreatoned ground in aptly named Venice, Nets, They're representative of Spring•fiood refugees all over the eastern 1.1.5,