17/09/2009 by admin.

Page 184 of our novel recalls a discussion in the White Horse pub about Ben’s role as Earth Champion. Our anti-hero, Bill Darvill teases Ben and belittles the threat posed by climate change,

“I don’t get all this fuss about the polar bear. If the ice is melting in the Arctic then why not ship them south to the Antarctic.” In response Jonas Fosbrooke defends Ben saying, “Or to a greatly expanded Museum of Natural History… alongside the Dodo… and the countless others on the endangered list.”

So it comes as no surprise to us that the Museum has expanded - with Prince William opening a new £78m Darwin centre known as the cocoon - housing 17 million insect specimens and 3 million plant specimens. 

The centre also hosts a Climate Change Wall, which educates the public about the subject.  Yet more coincidences to serve as timely reminders on the need to preserve our living planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNhwLe8hSfQ

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death? | No Comments »

02/07/2009 by admin.

Footage has been released of Michael Jackson in rehersal for the ‘This is It’ tour. 

The video which - was his last ever performance  -has a poignant haunting edge to it given the unexpected death of the pop icon.  We wonder did the King of Pop unwittingly leave a timely reminder to all of humanity?  Why so? Well, the performance concludes with the superstar and his fellow dancers revealing the same palm signal to that recorded in Royston Cave and explored by Charles Lamb in his journal.   The hands are also mentioned by ‘The Emperor’ as a clear warning about our treatment of this planet: Stop! Stop! Stop!

Here’s the link to the footage…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8131776.stm

And here’s a picture of Royston Cave with the hand prints.

One of Michael’s hits was ‘Earth Song’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOnL5c8LMqM&feature=related

In his words, “Did you ever stop to notice this crying Earth is weeping sure.”

R.I.P Michael - We love you!

Posted in Q61 Have you ever worn fancy dress?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

24/01/2009 by admin.

An exhibition at Leicester Museum launched today and tells the story of polar bears, the largest land predators on Earth, and their journey to the museums and stately homes of Britain.  Titled, Nanoq - Inuit for Polar Bear - its a visual art display. Between 2002 and 2004 artists Bryndis Snaebjorndottir and Mark Wilson carried out a study of taxidermied polar bears in the UK.  33 bears were traced and photographed in situ.  The research forms the photographic exhibition and documents the history of each bear; its captivity and age at death.

The touring exhibition runs until 5 April.  It has previously exhibited at the University of Iceland, the Horniman Museum and the Fram Museum, Oslo. Nanoq also featured as part of HEAT: Art and Climate Change in Melbourne.

We’re still tickled that they identified 33 polar bears, given the significance of number 3 in our tale!

Posted in Star Question - what happened to the blue ribbon?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

21/12/2008 by admin.

Our readers will be aware of the significance of the X Factor poser in our narration. Well, the saga continues for the winner of this year’s contest Alexandra Burke now tops the pop tree with her powerful cover version of the song, Hallelujah.  The version has two fewer verses than the original and includes a key change.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=wAaw6VWpk4A

Alexandra’s closely followed in the charts by a more sombre but much acclaimed version by Jeff Buckley, first released in 1984.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=AratTMGrHaQ

It;s the first time in 51 years that the same song has occupied the top two positions in the UK pop charts - and the first time ever at Christmas.

A remarkable trinity of the song’s presence in the Top 40 is completed by Leonard Cohen’s original version, released in 1984.

We wonder whether the trilogy represents Art, Love and Nature?  Is it a call to arms from God - afterall the Hebrew meaning of the word Hallelujah is a request for a congreation to join in praise (of a divine force’s influence on The Haymaker’s Survey)?

FACE IN THE CLOUDS

Our novel recalls how Caleb Hitch reminded Ben Whittenbury of the likelihood of an encounter with supernatural forces on the Winter Solstice - the shortest day - in the run up to his ghostly encounter with Queen Caroline that fateful night in 2006.  How strange that 3 years later we should unwittingly capture a strange face in the clouds at sunset on this Winter Solstice?  Its almost as though Mother Nature was trying to provide some evidence for the doubting public of the credibility of this project.  Here take a look at the video which we’ve produced…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WouBKSCm8&feature=channel_page

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

22/09/2008 by admin.

Summer? What summer? The season officially ended yesterday - in an ironic blaze of sunshine.  But the warm weather could not save this year’s summer from a place in the worst top ten on record. There was 14 inches of rain and 464 hourse of sunshine - 7% less than the average.  As mentioned earlier on our ‘Watch’ August was a particularly gloomy month.  The poor weather was blamed on a jet-stream of fast winds high over Britain which blocked warm weather arriving from Southern Europe.  All very interesting given Mary Shelley’s role in our story and the reference to ‘A year without a summer’ which led to her writing the famous Frankenstien story.

Meanwhile, the number of fake £1 coins in circulation has doubled over the past 5 years, and now stands at nearly 30 million.  A Survey conducted by the Royal Mint revealed some 2% of £1 coins are now fake.  There are ways to tell a forgery from the real thing, you just need to know what you’re looking for. This curious to us given our discovery of coins from the Maundy Ceremony and Julia’s observation, “Are the coins genuine?’ Coincidence?

And finally, habitat loss is contributing to the worldwide decline of populations of common birds, with Birdlife International reporting fa fall in numbers of 45% of Europe’s common birds.  Farmland birds were the worst affected with the number of European Turtle Doves falling by 79%.  The study shows that environmental degregation is having a major impact, not just on birds but on bio-diversity in general.  Readers may recall how Emma Isola and Ralph Emerson sing a lament to the newly weds, Captain Lewin and Lady Katharine on Christmas Eve, which is all about two Turtle Doves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCB4-JWZ1kQ&feature=related

Posted in Q65 Have you ever wished you could fly?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q28 Have you ever lived in poverty?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

24/07/2008 by admin.

A woman from West Yorkshire has revealed how her £1.2million Lotto win followed a good omen from her deceased father involving mysterious white bird feathers.  Mrs Crossland found a white feather on her doorstep after his death two years ago and saw it as a gift from him.  Just days before her emotional jackpot win, showers of them began appearing in her garden.  The origin of the feathers is a mystery. “My win must have been fate,” added Mrs Crossland, who won with her father’s cherished number line a day after her 44th birthday.   

This is most curious given the role played by a white feather in our story! Has ‘The Haymakers Survey’ hit the jackpot - an ecological message for all humankind?

Meanwhile in Japan, Ichero a 42 year old chimpanzee, climbed on to the roof of his enclosure to cool down during a heatwave.  Zoo staff tried to coax him down and at one point he grabbed a tranquilizer gun.  Following on the heels of the Trafalgar Square sleep-in, was the chimp trying to issue a wake-up call to humanity? After all, we share 95% of our genes with a chimpanzee. Here’s the video…

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9e_1216810602

Posted in Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate? | No Comments »

19/04/2008 by admin.

The Hammer horror star, Hazel Court, has died of a heart attack, aged 82. She was known as the Queen of Scream, because of her loud and bloody roles in a handful of films created by a monster cult following.  Among her original fans was the writer, Stephen King, who once said, “Who could ask for more?” when describing the thrill of meeting her.  Hazel starred in such films as The Raven, The Man Who could Cheat Death and The Curse of Frankenstien. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTaj3rLPd68

Many regarded her as very much of the English rose generation. Here’s an iconic image:

Hazel took the screaming seriously, “One can’t just scream,” she said in 2000. “To give a good scream one has to take an enormous breath, and such one’s stomach in, and fill one’s lungs and let go.”

This as a study by the UK Noise Association reveals that noise pollution in Britain has doubled since the 1960s.  People are often woken at night by the piercing scream of a car alarm, the wail of an emergency vehicle whizzing passed, or the bleep of a mobile phone with a low battery!  The hum of traffic is rarely far away and our skies echo to the sound of planes and helicopters.  At work, the low drone of the computer hard drive is inescapable.  Walk into a store and we’re often greeted by piped music! Complaints about anti-social levels of noise have soared, as many flats and apartments have poor sound insulation.  Now, what was it Sir Peter Scott said to Sarah about his hearing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrfZpVYrbdM

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Q44 Is there anything worse than a fly at night?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost? | No Comments »

14/01/2008 by admin.

Photographs of fluffy white clouds in blue skies have helped wipe out vandalism in an area previously plagued by the problem.  The pictures were screwed over windows of the Lion and Unicorn pub in Brighton and created the illusion of a pleasant day. The images are thought to have a ‘calming effect’ on troublemakers.  We wonder, did the clouds include a single rose by chance?

A dead heart has successfully been rebuilt in a lab and made to beat again. US scientists took rat and pig hearts and stripped them of their cells, leaving nothing blood vessels, values and connective tissues. These remnants were then used as ’scaffolds’ to which immature cells from newborn rat hearts were added. The organ began to pump again shortly afterwards! Does this mean we are about to witness a renaissance in the 3 hearts so dear to Charles Lamb - love, art and nature?  

A graffiti painting on a wall in London’s famous Portabello Road by the reclusive artist Banksy has sold by auction for £200,000 on the internet.  The image is here… It shows an artist in old fashioned clothing - George Stubbs perhaps!

What’s more, we think there’s a hidden message here - doesn’t the B in Banksy look more like a heart! Maybe Banksy is really a Haymaker at heart! If you see this Banksy we request a work on behalf of the Blakesware Set please!

Posted in Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q11 Do you believe in justice?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

29/10/2007 by admin.

Readers of ‘The Haymakers Survey’ will be aware of the link between the Oasis song, ‘Wonderwall’ and the medieval carvings at Royston cave.  They’ll also know how much of a Beatles fan Ben Whittenbury is. Well his favourite Beatle was John Lennon.  So, isn’t it strange that Liam Gallagher the ‘Wonderwall’ singer claims to have seen an apparition of his idol. He said, “I was… having a sleep. I remember getting up and feeling really weird. I turned around and there I was lying on the bed, and I sort of fell back into my body. There was a presence there, it was him, Lennon!” He added, “Some might say I imagined it!”  This prompted Ben to take a fresh look at John Lennon’s haunting video for ‘Imagine’. 

After everything we’ve experienced the sillouhetted figures in the opening scenes of, ‘Imagine’ seem quite incredible.   You have to read our book to understand all of this, but the past has caught up with the future! Amazing!

Posted in Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q16 Have you ever had a psychic experience?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost? | Comments Off

05/08/2007 by admin.

Just a week or so since the slaughter of Shambo, the sacred cow, an outbreak of “Foot and Mouth” disease has hit England. This is potentially catastrophic for farmers and animals alike – in 2001 some 10 million animals were slaughtered to eradicate the infection.  We’re not here to make any religious claims, or point people towards one religion or another or any of that kind – no- and feel we can best emphasise this by reference to a crop circle that appeared on 25 July near the West Kennett Long Barrow. It shows a triple faith crop; the cross of Christianity; the Hebrew Star of David; and the crescent moon of the Muslim faith. This proves to us that the people of the world – of all faiths or beliefs – need to unite to save our world. Hey you – are you ready to make it happen?  Questions 1 and 33

Posted in Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »