Saturday, November 24, 2012

Photo Quiz



Where?

When?

Who?

Why is this site historically significant?

What does this all have to do with the history of computers?


13 comments:

Chris Partridge said...

Herne Hill Velodrome
1930
Nippies
It's the only 1948 Olympic venue still in use (legacy!!!)
Much later, Lyons commissioned the world's first commercial computer, LEO.
Aythangyou.

Anonymous said...

Herne Hill Velodrome
June 1930
Lyon's tea shop waitresses
What he said
What he said

Tillerman said...

Well done Chris and Mitch.

Good to see someone other than O Docker getting one of these quizzes right.

Chris Partridge said...

He's not the only one who can drive the Google...

Tillerman said...

LOL Chris. I thought you had cycled yourself at the Velodrome in the 1930s and dated a Nippy.

O Docker said...

This is a sexist, exploitative photo of Lyons tea shop waitresses and I'll not be a part of any competition that furthers such abuse.

I must be reading too much at Something About Rowing.

Tillerman said...

Quite right O Docker. It's only a short step (and about 80 years) from this photo to Victoria Pendleton being photographed riding a bike in the nude. Totally sexist and exploitative. Personally I intend to protest by never riding at the Velodrome ever again. That should stop this nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Where do you guys find this stuff? Yeesh…

Tillerman said...

I came across this photo because I started following Anna Railton's blog Something About Rowing a few months back. Her Rowing - The Rules was the inspiration for my own post Laser Sailing - The Rules. So then I started following her twitter feed. Lately she has been more into cycling than rowing and she posted a link on twitter to a picture of penny farthing racing at Herne Hill. I was intrigued so I googled Herne Hill Velodrome and found an article (on the Guardian website I think) which had a lot of old pictures of cycling at the velodrome. I liked this one the best!

Yeah, yeah, yeah - too much time on my hands and blah blah blah.

O Docker said...

I'm intrigued by how people solve puzzles as much as by the solutions themselves sometimes (I never would have solved this one).

After reading up on the Herne Hill velodrome, it occurs to me that any Londoner would probably recognize it, as it's been a fixture there for over 120 years. Its low banking is unique for modern velodromes, and it was lower in 1930 when this photo was taken, allowing spectators to watch the action from outside the track by peering over the edge.

Also, it's been in the news in recent years after a fight to save it from extinction. English Tour de France winner (that phrase will just never sound right) Bradley Wiggins was apparently involved in the revival effort.

And I've also learned that Nippies are an iconic fixture of English culture - another clue that probably helped Chris solve the riddle. It's amzing the things you can learn reading sailing blogs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - too much time on my hands and blah blah blah.


Pat said...

So I learned that Margaret Thatcher wasn't a Nippy even though she was with Lyons.

bonnie said...

er...what's a nippy?

Tillerman said...

According to Wikipedia, "A nippy was a specific type of waitress associated with the J. Lyons & Co brand of tea, and its tea shops and cafes in the UK. Beginning in the late 19th century, a J. Lyons waitress was called a "Gladys". From 1926, because the waitresses nipped around the tea shops (that is, they were nippy) the term "Nippy" came into use. The etymology of the word is similar to the more American term "soda jerk". Nippies wore a distinctive maidlike uniform with a matching hat."

According to Chris, the ladies on the bikes were nippies. I wouldn't know. I am way too young to remember, and in any case I don't think they had the Lyons tea shops in my part of the country. Apparently they were the Starbucks of their time although, somewhat surprisingly, they didn't offer free WiFi.

And Margaret Thatcher wasn't a "Gladys" either. She was (and still is) a "Hilda."

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