M&D - Chapter 16 - Cheese Rolling
Johnny Marr
marrja at gmail.com
Tue Mar 24 14:33:39 CDT 2015
Just as a follow up - any cheese lovers on the Plist? I'm uncertain just
how much of the Great Octuple is TRP's flight of fancy.
I'm a Red Leicester man myself. Bit bland, but I've never taken to blues.
On Tuesday, March 24, 2015, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
> "'Twas at the annual cheese-rolling at the parish church in Randwick, a
> few miles the other side of Stroud"
>
> Cheese Rolling at Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, 2014.
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmnjHu4PwGc>
>
> A tradition so ridiculous, even TRP couldn't have made it up - although
> he's certainly capable of embellishing it. Our friend Wiki Pedia tells us
> that it's taken place since the 15th century, although without providing
> much sources by way of verification
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake
>
> Cheese rolling is ideal territory for TRP - an arcane miniature world with
> a peculiar history, combining eccentricity with a finely detailed technical
> expertise all of its own - you can sense his relish over the size
> categorisations of the Gloucester cheeses, particularly the opportunity to
> use the word Quincentenariduodecimal.
>
> I tend to read these group scenes as fondly written - part of TRP's
> signature comic picaresque, not so much mocking a silly tradition as
> stepping into the breach and jigging along with the locals.
>
> "Some considered it an example of Reason run amok,- an unreflective Vicar,
> worshipping at the wrong Altar, having convinced local Cheesemen to pool
> their efforts in accomplishing the feat".
>
>
> M&D is a great celebration of the Age of Reason, and man's capacity for
> intellectual and scientific enquiry, but TRP's also able to offset any
> pomposity or overearnestness by reminding us that, however tehcnologically
> or socially advanced the world becomes, mankind will always have a capacity
> for both stupidity - which TRP wards against - and for a playful type of
> silliness - which TRP proudly celebrates in the best postmodernist fashion.
>
> Besides, the beginning of a heartfelt romance deserves a grand and
> memorable setting. Surely cheese rolling in Stroud fits the bill as well as
> any other alternative?
>
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