h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Art of Ringing Church Bells - A874064
Author: VIP (very important Princess) Glad to be feeling human again.. - U188069

Here is my entry on bellringing. I have tried to take out the first person writing, though I don't know if I got all of it. Hope this is *now* the right place for it to go!

Quick glance: it says "the smallest bell I have rung". That's a first person reference which has to go.

Thanks.

I love this entry as much as I love hearing a peal of bells

I know very little about bell-ringing (should it be hyphenated or all one word btw?), so can't say much about the quality and scope of the content, but I'd love to know what kind of peal a Bob Major is. I think I recall reading in The Guinness Book of Records that it's the longest peal... it was a long time ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy on this, and I don't remember for how many bells that was.

I don't recall seeing anywhere in the entry a term for a group of bells in a tower - I was apparently mistaken in thinking that a tower contained a 'peal' of bells. The entry has taught me that a peal is the name for a complete ring of changes.

Are there names for any of the bells other than the treble and the tenor?

I've seen film clips of a peal starting - one of the ringers says something like "Tenor's [or maybe "Treble's"] going...... she's gone." What's that all about?

One of my smaller sorrows is that I very rarely get to hear 'Bells on Sunday' on Radio 4 these days, and that the snatch of bells played is so short Could you perhaps recommend in the entry how to go about finding recordings of bell-ringing? Or would that be covered in the link to 'The Ringing World'? If so, it might be worth adding that fact for researchers looking to get some cd's or cassettes

Aw thanks

Bob Major is one of the simpler methods. You can ring any method for any length of time (if the conductor knows what he's doing) and the record could well be for Bob- and 'major' means 'on eight bells'. Each number of bells has it's own name (six is 'minor', seven is 'triples', for example), but I didn't want to clutter up the entry any more than it already is with that.

The word 'peal' covers both terms, that of the extended ringing, *and* the collective name for the bells in a tower. Hmm. I don't know where I can fit that in. Maybe a footnote in the bit about the extended ringing 'peal' to explain that the term is used for both. Do you think that's a good idea?

The bells in between the treble and the tenor don't have names (though some towers have pet names for their bells) other than numbers. This is probably because the tenor is always the lowest, regardless of however many bells are in the tower, and extra names could get confusing. but then, i suppose you'd get used to it.



Aha-...

"Look to... treble's going... she's gone..."

can be translated as:

"Look out, stop talking, concentrate... I've just started ringing... I'm ringing now..."

Hmm. Recordings. The only recording I know of are recordings made by the tower my parents learnt in many years ago. They are at home somewhere. I don't know, personally, of any proper recordings on general release, but then, I've never looked! You might be able to contact the BBC and ask. The Ringing World itself is unlikely to have any, but might be able to point you in the right direction, again, I've never tried.

VIP

Not John Major's uncle, then?

B

And I thought you were going to say something constructive!

Would this be the correct time for me to express my views on the intense pointlessness of bellringing, then?

B

VIP,

The entry is good and the content is fine. I have just a few stylistic comments.

You have a heading "Tell me more about these sequences" but you haven't really mentioned sequences at all up to that point. So you should rewrite the previous paragraph very slightly and put the word "sequences" in it. That will help the heading make more sense.

You might like to but sub-headings "Rounds" and "Plain Hunt" before those paragraphs. Use and .

There are some typing and grammar errors:

it's --> its
stand up inside it with ease --> stand up inside with ease
variate --> vary
swop pair of bells over --> swap a pair of bells over
You might to a combination --> You might try a combination
simpliest --> simplest

She actually pronounces 'simplest' like that.

B

Thanks to both of you-one meant and the other not. I will remdy that right away!

I have made all the changes except the 'simpliest' one as I can't find the mistake.

What others are there?
Plain Bob - one of the simpliest after Plain Hunt

You could always use Find while editing your entry!

I've never used that! Must to...

okay, I'm off...

Has anyone found any more mistakes? Any more suggestions? I'm fresh out.

If no-one has any new ideas for this entry, can I suggest you put it in Peer Review, to me it seems ready.
Oberon2001

It's an update, Oberon.

B

k... it doesn't say that in the b/log or on the entry, so i didn't realise... just wait there whilst i cower under a
Oberon2001

Should it still stay here then? Only I don't know what else to do with it.

I suppose if it's an update, you post it's details at the Update HQ (A496451)... I think.
Oberon2001