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

A1119395


BDecker has kindly pointed out the need for a bit of an adjustment to this entry and his suggestion led me to notice a dead link in the same passage. In the section headed 'The Cordovan With No Tail', the link to the Islamic Times no longer goes anywhere, but, in any case, I've rewritten the whole paragraph in line with BDecker's suggestions and removed the reference to the Islamic Times. Here's the new paragraph:


Interestingly, Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari, writing in the early 17th century tells of a gentleman of Cordoba, Abul Qasim Ibn Firnas, who performed a disturbingly similar aerial feat in 875, long before Eilmer could possibly have leapt from the Malmesbury tower. Although al-Maqqari's account was written long after both Eilmer's flight and William's account, he refers to a poet contemporary of ibn Firnas who describes the aviator as dressed in vulture feathers. Al-Maqqari also reffers to the testimony of several unnamed witness to the flight who apparently recorded that Ibn Firnas himself claimed that the reason his flight had ended in a crash was that he had forgotten to provide himself with a tail. While it is a possibility that Ibn Firnas' adventure was some sort of inspiration for Eilmer's, it seems more likely that William's description of Eilmer's flight coloured al-Maqqari's description of the gentle fall of Ibn Firnas.

Done.

Thank you for your ever prompt attention to these things.