UK specific: Mussorgsky title and environmental impact Aga
This is for the same fic that takes place in London in January 2007. The first question the place matters, but the time doesn't. The second one is very time dependent.
Although I think these are more what you might call immersive cultural questions than purely factual one, I still looked up what I could on Wikipedia, Amazon.uk, various newspaper archives, and the correct person on the agacentral.com forum.
Question 1: Does it pass the Britpick test for me to have a joke based on Mussorgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain using that name? Wikipedia says the preferred title in the UK is A Night on the Bare Mountain, but Amazon.uk has it about half and half, since it has recordings from more than one country. As an American looking in, it appears the Bald Mountain version of the name isn't unknown or terribly obscure, but input from real people would be appreciated. If it makes any difference, the one making the joke would probably really only be be familiar with the work from Fantasia where it looks like is is always credited as Bald Mountain.
Question 2: In January 2007, was there much awareness that running a standard Aga or Aga type gas cooker is basically the equivalent of burning down a Brazilian rain forest every week? I'm specifically referring to the traditional kind that is more or less never turned off, not one of the newer ones with fittings to make it more environmentally friendly, or any that burn solid fuel. I found plenty of articles from 2008 and later on the subject, but canon requires I find something from January 2007 or earlier and I'm not sure the timeline will cooperate with me. I did find a fairly tepid column in The Guardian from November 2006, but the person asking about Aga inefficiency seems a lot more concerned than the supposedly green person's response so I don't know. I'm actually leaning toward giving my character a Rayburn Heatranger, which I understand is not quite as horribly inefficient because it does more, but within the context of the scene, Aga information would still be very useful.
Thanks!
ETA: Thanks so much for all your input. The bald joke depends pretty much entirely on the not-having-hair meaning. The guy being insulted has a more traditional classical music education and would know it by the other title, so I think I'll leave it in as bald, and have him correct it to the bare title as that would fit in with his pedantry.
With the Aga info, I find it all completely fascinating. On the one hand, you have the practical solid fuel burning versions that are fairly environmentally sound, especially if you are feeding it off wood scraps, that make loads of sense for people out in the country in drafty draughty houses. On the other hand, you have the status version gas-guzzlers that use in a week the same amount of fuel a normal gas cooker uses in nine months (not an exaggeration according to the studies I found) if it is not a) retro-fitted to be more eco-friendly or b) ripped out entirely. They do look beautiful, but I've seen a lot of comments on other sites about what nightmares they (the gas and oil versions) can be to actually run and maintain even leaving out the cost of fuel. I just talked to my dad about this because he lived in the UK for a couple of years in the mid-1990s an coveted an Aga like crazy. He counted up all the people he knew with one (five or six); they were all on posh side and all had gas versions so it very interesting to see so many people here have the primary association with solid fuel.
Although I think these are more what you might call immersive cultural questions than purely factual one, I still looked up what I could on Wikipedia, Amazon.uk, various newspaper archives, and the correct person on the agacentral.com forum.
Question 1: Does it pass the Britpick test for me to have a joke based on Mussorgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain using that name? Wikipedia says the preferred title in the UK is A Night on the Bare Mountain, but Amazon.uk has it about half and half, since it has recordings from more than one country. As an American looking in, it appears the Bald Mountain version of the name isn't unknown or terribly obscure, but input from real people would be appreciated. If it makes any difference, the one making the joke would probably really only be be familiar with the work from Fantasia where it looks like is is always credited as Bald Mountain.
Question 2: In January 2007, was there much awareness that running a standard Aga or Aga type gas cooker is basically the equivalent of burning down a Brazilian rain forest every week? I'm specifically referring to the traditional kind that is more or less never turned off, not one of the newer ones with fittings to make it more environmentally friendly, or any that burn solid fuel. I found plenty of articles from 2008 and later on the subject, but canon requires I find something from January 2007 or earlier and I'm not sure the timeline will cooperate with me. I did find a fairly tepid column in The Guardian from November 2006, but the person asking about Aga inefficiency seems a lot more concerned than the supposedly green person's response so I don't know. I'm actually leaning toward giving my character a Rayburn Heatranger, which I understand is not quite as horribly inefficient because it does more, but within the context of the scene, Aga information would still be very useful.
Thanks!
ETA: Thanks so much for all your input. The bald joke depends pretty much entirely on the not-having-hair meaning. The guy being insulted has a more traditional classical music education and would know it by the other title, so I think I'll leave it in as bald, and have him correct it to the bare title as that would fit in with his pedantry.
With the Aga info, I find it all completely fascinating. On the one hand, you have the practical solid fuel burning versions that are fairly environmentally sound, especially if you are feeding it off wood scraps, that make loads of sense for people out in the country in drafty draughty houses. On the other hand, you have the status version gas-guzzlers that use in a week the same amount of fuel a normal gas cooker uses in nine months (not an exaggeration according to the studies I found) if it is not a) retro-fitted to be more eco-friendly or b) ripped out entirely. They do look beautiful, but I've seen a lot of comments on other sites about what nightmares they (the gas and oil versions) can be to actually run and maintain even leaving out the cost of fuel. I just talked to my dad about this because he lived in the UK for a couple of years in the mid-1990s an coveted an Aga like crazy. He counted up all the people he knew with one (five or six); they were all on posh side and all had gas versions so it very interesting to see so many people here have the primary association with solid fuel.