There was a famous mis-print in a 1631 reprint of the King James bible-"Thou shalt commit adultery" which led everyone (King Charles/Archbishop of Canterbury) to get really annoyed, and claim that the country was going to the dogs. I lived in Cambridge for a while back in the early 90s. It really is a wonderful place. One of the joys of the place was how you could bump into such fascinating people on a daily basis. I can remember a bookseller telling me how the previous owner of the shop had told him about how, as a young boy, he had taken tea with Walter de la Mare. He had also been knocked out by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the author had joined in with the school cricket match, and when he bowled his first ball it had bounced a little high and whacked the young boy on the head!) Then there was the time that I chatted with one of the scientists who had built the first computer in Cambridge after the end of the war "We were so proud of that thing. It took up an entire floor, but we could only run it for half an hour a day or all the
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Thanks, Gary! I think quite fondly of Cambridge, myself. We have good friends who live in a nearby village (their home is lovely -- and very old; some walls are "wattle-and-daub"). We've visited them a number of times, and are always shown about Cambridge as the high point of the stay. Hence, the account of quaint festivities there really struck a chord. Loved your bookseller's story, too.
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Tally-ho!
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