Winterval?

[poliphilo]

First you set up a straw man, then you kick the stuffing out of it, all the while emitting shrill cries of outrage.

I thought this "War of Christmas" silliness was an American phenomenon, but here's the Bishop of Salford- a fat-faced, middle-aged chap called Terence Brain- shouting from the front of the Manchester Evening News that we need to rally to SAVE OUR CHRISTMAS.

Apparently there's a plan afoot to rename it "Winterval".

Really? First I'd heard of it.

Winterval- that's really snappy. That's really going to catch on.

Come off it, Brain, get real. If Christmas is endangered then Pandas are as plentiful as pigeons.

Comments

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

"Winterval" is what they called the break between terms at some local university or another, I think.

As for Terence Brain -- I wonder if he's any relation to the late Dennis Brain, celebrated French horn player, who wrapped his sports car around a tree near St. Albans many years ago, cutting short a promising career, not to mention his life.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. So the word winterval is actually in use.

Ah yes, Dennis Brain. I have his recording of the Mozart horn concerto. I've done a little googling and I find that Dennis was born in London in 1921 and Terence was born in Coventry in 1938. On the face of it I think it's unlikely they're related.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

His recordings of the Mozart horn concerti were the subject of an intense piece of Christmas psychodrama in my family in the early 60s. I think I wrote about it in my Livejournal earlier this month or perhaps last month.

I can still see that yellow album cover.