Black background
A Morris dancing troupe with blacked-up faces had to abandon its performance in a Birmingham shopping centre after being heckled and accused of racism.
— There are several explanations for the tradition of Border Morris groups blackening their faces, but it was certainly established by 1509, when a Shrovetide banquet for ambassadors featured torch-bearers with blackened faces.
— Some believe it to have derived from Spain and Portugal, where dancers blacked up as Moors. Others believe that it derives from the practice of poachers blackening up to conceal themselves in darkness.
— Blacking up is punished more mildly now than in the 18th century: a 1723 anti-poaching law made it a capital offence to be caught in a forest with a blackened face.
One-hit wondering
Peter Sarstedt, who died aged 75, was often called a ‘one-hit wonder’ thanks to the success of his 1969 song ‘Where Do You Go To, My Lovely?’ How unusual is it for a pop singer just to have one hit?
— Of 1,318 No.
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