Literature and cider making took a hammering

The Dark Ages are indeed a little dark, what with plagues, famines, bad weather and invasions by Saxons, Vikings and Danes. Literature and cider making took a hammering. A black hole in other words, though religious houses like Ely had orchards in Saxon times. There was hope.

J. Crowden, Cider country (2021), 96

Persian apples were peaches

A word of warning: in Greek the word ‘melon’ is always taken to mean apples, but ‘melon’ covers a number of other fruits including pomegranates: ‘Armenian apples’ were apricots, still grown on the northern side of Mount Ararat. ‘Cydonian apples’ were quinces. Cydonia was an ancient city state near Chania in Crete. Persian apples were peaches.

J. Crowden, Cider country (2021), 36

Butterfly evolved from breaststroke in the 1930s

Butterfly, strangely enough, evolved from breaststroke in the 1930s, when practitioners discovered that an out-of-the-water arm pull was faster than an in-the-water arm pull.

B. Tsui, Why we swim (2020), 196

The second is a house for one of her relatives whose job it is to look after her wigs

[Dolly Parton's] house itself is less revealing than the two buildings alongside it, out of range of my camera. If we are to trust our guide (and that is a big if), the first of these is a chapel where Dolly renewed her wedding vows. The second is a house for one of her relatives whose job it is to look after her wigs. 

H. Morales, Pilgrimage to Dollywood (2014), 71

The Coal Miner's Daughter Museum is one of the oddest museums I have ever visited

The Coal Miner's Daughter Museum is one of the oddest museums I have ever visited. Perhaps the oddest thing about it is that half the labels used to identify and describe the objects are typical professional display labels, but the other half are handwritten in felt-tipped pen on little white boxes and signed "Loretta Lynn" or "LL." ... It is as if a mad curator broke into the building during the night and defiantly stuck up her own thoughts about the exhibits. Imagine the improvements to the New York Met and the British Museum if this were to happen there. Out with solemn labels detailing sources and provenances; in with personal memories and anecdotes. By a cream Cadillac parked against a Grand Ole Opry backdrop was the notice: "this is my favorite car. It's a 1977 Cadillac. I wrote most of my songs in it while driving to and from town. I'm still gonna get it out and drive it. Loretta Lynn." In front of a display of her children's paraphernalia, including as cast from a broken arm and wedding dresses, is a note saying. Jenny is my graddaughter. Patsy is going to bring me hers to." I wondered how long this notice had been here, and what level of frustration lies behind the public reminder to her daughter Patsy.

H. Morales, Pilgrimage to Dollywood (2014), 58-9

It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed

'The three reasons for it [marriage] given in the Prayer-book have always seemed to me quite inadequate,' agreed Mr Prendergast. 'I have never had the smallest difficulty about the avoidance of fornication, and the other two advantages seem to me nothing short of disastrous.'

...

'It has always been a mystery to me why people marry,' said Mr Prendergast. 'I can't see the smallest reason for it. Quite happy, normal people. Now I can understand it in Grimes' case. He has everything to gain by the arrangement, but what does Flossie expect to gain? And yet she seems more enthusiastic about it than Grimes. It has been the tragedy of my life that whenever I start thinking about any quite simple subject I invariably feel myself confronted by some flat contradiction of this sort. Have you ever thought about marriage—in the abstract, I mean, of course?'

'Not very much, I'm afraid.'

'I don't believe,' said Mr Prendergast, 'that people would ever fall in love or want to be married if they hadn't been told about it. It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed. Don't you agree?'

E. Waugh (1928), 101-3

I can think of no entertainment that fills me with greater detestation than a display of competitive athletics

'Frankly,' said the Doctor, 'I am at a loss to understand my own emotions. I can think of no entertainment that fills me with greater detestation than a display of competitive athletics, none—except possibly folk dancing.

E. Waugh, Decline and fall (1928), 60