Whether Galileo did actually mutter under his breath that phrase about the earth still moving or not, there is a contrarian streak in some people that defies plagiarising ‘accepted’ wisdom and using it as their own.
As the Christian philosopher, Wink Martindale, spoke, “Friends, the story is true. I know, I was that soldier.”
Anyhoo… There is a global warming meme about how it was once warm in Europe when Romans paraded in togas, then it got cold — which was how it should have been all along — until bad, bad people (mostly old white men at a guess), did bad things like heating their homes, getting about without a horse and, heavens forfend, taking air travel across the planet for granted. And here we are, dancing around like butter on a skillet.
Their myth seems dented upon evidence from history. Here’s another bit of inconvenient truth, to add to the revelation about commercial wine production in late 18th century London which was reported here in E Pur Si Muove numero uno.
This is from a whole generation earlier than the Parsons Green vineyard story and was reported in the press on May 19, 1737. A hogshead was 63 US gallons, so that’s way more product than just some amateur gentleman farmer messing about.
Where’s Brompton? Think Harrods and turn left…
The typesetter’s literal in the last line is charming. I hope that he did not get into too much trouble for picking a g instead of a p.