The quill pen surfaced when papyrus was replaced by animal skins, vellum and parchment, as a writing surface. The smoother surface of skin allowed finer, smaller writing by the quill pen, derived from the flight feather.
Quill pens were the primary writing instrument in the western world from the 6th to the 19th century.
They were the writing instrument of choice during the medieval era due to their compatibility with parchment and vellum.
Quill and a parchment. By Mushki Brichta - Wikipedia
The earliest known reference to a feather quill came in the writings of Spanish theologian St Isidore of Seville in the seventh century.
Magna Carta was written on parchment using quills filled with ink made by mixing iron salts with a caustic liquid extracted from galls on oak trees. But monarchs used a seal to authenticate such documents.
Swans provided the best evidence for quills, although geese were more commonly used.
The tips were dipped in hot sand or acid to harden them but would still need constant re-trimming with a pen knife.
Sharpening a quill. By Philip van Dijk
US President Thomas Jefferson was said to have his own geese specially bred to supply his quills.
Quill pens continued to be used right up until the early 19th century when they were finally replaced by the metal dip pen.
Quicksand is a condition that occurs within any type of soil- but most common in sand. It happens when water in the sand cannot escape, which creates a liquefied soil that loses strength and cannot support weight.
Quicksand and warning sign at a gravel quarry in England, UK.. By Andrew Dunn
A mule is less likely to sink in quicksand than a donkey. This is because the mule is said to remain calm and relaxed in quicksand while donkeys, due to their fear and anxiety, struggles to escape and thereby get trapped deeper and deeper.
By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.
Quicksand may be found inland (on riverbanks, near lakes, or in marshes), or near the coast.
One region notorious for its quicksands is Morecambe Bay, Yorkshire in North England. As the bay is very broad and shallow, a person trapped by the quicksand would be exposed to the danger of the fast moving tides.
People falling into (quicksand or a similar substance was once recurrent theme of adventure fiction, notably in movies. According to a study by the University of Southern California, this gimmick had its heyday in the 1960s, when 2.8% of all films showed someone sinking in mud, sand, or clay. The study also found that the number of films featuring these scenes increased steadily throughout the decade, from 1.2% in 1960 to 4.2% in 1969.
The study's authors suggest that the popularity of these scenes may be due to the fact that they are both suspenseful and visually appealing. Quicksand is a particularly dangerous substance, as it can quickly trap and drown people who are unlucky enough to fall into it. This danger makes scenes of people sinking in quicksand particularly suspenseful, as the viewer is left wondering whether or not the person will be able to escape. Additionally, the slow-motion sinking of a person's body into quicksand can be visually quite striking, making it a popular choice for filmmakers.
The southern sand octopus shoot jets of water into the sand below it, creating a pit of quicksand to escape from predators.
Quiche is a savory custard tart that originated in Germany, in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen, which was under German rule. The French later adopted the dish and made it popular around the world. The word "quiche" comes from the German word "Kuchen," which means "cake."
Quiche Stockvault
Custards were a popular dish in England as early as the 14th century, and it is possible that the concept of a savory custard filling for a pastry crust was brought to Germany from England or vice versa.
Quiche was initially made with bread dough instead of pastry, and the filling often consisted of eggs and cream mixed with vegetables or bits of leftover meat. The dish began to evolve in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Quiche Lorraine is a savory tart made with a filling consisting of eggs, cream, and bacon or ham, baked in an open pastry case. The dish is believed to have originated in the Lorraine region of France, hence the name "Quiche Lorraine."
In the mid-20th century, Quiche Lorraine gained widespread recognition beyond its origins in the Lorraine region. As it grew in popularity in France and around the globe, creative chefs began experimenting with variations on the classic recipe. One such adaptation includes adding cheese to the filling, a move that has drawn criticism from some for being unfaithful to the original dish. Despite this debate, the cheese-infused version has found favor among many diners and has become a beloved variation of the traditional Quiche Lorraine in numerous locations.
Coronation quiche is a savory pie made with a pastry crust filled with a mixture of spinach, broad beans, and tarragon. The quiche was created by the royal chef, Mark Flanagan, in 2023 in honor of the coronation of King Charles III. The dish is said to be inspired by the king's love of spinach and broad beans, as well as his wife Camilla's love of tarragon.
Coronation quiche is a simple dish to make, but it is packed with flavor. The spinach and broad beans add a touch of earthiness, while the tarragon provides a bright, herbaceous note. The pastry crust is flaky and golden brown, and it holds the filling together perfectly.
Traditional Quiche Lorraine is made with bacon, eggs, cream, and cheese. However, there are many variations of quiche that can include a variety of ingredients such as spinach, mushrooms, ham, and seafood.
Quiche became popular in the United States during the 1970s as part of the "quiche craze." It was a popular dish for brunches and parties.
In 1982, the town of Nancy in France attempted to create the world's largest quiche. The quiche measured over 2 meters (6.5 feet) in diameter and weighed over 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds).
Quiche is typically served as a main dish, but it can also be served as an appetizer or side dish.
Quiche can be served hot or cold. Cold quiche is a popular option for picnics and summer parties.
Quiche is often associated with women's liberation and feminism. In the 1970s, quiche was seen as a dish that could be made ahead of time and served easily, freeing women from spending all day in the kitchen.
Quiche can be made with a variety of crusts, including traditional pastry crusts, phyllo dough, and even hash browns.
In some regions of France, quiche is served as a dessert, and can be made with sweet ingredients like apples, pears, and berries.
In a country whose system of government is a monarchy, the ruler, or head of state, is decided by inheritance. When a ruler dies their child, or nearest relative, takes over. A queen regnant is a female monarch, equivalent in rank to a king, who reigns in her own right.
Elizabeth II of the UK, here with her husband on the occasion of her coronation in 1953
In Ancient Egypt, Ancient Persia, Asian and Pacific cultures, female monarchs have been given the title king or its equivalent, such as pharaoh, when gender is irrelevant to the office.
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, or a queen regent. However the husband of a female ruler is not called a king.
Many European realms forbade succession by women or through a female. No queen regnant ever ruled France, for example.
The kingdom of the Sabeans, who lived in south-west Arabia, were merchants and slave-traders, and men of large structure. Cush, the grandson of Noah, was their traditional ancestor. One of their notable monarchs was the Queen of Sheba, who made a twelve-hundred-mile journey to visit Solomon. The Queen of Sheba made a tribute to the Israeli ling in the form of spices, gold, and precious stones.
Matilda of Flanders, the ‘excessively beautiful’ wife of William the Conqueror, was just 50in (or 4 ft 2 in) tall — the smallest queen to reign over England.
Empress Matilda, the daughter of King Henry I of England, became the first female ruler of England on April 7, 1141. She adopted the title 'Lady of the English'.
Portrait of Empress Mathilda, from "History of England" by St. Albans monks (15th century
The youngest queen consort was Isabella of Valois (November 9, 1389 – September 13, 1409) who was Queen consort of England as the second spouse of King Richard II. She became queen at 6 years of age in 1396.
When Pedro I was crowned King of Portugal in 1357, he proclaimed his lover, Ines de Castro, Queen despite the fact that she had died in 1355.
Queen Margaret I, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1389-1412, was the political force that founded the Kalmar Union and is regarded by historians as the first great ruling queen in European history.
In Thailand, it was considered a capital offense punishable by death if someone touched the queen. On May 31, 1880, Sunanda Kumariratana, first wife of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Siam (now Thailand) drowned when her royal boat capsized on the way to the Palace. The many witnesses to the accident did not dare to touch the queen while she was drowning.
Geraldine Apponyi, an American citizen and member of the Hungarian nobility, married King Zog I of Albania on April 27, 1938, becoming the first American woman to become a queen. The couple met in London in 1937 and were married in a lavish ceremony in Tirana, the Albanian capital. Apponyi's status as an American queen made her a popular figure in the United States, where her marriage was widely covered by the media.
The couple had one child, a son named Leka, who was born in April 1939. However, the couple's reign was short-lived, as they were forced to flee Albania just a few months after Leka's birth due to the country's invasion by Italian forces.
Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. The band members were Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar).
Queen publicity shot 1976
Queen performed their first public gig at London's Imperial College on July 18, 1970.
On January 5, 1973 Queen taped their first radio session for BBC Radio 1, performing four songs including debut single "Keep Yourself Alive."
150,000 people attended Queen's 1976 free gig at Hyde Park. At the time it was the biggest concert in British history.
Freddie Mercury died in 1991. Six years later, John Deacon retired to spend more time with his family.
Since then, Brian May and Roger Taylor have performed under the name of Queen with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on several tours.
The Bohemian Rhapsody movie that tells Queen's story up to their 1985 Live Aid performance is the most successful biopic of all time.
Rami Malek watched the YouTube video of Freddie Mercury’s Live Aid performance over 1500 times in preparation for playing the queen frontman in the Bohemian Rhapsody movie.
Roger Taylor has the same 4 octave vocal range as Freddie Mercury.
Queen + Adam Lambert concert at the TD Garden, Boston in July 2014
FREDDIE MERCURY
Freddie Mercury was born an Indian Parsi with the birth name Farrokh Bulsara.
Mercury was born on September 5, 1946 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, before moving with his family to Middlesex, England.
Zanzibar's tourism industry thrives because of Queen fans that visit the island to see Freddie Mercury's birthplace.
Farrokh Bulsara changed his name to Freddie Mercury after the lyrics "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me" in "My Fairy King".
The Queen logo, called the Queen crest, was designed by Freddie Mercury himself, who held a degree in graphic design. The logo combines the zodiac signs of the four band members.
The Queen frontman disliked being addressed as anything other than Freddie. However, he insisted that his passport name was given as Frederick Mercury.
Freddie Mercury's distinctive smile was caused by the presence of four extra teeth in his upper jaw – but the singer refused to have corrective surgery because he was worried it would adversely affect his voice.
Freddie Mercury had the most unique singing voice by having his vibrato at 7.04 Hz while the typical vibrato would fluctuate between 5.4 and 6.9 Hz.
Although Freddie Mercury was known for his large vocal range, he was actually a baritone. He didn't believe that his fans would recognize his voice unless he sang as a tenor.
Freddie Mercury in 1977
Just before Live Aid, Freddie Mercury was told by his doctor not to do the show because of some vocal trouble. He ignored it, and went on to deliver a 20 minutes show that, according to a BBC poll, was the greatest live performance of all time.
Freddie Mercury loved cats and had as many as ten at one point. He even had an album and a song dedicated to his cats ("Mr. Bad Guy"). He also wrote a song about his favorite cat, Delilah.
Freddie Mercury died of an AIDS-related illness on November 24, 1991.
Not long before his death, Freddie Mercury, confined to his bed, got to see an advance copy of the Wayne's World scene with Wayne and Garth headbanging to "Bohemian Rhapsody". He loved it and approved of the song's use in the film. The movie, in part, helped launch Queen's comeback in the USA.
Freddie Mercury spent his last months recording as many vocals as he could for the rest of Queen to finish after his death.
BRIAN MAY
After Mercury and his family moved to the Queen singer and Brian May lived 100 yards from each other but never met until 1970.
Before joining Queen, Brian May studied Astrophysics at Imperial College in Middlesex. He finally completed his dissertation in 2007.
Brian May's father helped him build his famous guitar, using wood from a 200-year-old fireplace mantel. However he was upset when Brian abandoned his PhD program to join Queen.
May performing in Frankfurt in 2005. By Thomas Steffan Wikipedia
Brian May went on to write "We Will Rock You", "I Want It All"—and eventually A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, the thesis he finished 37 years later.
SONGS
"Bohemian Rhapsody" stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and popularized the music video.
The high operanote in "Bohemian Rhapsody" was not sung by Freddie Mercury, but drummer Roger Taylor
The music video for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" took four hours to film. The band arrived to the studio at 7.30 in the morning and by 11.30 they were finished and were relaxing in a local pub. The entire thing cost $2025. Meanwhile the head-banging scene in Wayne's World took ten hours to film.
Despite the video showing all Queen members singing, the five-part harmony at the start of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was all performed by Freddie Mercury.
After Queen's success with "Bohemian Rhapsody", sacks of fan mail poured in from behind the Iron Curtain, addressed to "Queen, London". It was mistakenly delivered to Buckingham Palace.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" only reached #9 on the US charts when the song was first released in 1976, but reached #2 in 1992 after Wayne's World came out
The "Stomp-stomp-clap" in Queen's "We Will Rock You" was not part of the original song; it was added to match what the crowd did at shows.
Queen is the only group in the world where every member has written more than one number one single, meaning that the whole band is in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
FUN QUEEN FACTS
The Official International Queen Fan Club was founded in February 1974 when Queen released their debut album. It's still running and Guinness World Records recognize it as the ‘longest-running rock group fan club’.
April 17 is celebrated as "Queen Day" in Japan, to mark the day that the band first arrived in the country back in 1975. Queen has always been very popular in Japan, and their music has been a huge influence on Japanese rock bands. In fact, Queen is one of the best-selling foreign bands in Japan, with over 20 million records sold.
On Queen Day, Japanese fans celebrate the band's music and legacy in a variety of ways. Some fans attend concerts or watch movies and documentaries about the band. Others dress up as their favorite Queen members or host parties with Queen-themed food and drinks. Still others simply listen to Queen's music and reminisce about their favorite songs.
Each April 17 is celebrated as "Queen Day" in Japan, to mark the band's first visit to the country back in 1975.
The first French explorer to reach Quebec was Jacques Cartier. He sailed into the St. Lawrence River in 1534 and established a colony near present-day Quebec City.
In 1608 French explorer Samuel de Champlain traveled into the St. Lawrence River. He founded Quebec City as a permanent fur trading outpost at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona and signed trading and military agreements with the native people.
The arrival of Samuel de Champlain on the site of Quebec City
The name "Québec" comes from the Algonquin word kébec meaning "where the river narrows."
Quebec City started off with 28 men and colonization was slow and difficult. Many settlers died early, because of harsh weather and diseases. In 1630, there were only 103 colonists living in the settlement, but by 1640, the population had reached 355.
New France became a Royal Province of France in 1663. That same year France sent 800 women to Quebec. The "Filles du Roi" ("Daughters of the King") were poor women who agreed to go to the mostly male New France colony to marry. It worked; the population grew from about 3,000 to 60,000 people between 1666 and 1760.
At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to the Canadian prairies and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including all the Great Lakes of North America.
In 1758, the British attacked New France by sea and captured the French fort at Louisbourg. The following year British General James Wolfe defeated General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm outside Quebec City. The garrison in Quebec surrendered on September 18, 1759, and by the next year New France had been conquered by the British after the attack on Montreal, which had refused to acknowledge the fall of Canada.
Drawing by a soldier of Wolfe's army depicting the easy climbing of soldiers
France formally ceded its North American land to the British in the Treaty of Paris, signed February 10, 1763. The following year, New France was renamed the Province of Quebec.
In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act, giving recognition to French law, Catholic religion, and Frenchlanguage in the colony. The Quebec Act gave the Quebec people their first Charter of rights.
On January 25, 1791 the British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act, which split the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
Lower Canada gave black men the right to vote on March 24, 1837. However, public sentiment against extending the franchise to Blacks existed, and local conventions did prevent Black persons from voting. The prejudice and discrimination they faced affected Black peoples’ decision to attend polling stations.
The British North America Act of 1867 instituted home rule for most of British North America and established French-speaking Quebec (the former Lower Canada) as one of the original provinces of the Dominion of Canada.
The Flag of Quebec, also known as the Fleurdelisé, was first flown on January 21, 1948. This date is now celebrated as Quebec Flag Day to commemorate the adoption of this powerful symbol of provincial identity.
The Fleurdelisé, with its white fleur-de-lis on a blue background, was chosen through a public competition and quickly became a popular symbol of Quebec's distinct culture and heritage.
Flag of Quebec.
During an official state visit to Canada on July 24, 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle declared to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: "Vive le Québec libre!" ("Long live free Quebec!"). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
Quebec incurred one-and-a-half billion Canadian dollars to host the Olympics in 1976 – the city took until 2006 to pay off the debt.
In a 1980 referendum the Quebec population rejected by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
In 1995 Quebec held a second referendum to become independent of Canada – it was a close run thing this time, but the vote came in 50.58% against.
In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
FUN QUEBEC FACTS
Quebec is the largest of Canada's ten provinces by size.
Most of Quebec's inhabitants live along or close to the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Not many people live in the north part of the province.
Quebec has the second-highest population of Canada's ten provinces, after Ontario.
Unlike the other provinces, most people in Quebec speak French (Canadian French) and French is the only official language. There is a strong French-language culture, which includes French-language magazines, newspapers, movies, television and radio shows.
In Quebec, both spouses keep their birth names after marriage and continue to exercise their civil rights under that name, meaning they must use their birth name in contracts, on credit cards, on their driver’s licence, and so on. This rule applies even if they were married outside Quebec.
Quebec is the world's largest producer of maple syrup, responsible for a whopping 70% of the world's supply.
Québec is one of the only places in the world where Pepsi outsells Coca-Cola.
In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus God instructed a person with an infectious disease to wear torn clothes, let their hair go unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out "unclean, unclean." They had to live alone away from anyone else, the first ever example of quarantine. The unusual rituals were to prevent others coming near and catching any contagious diseases for fear of starting an epidemic.
When the Black Death gripped Europe in the mid-14th century, ships entering Italian harbors would be kept isolated and offshore for 40 days as a measure of disease prevention before passengers could go ashore. This was the same as the period of 40 days of segregation from patients with certain diseases used by the Jews based on the laws of Moses. The Italians had noticed how the Jews seem to be less prone to falling sick to plagues.
The quarantine ship Rhin, at large in Sheerness, England
Venice took the lead in measures to check the spread of plague, having appointed in 1348 three guardians of public health in the first years of the Black Death.
The word "quarantine" originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning 'forty days'.
Throughout history, other diseases have lent themselves to the practice of quarantine. Those afflicted with leprosy were historically isolated from society, as were the attempts to check the invasion of syphilis in northern Europe in about 1490, the advent of yellow fever in Spain at the beginning of the 19th century, and the arrival of Asiatic cholera in 1831.
Isolating a village in Romania whose inhabitants believe that doctors poison those suspected of cholera.
In 1892 a cholera epidemic arrived in America having been transmitted by an infection carried aboard the Hamburg-American Line's Moravia. This outbreak forced a twenty-day quarantine of New York City.
Syndrome K was a fake disease that Dr. Giovanni Borromeo made up to save Jews who had fled to his hospital located in Rome seeking protection from the Nazis. Syndrome K "patients" were quarantined and the Nazis were told that it was a deadly, disfiguring, and highly contagious illness. The hospital saved at least 20 lives.
Apollo 11 astronauts were quarantined on return to Earth to stave off moongerms—Buzz Aldrin found a crack in the floor, rendering it moot. This process continued for Apollo 12 and 14 before the moon was proven to be barren of life.
In 1990, Gruinard Island in Scotland, the site of biological warfare testing by British scientists, was declared free of anthrax after 48 years of quarantine.
In September 1998 the United Kingdom announced that its quarantine regulations would be changing from April 2000, to allow animals from the European Union, and rabies - free islands, such as Australia and New Zealand, into the country without a period of quarantine. This applies only to microchipped animals with vaccination certificates.
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