Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring

aka The Herripedia

Browse Culture ...

AQUINAS, ST THOMAS

Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Miracle of the Fresh Herrings, a tale to confound all doubters, in particular Franciscans and radical Aristotelians

BATTLE OF THE HERRINGS (1429)

On the connection between Sir John Fastolf, victor at the Battle of Herrings, and Sir John Falstaff, a large Shakespearean character

BRITTEN

On the Lowestoft-born, English composer's creative relationship with herrings, possibly spurious, certainly little commented upon

CADGER

The derivation of the word 'cadger', a derogatory epithet for someone who tries to get things for free, and its origins in the fish trade

CALLER HERRIN’ (FILM)

Picking up on the song and fisherwomen's marketing of their wares, a film deploying documentary to encourage herring consumption

CALLER HERRIN’ (SONG)

Drawing on street cries, composed for harpsichord, given lyrics by Jacobite-sympathising aristocrat Mrs Bogan of Bogan, a Scottish song

DRIFTERS (DOCUMENTARY FILM)

The first documentary, famously directed by Grierson; funded by herring historian & Financial Secretary to the Treasury, AM Samuel

DUMAS ON HERRING

Dumas and his Grand Dictionary of Cuisine, a flawed translation corrected and all its herring jokes and recipes restored

ETYMOLOGY

On the derivation of the word herring and the uncertainty attached to it, along with that, similarly uncertain, of the kipper

EUPHEMISMS

Some of the names given to herrings together with the associated logics and a brief digression on the subject of Bombay duck

EYVIND SKÁLDASPILLIR

The earliest herring poet and the two earliest herring poems, together with the difficulties of dealing with kings

FLEAS

A brief, possibly unnattractive account of fleas and their use in a Norfolk fisherman's ability to predict herring catches

HARENG SAUR

A French-speaking smoked herring of Normandy and Belgium, le hareng saur can mean red herring, bloater (le bouffi) and kipper (le kipper)

HARENG SAUR MONOLOGUES

The hareng saur of the Siege of Paris inspired poems by Cros, Huysmans and Richepin and, with them, the modern French monologue

HERRING BUSS (TUNE)

A jig from 1750, The Herring Buss, is found and played for you by the excellent English concertina player Rob Harbron

HERRING’S HEAD

On the traditional song, collected across the British Isles, celebrating the ways the herring underpins everything of social importance

IDDIKETTS OR IDDIS

An historical journey through the extraordinary world of Norwegian sardine can labels, known and collected in Norway as iddiketts or iddis

LOCKMAN, JOHN

He had his flaws, he may not have been the poet herrings so richly deserve, but he was The Herring Poet - let's celebrate him anyway!

LOCKMAN’S VAST IMPORTANCE

John Lockman's 1750 pamphlet: the herring's importance to the National Wealth, our Naval Strength and, of course, dealing with the Highlanders

MARTYRED SAINT

The irreverently wonderful C15th northern French poem, The Life of Saint Herring, glorious martyr, introduced and translated into English

MONKEY BUSINESS

Discovering The Marx Brothers in kipper barrels on a liner may not have been so improbable, but the dialogue makes up for any accidental plausibility

NAMES OF THE HERRING

The words for herring listed by language in alphabetical order with room for additions if anyone would like to send them

NASHES LENTEN STUFFE

A brief account of the writing of Thomas Nash's extraordinary late C16th work; its scurrilous red herring origin story extracted in full

NEUCRANTZ: ON HERRING (1654)

Including a complete, illustrated translation of Paul Neucrantz' C17th treatise on the herring together with notes on his sources

OLIVIER, LAURENCE

The true story of Sir Laurence Olivier's heroic campaign to save the kippers on the Pullman Car breakfast menu of the Brighton Belle

PARA HANDY

Including the full text of Neil Munro's Para Handy story, The Herring - A Gossip

PICKELHERING

The use of the name by C16th English slapstick clowns, out of fashion at home, unable to speak the languages of the countries where they laughed

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