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
ENGLAND’S PATH TO WEALTH AND HONOUR
James Puckle's 1700 version of his patriotic, herring fishery promotional pamphlet, crying out for English superiority over the Dutch
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
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
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
MUIR, JIM (HERRING INTERVIEW, ACHILTIBUIE)
An interview from 2005 with Jim Muir, who lived on the Coigach Penisula, near Achilitbuie and had been a herring fisherman
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
PROCESSION OF THE HERRINGS
In which we explore a lost herring tradition of Reims and a lost Alexandre Dumas novel
PROPHETIC HERRINGS
On the strange markings discovered on two herrings and their possible connection with the death of Denmark's Frederick II five months later
RED HERRING JOKE, THE
The story of the red herring gag shared between Shakespeare, Jonson & Nashe in at least six great literary works
RING NET: WILL MACLEAN
An interview with Scottish artist Will Maclean on his documentary exhibition, The Ring Net, which he developed between 1973 and 1978