This is so true!
Letter in The Times today
SEXY CAMPANOLOGY
Sir, Regarding your article “A peal goes out for trainee #bellringers” (Oct 22) can I add my support and suggest readers hie to their nearest active bell tower tomorrow. Two months into my own training I can vouch it is the most extraordinary experience. You make music without being a musician, connect with your heritage, learn arcane bell-language, commune with ringers and get a very respectable upper body workout into the bargain. When you pull just right, and the bell swings just right, it feels out of body, like you’re swinging up with it; it’s gently pulling you and you’re gently pulling it. Well, it’s sexy.
Madeleine Neave
London SW15
@peterwhisker Bell ringing is such a very British tradition! That said, I watched the Dorothy Sayers Peter Whimsey mystery that centered on bell ringing (forget the name) and had the worst headache afterwards. Too much of a good thing?! 😂
@madamscientist The Nine Tailors. (this refers to the number of times a bell is rung when someone passes away and was used before modern communication to signify when someone had died and the chiming signalled both their sex and age.)
@peterwhisker that’s it, thanks! Was this the one where someone dies from sound stress of being stuck in the bell chamber or maybe that was in a Midsomer episode? 😅
@madamscientist yes, someone was murdered by being tied up in the bell chamber while they rang a 7 hour double peal in The Nine Tailors. I think the Midsomer Murder one had some ringers killed over some ancient family grudge.
@peterwhisker whew, I got away with just a headache :) I'm going to have to watch them again. Thank you for the reminders!