It’s been an eventful few weeks. In Harrow we’re beginning to plan our next event for poets, musicians, dancers and singers so please watch this space.

Apart from performing poetry, I am often asked to give talks to clubs and groups. I recently told a group in Harrow about some of the enthralling stories behind familiar sayings and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

For instance, we all know what the Full Monty means, ever since the movie, but so far as I know (and I’m happy to hear from you if you know better) the earliest suggestion for its origin can be traced back to the turn of the century and the tailor Montague Burton, these days shortened to Burtons.

In 1904 the tailor established their first hire shop in Chesterfield, making it possible for men to hire a suit for special occasions, and also to hire a complete outfit of suit, shirt, tie, shoes and socks.

Those opting for the complete outfit were known to be wearing the ‘Full Monty’ (as in Montague), the exact opposite of what we think of now!

As for Warts and All, this phrase dates back to radical politician and Monarch-botherer Oliver Cromwell.

As was fashionable in the 17th-century, portrait painters would soften the features of their subjects by removing blemishes and facial lines from their work (an early form of air-brushing), so the end result would always be flattering.

But when Cromwell, as Lord Protector, commissioned Sir Peter Levy to paint his portrait, he issued the artist with the following instructions: ‘I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like I am and not flatter me at all. Remark all these roughness, pimples, warts and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay you a farthing for it.’

The end result does include a large wart, just below Cromwell’s lower lip. These days, going sans Photoshop in magazines is all the rage, but Cromwell was doing it 400 years ago. Have some of that, Madonna!

So far as I know, these are both the naked truth. And why do we say that? According to ancient legend, Truth and Falsehood once went bathing. When they came out of the water, Falsehood ran ahead, dressed herself in Truth’s clothing and sped away. Truth, unwilling to appear in Falsehood’s clothing, went “naked”.

I have to tell you that I love being your community poet and a speaker and feel that no other job could hold a candle to mine. And where does this phrase originate? It is believed to have come from the 17th and 18th century.

In the Stuart and Georgian eras, street-lighting did not exist as we know it today. If you had to go out after dark, you either had to provide your own light-source, with a lantern, or, you could engage the services of a fellow known as a ‘link-boy’.

A link-boy was a poor, beggarly street-urchin who wandered around with a flaming torch. It was his job to walk beside you, holding this torch, to light your way. Being a link-boy was possibly the lowest job in the entire world (half the time they didn’t even get paid, and if they did, it was a paltry tip, maybe just a ha’penny).

The saying that you couldn’t hold a candle…meaning that you couldn’t light someone’s way in the dark…implied that you were lower than even the lowest class of labourer, the impoverished link-boy, which was a pretty big insult back in the Georgian period.

Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about our fascinating language.