It was half term last week and my birthday on the Tuesday.
So the family and I went away for a few days.
We’d found a really funky Airbnb in South Yorkshire, which worked well logistically for both sides of the family coming to see us for a bit on my actual birthday.
Driving back on the Wednesday we decided to use our English Heritage membership to pop into Conisbrough Castle.
Coincidentally, very near where my wife grew up and somewhere she’d visited as a child.
As I started climbing the spiral staircase of the main keep, I noticed something.
They were anti-clockwise.
I’d always understood that spiral stairs in castles were clockwise.
You know, so if you’re defending from above as, assuming you’re right handed, you have more room to swing your sword.
I’ve been told this ‘fac’t pretty much anytime I’ve ever been to a castle as I’m sure many of us have.
I Googled it.
Seems it’s a myth.
About 30% of castle stairs are anti-clockwise.
And there’s nothing in history to suggest any thought about building them either way for defensive reasons (after all, if someone’s coming up your castle stairs, it’s pretty much game over).
It’s what you could call an old wives tale.
Things that are commonly accepted as being fact through reiteration but actually have little to no evidence.
Like certain foods being inherently fattening (studies showing that, when energy matched, they are not).
Or only certain amount of exercise as being worth doing (it’s actually diminishing returns with the first bit being the most beneficial).
Or lifting weights making women ‘bulky’ (gaining any significant muscle mass is really hard for everyone, women especially, would happen so slowly you could easily ‘course correct’ and, for the vast majority, reductions in body fat levels would lead to significantly less ‘bulk’ overall).
Or certain exercise and workouts being great for “fat burning” (again, when energy matched, there is minimal difference and overall weight loss benefits from exercise are often massively exaggerated and significantly easier to create by changes to our eating).
Or lower intensity exercise being better for “fat burning” (whilst it might be that a slightly higher percentage of the energy that is been used is coming from fat stores versus elsewhere, we’re still using significantly less energy than at higher intensities).
Or that you can “kick-start your metabolism” through food or exercise choices (I don’t even know what this could possibly mean when you think about it – we’d be using more energy for the same amount of physical effort for no reason?).
There’s probably a few more, but it’s 5:30 this morning and I need to get to the club.
So, hopefully like the castle stairs, you’ve seen a few old wives tales here that you now know not to be true.
Much love,
Jon ‘Knight Rider’ Hall
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