Lords and Ladies (Terry David John Pratchett) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

7

The patent crop rotator is an agricultural tool that might not figure very prominently in your day-to-day conversation (possibly since no such machine exists: crop rotation means growing different things in a field in successive years) but British comedy writers are apparently fascinated by it. Several people wrote to tell me that the cult TV comedy series The Young Ones also used the patent crop rotator in their episode Bambi.

When Neil (the hippy) is testing Rick (the nerd) on medieval history, the following dialogue ensues (edited somewhat for clarity):

Rick: ‘Crop rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread… after… God I know this… don’t tell me… after 1172?’

Neil: ‘John.’

Rick: ‘Crop rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread after John?’

Neil: ‘…Lloyd invented the patent crop rotator.’