1. The song ‘O Canada’ was a commission for the 1880 St Jean-Baptiste day ceremony by the then Lieutenant-governor of Quebec, Théodore Robitaille. The words were a patriotic poem composed by a judge, Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, and set to music composed by Calixa Lavallée, a Quebec musician and also one-time Union Army officer during the American Civil War. O Canada became our official national anthem only in 1980.
2. A bushwhacker is someone who makes his way through thick woods by cutting away branches; it is also someone who fights from ambush. In the USA, the term bushwhacker is used for someone who is considered a hillbilly.
3. A marabou is an African stork or a feather from one; a marabout is a Moslem religious leader and teacher, especially in the Maghreb of Africa.
4. Tamarind is an ingredient in Worcester sauce. It originates in Africa and still grows wild in Sudan.
5. Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character created by P G Wodehouse. The name Jeeves is now a generic term for ‘butler’. The name comes from a Warwickshire cricketer named Percy Jeeves who died in WWI.
