Cricket Murmur's

Sitting beside the open window I was enraptured by the sound of a thousand chirping crickets. In recent years with droughts and such it has seemed as if the cricket population had forever abandoned the Puddingstone Lake area. Tonight though, tonight I would swear they had never left. Which in the mysterious ways that my mind works led me to a meandering stroll down a trail of cricket trivia. For more than 2000 years crickets were an important part of Chinese society. They were raised for two reasons singing and fighting. I have often wondered what the sight of two crickets fighting was like and if they wore little insect size boxing gloves. In England the word cricket is associated with the game of crickets as much as or even more than the insect. The first reference to Cricket in writing was a short note concerning Prince Edward and friends playing in 1300. The first recorded cricket match was held in 1646. While the first match between counties took place in 1709. In 1883 the story of Pinocchio was first published in book form. Written by Carlos Collodi the original story is far different from later versions. Most amazingly in the original book has written by Collodi there is no happy ending, Pinocchio is hung for all of his misdeeds. The book also features a talking cricket who remained nameless through out the story. Sadly the talking cricket is killed when a frustrated Pinocchio steps on him. Not to be eliminated that easily the cricket comes back as a ghost and the conscience of our puppet hero. In 1940 the Disney adaptation was released. Considered a classic film the story was far different from the half century old original. The cricket now named Jiminy who becomes Pinocchio's conscience without being smashed first and of course the ending is a happy one as Pinocchio becomes a real boy. Hoagy Carmichael was a famous songwriter and performer born in 1899. He wrote such classics as "Stardust" and "Georgia On My Mind". In the movie "To Have and Have Not", the first pairing of Bogie and Bacall, he introduced the piano playing character of Cricket which he reprised in several other films. During the invasion of Normandy on D-Day cricket noismakers were used by paratroopers to signal each other when they jumped behind enemy lines. Finally the Crickets were the back up band to Buddy Holly who continued to tour and play long after Holly's tragic death in a plane crash.