Improbable Research Collection #McG-002: "The Tay Bridge Disaster" with Dr. Elena Bodnar

William Topaz McGonagall, who died in 1902, is widely regarded as the worst poet ever to write in the English language. The poem "The Tay Bridge Disaster" is his most famous work. Dr. Elena Bodnar won the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in medicine for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks. She later performed the first known translation of "The Tay Bridge" into Ukrainian. In this video, Dr Bodnar recites a portion of that translation, assisted by Terry Jones, an original Monty Python.

LINKS:
"The Tay Bridge Disaster" (the poem): http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgdisaster.htm

McGonagall: http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/

Dr. Elena Bodnar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxf3HK21BWI

Dr. Bodnar's brassiere: http://ebbra.com/

Terry Jones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• improbable
• research
• improbableresearch
• ig
• nobel
• ignobel
• science
• humor
• mcgonagall
• elena
• bodnar
• terry
• jones
• tay
• bridge
• disaster
• poem

[stereoroid]

I can also recommend Billy Connolly's recitation of the whole poem - on a hill overlooking the Tay, in a blizzard!

[lediva]

I love that it actually retains some of the rhyming.