Simon Mattacks
speaker
2,981 appearances
17 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 13 Sep
Simon Mattacks’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.
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before being coated with a wood oil glaze known as tung oil.
The oil was extracted from the seeds of the tung tree and it helped with durability while bringing out the natural grain and color of the wood.
Interestingly, there is also evidence to suggest that umbrellas crafted in ancient China could slide and close
a feat of engineering that wasn't discovered and patented until centuries later in Europe and the United States.
The early Chinese inventors were thought to have used bronze castings and locking slides to facilitate the action, as ancient examples were discovered in the Luoyang region.
Their existence suggests that collapsible umbrellas may have existed as early as the 6th century BCE.
By the 1st century CE, they certainly seem to have been in use.
A collapsible umbrella was discovered in the tomb of a Han official.
Across the water from China on the islands of Japan, it's thought that the umbrella has been in use since the ninth century CE.
Some of the earliest models were known as kinugasa.
They were initially made from silk to shade aristocracy from the sun rather than the rain.
The Japanese saw the kinugasa as a means of protection that could ward off evil spirits, in addition to being a symbol of power and authority.
This device later evolved into the wagasa, a type of umbrella traditionally made from washi paper.
This is the same paper-making tradition from which origami paper is also derived.
In Tibet and India, a ceremonial umbrella was known as a chatra.
It was a holy symbol in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism.
It represented the power and righteousness of royalty, and in some Buddhist traditions, it is still considered a holy, auspicious symbol.
On the top of Buddhist stupas, one can see umbrella-shaped structures, an architectural expression of the chatra, representing divine protection.
A variation of the chatra can also be found in Thailand.
Here, it is known as the royal nine-tiered umbrella, and it is considered a sacred item, only to be used by the king.
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