Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 July 15

= July 15 =

Test match grounds in England
England has six Test match grounds: Lords, the Oval, Headingley, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge. See List of international men's cricket grounds in England and Wales. But in a five-match series such as the Ashes series currently taking place, only five of them will be used. How is it decided which five of the six (Trent Bridge being the one not used this year) will be used in a series? --Viennese Waltz 11:52, 15 July 2023 (UTC)


 * @Viennese Waltz The ECB decide the venues, these are announced several years in advance. By custom, in a five match series, Lords and the Oval are always awarded a test match with the others taking it in turns to miss out. When the Rose Bowl becomes an Ashes venue in 2027, Old Trafford and Headingley will miss out, but in 2031 those venues will replace the Rose Bowl and Trent Bridge. Nthep (talk) 16:23, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but can you point me to specific ECB documents confirming the above? Viennese Waltz 18:26, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * ECB - Major match venues for 2025-31 announced. Alansplodge (talk) 23:35, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

Number of matches in an Ashes series
List of Ashes series notes that since 1998 Ashes series have always consisted of five matches. As the list itself shows, up until then it was a mix of five, six and even sometimes four matches. Was a ruling made in 1998 that Ashes series should henceforth consist of five matches? If so, please point me to that ruling. Secondly, prior to 1998, how was the number of matches to be played determined? --Viennese Waltz 12:01, 15 July 2023 (UTC)


 * @Viennese Waltz it will be by agreement between the ECB, Cricket Australia and the International Cricket Council. Other tours and travel time (especially pre-airline travel) were factors in determining the number of matches to be played. In the days when a tour involved a number of other matches, not just tests, and travel was by boat, a tour could see players away from home for 6 months or more.
 * The 1970-71 England tour to Australia was the longest series comprising seven tests in a series England won 2-0. Nthep (talk) 16:32, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but can you point me to a specific document confirming the 1998 change? --Viennese Waltz 18:27, 15 July 2023 (UTC)


 * No luck with Google on any sort of document, but it was around that time that there was a big row about the Murdoch Empire securing five-year exclusive TV rights on test cricket, so that might have been the motivation rather than any solemn treaty-signing in the Long Room at Lords. Alansplodge (talk) 23:30, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

It's a Gas
Does there exist a chronological list of the art as seen in Mason Williams' original kinestatic (analog music film) Classical Gas? (a.k.a. "3000 Years of Art"). Or, (since I'd rather not duplicate effort) is there a video with the original artworks, but with better quality images? --136.54.99.98 (talk) 15:53, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

P.s: This comes close, but not quite:  -- 136.54.99.98 (talk) 17:10, 15 July 2023 (UTC). . . P.p.s: my captcha code is pauldied