• Question: where did the idea of the moon being made of cheese come from?

    Asked by MattNelson to Angela, Claire, Ian, Robert, Sarah on 12 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Angela Stokes

      Angela Stokes answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      Hi MattNelson
      Well I don’t know whether anyone really knows for definite but I remember studying ‘The Proverbs of John Heywood’ when I was at school. This book dates from 1546 and includes proverbs such as ‘the more the merrier’, ‘a penny for your thoughts’ and ‘the moon is made of green cheese’ – apparently ‘green’ refers to its age rather than colour! So for me it looks like about 1546, but my fellow scientists might know more…….and Wallace and Gromit certainly believed that the moon was made of cheese – Wensleydale I think!!

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