20th Century
Bill Boaks
Bill Boaks was just one in a long line of eccentric political candidates. These days we have the Raving Loony candidates, Count Binface, bus-pass Elvis and a few others. Bill was in a class of [more…]
History
Computing
Digitising Old Photographs
The first in a short series of articles, which are partly technical (going into a little bit of detail about how the family archive of photos, 8mm home movies, and audio tapes was digitised), and [more…]
20th Century
The good war myth
It has long been a given that World War 2 was a “good war”. The allies were fighting against the beastly Germans and “right” was on their side. A chap called Chad Crowley has put [more…]
20th Century
Gary Lineker: Parallel Lives
I only saw Gary Lineker play once. Our local eleven were away to Leicester City in a fourth-round FA Cup tie. This was 1985 – a mere 40 years ago. The game ended in a [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1979
Featured song: Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall – Live This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 [more…]
20th Century
The Wehrpass of Ferdinand Friedrich Karl Ruhmann
In WW2, a Wehrpass contained the personal and service information of a Wehrmacht volunteer or conscript and was used for identification and recording purposes. Issued when registered for military service, it was kept by the [more…]
20th Century
Fabulously Flamboyant Friday – TISWAS
Welcome back my friends, to the flamboyance that never ends, as Fabulously Flamboyant Friday glides effortlessly across the crease to deliver yet another groin-polished googly from the gasworks end of musical magnificence. Tonight we consider [more…]
20th Century
My dad and the Canadians
King Sausage Fingers opening the Canadian Parliament inspires me to write a few words about the Canucks. Charlie boy opening the Canadian Parliament as their head of state was a a powerful image and a [more…]
20th Century
Is there life on (somewhere other than) Mars?
Once upon a time we knew our place in the universe. The science was settled and the experts agreed. The Earth was at the centre of the universe and everything we could see in the [more…]