19th Century
Mystery Album, Part Two
A mystery photo album has fallen into my hands. One that has raised many questions and set a difficult puzzle. No doubt Puffins can help me solve the enigma. But for the moment, let’s allow [more…]
19th Century
19th Century
Mystery Album, Part One
A mystery album has fallen into my possession presenting a number of fascinating puzzles and thus far unanswered questions. Featuring a family, most certainly of wealth and importance, no captions are written beneath or on [more…]
18th Century
Book Review: Commander
Edward Pellew is a name which will be familiar to many who have read Giles Milton’s marvellous book, ‘White Gold’, about the Barbary white slave trade. That book recounts the life of Thomas Pellow, a [more…]
19th Century
Britain’s Forgotten Railways – The Stainmore Railway – part 1
My grandfather spent his working life as a fireman on the railways and my father, having grown up living next to a busy railway line, was a big railway enthusiast so it’s perhaps not surprising [more…]
19th Century
Boldly goings on at the Frontier
It is curious how the very phrase “North West Frontier” continues to resonate, even in these post-imperial times. That particular frontier, which ran for 1000 miles in between what is now Pakistan & Afghanistan was [more…]
19th Century
Codswallop
Codswallop! This article is about a type of Victorian bottle invented by Hiram Codd, a British bottle inventor. Invention of the ‘Codd’ Bottle. Hiram Codd worked for the British and Foreign Cork Company and during [more…]
19th Century
Clevedon Pier
Clevedon is a small town in North Somerset, located on the English side of the Bristol Channel approximately 15 miles west of Bristol. It has a wonderful pier with an interesting history which I thought [more…]
18th Century
A Walk in the Past
Ey-up miduks, as they say here in my adopted city. This ramble all started with a day off. A Friday, to be precise. It was no particular Friday, and there was no particular reason for [more…]
19th Century
Film Review: Far From The Madding Crowd
John Schlesinger’s 1967 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd should be a universally recognized cinema classic. Sadly, although it received generally positive reviews and did well in England, today it [more…]