20th Century
The Desert War – December 1941
The last month of the year 80 years ago. Still living in infamy the Americans finally got off the pot having spent much of 1941 making preparations for war. The action this month is in [more…]
History
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Fourteen
On last week’s Mystery Album we surmised our mystery posh mystery family of travelling photographers de-shipped at the dockside in Stockholm sometime after 1925. For those wondering (Postcard from Lille style), are we there yet? [more…]
20th Century
My Legends of Pop Music – Part Twenty-Three – The Temptations
If get this right, there will be many cover versions by future bands. I shall try and link live versions if they exist from the tellybox or a film, the sound quality may not be [more…]
19th Century
Crimean War, Part One
In 1954, as the centenary of the end of the Crimean War approached, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of articles for the Manchester Evening News which vividly described that campaign. In this article, [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Sunny Skeg
The announcement over the two-carriage rattle-trap train’s tannoy told us this we’d reached the terminus and bid us ‘Welcome to sunny Skegness’. Bearing in mind this was December on the East Coast, these wry words [more…]
20th Century
I Could Have Worked For The BBC
I could have worked for the BBC. Yes, I know that sounds preposterous, but actually it’s true! I could have worked for the BBC, and by now would be a retired executive on a very [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Thirteen
In the previous episode of Mystery Album, we visited Gotland, gateway to the Baltic and Sweden’s largest island, which lies 100 miles south of Stockholm and 225 miles northeast of Malmo. The above near century-old [more…]
20th Century
My Legends of Pop Music – Part Twenty-Two – Meatloaf
If get this right, there will be many cover versions by future bands. I shall try and link live versions if they exist from the tellybox or a film, the sound quality may not be [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Twelve
Last time on Mystery Album, we enjoyed the briefest of ports of call in Copenhagen. As we turn another century-old Photex Expandable Album page we find ourselves re-visiting the world of steel wheel, steel rail [more…]