History
Mires, moats and manors
How could any true traveller ignore the lure of a name like Thorne Waste? It could be the title of a Brontë novel, or the kind of place the Hound of the Baskervilles was locked [more…]
History
20th Century
A History of Pop Music Albums – 1987
A History of Pop Music Albums – 1987 Featured Album: Deacon Blue – Raintown This is a series of articles looking at albums from 1960 to whatever year we end up in. I will select [more…]
Fiction
Jinnie’s Story, Chapter Thirteen
The news that the couple in the bombed car were Professor Wolff and his wife hit the university hard. There was a memorial service attended by many of the students. As a member of the [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…]
History
Mancs, Marx and Mill Towns
More notes from 45 years of cycling If you are following this series, you will know that my kind of curiosity is one that is still making money, or at least providing a public service [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – April 1941
April was a very busy month 80 years ago, Libya, Greece, Iraq and East Africa were all full of action. On the 1st, just as Rommel began his attack, there was a coup d’état in [more…]
Arts
Four Weeks One Summer, Part Two
St Ermin’s Hotel sits exactly, to the inch, halfway between Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster. A four-star hotel and a Grade II listed late Victorian building, designed in the Queen Ann revival style, [more…]
Book Review
Book Review: The Age of Arthur by John Morris
One of the most controversial books about the end of the Roman presence in Britain and the Sub-Roman Britain which survived until the modern shape of a Britain divided into England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales [more…]
20th Century
A History of Pop Music Albums – 1986
A History of Pop Music Albums – 1986 Featured Album: Paul Simon – Graceland This is a series of articles looking at albums from 1960 to whatever year we end up in. I will select [more…]