20th Century
History
19th Century
The Sharps Model 1874 and Reloading the 45-90 Black Powder Cartridge
Introduction One of my favourite scenes in one of my all-time favourite Westerns is when Josie Wales (played by Clint Eastwood) chased by Union Redlegs casually waits for them to reach mid-river on a hand-hauled [more…]
20th Century
A Massacre of the Innocents
Introduction On Saturday 10 June, 1944, while heading north towards Normandy to help counter the Allied D-Day invasion, German troops of the Der Führer Regiment of the SS Panzer Division Das Reich, committed an unthinkable [more…]
19th Century
Sit Down At Your Computer
QWERTY – Why? Sit down at your computer (or typewriter) and type a few lines. You can work out your speed and efficiency fairly easily – you have a rough knowledge of where the keys [more…]
19th Century
Can lost production ever be recovered?
It’s easy to blame Covid-19 virus for the nation’s woes and, up to a point, that’s understandable. People who focus exclusively on the nation’s health tend to pay less attention to the economic damage wrought [more…]
20th Century
Dad’s Virus
Music fades. Captain Mainwaring is in his chair at the Church Hall office. Frowns as he looks at the important-looking document in front of him. Sgt Wilson sidles in… Sgt Wilson: “Good evening, sir. [more…]
19th Century
Lincoln Predicted How Americans Would Lose Their Freedoms
In 1839 Abraham Lincoln, a young twenty-eight year old lawyer, was asked by the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois to address the group on “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions”. The result elevated Lincoln’s [more…]
20th Century
A Different Class of Murder, by Laura Thompson
We Brits love a mystery, and they don’t come much more mysterious than Lord Lucan. There are lots of books out there about the Lucan case – those of us who were around then will [more…]
20th Century