20th Century
Crisis Journey, 1947 – Part One
“The record of what one man saw and heard and felt on a journey through Britain in October 1947, by John Alldridge” Uncle John’s record of his trip round Britain, to assess the extent to [more…]
History
20th Century
Desert Journey, Part Four
In 1961 my uncle, John Alldridge spent some time on the set of Lawrence of Arabia and reported his experiences for the Birmingham Mail – Jerry F The best paid maniacs in the world The [more…]
16th Century
Henry VIII’s Six Marriages
Like them or loathe them, royals seem to occupy a perennially-popular position in our national consciousness, and royal gossip even more so. We also seem fascinated as a country by our history, and by how [more…]
Arts
The Lighthouse of The Pacific
Leaving the Pan-American highway and heading west beyond the urban sprawl of second city Santa Ana, we follow the route of the El Salvador Railway Company’s Ahuachapan branch line which we discovered last time. Nothing [more…]
Diary
A View From The (Partially Dismantled) Greenhouse; That’s Different….Innit?
Life (and concomitant jobs) continue apace, the proposed outside growing area is almost cleared up, with any amount of farmyard detritus either taken to the tip or simply moved to another area, where it will [more…]
20th Century
Desert Journey, Part Three
In 1961 my uncle, John Alldridge spent some time on the set of Lawrence of Arabia and reported his experiences for the Birmingham Mail – Jerry F Jebel Tubeiq, Jordan According to the Bedouin, that [more…]
19th Century
A Gem From The Golden Age of Coffee
Despite finding San Salvador to be a much more pleasant place than expected, we shall strike into the provinces and catch our breath in a guest room in the sticks. En route, we shall allow [more…]
Engineering
The Great British Sports Car 1945 – 1985
So, before we get to the “meat and potatoes” of this article let us set a few ground rules. What IS a sports car? – In my opinion a sports car should be low slung, [more…]
History
Friday the 13th (Friggatriskaidephobia)
The first references to 13 being an unlucky number come from Norse Mythology when 12 gods held a dinner in Valhalla, Loki, the god of mischief, who was not invited, appeared and persuaded the god [more…]