Hobbies
Crossword No. 236
First correct entry out of ‘the hat’ wins a book of your choice (subject to T&Cs) & a mug! Email entries to me by 6.00 pm Friday, subject ‘Crossword’. Contact here on email Winner of [more…]
Hobbies
20th Century
Liquid Thoughts on Beer
I was gratified recently to find that my uncle, John Alldridge, occasionally took time off in the 1940s from reporting World War II and its aftermath to concentrate on more important matters, as can be [more…]
Democracy
A View From The Greenhouse: We’re All “Far Right” Now, Innit?
Two weeks ago, when I commenced to writing my last episode about the trials and tribulations of a lazy, often reluctant veg grower and half hearted forager, I had no idea there’d be a new [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week One Hundred and Fifty-Nine
Monday Good morning my happy readers. Gosh that was some storm last night, there I was asleep happily curled up in my cat basket on my nice soft blanket when I was woken up by [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Lourdes
Unlike my father, grandparents and daughter, I’ve never been to Lourdes. Given the proliferation of places of worship that have sprung up around the Pyrenean town since the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to [more…]
Hobbies
Crossword No. 235
First correct entry out of ‘the hat’ wins the last of my silver Britannias & a mug! Email entries to me by 6.00 pm Friday, subject ‘Crossword’. Contact here on email Winner of Crossword 234 [more…]
18th Century
One Small Step for Man… Brindley and the Trent and Mersey Canal
In an earlier piece, I mentioned the Trent and Mersey Canal, with its company headquarters in Stone, hinting that its history and the political shenanigans behind its construction might be worth an article in its [more…]
20th Century
Champagne, a Plan and A Philosopher
On New Year’s Eve 1946, my uncle reviewed his first year at home since the end of the War for the Manchester Evening News. It would seem that at times he was finding it hard [more…]
19th Century
The Rise and Fall of the Needle Gun 1841-1874
The Needle Gun Every once in a while in all fields of engineering there comes along an innovation that so revolutionises the existing technology that it makes long accepted ways of doing things obsolete and [more…]