20th Century
The Lancaster Bomber
Most will know about the Lancaster Bomber, that it was designed by Ray Chadwick to carry a huge bomb load a very long way and was probably the best bomber in WWII, certainly the most [more…]
Engineering
Computing
Cnuteneering, Part Thirty Five
Welcome back to Cnuteneering, where the possible is made more difficult by bone headed ignorance, overenthusiasm and pointy metal things being brought together. It’s been a while – you may want to refresh your memory [more…]
20th Century
Mitchell’s Spitfire
Earlier this year, we revisited The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, primarily because we wanted to see the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard exhibits once again. Now living only a few miles away, a quiet [more…]
20th Century
How I came to mistrust, then detest the Main Stream Media
Ed. This was sent to me in 2018 by Moscow Fred, sadly he was never able to finish it. RIP Fred. I was reminded of it by the documentary on The Herald of Free Enterprise [more…]
Economics
Pipeline Sabotage and the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
In the course of history there sometimes occurs events that are monumentally important yet were hardly noticed by much of the world at the time. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 went [more…]
Computing
The Pocket Calculator
Introduction Some of you may know that the Doc has been ill after falling off of a ladder. A very bad accident and I was lucky not to break anything (other than my confidence at [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…]
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…]
Computing
Automations In My Home
Last year I moved into a new house. On moving in I tried to get the Hive heating system up and running so I could control it from my phone. The previous occupants had left [more…]