20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Two
The above photograph was taken on March 25th 1936. How can we be so certain? The marquee to the left can be seen at the beginning of a video clip below, the occasion being the [more…]
Always Worth Saying
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part One
No mystery here, this is Elihu, your modest reviewer of photographs grandfather. His father was also called Elihu and his grandfather was the John who Puffins with instant recall will remember lost half of the [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 3rd February 2022 The Panel: Crispin Blunt (Conservative) Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour) Robin Shattock (Imperial College) Victor Adebowale (NHS Confederation) Tim Stanley (Journalist) Venue: Tottenham In last week’s review, eagle-eyed readers spotted I’d confused [more…]
History
Postcard From Osh
A promise was made to Puffins regarding a dispatch from Kazakhstan to report upon the fighting between Kazakh forces, Russian paratroopers and ‘fuel protestors’. Located at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, a correspondent was only 12 miles [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Twenty
My own (reprinted) 1887 Bradshaw’s Guide shows an eclectic array of east coast shipping services connecting ourselves with continental Europe before the days of the noisy and inconvenient aeroplane. Goole to Dunkirk for 15 shillings [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 27th January 2022 The Panel: James Heappey (Conservative) Jonathan Reynolds (Labour) Liam Halligan (GB News) Alison Phillips (Daily Mirror) Kavita Oberoi (Sales Rep) Venue: Morecambe “Mr Worth-Saying, you told the Puffins that QT [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Nineteen
Having visited Helsinki Central Station, nearby shopping streets and the cathedral, our mystery family will have made their way back to the ferry at Satama, pausing to have their photograph taken beside the distinctive dockside [more…]
20th Century
A Very British Message to Garcia
Previously, my colleague Fred Brownbill wrote of US Navy SEAL Marine Commander Brian Bourgeois, commanding officer of SEAL Team 8, who was killed in the first week of December 2021 while fast-roping from a helicopter [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Eighteen
From Helsinki Central Station, a five-minute walk takes one past the Ateneum and along Ateneuminkuja and Yliopistonatu to Senate Square, at the north end of which and up some steps sits Helsinki Cathedral. Billed as [more…]