Archeology
Inside the Neolithic Mind
This is a rather niche book, but I know there are (at least) a few Puffins keen on archaeology, so I thought it might be of interest. It explores, as the subtitle says, ‘consciousness, cosmos [more…]
Foxoles
Arts
Marginalia
‘Marginalia’ is the term given to things which have been added to the margin of a book. That pencilled in ‘!’ or ‘No!’ you might have seen in a library book is, strictly speaking, an [more…]
20th Century
Book Review: Slipstream: A Memoir by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Elizabeth Jane Howard, known as Jane, was born in 1923. Her name may be familiar to various Puffins because she was briefly married to the famous naturalist and painter Peter Scott (son of Scott of [more…]
History
The strange case of Omm Seti
Dorothy Eady was born in Blackheath in 1904. Aged three, she had a severe fall, tumbling down the family stairs, and was pronounced dead by the ambulance crew which took her to hospital. However, once [more…]
19th Century
Down the rabbit hole, or Did Lewis Carroll ever visit Llandudno?
The Welsh seaside resort of Llandudno makes great play of its Lewis Carroll connection. In 1933, David Lloyd George unveiled a marble monument of The White Rabbit with a plaque stating “On this very shore [more…]
Arts
English Alabaster
On a mini-break to London some years ago, we decided to have a look round the Courtauld Gallery (in the old Somerset House, which used for decades to be the central registry of birth, marriages [more…]
History
Who was Will Brereton?
Chances are, if you asked this question (always providing the person had heard of him at all) the answer would be something about a dashing young courtier who was beheaded for having an affair with [more…]
Hobbies
Solving Cryptic Crosswords – Some Hints
A Puffin asked in the comments recently if someone could do a post on this, as he had always been interested in having a go at them but didn’t know where to start. So here [more…]
Biography
Review – Hugh Trevor-Roper: the biography
When I first spotted this book in the library, I wasn’t sure whether or not to pick it up – I already had an armful to take out, and wasn’t looking for another one. Like, [more…]