20th Century
The Sore Seated Safari
In the cupboard to the left of my desk, sits a large cardboard box filled with old family photo albums. These arrived in my parent’s house in the early 1980s, after the death of my [more…]
History
History
Elementary, my dear Watson – C Carbon
In previous articles, we’ve looked at the element Hydrogen, and at the development of the Periodic Table (a.k.a. the Periodic Table of the Elements). This time, I intend to shine the spotlight on an element [more…]
History
Elementary, my dear Watson – the Periodic Table
Behold the Periodic Table (a.k.a. the Periodic Table of the Elements). I’m pretty sure that we are all pretty familiar with this, from happy days in the school classroom if not more recently. It’s an [more…]
20th Century
Buried Treasure
Amongst a century of detritus at the BBC there lies some buried treasure. Between layers of fake news, preachy left-wing documentaries and un-funny comedy, the BBC’s iPlayer hides a gleaming gem of an old archaeology [more…]
Arts
Les Fogueres De Sant Joan De Alicante
The history of burning offerings before the summer solstice can be traced back to prehistoric times. It is part cleansing and part preparation for the coming harvest. At some time in recent history it became [more…]
19th Century
The Lithuanian Gas Chamber
Since the “winter” flight timetables have come into operation it has become more convenient for me to initially fly into Kaunas rather than into Vilnius for my business-related visits to Lithuania (something I have undertaken [more…]
17th Century
A Postcard from the IFG Part Two
International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, August 2022 In Part One, I just about managed to shoehorn two days of the fantastic Festival. Before I carry on telling you about the rest, a quick gallop though [more…]
15th Century
The Amazing Life (And Death) of Xpoual (Es-po-al) De Colon
There is no definitive date for the birth of Xpoual de Colon. It is believed he was born between August 26th and October 31st in 1451 in Genoa, although there are also claims that he [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…]