20th Century
This Is My England – Part Six
Kent used to be called “the Garden of England.” Perhaps it still is. The garden itself is still there — a mass of snowy blossom just now; but since I last saw it the great [more…]
John Alldridge
20th Century
This Is My England – Part Five
If you want to see what a profound and lasting impression the war has left on the face of rural England you should make a point of travelling over that stretch of road that links [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part Four
I was awakened that morning by the sudden furious ringing and clanging of bells — a sort of wild, insane music, as if some demented Dickensian sexton had been let loose in the belfry. To [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part Three
I have had a particularly soft spot in my heart for Nottingham ever since an evening in June, 1940. There were about a thousand of us, dribs and drabs of a British Expeditionary Force, scooped [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part Two
From Haddon Hall to Tideswell is only about ten miles. But to get from one to the other you have to travel across some of the bleakest, wildest, most God-forsaken country in England. On these [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part 1
Since this journey must begin somewhere, let it begin here in Bakewell with the story of a tart. A Bakewell tart, which, of course — as they are quick to point out — isn’t a [more…]
19th Century
The Wild West Trail, Part Twelve
Last in a series by my uncle John Alldridge. This article first appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph in February 1968 – Jerry F We had camped that last night on the Crow Indian reservation [more…]
19th Century
The Wild West Trail, Part Eleven
Eleventh in a series by my uncle John Alldridge. This article first appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph in January 1968 – Jerry F I found him sitting beside me at a snack bar on [more…]
19th Century
The Wild West Trail, Part Ten
Eleventh in a series by my uncle John Alldridge. This article first appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph in February 1968 – Jerry F Nobody who caught the gold fever ever quite recovered from it. [more…]