George Stephenson gets the statues. But a plain-dressing Quaker wool merchant from Darlington put up the money, drove the Act through Parliament, and hired Stephenson in the first place. He helped found the world’s first [more…]
Saturday 20th June – At sea, heading for Gibraltar Today is my birthday and I am sure you all know the saying, “You are only as old as you feel.” Well, today I feel old [more…]
A Multi-Million Pound Illusion Funded by Tories and Paid for by You Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham never misses an opportunity to boast about his socialist transport “revolution.” To hear him tell it, the Manchester [more…]
I’ve learned to kind of expect the unexpected where the greenhouse is concerned. There’s rarely a day goes by when there aren’t at least one or two (feathered) birds in there, struggling to find its [more…]
He started working life down a pit age six, ran half the coalfield by his thirties, and built an entire harbour to spite his rivals. They called him the King of the Coal Trade, and [more…]
Sunday 14th June – At sea, off southern Portugal and into the Mediterranean When your intrepid diarist woke, it was still dark, but a tap on my iPad screen revealed it was 06:45. Then I [more…]
Once we were all safely checked into the motel it was time to get ready for the evening’s activities. A digression here on the two main destinations: Port Stephens is about 150 miles north of [more…]
London is still our capital with a wealth of artistic and architectural gems to explore so I like to visit a few times a year. So.. Mr A and I went to town on the [more…]
At 21 he was building the locomotives for Brunel’s Great Western Railway. Then he took Brunel’s Great Eastern and used it to lay the first lasting telegraph cable across the Atlantic. This is the man [more…]
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