The Spanish Armada is one of the most famous events in English history, and a story that many can recount. The terrible Spanish tried to invade to depose the beloved Elizabeth I, but due to English…
Intermission Story (8) – Jimmy Stewart | Pacific Paratrooper
Jimmy Stewart suffered such extreme PTSD after being a bomber pilot in World War II that he acted out his mental distress during ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Stewart played George Bailey in the classi…
Source: Intermission Story (8) – Jimmy Stewart | Pacific Paratrooper
Leigh’s Motor Ambulance & The Red Cross – GM 1914
This article first appeared in the Leigh Chronicle in August 1915 and provides an insight into the valuable work of the Red Cross during the war. Including supporting motor ambulances.
‘The motor ambulance for wounded soldiers at the Front subscribed by the people of Leigh, at the instigation of the Mayoress ( Mrs.Ashworth), was on exhibition in Leigh on Friday. The van was…
The History Girls: August 1914: The Enemy Within? by Leslie Wilson
‘Two Germans entered the tube at Belsize Park. While the train was in motion they conversed in German, but during the short periods of silence at the stations they relapsed into bad, guttural French. Two young men, hearing a reference to carrier pigeons, broke their journey at…
Source: The History Girls: August 1914: The Enemy Within? by Leslie Wilson
Poverty in early Edwardian London | In Times Gone By…
Adelaide Springett was ashamed of her tattered boots and so took them off for her photograph, taken in 1901. The children who were photographed at the end of the Victorian and in the Edwardian eras…
Source: Poverty in early Edwardian London | In Times Gone By…
Madame Tussaud Used Beheaded Politicians to Create Her Original Waxworks
Madame Tussauds staff work in the wax studio on Marylebone Road, London, in 1939. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID SAVILL, TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
In the late 18th century, wax artist Marie Tussaud launched a somewhat unusual career in Paris. As a forced show of her loyalty to the French Revolution, she was ordered to create death masks of the guillotined aristocrats of the former monarchy, including…
Source: Madame Tussaud Used Beheaded Politicians to Create Her Original Waxworks
Barnes Old Cemetery: an abandoned graveyard being reclaimed by nature – Flickering Lamps
An abandoned cemetery close to my heart.
Barnes Old Cemetery is elusive. There’s not much information about it to be found online, and it hides amongst the trees close to the tennis courts on Rocks Lane – most people using the courts or …
Source: Barnes Old Cemetery: an abandoned graveyard being reclaimed by nature – Flickering Lamps
Last Hope Island by Lynne Olson review – a challenge to second world war myths | Books | The Guardian
I apologise for the link in this morning’s post about the Japanese in Britain not working. It appears the original at the History Girls has been deleted. So here instead is what sounds like a fascinating book about the myths of the Second World War.
Winston Churchill, left, and Charles de Gaulle at the Armistice Day celebrations in Paris, 1944. Photograph: Popperfoto
As Britain starts to extricate itself from Europe’s embrace, it is timely to examine the intricacies of this love-hate relationship at another point of crisis. Last Hope Island describes the many continental Europeans who, escaping Nazi occupation, found refuge in Britain during the second world war. Their stories are exciting, moving and horrifying, with…
Nelly | Greece | Iconic Photos
How do you memorialize someone like Nelly? On one hand, she was a pioneering woman photographer and her photos of Greek temples and columns set against sea and sky shaped – and it can be argued, st…
Source: Nelly | Greece | Iconic Photos
Portsmouth HMS Invincible excavation wins lottery support – BBC News
The HMS Invincible shipwreck is the “best preserved of a warship from the mid-18th Century”.
Source: Portsmouth HMS Invincible excavation wins lottery support – BBC News
The ‘Black Mozart’ Was So Much More – Atlas Obscura
The inscription roughly translated reads: ‘Knight of St. George, a pupil of La Bössiere’s father, both in London and in Paris, the reputation of the greatest practitioner of fencing was equally appreciated as a musician.’ PORTRAIT BY MATHER BROWN (C. 1753)/PUBLIC DOMAIN
The 40 years between the American Revolution and the defeat of Napoleon gifted the world some wonderful music. From Haydn’s string quartets, through Mozart’s symphonies, to Beethoven’s dazzling works for piano—a music lover could paddle around the period forever. But one great figure of the age is often ignored: Joseph Bologne, also known by his noble title the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. This is a pity. A person of…
A Very Dangerous Woman: Baroness Moura Budberg – Wonders & Marvels
Spy, seductress, aristocrat, Baroness Moura Budberg was a mystery to everyone who knew her, even her closest friends and her children.
In London in the 1950s, she was a renowned
saloniste; nobody else had the magnetic charm or the air of danger and mystery that surrounded Baroness Budberg, and her soirées attracted Graham Greene, Laurence Olivier, Guy Burgess, Bertrand Russell, David Lean, E. M. Forster, Peter Ustinov – all came to drink …
Source: A Very Dangerous Woman: Baroness Moura Budberg – Wonders & Marvels
I have just finished reading the book co-authored by Deborah McDonald and Jeremy Dronfield and it’s excellent. Sarah Vernon
Britain’s Futile Attempt to Keep American Colonists From Taking Tribal Land – Atlas Obscura
Picture this: In the 1760s, a team of colonial surveyors meets a group of leaders representing major Native American tribes in what will one day become the southeastern region of the United States of America. Together, they head out into the woods. Their task is to mark a negotiated border, by…
Source: Britain’s Futile Attempt to Keep American Colonists From Taking Tribal Land – Atlas Obscura
July 4, 1826 – The Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson | toritto
“On this day in 1826, former Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who were once fellow Patriots and then adversaries, die on the same day within five hours of each other.Thomas Jeffers…
Source: July 4, 1826 – The Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson | toritto
An Amazing Idea – Making An Aircraft Carrier Out of Ice and Sawdust
Mackenzie King (left), Franklin D. Roosevelt (center), and Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference
In WWII the British were desperate. Metal was in short supply, and German U-boats were sinking Britain’s lifeline – ships. The Allies needed an unsinkable…
Source: An Amazing Idea – Making An Aircraft Carrier Out of Ice and Sawdust
