Monthly Archives: February 2015

No-takers for Paradise?

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

A week or so ago I wrote about the famous mutiny on HMS Bounty and the island of Pitcairn in the South Pacific. It turns out that though at one time the island was home to several hundred people, over the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Travel | Tagged British Overseas Territory, Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian, geography, history, HMS Bounty, Life, News, Pitcairn Islands, Travel | 8 Comments

Terra Nullius, enclaves & the strange case of Bir Tawil – The land that nobody wants.

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

When European nations were looking at empire building there were a number of sham reasons used to justify it. Either religious edicts from Rome, pure Ethnocentrism from France (the belief of one race being superior to all others) or in … Continue reading →

Posted in geography, history | Tagged Antarctica, Bir Tawil, British Empire, Enclave, geography, history, India, Life, Maps, Politics, Rio Grande, Roman Empire, Terra Nullius | 6 Comments

Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian and The Mutiny on The Bounty

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

HMS Bounty was a small and rather unremarkable ship that was bought and re-fitted for the Royal Navy for a not particularly exciting mission but little did anyone onboard realise their names would go down in maritime history. It started … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged Australia, Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian, history, HMS Bounty, John Adams, Life, Mutiny, Mutiny on the Bounty, Pitcairn Islands, Royal Navy, Tahiti | 9 Comments

Was it something I said? – Accents and dialects of the world and Great Britain

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

Over the weekend it was a revealed in a Time Magazine survey that we British apparently have the most sexy accent in the world. Whilst not sure how many from Tanzania or Mongolia were surveyed, we sure are grateful to … Continue reading →

Posted in Cool Britannia, Life, London, Opinion | Tagged Accents, Cockney, history, Life, Liverpool, London, Maps, Media, Newcastle, Opinion, Shakespeare, Voices | 21 Comments

Grace Darling – A Victorian Heroine

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

Not many people know about Grace Darling today but 175 years ago her fame hadn’t just spread around the land but around the world and with good reason. Grace was the daughter of William and Thomasin Darling, just one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Heritage, history, Life, Northumberland and Durham | Tagged church, Farne Islands, Grace Darling, Hero, Heroine, history, Life, North Sea, northumbria, RNLI, Victorian | 17 Comments

Making Book Promo Videos

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

The more observant of you may have noticed this blog post is a day or two later than normal. Partly this is because I’ve been a bit unwell and partly it is because I have been very busy making some … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and Films, writing | Tagged Advertising, Amazon, Author, Blogging, Book promo, books, Kindle, Life, promo video, Twitter, Video, writing | 1 Comment

#Mugabe Falls

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

It’s always nice to see politicians make an idiot of themselves. Whether it former President George W. Bush or current London Mayor Boris Johnson, if we have to put up with characters then at least we can laugh at them. … Continue reading →

Posted in Funny & Humour, Life, Uncategorized | Tagged #Mugabefalls, Comedy, Funny, Humor, Humour, Life, Meme, Mugabe Falls, News, Politics, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe | 10 Comments

Charity begins at home but is it now big business?

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Stephen Liddell

Every now and then comes a heartening good news story whether it is one of those homeless people who help a passerby only to end up the centre of a massive fundraising operation or the story I wrote about last … Continue reading →