I have long been a fan of Baseball having watched it on TV since 1984 (and currently semi watch 5 or 6 games a week in the evening UK time) when I was only little and so got premium seats for the game as I knew I would enjoy it. Some have said it is the… Continue reading New York Yankees V Boston Red Sox – Going to my first Baseball game in London
Category: Cool Britannia
Putting the stone into Harrow Wealdstone – London’s Neolithic Standing Stone?
I was feeling pleased that I had managed to find the first two little known ancient and even neolithic spots with out any maps and so decided to see one more if I could find it. I had considered Grim’s Dyke which was both the boundary of Mercia (was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon… Continue reading Putting the stone into Harrow Wealdstone – London’s Neolithic Standing Stone?
Looking for and finding Waxwell, a Holy Well in Pinner (London)
Fresh from my success of finding a possible Neolithic burial mound in the middle of densely populated Watford, I was on the lookout for the second in the triumverate of off-beat and ancient sites and it lay just a few miles away, part on foot and part on the Metropolitan Line to the old village… Continue reading Looking for and finding Waxwell, a Holy Well in Pinner (London)
Looking for a neolithic burial mound in my local (Cassiobury) Park
It’s reached the time of year that I’ve gone a bit doolally and I mean more doolally than I generally am from the 1st of January until around the 31st December each year. I’ve not had a day off for years and been out on tour every day for months. I also feel that I’ve… Continue reading Looking for a neolithic burial mound in my local (Cassiobury) Park
The Knollys Rose Ceremony – Paying off a 619 year old rent
London and Britain is full of obscure ancient traditions and on Monday I bore witness to a ceremony that I did know about but never expected to see and it all has its foundations in events 619 years ago. As sometimes dirty as London is these days, in almost every way (except perhaps for air),… Continue reading The Knollys Rose Ceremony – Paying off a 619 year old rent
The history of 10 Downing Street and a peek behind its famous black door.
A few weeks ago I posted about a ‘fake’ Number 10 Downing Street and so I thought it would be timely to write about the actual Number 10 Downing Street especially as having written about historic and political situations for 6 years that not having yet done so is something of an aberration. After all,… Continue reading The history of 10 Downing Street and a peek behind its famous black door.
The Great Beer Flood of London
Like many ancient cities, London has suffered its fair share of disasters, perhaps unduly so but whilst history is full of fires, wars, pestilence and biblical downpours, few places in the world can have suffered what is known as The Great Beer Flood of London. It happened over 200 years ago on Monday 17th October… Continue reading The Great Beer Flood of London
The statue of Peace in Smithfield with its secret sign of fidelity.
As I mentioned in passing on my post on Smithfield Market the area hasn’t just got a millennia long relationship with animal markets and executions. It was also a place where men in Victorian times would bring their unwanted wives to swap them with other men, divorce being both monetarily expensive and a social faux-pas. Around… Continue reading The statue of Peace in Smithfield with its secret sign of fidelity.
Alexander Parkes – The man who changed and poisoned the world
Alexander Parkes is another one of those people from the Victorian Age that is forgotten despite him changing the world and his story is being told in a new exhibition in Bow, East London. The fact the the exhibition is in East London may give something of a clue that Alexander Parkes is the man… Continue reading Alexander Parkes – The man who changed and poisoned the world
The fake Number 10 Downing Street
It’s perhaps the most famous doorway in the world, number 10 Downing Street. For centuries home of the British Prime Minister and I’m standing in front of it. Except it isn’t and I’m not. Though until just the 1990’s, one could easily walk up and pose on the doorstep of Number 10, since the IRA… Continue reading The fake Number 10 Downing Street
Stephen Liddell 