It’s often said that one never visits the touristic places near to where one lives. I never went on the London Eye until a family from Chicago paid me too. The Beamish Open Air Museum is a likely unique museum dedicated to preserving and informing future generations about the special industrial heritage of working class… Continue reading Holiday day 3… The Beamish Open Air museum
Category: Cool Britannia
Alston Holiday -Day 2 Hexham and Hadrians Wall
For day two of our holiday we visited the lively little market town of Hexham, notable for amongst other things its magnificent Abbey Cathedral. People have worshipped on this site for nearly 1400 years. On top of the moors and in my “home” county. Whitfield Church in an area known as Little Switerzland Hexham Abbey … Continue reading Alston Holiday -Day 2 Hexham and Hadrians Wall
Alston Holiday Day 1
I’m away on holiday for a few days and staying in an old farmhouse, 500 metres/ 1600 feet up in the northern Pennines, an official area of outstanding beauty towards the top of England near the border with Scotland. Going up the M6 motorway approaching the eastern fringes of The Lake District Hart… Continue reading Alston Holiday Day 1
Longest reign over us – Queen Elizabeth II becomes our longest serving monarch in history
Today is one of those typically historic but low-level sort of days when The Queen becomes the longest serving British monarch in history, surpassing the magnificent reign of Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years and 216 days and died in January 1901. The precise moment that The Queen will break the record is believed… Continue reading Longest reign over us – Queen Elizabeth II becomes our longest serving monarch in history
The Queen – Her powers, perks and privileges.
It seems likely that September 9th will see Queen Elizabeth II surpass the achievement of her Great Grandmother, Queen Victoria, and become the longest ever serving monarch in British history. Whilst the role of the monarch has long since been transformed from the potentially tyrannical approach taken by some of her forebears, it is… Continue reading The Queen – Her powers, perks and privileges.
Photos from St. Paul’s Cathedral
This Monday I had the chance to do something I don’t get to do very often and that is enjoy London as a tourist. It’s easy when you live and work here to get bogged down with the traffic congestion and crowds and not make the most of the place. So on MondaI went and… Continue reading Photos from St. Paul’s Cathedral
Visiting places from the movies or Shaken, not stirred – My new James Bond tour of London
Many of you know that when not writing my little heart out, I run and guide private guided tours with my company, Ye Olde England Tours. One of my most popular tours I run is one dedicated to Sherlock Holmes and particularly the BBC series Sherlock where I take fans of the super sleuth and… Continue reading Visiting places from the movies or Shaken, not stirred – My new James Bond tour of London
75th Anniversary of The Battle of Britain – This was our finest hour
Today marks the start of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the skies of London will be treated once again to the familiar sights and sounds of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster bombers. As strange as it sounds, I think the sound of a Spitfire Merlin engine is possibly the best man-made noise… Continue reading 75th Anniversary of The Battle of Britain – This was our finest hour
Mad dogs and Englishmen
You might not realise it if you live elsewhere but for today at least London is about the hottest city on planet earth, not including Paris and err New Delhi. It’s easy for everyone to scoff at the idea that we aren’t living in the hottest place on earth, especially if you happen to live… Continue reading Mad dogs and Englishmen
The full text of The Magna Carta
The Ancient Greeks were amongst the first to enjoy very limited freedoms and some found themselves to live without a master. Their great rivals the Persians similarly had equal rights for men and women and all races were free to practice their religion as also occurred in the Maurya Empire of Ancient India. Roman… Continue reading The full text of The Magna Carta
Stephen Liddell 