Category Archives: history

Posts predominantly history related.

Solving the mystery of Captain Henry Every – The Pirate who became the subject of the first world-wide manhunt from India to North America

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog on Colonel Blood and his audacious career that involved stealing the Crown Jewels and in the last few days I’ve been reading about a discovery of some Arabian coins unearthed in an … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged Captain Henry Every, Fancy, Ganj-i-Sawai, Mughal, Pirates, Treasure | 3 Comments

The Mechanical Turk Chess-Player that shocked the world!

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

When we think of robots and artificial intelligence, it’s easy to think that it is a modern 21st century obsession or at least of 20th century science fiction such as Star Trek. This is not entirely the case. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Science and Engineering | Tagged Automaton, Chess, Clockwork, Silver Swan, The Mechanical Turk, The Mechanical Turk Chess player | 1 Comment

Coronavirus Diary 75 – Finding a Holy and Magical Well in St Albans.

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

I’ve been to a few Holy Wells in my time, some ancient pagan wells and some slightly less ancient but still extremely old Christian ones. The problem with wells in cities and particularly near to London is that they are … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Life, Religion and Faith, Travel | Tagged Christian, Coronavirus, Diary, hertfordshire, Holy Well, Roman, St Albans | 2 Comments

From bad boys to the hello girls – the origins of the Telephone Operator

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

As was often the case with Victorian era workplaces, many of the worst and most menial jobs were filled by boys and this was the case with the early Telegraph networks. As revolutionary as it seems to go from … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Science and Engineering | Tagged Hello Girls, Switchboard Operators, Telegraph, Telephone Switchboards, Telephones, Women, Work | 1 Comment

The monument to Admiral Collingwood

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

Everyone knows of the famous Battle of Trafalgar and the great old HMS Victory which you can visit with Ye Olde England Tours when life gets back to normal. I think it is perhaps the best day out! Trafalgar Square is … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Northumberland and Durham | Tagged Admiral Collingwood, Battle of Trafalgar, Memorials, Nelson, Newcastle, River Tyne, Royal Navy, Tynemouth | Leave a comment

Colonel Blood – The man who stole the Crown Jewels and lived to tell the tale!

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

The Crown Jewels have long been in one of the most secure locations in the world. Without giving too much away they are stored being bomb proof glass in rooms with over 100 hidden cameras and hi-tech security measures and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, London | Tagged Colonel Blood, Crown Jewels, King Charles II, Thomas Blood, Tower of London | 1 Comment

The Legend of Mary Overie

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

Everyone knows of that famous old miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the the literature of Charles Dickens but right in the heart of one the most Dickensian feeling part of Central London there is a story that predates Ebenezer by 1,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in history, London, Travel, Ye Olde England Tours | Tagged Legends, London, Southwark, The Legend of Mary Overie | 6 Comments

An account of when my house was almost hit by a Nazi rocket in WW2

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

Over the last week or two I have been reading old magazines of histories and memories of my village, rather similar to some of the ones I write myself. A lady by the name of Mollie Thomas strikes particularly close … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Life, WW2 | Tagged Bushey Heath, Buzz Bomb, Doodlebug, V1 Rocket, war, WW2 | Leave a comment

The story of how a Tyneside ship ended up as the Resolute desk of the President of the United States Part Two

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

Following on from last weeks post on HMS Resolute, we pick up the account in this second blog post. On 10 September 1855, the abandoned HMS Resolute was found adrift by the American whaler George Henry, captained by James Budington … Continue reading →

Posted in geography, history | Tagged Henry Grinnell, HMS Resolute, Northwest Passage, Prince Charles, Queen Victoria, Resolute Desk, Royal Navy, The White House, USA, Washington | 1 Comment

The story of how a Tyneside ship ended up as the Resolute desk of the President of the United States Part One

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Stephen Liddell

It’s hard to say much about the desk of the Prime Minister outside the Corona virus, it is almost unheard of him or her to address the nation or indeed The Queen outside her customary Christmas message of goodwill and … Continue reading →