Originally posted on Luxereporter:
It’s 130 years since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first Sherlock Holmes novel and his character is, after numerous incarnations on screens large and small, probably going stronger now than it has since the early 20th century. Back in the 1880s, though, Holmes’ creator wasn’t finding life particularly easy. He…
Category: history
When to take the Christmas decorations down? Or When Christmas used to last until February!
Many people are back at work or at least thinking of doing so whilst for me, this is actually my first day off of Christmas and it is sooooo nice! Whilst I am enjoying my Christmas lights in the morning and evening, I have seen more than the odd newspaper report on taking down… Continue reading When to take the Christmas decorations down? Or When Christmas used to last until February!
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub & The Rude Parrot of Fleet Street
Following on from my discovery and subsequent blog post on John “Mad Jack” Mytton – The craziest man in history! I was overjoyed to stumble across another hilarious character of history whilst out on a Charles Dickens Walking Tour on friday. Everything was going well and then we reached one of the points of the tour, the… Continue reading Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub & The Rude Parrot of Fleet Street
The longest ongoing conflicts in the world
It’s that time of year when most websites and blogs do a rather whimsical review of the year with an overly saccharine Christmasy feeling. That may be all well and good for those of us living in something of a peaceful and prosperous existence but I think it’s important to remember that for many… Continue reading The longest ongoing conflicts in the world
From the prehistoric to the merely ancient
I’ve had a busy old week and been unwell for longer so was unable to write at all so I hope this collection of photos which I took on Thursday. It was a very windy day and the temperature was not much above freezing but it did mean we had everywhere to ourselves. I hope… Continue reading From the prehistoric to the merely ancient
John “Mad Jack” Mytton – The craziest man in history!
John Mytton is one of those colouful characters that make history, especially British history such an interest affair. It’s always nice when one comes across someone who was totally nuts and I always look at them with a slight mix of jealousy and admiration and just a little astonishment. Of course history is littered with… Continue reading John “Mad Jack” Mytton – The craziest man in history!
The Last Post
It is one of the most evocative and moving pieces of music and as with every year, The Last Post will be played all over the world on Remembrance Day but its origins had nothing to do with mourning. The Last Post was first published in the 1790s, just one of the two dozen or… Continue reading The Last Post
Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel
As we reach All Hallows Eve, it has become a tradition that I write a post related to Halloween or at least, things that go bump in the night. Last year I wrote about the apparently true events portrayed in The Enfield Poltergeist so I thought that today I would also write about true events, that… Continue reading Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel
The Aberfan Disaster Remembered 50 Years On
Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of one of the worst post-war disasters in Britain when on an ordinary October day, a quiet village in South Wales literally had the world fall in on them. The village of Aberfan sat beneath the spoil tips of the Merthyr Vale Colliery. Throughout the 20th century coal had been dumped… Continue reading The Aberfan Disaster Remembered 50 Years On
Hardknott Pass & Hardknott Fort – Perhaps the most remote Roman outpost in the Empire.
Following my climb up Skiddaw on the first day of my holiday, I fancied something a little bit more sedate, though at times no less hair-raising. After visiting Castlerigg Stonecircle and in keeping with my both laid back approach and fiercely testing idea of approaching my first days off in the year, I decided that I would visit the… Continue reading Hardknott Pass & Hardknott Fort – Perhaps the most remote Roman outpost in the Empire.
Stephen Liddell 