Like many of us, I am a big fan of and user of words. One of my most popular blog posts is 102 great words that aren’t in English but should be102 great words that aren’t in English but should be. I’m also a fan of etymology, the study of the origin of words and… Continue reading Words that are becoming extinct
Category: Life
The famous farting lamp of London
Last week I wrote on The Great Stink of 1868. By chance todays post is on a related subject. Many people will be aware that in the Victorian age, much of London was lit with gas lamps and in deed several places still are. Less well known is that some of these lamps were… Continue reading The famous farting lamp of London
The Anglo-Saxon exhibition at the British Library
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get to visit an incredible new exhibition at the British Library all about the Anglo-Saxons. Despite going past the building almost every day for 25 years, I’ve never been in it before (I avidly visited the old building) and it is one of if not the… Continue reading The Anglo-Saxon exhibition at the British Library
The Great Stink of 1858
If like me, you suffered through the blazing London summer of 2018 with seemingly wall to wall sunshine heat and humidity from Easter to the end of September, squashed on your commute in airless tube trains and wondering how you’d ever get to sleep in a bedroom that rarely fell under 30 degrees (90 F)… Continue reading The Great Stink of 1858
A long farewell to Rick, a bitter-sweet scene with Hershel…. The Walking Dead.
Its not often I write a third blog post in a week. I’m writing this on Tuesday, having just watched the latest instalment of The Walking Dead. I’ve been a long time fan of the Walking Dead television show. It’s quality has waned somewhat in the last 2 or 3 years. Previously known for gripping… Continue reading A long farewell to Rick, a bitter-sweet scene with Hershel…. The Walking Dead.
The Armistice – The end of The Great War, WW1.
The Great War ended much differently than the never-say- die desperation of the Nazis in WW2. In 1918, there was no likely imminent collapse of Germany though the deprivation and starvation of many in the country was startling. Even though there were mutinies in the ranks of the French, order was generally maintained and despite… Continue reading The Armistice – The end of The Great War, WW1.
Flora Sandes, the only British woman to fight in WW1
As we approach Armistice Day in 2018 and the centenary of the end of WW1, I thought I would write a post or to related to the subject as I have done for the last four years. Whilst I have written a lot on WW1 and indeed on women in WW1 and figures such as… Continue reading Flora Sandes, the only British woman to fight in WW1
An eerie old mortuary from Jack The Ripper and the world’s oldest Police.
Whilst out on one of my walks and whilst taking some photos for Mondays post on The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, I made it my business to hunt out a new (for me) location related to Jack The Ripper. Hidden away in the corner of St George in The East Church, I found this. The derelict… Continue reading An eerie old mortuary from Jack The Ripper and the world’s oldest Police.
The Ratcliffe Highway Murders
It’s Halloween and I’ve done a number of related posts on the origins of Halloween, hauntings, the modern day Enfield Poltergeist and of course the infamous Jack The Ripper. Real life figures such as the Victorian poisoner Mary Cotton and figures that merge myth and reality such as Springheeled Jack. Perhaps more horrendous than any of… Continue reading The Ratcliffe Highway Murders
My latest ‘mini’ horror movie – Bad Dream?
It’s become something of a tradition for my friend and I to make a Halloween inspired video and I thought I would share this years effort. Bizarrely, whilst all the other young children would and still do watch cute shows, all of my favourite shows and films were adult historical/war, sci-fi and in horror and I… Continue reading My latest ‘mini’ horror movie – Bad Dream?
Stephen Liddell 