Author: Purple Brolly
Durham Cathedral
Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral sit side-by-side on a peninsula off the River Wear that looks tailor-made for these sandstone landmarks. From […]
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Of the three dozen British dukedoms (duchies) that still exist, several are in royal possession (“merged in Crown”) after having become vacant […]
The Flying Shuttle
John Kay (1704-c.80) from Lancashire and one of his six sons, Robert (1728-1802), made vital contributions to the Industrial Revolution in the […]
The British Empire
“The British Empire was acquired in a fit of absent-mindedness.” ~ Sir John Seeley (1834-95) The enduring motivation behind the British Empire […]
Motorway Signs
The UK’s first significant stretch of motorway comprised the M1’s junctions 5-18, opened in 1959, though the M6 in Preston had a […]
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-) from London and Sir Tim Rice (1944-) from Buckinghamshire, who met in 1965, revived British musical theatre […]
Alan Bennett
Author, playwright and screenwriter Alan Bennett (1934-), a Yorkshireman, began writing in 1960, when he was a member of the illustrious Oxford […]
Secretin
At the time that secretin was discovered, post-Industrial Revolution, scientific materialists were encouraging the idea of a living body being just another […]
‘New Musical Express’ and ‘Melody Maker’
The world’s first weekly newspaper entirely devoted to music, ‘Melody Maker‘ (MM), began in 1926 and ended in 2000, when it was […]
Roald Dahl Day
Roald Dahl (1916-90) was born in Cardiff to Norwegian parents and Roald Dahl Day is on his birthday, 13th September. It is […]