Coalition governments
With its first-past-the-post voting principle, a UK General Election does not often result in no party having a working majority of 326 […]
Read MoreAuthor: Purple Brolly
My aim is to give a flavour of these precious islands we call 'the UK'. All research is based on a minimum of two public domain sources, usually more.
Venn diagrams
Yorkshire-born Dr. John Venn (1834-1923) had two obsessions ~ logic and Cambridge University. His deep interest and skill in mathematics, probability and […]
Read MoreYorkshire-born Dr. John Venn (1834-1923) had two obsessions ~ logic and Cambridge University. His deep interest and skill in mathematics, probability and logic led to his development of what later became known as Venn diagrams. Venn spent most of his life at Cambridge, initially as a student, then a lecturer, professor and compiler of the University’s history.
Whereas ‘Eulerian circles’ show only the known commonalities between categories/sets/classes, Venn diagrams display all possible commonalities, even the non-existent or unlikely ones. Sometimes this results in an empty area in the centre, where all the circles overlap, or there may be less crucial, outer segments that have no takers. Whatever the case, a Venn diagram is an excellent visual aid to sorting out the nuts and bolts of a situation and can be used alongside or even instead of algebra to pinpoint a desired state, taking everything into account.
Venn owned a huge collection of publications on the subject of logic and himself wrote ‘The Logic of Chance’ (1866) and ‘Symbolic Logic’ (1881), the latter containing the first illustrations of his diagrams. He also wrote a history of his College at Cambridge and, with his son John A. Venn (1883-1958), published several volumes detailing all of Cambridge’s alumni.
(Top right image of John Venn [cropped]: Bradford Timeline at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC 2.0)
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten (1913-76) was born in Suffolk and spent most of his life there. In 1948 he co-founded Suffolk’s Aldeburgh Festival […]
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Burns Night
Robert (Rabbie) Burns (1759-96) was born in Ayrshire to tenant farmers, but found he had a gift for writing poetry and lyrics. […]
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Oliver Cromwell
The role of the monarchy has changed radically over the ages and the public execution of King Charles I (1600-49) set a […]
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The Oak
Two types of oak tree are native to the UK ~ the English and the sessile. Others have been introduced but it […]
Read MoreTwo types of oak tree are native to the UK ~ the English and the sessile. Others have been introduced but it is the English oak, in particular, which dominates our tree population overall and has been here since the end of the last glacial period. These trees can live as long as 1,000 years, although there is one twice that age at Glastonbury, called Magog, still hanging onto life.
Other illustrious oaks include the King’s Oak at Rugby School, planted in 1909 by King Edward VII (1841-1910) and The Royal Oak in Shropshire, in which King Charles II (1630-85) hid before his escape to France in 1651. Therefrom hundreds of pubs take their name.
The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is the UK’s largest. It is 800-1,100 years old and its canopy spreads to over 90ft. across. To hug it would need 4 men and 2 women with outstretched fingertips touching.
One reason there are so many oaks in Britain is that the 17th and 18th century Navy needed the timber for its formidable ships. HMS Victory, for instance, was constructed from 100 acres of oak plantation. The oak’s strength was key to creating England’s “wooden walls”, not only of its ships but in Westminster’s oak-panelled chambers of power.
(Top image of a protected ancient oak in Lincolnshire: Bob Harvey at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. On this day Jesus reputedly washed his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, symbolising […]
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Led Zeppelin
For a band that refused to put out singles in the UK, it is ironic that TV’s ‘Top of the Pops’ (1964-2006) […]
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Channel swimming
An open-water swimmer needs exceptional mental strength to attempt to swim the English Channel, the North Channel or even, as South African-born […]
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Middle English
In the period immediately following the Norman Conquest of 1066, there were three main languages spoken in England ~ Old English (O.E.), […]
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Belisha beacons
The flash rate of Belisha beacons (0.75 seconds on, 0.75 seconds off) might have been chosen by a psychologist, as it is […]
Read MoreThe flash rate of Belisha beacons (0.75 seconds on, 0.75 seconds off) might have been chosen by a psychologist, as it is both reassuring for pedestrians and a calm alert for drivers simultaneously. For their invention we have to thank Lord Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893-1957) from Devon. When he was appointed Minister for Transport in 1934, crossing the road had become rather hazardous, particulary since 1930, when all speed limits were abolished for non-compliance!
Hore-Belisha’s Road Traffic Act (1934) introduced the all-important driving test and established the 30mph speed limit for built-up areas. These new safety measures were part of the updates in the second edition of ‘The Highway Code’ (1935) and they have saved untold thousands of lives and injuries.
Belisha beacons today have posts up to 16½ft. tall that are manufactured from steel or aluminium and applied with anti-corrosion paint in black and white bands similar to the zebra crossings by which they stand, one on each side. The globes are made of polyethylene and the whole item is designed to be weather- and vandal-proof. Additional spotlights may be fitted to illuminate the pavement and there may even be an LED halo around the globe to make it even more conspicuous in brightly-lit municipalities.
(Top images L to R [cropped]: W. Bellamy at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 & Rossographer at geograph.ie / CC BY-SA 2.0)