Hot air ballooning
It was the French who invented hot air balloons in 1783 and they soon brought one over to show the British, flying […]
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 publicly available sources, usually more.
The Welsh Parliament
The governance of Wales has, in recent decades, been subject to three referendum outcomes and several parliamentary Acts. The result was the […]
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St. Andrew’s Day
Andrew, a fisherman, was one of the disciples of Jesus. Scotland adopted him as their patron saint in 1320 and St. Andrew’s […]
Read MoreAndrew, a fisherman, was one of the disciples of Jesus. Scotland adopted him as their patron saint in 1320 and St. Andrew’s Day is celebrated on 30th November each year. It is a public holiday in Scotland and the date is thought to have been chosen by a St. Andrew’s Society in colonial USA.
St. Andrew travelled to places such as Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia to preach Christianity, for which he was eventually crucified by the Romans in Greece. It is said that he requested an X-shaped cross, rather than the normal T-shaped one. The X subsequently became the symbol used on the Scottish flag.
Although he never came to Scotland, some of his bones and teeth ~ known as ‘relics’ ~ arrived there, but they were destroyed in the 16th century. However, further relics were donated to Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries.
(Top image [cropped]: Lawrence OP at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The Dyson
The Dyson vacuum cleaner was invented by Sir James Dyson (1947-) from Norfolk. It was the first machine to combine the two […]
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Recycling
Recycling items that are no longer wanted, or regarded as rubbish, became established as a part of everyday life in 2003, when […]
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The Home Secretary
The position of Home Secretary is one of the four top jobs in the Government and in the Cabinet. The Home Secretary’s […]
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Tutankhamun’s tomb
British archaeologist, Howard Carter (1874-1939), born in London, discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in 1922. […]
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Wimbledon
The Wimbledon tennis championships take place in the first two weeks of July every year. They began in 1877 and only halted […]
Read MoreThe Wimbledon tennis championships take place in the first two weeks of July every year. They began in 1877 and only halted during the two World Wars, making them the oldest tennis championships in the world. Wimbledon is one of the four prestigious ‘Grand Slam‘ events and the only one with outdoor grass courts. Due to the unpredictable nature of British weather, a retractable roof was installed in 2009.
Public demand for tickets is so high that they are allocated by a computer after the close of applications in December, with only a one-in-four chance of being successful. However, there are debentures available for sale every five years, which guarantee a ticket for every day of the championship for those five years. For a Centre Court seat this costs a mere £50,000… or £31,000 for Court no. 1… nice!
Of course, one must have a bowl of strawberries and cream during the interval, as this is all part of the Wimbledon scene.
(Top image: Squeaky Knees at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0)
Wedding anniversaries
Married couples celebrate once a year when the date of their wedding comes around. Unlike birthdays, friends and family are not generally […]
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Formula One motor racing
After World War 2, there were numerous disused airfields and they were ideal for testing racing cars. As a result, in 1958 […]
Read MoreAfter World War 2, there were numerous disused airfields and they were ideal for testing racing cars. As a result, in 1958 the London-born driver, Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (1929-2020), was the first to win a Formula One (F1) Grand Prix race with the engine situated behind the driver’s seat (they had previously been in the front). This gave better handling, less wear on tyres and enabled the chassis to be smaller.
With the adoption of rear engines by all the other teams, this innovation provided the starting-point for the dominance of British engineers, designers and drivers. Most of the F1 racing teams have their bases in the UK. A useful benefit to them is the tax allowance they can claim for ‘research and development’, which is an essential, never-ending part of their operations.
Over the history of Formula One, there have been ten British driver champions, including seven-time champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton (1985-) from Hertfordshire.
(Top image [cropped]: Rick Dikeman at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Freedom of the Press
The ‘freedom of the press‘ means that newspapers and magazines can publish articles without any censorship or political interference from the Government. […]
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Cash machines & PINs
Cash machines, or Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), were invented by James Goodfellow (1937-) of Renfrewshire. His employer, Kelvin Hughes of Glasgow, asked […]
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