Month: October 2018

History

1066 and King Harold II

1066 was an extraordinary year for King Harold II (c.1020/22-66), the last of the Saxon kings. In January, after years of political […]

1066 was an extraordinary year for King Harold II (c.1020/22-66), the last of the Saxon kings. In January, after years of political and military wranglings, he was crowned King of England but there were others who wanted this title. Harold and his army readied themselves and waited all summer on the south coast for the expected invasion attempt by William, Duke of Normandy.

In September, the Vikings and Harold’s brother Tostig arrived in 300 ships from Norway, so Harold and his army had to quickly march 200 miles north to fight them off. They succeeded in a terrible battle which saw both Harold’s brother and the last king of the Vikings killed.

Harold then received news that the expected cross-Channel invasion had started! His army had to rush all the way back to fight off the Normans …. but this time they failed, as they were exhausted and did not wait for more men to join them. Harold was killed in this battle, known as the Battle of Hastings. It is thought that one of his wounds was an arrow in the eye. Some Englishmen refused to live under Norman slavery and sailed off to fight Normans in southern Europe.

(Image from the Bayeux Tapestry: Trevor Huxham at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

15/10/2018
3 min
6 years
211 words

Culture

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) from Edinburgh first became a medical doctor. However, he had inherited story-telling talent from his mother and […]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) from Edinburgh first became a medical doctor. However, he had inherited story-telling talent from his mother and for a time he tried to combine both activities. Eventually, in 1891 he abandoned his medical practice and devoted himself to writing.

The source of the idea for his Sherlock Holmes novels came from a Dr. Joseph Bell who based his diagnoses on logic, observation and deduction, which impressed Doyle immensely. Holmes sometimes became a real person in readers’ minds and Doyle related that there ws even a marriage proposal among the many fan letters addressed to Holmes himself! Although he did not rate his Holmes stories as having much literary status, instead preferring to work on more intellectual subjects, he came to realise that he could make a living from them.

Doyle is well-known for following and promoting Spiritualism. He wrote books and articles supporting its beliefs, and toured around giving lectures on it. Unfortunately, he was wrongly convinced by the infamus photos of fairies produced by two girls in Yorkshire in 1920, which later proved to be a hoax.

He remained a spiritualist for the rest of his life and is the Honorary President-in-Spirit of the Spiritualists’ National Union.

(Top image: Elliott Brown at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

13/10/2018
3 min
6 years
210 words

Geography & Environment

Crown Dependencies

Within the British Isles there are three Crown Dependencies, namely:- the Bailiwick of Jersey the Bailiwick of Guernsey (including Alderney, Sark and […]

Within the British Isles there are three Crown Dependencies, namely:-

the Bailiwick of Jersey
the Bailiwick of Guernsey (including Alderney, Sark and other islands)
the Isle of Man

Together the two Bailiwicks are known as the Channel Islands.

*Image: UKPhoenix79 at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0*

The Crown Dependencies are self-governing possessions of the British monarchy. In the Isle of Man the royal incumbent is called the ‘Lord of Mann’ and in the Channel Islands he or she is called the ‘Duke of Normandy’. Strange but true!

The Crown Dependencies have a special status in that they are neither their own countries nor are they part of the UK and UK law does not apply to them. Instead, they have their own legal, immigration and healthcare systems, albeit with a degree of oversight by the Crown’s representatives. However, their international and defence affairs are looked after by the UK. This situation is very similar to that of the 14 British Overseas Territories, the difference being that the BOTs are geographically well outside of the British Isles.

The featured photograph is of the Parliament (Tynwald) building, known locally as the ‘Wedding Cake’, in Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man.

(Top image: Andy Stephenson at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

12/10/2018
3 min
6 years
210 words

Inventions

The hovercraft

The hovercraft was invented by engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-99) from Cambridgeshire, who patented his idea of a boat propelled on an […]

The hovercraft was invented by engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-99) from Cambridgeshire, who patented his idea of a boat propelled on an air cushion in 1954. He continued its development and found it could be amphibious, something which was very appealing to the military. Cockerell began work on the prototype in his boatyard and the first launch proper was on 1st June 1959. A few weeks later, on 25th July, it took only two huors to cross the English Channel!

These versatile craft are used by the military and coastguards all over the world. Their use for public transport ~ to and from the Isle of Wight, for example ~ dipped after fuel costs rose in the 1980s, but this has the potential to re-emerge at some future point.

Cockerell died on the 50th anniversary of the very first launch, to the exact day, 1st June 1999.

(Top image: Mypix at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

11/10/2018
2 min
6 years
150 words

Entertainment

TV soaps

TV soaps in the UK are long-running drama series showing the lives of ordinary people living in ordinary places such as East […]

TV soaps in the UK are long-running drama series showing the lives of ordinary people living in ordinary places such as East London, but with added spice and melodrama to keep the viewers enthralled and waiting for the next episode. The three most popular TV soaps (short for ‘soap operas’ though there is no singing!) are ‘Coronation Street’, which began in 1960, ‘Emmerdale’ , initially named ‘Emmerdale Farm’ in 1972, and ‘EastEnders’, which burst onto the screens in 1985. Other notable efforts include ‘Brookside’ (1982-2003) and ‘Hollyoaks’, aimed at the younger audience from 1995 onwards.

Episodes are broadcast frequently, sometimes daily, and are watched avidly by millions of loyal fans, eager to know what happens next. However, viewing figures do decline if the plots become too fanciful or depart too far from their working-class roots. Love affairs, feuds, family squabbles, money problems, a few humorous quips and a touch of nastiness and even violence seem to be what the public want to see in their favourite TV soaps. The writers, on the other hand, sometimes slip in one or two sensitive issues from the media world, e.g. mental health, with varying degrees of success.

(Image courtesy of www.insidesoap.co.uk / Fair Use)

09/10/2018
3 min
6 years
199 words

Posts pagination

Previous 1 … 4 5

Quoting Neil Oliver...

I love Britain more than anywhere else in the world. With all my heart I declare that those of us born here, or who have made a home here by choice, are the luckiest, most blessed of all people. I am British. I will always be British.