Month: January 2019

Inventions

Tarmac

There were three people involved in the invention of tarmac (or tarmacadam), not counting John McAdam (1756-1836) from Ayrshire, who had previously […]

There were three people involved in the invention of tarmac (or tarmacadam), not counting John McAdam (1756-1836) from Ayrshire, who had previously come up with the ‘macadam’ road surfacing material. This was fine for horse-drawn carriages but not for cars, as the broken-up stones were loose and easily scattered.

The first person in the tarmac story is unknown, but it was his idea to cover up some spilled tar on a macadam road in Denbigh with slag. The second person was Edgar Purnell Hooley (1860-1942), from Glamorgan, who in 1901 saw how effective this covering had been in making that road durable enough for cars, albeit unintentionally. The next year he patented his own mixture, initially called ‘Tar Macadam’. This was smoothed over by a steam-roller.

*Radcliffe Road in Nottingham was the first in the world to have a tarmac surface.*
*Image: Peter Whatley at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0*

The third man was Sir Alfred Hickman (1830-1910) from Staffordshire, who had sufficient finances and business acumen to buy Hooley’s company in 1905 and greatly expand its reach. Today, even surfaces which are not made of tarmac may be referred to as ‘the tarmac’, as it became so well-known.

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

07/01/2019
3 min
6 years
208 words

Sport

Bobby Moore

Robert Frederick Chelsea (Bobby) Moore (1941-93) was born in Essex during a German bombing raid and was to become one of England’s best […]

Robert Frederick Chelsea (Bobby) Moore (1941-93) was born in Essex during a German bombing raid and was to become one of England’s best footballers. He is fondly remembered as a cool, calm, charismatic captain with great vision, exemplified by his pass to Geoff Hurst who then scored England’s 4th goal in the 4-2 win against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley. This has been England’s only World Cup Final success to date. The image above shows Bobby Moore receiving the Cup from the Queen.

At age 22, Moore remains the youngest ever captain of the England football team. His natural talent as a leader was also recognised early by the management at West Ham United, who made him their captain in 1962 . He joined the club as an amateur in 1950 and then full-time after leaving school in 1957 and spent the next 17 years with them. He played for a few more clubs and tried his hand at management, but he became ill and died of cancer at age 51 in 1993. West Ham United named a stand after him and have ‘retired’ the no. 6 shirt in his honour, as that was his number.

(Imag picryl.com)

06/01/2019
3 min
6 years
197 words

Geography & Environment

Robin redbreast

The little robin is the national bird of the UK and has won this status for being an easily-recognisable, tame, cheery companion […]

The little robin is the national bird of the UK and has won this status for being an easily-recognisable, tame, cheery companion to British gardeners all round the country. It is very common to find a robin perched nearby when digging and turning the soil.

The ‘robin redbreast’ is so called for obvious reasons, with male and female adults looking very similar to each other. Robins eat insects mainly, but will not turn down a few cake crumbs or sunflower hearts. They may even eat these from your hand. Robins tend to hide away in the summer but are otherwise seen in all seasons, although a few do migrate to Spain or Portugal in winter, just like their human compatriots.

(Top image: Alan Cruickshank at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)

05/01/2019
2 min
6 years
129 words

Culture / English language

British surnames

In the UK, surnames are passed down the generations and are the last part of a person’s name, e.g. ‘Miss Patricia Eleanor […]

In the UK, surnames are passed down the generations and are the last part of a person’s name, e.g. ‘Miss Patricia Eleanor Hunter‘. When two people marry, the woman may legally take her husband’s surname, but this is entirely her own choice. Anyone can change their given names by deed poll at any time after the age of 16.

British surnames, since they came into being in the Middle Ages, are a creative product of the need to correctly record and distinguish between individuals in a growing population. That is why there are tens of thousands of British surnames, some of them differing by just one letter from another, e.g. Davis and Davies, though this is also explained by the wayward spelling of poorly educated people and by regional differences.

Many British surnames derive from places (e.g. Marston), geographical features (e.g. Hill) or occupations (e.g. Cooper). Others denote family relationships (e.g. Johnson), nicknames (e.g. Short), or are adaptations through the generations. The BBC gives lots of examples on this webpage.

(Image: pixabay.com)

05/01/2019
3 min
6 years
181 words

Sport

Hockey

The team game of hockey, or ‘field hockey’, has been played in its modern form in British public schools, grammar schools and […]

The team game of hockey, or ‘field hockey’, has been played in its modern form in British public schools, grammar schools and universities since the late 19th century. It is played with a small hard ball and long sticks that have a curve at the bottom end. In the 20th century it was associated more with girls and women than with men. The gleeful exclamation “Jolly hockey sticks!” became an adjectival phrase for a privileged young lady.

Nowadays, men’s and women’s participation is roughly equal in a thriving league system and in international competitions. In 2016, the British women’s hockey team won Olympic Gold and this inspired thousands more people to join their local hockey clubs. There are separate governing bodies for the UK’s constituent countries, as follows:-

England Hockey
Hockey Wales
Ulster Hockey
Scottish Hockey

(Image: Kenneth Allen at geograph.ie / CC BY-SA 2.0)

04/01/2019
2 min
6 years
148 words

Celebrations & Holidays

Whitsun

The seventh Sunday after Easter is known as Whit Sunday, the next day is Whit Monday and the whole week is Whitsuntide, or […]

The seventh Sunday after Easter is known as Whit Sunday, the next day is Whit Monday and the whole week is Whitsuntide, or Whitsun. As it is dependent on the date of Easter, Whit Sunday can fall on any date from 10th May to 13th June.

It is a Christian celebration of Pentecost ~ a time when Jesus’s disciples were said to have been inspired to start their missionary work. Churches are decorated in red, which symbolises the fire of the Holy Spirit and the blood of martyrs.

Until the UK was about to join the European Economic Community, Whit Monday was a Bank Holiday and Whitsun would usually coincide with the school half-term week. Since 1972, it has been replaced by the ‘Spring Bank Holiday’, which falls on the last Monday of May and is therefore a more consistent marker for the school calendar.

(Image: maxpixel.net)

03/01/2019
2 min
6 years
147 words

Basic principles

Freedom of speech

There is a fondly-held belief in the UK that we have ‘freedom of speech’ ~ in other words, there are no restrictions […]

There is a fondly-held belief in the UK that we have ‘freedom of speech’ ~ in other words, there are no restrictions on what people can say or write. This has never been entirely true, of course, as there are censorship and libel laws, but today the principle of free speech is being sorely tested.

An old saying is that: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. This is rarely heard nowadays as the modern accusations of ‘political incorrectness’, ‘fake news’ and ‘hate speech’ seem to encompass any language which offends, denigrates, criticises or questions, as if this is somehow taboo or unnatural. We all know it is not.

Thankfully, another old saying which the Brits do still like to quote is :“I disapprove of what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it” (Evelyn Beatrice Hall, 1906).

(Image: pixabay.com)

02/01/2019
2 min
6 years
150 words

Culture / Religion

Welsh Chapels

‘Nonconformist’ religious movements are those which do not belong to the Established Church. In Wales, these include the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, […]

‘Nonconformist’ religious movements are those which do not belong to the Established Church. In Wales, these include the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers and the Congregationalists. These became very popular in the 1800s when coal- and slate-mining were booming industries, but the work was hard and communities drew together.

The Welsh chapels, built of various sizes and styles for these movements, were places of sanctuary and social bonding; somewhere for people to come together at the end of the day to be entertained, educated, supported and even to make their mark in the promotion stakes; somewhere to be seen as being a good citizen. Everyone enjoyed ‘going to Chapel’.

However, as fast as new Chapels were being built 150 years ago, today they are disappearing at the same rate, as other social outlets have taken their place.

(Image: Dylan Moore at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

01/01/2019
2 min
6 years
145 words

Posts pagination

Previous 1 2 3

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.