Month: October 2019

Basic principles

An Englishman’s home is his castle

The principle behind the saying “An Englishman’s home is his castle” is that your home is your private territory, which others may […]

The principle behind the saying “An Englishman’s home is his castle” is that your home is your private territory, which others may not enter without permission. Along with this comes a sense of pride in your property, so you keep it secure and well-maintained, and update the furnishings, fixtures and fittings as and when you can.

The idea of the home-castle is long-established in the UK, but it seems it first appeared in print in 1505, when Sir John Fyneux stated that a man’s house “is to him, his castle”. Furthermore, in 1567 Sir William Stanford wrote that as the law confirms your rights over your house, it is justified to defend it physically against an intruder, even if that causes manslaughter or injury.

The precise phrase was coined in 1870 by historian Edward Augustus Freeman when writing about King Edward the Confessor. He explained that while it seemed pathetic to the French, it was part of the English psyche. This is despite the fact that the ‘absolute’ owner of England’s soil is the monarchy, though this does make the reference to a castle quite appropriate.

(Image: Oliver Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

14/10/2019
3 min
5 years
195 words

Law

Rights on becoming 21 years old

The Family Law Reform Act of 1969 lowered the traditional ‘age of majority’ from twenty-one to eighteen, as from 1st January 1970. […]

The Family Law Reform Act of 1969 lowered the traditional ‘age of majority’ from twenty-one to eighteen, as from 1st January 1970. Until then, twenty-one was regarded as the age at which you became an adult, symbolised by being given a key to the family home, as in the popular song:-

Twenty-one today,
Twenty-one today,
(S)He’s got the key of the door,
Never been twenty-one before,
And Pa says I can do as I like,
So shout ‘Hip-hip hooray’,
(S)He’s a jolly good fellow,
Twenty-one today.

This is why many 21st birthday cards and fancy gifts feature a key and it is still seen as a milestone birthday, especially as it is the age at which most university students finish their degrees.

At twenty-one, you can apply to adopt a child, supervise a learner driver (if you have held a full driving licence for three years), apply for various flying licences, and apply for a provisional HGV, bus or coach licence. There remain a few transitionary stages: you move up to the 21-24 age band for the Minimum Wage; and if sentenced to prison, you will be sent to one that holds people aged 18-25, rather than a full adult prison.

(Image: Oberholster Venita at pixabay.com)

13/10/2019
3 min
5 years
210 words

History

The Black Death

The years 1348-50 saw the greatest loss of life in British and European history, when 20-50 million people died, both rich and […]

The years 1348-50 saw the greatest loss of life in British and European history, when 20-50 million people died, both rich and poor. To the bewildered population, the Black Death was seen as God’s punishment for their sins. How terrified they must have been on witnessing their loved ones die horribly within five days of the first sharp tingling sensation transitioning to their rotting, putrid skin turning black.

We now know that the disease was bubonic plague, carried by rats’ fleas, but people believed that humankind was being wiped out in an apocalypse. Some of them threw morals aside and debauched themselves, while a few were heroic. Crowds flocked to the churches for salvation, but many clergy ran away or died themselves. Graveyards were extended to accommodate mass graves.

The Black Death arrived first in Weymouth, Bristol and London, where a boundary wall was built, but this failed to shield its inhabitants. Herbs and scented posies did not work either. Eventually, it was realised that it was being imported on trading ships and that homes needed to be more hygienic, but the plague returned every few decades until it culminated in the Great Plague of London in 1665.

(Image: Leo Reynolds at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA/2.0)

12/10/2019
3 min
5 years
206 words

Entertainment

Status Quo

Rock band Status Quo first formed in London in 1962 as The Scorpions. Co-founder Francis Rossi, OBE (1949-) from London, lead singer, […]

Rock band Status Quo first formed in London in 1962 as The Scorpions. Co-founder Francis Rossi, OBE (1949-) from London, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, has only recently had his trademark long pony-tail shorn. He is also known for his waistcoat and his green Telecaster guitar, though this, too, had to be replaced after more than 40 years’ service.

The other original members of Status Quo, as the band was named from 1967 onwards (initially as ‘The’ Status Quo), were fellow Londoners Alan Lancaster (1949-2021) on bass guitar and John Coghlan (1946-) on drums, and Surrey-born Rick Parfitt, OBE (1948-2016) on guitar. This line-up was responsible for their move from psychedelic rock, as with their very first hit, ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ (1968), to 12-bar boogie rock and for their string of hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, including ‘Caroline’ (1973), ‘Down Down’ (1975), ‘Rockin’ All Over the World’ (1977) and ‘Whatever You Want’ (1979).

They have had more hits than any other band in the UK and have sold over 120 million records worldwide. Their uncomplicated style has drawn derision from some highfaluting critics, but this is exactly what appeals to millions of fans. ‘The Quo’ give them good-time, classic, structured, solid rock and are still touring today.

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

11/10/2019
3 min
5 years
210 words

Inventions

Boolean algebra

Boolean algebra, or logic, is named after George Boole (1815-64), a gifted mathematician and philosopher. Born in Lincoln, the city honoured him […]

Boolean algebra, or logic, is named after George Boole (1815-64), a gifted mathematician and philosopher. Born in Lincoln, the city honoured him with a memorial stained glass window in Lincoln Cathedral. His thirst for knowledge was such that he taught himself advanced mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, German and Italian at a young age. He opened his own school in 1834, then became head of a boarding school in 1840.

This extraordinary man received the Royal Society of London’s first gold medal for mathematics in 1844. From 1849 until his death from pneumonia he was the first professor of mathematics at Queen’s College Cork. He devised a symbolic system for sorting information with binary values, enabling the efficiency of computer programs, databases and electronics. He is therefore regarded as one of the forefathers of the digital age.

The Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT are the most well-known, as they can be used in most search engines to narrow down results. However, Boole also greatly contributed to new areas of mathematics such as set theory, binary numbers, probability and differential equations, and he was the founder of invariant theory. He showed that mathematics, far from being set in stone, still has further creative possibilities.

*Image: HeretoHelp at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0*

(Top image: Chris Bertram at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

10/10/2019
3 min
5 years
217 words

Religion

Unitarianism

More of a theological movement than a religion, Unitarianism began in eastern Europe after the Reformation. Its name comes from its assertion […]

More of a theological movement than a religion, Unitarianism began in eastern Europe after the Reformation. Its name comes from its assertion that God is not split into three, as in Catholicism’s Trinity of ‘the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost/Spirit’, but is a single, omnipresent divinity. This was adopted in the UK in the 1700s by the non-conformist Protestant factions, keen to take on radical change.

Although Unitarianism was seen as heretical at the time, Theophilus Lindsey set up the first openly Unitarian church in 1774 in London, in what is now the headquarters of ‘The General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches’. Unitarianism gained legal status in 1813 and reached its peak of popularity over the next century.

The services held in each of its 170 churches, chapels and meeting rooms vary in format according to each congregation’s wishes. Some services focus on meditation alone. It has no creed, dogmas or rules. Jesus Christ is regarded as a charismatic human, not the son of God. Indeed, a belief in God is not even required, as the aim is for each person to discuss, ponder and reach their own conclusions on spirituality. It truly is a ‘broad church’.

(Image of Brighton Unitarian Church: Cathy Cox at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

08/10/2019
3 min
5 years
213 words

Celebrations & Holidays

St. Dwynwen’s Day

St. Dwynwen’s Day is on 25th January and commemorates the Welsh patron saint of lovers ~ a chance to exchange Welsh lovespoons! […]

St. Dwynwen’s Day is on 25th January and commemorates the Welsh patron saint of lovers ~ a chance to exchange Welsh lovespoons! The legend is that Dwynwen was the daughter of a Welsh king who ruled in the fourth century. Having twenty-three other daughters, he must have forgotten to tell Dwynwen that he had arranged a marriage for her and, unfortunately, she promised herself to another man, Maelon Dafodrill.

This was never going to end well. Maelon behaved despicably, leaving Dwynwen in such a turmoil that she asked God to erase her love for Maelon. God went even further, encasing him in ice. Dwynwen then asked God for three more favours ~ to melt the ice; to ensure she never again had any romantic desires; and to reward couples truly in love with the fulfilment of their dreams.

She became a nun and went off to a tiny tidal island off the west coast of Anglesey, where she founded a convent. The island, Ynys Llanddwyn, is named after her and is in a beautiful spot with views of Snowdonia. A wishing-well there is supposed to be home to magical eels whose reactions reveal the faithfulness or otherwise of a potential husband.

(Image of Ynys Llanddwyn: Noel.Morgan2000 at Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

06/10/2019
3 min
5 years
211 words

English language

Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812-89) spent much of his life financially supported by family while he pursued his desire to be a poet, which […]

Robert Browning (1812-89) spent much of his life financially supported by family while he pursued his desire to be a poet, which he achieved to great acclaim. Born in London, he was partly home-schooled and immersed himself in his father’s library of almost six thousand books. From these he gained his knowledge of the classics and off-beat historical tales.

He had some of his work published in his early twenties, but it took a little while for him to find his niche. This was to be the dramatic or philosophical monologue, whereby the first-person narrator divulges insights and confidences to the reader. An exception was ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin‘ (1842), written for a friend’s son.

He lived with his parents until 1846, during which time he wrote many of the ground-breaking poems that were to fuel his later success. He then married the poet Elizabeth Barrett and they eloped to Italy, where they remained until she died in 1861. He did not write much in this period. On his return to England, he resumed his writing and became famous, particularly with the twelve volumes of the novel-length poem ‘The Ring and the Book‘ (1868-9). Browning Societies sprang up to publish study aids for his work.

(Top image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0)

05/10/2019
3 min
5 years
211 words

Culture

Gilbert & Sullivan

The Gilbert & Sullivan partnership was between Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900), both from London. Gilbert […]

The Gilbert & Sullivan partnership was between Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900), both from London. Gilbert tried his hand at a military career, then went into law, but his true vocation was in writing, whether that was as a journalist, humorous poet, author, playwright, dramatist or, of course, writer of opera libretti. Sullivan was a prodigious musician, singer and composer, even studying at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of only fourteen.

They first worked together briefly in 1871. This was the same year in which Sullivan composed the stirring tune for the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers‘. Their real collaboration began in 1875 with ‘Trial by Jury‘. Their breakthrough opera was ‘H.M.S. Pinafore‘ (1878), then ‘The Pirates of Penzance‘ (1879) and ‘Patience‘ (1881). Their winning run continued and included their biggest success, ‘The Mikado‘ (1885), as well as ‘Ruddigore‘ (1887), ‘The Yeomen of the Guard‘ (1888) and, finally, ‘The Gondoliers‘ (1889).

Audiences were at first shocked by the novel satire but the light-hearted style of music softened the delivery and they soon came to adore the wit, irony and clever social commentary of the pieces. Gilbert and Sullivan’s work has remained popular as supreme examples of comic opera.

(Top image: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

04/10/2019
3 min
5 years
205 words

Politics

The Whig Party

The Whig Party was active between 1678 and 1868 and emerged as the counter-balance to the dominance of the Tories. At the […]

The Whig Party was active between 1678 and 1868 and emerged as the counter-balance to the dominance of the Tories. At the time of its inception, people’s allegiances to religion, the monarchy and politics were firmly enmeshed. The first Whigs were anti-Catholic and tried to stop King Charles II’s Catholic brother, James II, succeeding him. They failed, but made sure he only reigned for three years before Protestant rule was restored.

Under their sixteen Prime Ministers, of whom Robert Walpole was the first to have that title and did so for a record twenty years, they established the two-party system. They ushered in the increase of Parliament’s powers, the setting up of the Bank of England, the official union with Scotland, the abolition of slavery and the upgrading of the electoral system.

The Whigs initially sacked all Catholics from public office, but by the end of their period of influence they were championing democracy and human rights for all, including Catholics. They began by speaking for the wealthy upper-class, but with industrialisation they also took under their wing the factory owners, merchants and busy middle-class. They came to represent the non-controversial middle way and eventually merged into the Liberal Party.

(Image of Henry Bilson Legge & Robert Walpole: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

02/10/2019
3 min
5 years
212 words

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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.