Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was born in London and spent most of her life in Surrey. The arts of all kinds filled her […]
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The English Civil War
The English Civil War took place in the middle of the 17th century and was a struggle between different religions for dominance, […]
Read MoreThe English Civil War took place in the middle of the 17th century and was a struggle between different religions for dominance, along with a struggle between the monarchy and Parliament.
“Across the country as a whole, it was religion which ultimately divided the two parties. Puritans everywhere supported the Parliament, more conservative protestants – together with the few Catholics – supported the King.” (Stoyle, bbc.co.uk/history, 2011)
Parliament’s army, known as the ‘Roundheads’, eventually defeated the King’s forces, called the ‘Cavaliers’, and King Charles I (1600-49) was publicly executed for treason in 1649. This was delayed a few hours while Parliament hurriedly put through a Bill to stop his son (Charles II (1630-85)) from immediately inheriting the throne. However, Oliver Cromwell‘s Republic eventually failed, the monarchy was reinstated in 1660 with the return of King Charles II to the throne in a period called ‘The Restoration‘.
There are several re-enactment societies who commemorate various battles of the Civil War on the anniversary dates. The photograph above shows one such society re-enacting the siege of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire which took place in the autumn of 1643.
(Top image: Dave Hitchborne at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sir V.S. Naipaul
The writer Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad (“V.S.”) Naipaul died in August 2018, just short of his 86th birthday. He was born in Trinidad […]
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Ascension Island
Ascension Island, grouped with St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha islands, is one of fourteen British ‘overseas territories’. It is the tip […]
Read MoreAscension Island, grouped with St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha islands, is one of fourteen British ‘overseas territories’. It is the tip of an underwater volcanic system in tropical mid-Atlantic, naturally arid with almost no native vegetation, and was once home to millions of sea birds.
The British were the first people to settle there in 1815 and Charles Darwin (1809-82) visited in 1836. His friend, the botanist Sir James Hooker (1817-1911) made his own trip there in 1843 and on his recommendation, trees and shrubs started to be imported from 1850 onwards in order to make settlement more feasible.
Today, the Island is dominated by a USA military airbase along with various tracking, transmitting and listening stations. In 1982 the Island suddenly hosted an immense increase in traffic, both airborne and maritime, when it became a stopping-off and refuelling point for those involved in the Falklands Conflict.
There is so much that is strange about this island, as this BBC article explains. It is not currently possible to fly to Ascension as a tourist other than from Johannesburg via St. Helena once a month and with a valid entry permit.
(Top image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz MD at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Armed Forces Day
Armed Forces Day in the UK is a day for thanking and paying respect to organisations such as the British Army, the […]
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“It’s just not cricket”
Cricket has been played in England as far back as the 1500s, but it was in the 1700s that it became established […]
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Mary Quant
Fashion designer Dame Mary Quant (1930-2023) from London was part of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ cultural shake-up in the UK. She pioneered the […]
Read MoreFashion designer Dame Mary Quant (1930-2023) from London was part of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ cultural shake-up in the UK. She pioneered the wearing of mini skirts, hot pants, coloured tights, PVC, skinny-rib jumpers and ‘bob’ haircuts in a freer, more relaxed and fun style of fashion.
She opened her first two London boutiques as early as 1955 and 1957 and they were so successful that the USA and Europe came calling just a few years later. She started to win awards and her business greatly expanded, including a cosmetics line which began in 1966. That decade saw her at the top of her industry. In the 1970s she again diverged into a new field, that of interior design. In 2015 she was made a Dame for her services to British fashion.
(Top images LtoR: Anthony O’Neil at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0 & David Merrett at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)
Halley’s comet
Halley’s comet, officially called 1P/Halley, is named after Dr. Edmund Halley (1656-1742) from London, who was the first to calculate that it […]
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National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales was first staged in 1861 and is held at a different venue each year, alternating between North […]
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Local Council funding
Local Council funding comes from the Council Tax (Rates in N.Ireland) which residents pay (38% of the total) and from Business Rates […]
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Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian’s Wall was constructed in the 2nd century and stretched 73 miles coast-to-coast in northern England. It marked one of the borders […]
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The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are “the world’s oldest rock and roll band” (Flood, NME, 2018). Not only is each of the band’s three […]
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