The Ashes
England’s greatest cricketing rivals are Australia and 5-match Test series with them are known as ‘The Ashes‘…
Durham Cathedral
Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral sit side-by-side on a peninsula off the River Wear that looks tailor-made…
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Of the three dozen British dukedoms (duchies) that still exist, several are in royal possession (“merged in…
Smoking
The first concerns from the medical industry over the effects of long-term smoking were raised in 1957.…
The Flying Shuttle
John Kay (1704-c.80) from Lancashire and one of his six sons, Robert (1728-1802), made vital contributions to…
The British Empire
“The British Empire was acquired in a fit of absent-mindedness.” ~ Sir John Seeley (1834-95) The enduring…
Motorway Signs
The UK’s first significant stretch of motorway comprised the M1’s junctions 5-18, opened in 1959, though the…
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-) from London and Sir Tim Rice (1944-) from Buckinghamshire, who met in…
Alan Bennett
Author, playwright and screenwriter Alan Bennett (1934-), a Yorkshireman, began writing in 1960, when he was a…
Secretin
At the time that secretin was discovered, post-Industrial Revolution, scientific materialists were encouraging the idea of a…
‘New Musical Express’ and ‘Melody Maker’
The world’s first weekly newspaper entirely devoted to music, ‘Melody Maker‘ (MM), began in 1926 and ended…
Roald Dahl Day
Roald Dahl (1916-90) was born in Cardiff to Norwegian parents and Roald Dahl Day is on his…