Miscellaneous - Archive Articles

Happy St Swithin’s Day

St. Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester, but is more famously known for a popular rhyme that is associated with him:

Memories of 7th July 2005

Today marks a totemic 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on London’s transport – and naturally lots of people will be reminiscing on the events of that day. Obviously, when the attacks took place, there was the usual confusion and…

Does Amazon think I am a transvestite?

This website maintains a weekly events newsletter, which is rather bland and functional partly as I don’t have the time to make it pretty and partly as I think it works better being functional than pretty. However, I do have…

Dr Who and the Deus ex Machina of Doom

I am going to be controversial and say that I really loathed the Dr Who series finale, and am getting increasingly despondent with the gushing unthinking praise that the programme gets from the fans (who make Apple fanboys looks moderate…

An Unfortunate Reaction to Last Nights Football

It has come to my attention, but means of glancing surreptitiously at the Penny Dreadfulls that the working class are wont to browse through, that there was a sporting event of some significance yesterday evening. More pertinently, that said event…

Fantasy Architecture – A viewing tower for Crystal Palace

There has been a bit of a flurry recently with high towers and viewing platforms in London. There was announcement of a tower at the Olympic Park, which courted some controversy over its design. Last week was the decision to…

London entries in the National Lottery Awards

An email from the Historic Dockyard in Chatham begging for votes for an upcoming awards ceremony had me checking to see who else is in the running in the London area. In addition to a bauble, there is a £2,000…

Interesting cloud formation over London

A glance outside this morning and I saw this: Googling around suggests this is an Altocumulus cloud formation. One form of altocumulus, altocumulus lenticularis (Lenticular cloud) is frequently reported as a UFO!

I’m closing my account with you

Yesterday, I closed my account on Facebook. Not a reaction to the mass panic about privacy issues, although I was troubled by some of the aspects there, but simply because I don’t actually use the service any more. It never…

Cruise Liners Visiting London in 2010

Each summer, a series of luxury liners visit London, and while the city doesn’t have a formal cruise liner port, there are three suitable mooring points where the liners can berth for a few days. As the ones heading into…

It’s too hot

It’s too hot – could really do with a few clouds to cut down the sun a bit Ugh, it’s so muggy and humid since it clouded over – could really do with a quick shower to clear the air.…

The Mail Server has Crashed

If you have subscribed to my weekly newsletter of events in the London area and was bemused by its absence – the box of electronics that sends it out to you has crashed. More specifically, for some reason yesterday afternoon…

River Thames to be Checked for Unexploded Bombs

An advisory notice has been issued by the Port of London authority that they will be carrying out a survey of the river next week – looking for unexploded bombs! I’m sure it is just a routine event and left-over…

Spending a penny

In 1851, George Jennings set up what were called “Monkey Closets” in the Retiring Rooms of The Crystal Palace Exhibition in Hyde Park. These caused great excitement as they were the first public toilets and during the exhibition 827,280 visitors…

Vintage Transport Posters at Christies

Argh – those evil people at Christie’s are tormenting me again with another sale of (for me) unaffordable, yet highly desirable retro posters. The full list is here, and below are a few of my personal favourites. Click on each…

Ha! Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

Had tickets to watch Have I Got News for You being recorded last night and it was a fairly good recording with lots of mirth to work with. However, last night was notable more for the audience than for the…

How the railway telegraph helped arrest a murderer in 1845

Not long after the New Year festivals of 1845 had died down, the news media of the time was much occupied with the tale of a murder in Slough. The story was notable for quite a few reasons, thanks to…

British Library adds a million pages of Victorian Newspapers to its archive

A resource that I find quite invaluable when researching odd bits of history is the British Library’s online digital archive of old newspapers, and this morning, they announced that the collection just increased by around a third to some three…

Map of London and its Toll Gates from 1857

Another drawing from my collection of the Illustrated London News - this time of the then vexatious issue of toll-gates around the city that charged people a fee every time they passed through.

Why I am willing to pay to read the news online – sometimes

There has been much gnashing of teeth over the news that the Times Newspaper is to start charging for access to its website in a couple of months time. The news (hur!) is not that unexpected as the parent company…

Brown Bread vs White Bread

I don’t like white bread. Never have and probably never will. It is bland, tasteless, lacking in texture and utterly devoid of any nutritional value. I love brown bread. Always have and probably always will. It is packed full of…

Buying new furniture

I am not actually in the market for some new furniture at the moment – although the sofa could do with repair work – but I do enjoy scanning down auction house website catalogues every so often. When clicking though…

Secret tube train to Buckingham Palace

As a bit of a fan of tunnels under London, I am often asked about the oft-rumoured tube tunnel that allegedly links Buckingham Palace to, depending on the rumour, Downing Street or Green Park.

Vulcan Bomber Flight over London Might be Cancelled

There are hopes that one of the Cold War’s most iconic military aircraft, the Avro Vulcan will make a flight over London in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – but the flight is under threat due to a lack…