Did Queen Boadicea catch the Hogwarts Express?
Some English monarchs have had a rotten deal in terms of their interment. Not all of them ended up in Westminster Abbey. The remains of Richard III were recently found […]
The Assyrians are coming – the siege of Lachish
The town of Lakisu in Judah was captured by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in 701BC, the fourth year of his reign, as part of a campaign to crush rebellions that […]
The Ashurbanipal ‘Lion Hunt’ reliefs
Lions, representing a raw force of nature as well as being no doubt at one time a practical problem for herdsmen, are shown being killed by rulers in the late […]
Tower of Lies
As I’m plodding through ‘Wolf Hall’ at the moment I thought I’d have a wander round the Tower of London again to absorb some Tudor atmosphere. It’s not difficult to […]
Fear and Loathing in Norway
What do I like about Norway? Peer Gynt, stave churches, Vikings, fjords, trolls, mist, mountains, log cabins and beer, always beer. You can’t beat Northern Europe for great beer and […]
Conwy Castle – Lord of the Ring
I was reading the other day that the Welsh word for England is Lloegr, which means ‘the Lost Land’. This conjures up a huge sense of grief over something that […]
I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper
I’ve long fantasised about living in St Mary’s Lighthouse off the Northumberland coast, like Montaigne in his tower, surrounded by books and in splendid isolation. Incidentally, I hated the change […]
Wooden Dollies and pirates in North Shields
North Shields, where I as a true salt-of-the-earth Geordie and proud of it come from, was founded back in 1225 by some Abbott, as is usual with most of the […]
Humbug to commerce and ding dongs
I decided to try and get into something resembling a Christmas spirit by dropping in to a couple of local fetes at the weekend. The one at Bruce Castle was […]
Turn Again, Dick Head!
I was at the Whittington Hospital in Archway last week to discuss what to do about my five kidney stones. One of my neighbours, an elderly Irish lady called Madeleine, […]
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