In the history of modern high-rise constructions only three have been brought down by fire. When these three buildings collapsed, not only did they drop at free fall speeds into their own foundational footprints, but all three came down on the same day - September 11, 2001. First, a word or two on the title …
A recent group walk at the foot of the Lincolnshire Wolds, a couple of miles outside Grimsby, was an ideal opportunity to spend valuable time in nature by inspecting the source of the River Freshney. The event became so much more, however. For here, history, ancient culture and folklore came together, right where the Freshney's …
The young boy standing centre stage in William Frederick Yeames’ iconic painting ‘And When Did you Last See Your Father?’ was modeled on the artist’s young nephew. When it came to depicting the boy’s style of dress, however, it was to one of Thomas Gainsborough’s most famous portraits that Yeames turned for inspiration. 'And When …
As befitting a writer known to have a ‘butterfly mind,’ my blog comprises a potpourri of posts written on a random range of subjects. Lacking an overarching theme or intended direction, the various essays have been prompted by whatever may have occupied my thoughts and tickled my imagination at the time of writing. However, a …
By the time the sun rose over the Taff valley in South Wales on the morning of October 21, 1966, it had been raining there almost non stop for three weeks. In that time, six and a half inches of rain had fallen, saturating the hillsides. Drenched, too, was the number 7 spoil heap, towering …
Signage on the approach roads to Thornton Curtis proudly proclaims the small North Lincolnshire village to be the home of a Tournai Font. Despite having jouneyed through the village countless times, I'd never been tempted to examine the said relic - until several days ago. It was one afternoon during the recent hiatus between the …
When deciding on illustrations for my previous post, ‘The Battle of Riby Gap (1645),’ one of my selections was the well-known painting by William Frederick Yeams, titled ‘And When Did you Last See your Father?’ Had I been restricted to using only one picture in that post, in which I told of a minor civil …
“Every war is ultimately a civil war for we are all brothers and sisters, one to another.” Dillon Burroughs When I was a lad in my early to mid teens I would regularly obtain books from the village’s lending library. These were novels, mainly. Of the few non-fiction books I borrowed, there was one I …
Forward view from the conning tower of HMS TRIBUNE running on the surface in Scottish waters. Prior to writing my post, ‘Six Weeks Silent Service,’ it was necessary for me to to obtain details of life aboard a World War Two submarine. This meant accessing a number of useful websites. Information from these sites enabled …
My December 5 post, ‘HMS Alliance’ is a pictorial account of my family’s visit to the Royal Navy’s only remaining post-war ‘A’ Class Submarine. This is the main exhibit of the Submarine Museum at Gosport, Hampshire. The visit, made in 2014, had been planned to include attractions in and around Winchester and Portsmouth and included …
RAVEN MOON 