Film, culture, history
The Times asked historical novelist Philippa Gregory why British school children stop studying history the moment they have that choice.
Like one third of all British 13-year-olds, Ms. Gregory chose to stop studying history at GCSE level. It was as if her teachers ‘sat down and said “What’s the most boring thing you can possibly study to put people off studying history forever.”‘ Continue reading “History ‘is boring’, says bestselling historical novelist”
Some people will point to “progress” and show how technology (or legislation) has made certain jobs obsolete.
Me, I prefer to have a positive outlook, and see how the number of insults people throw at each other has diminished since the Reagan/Thatcher/Gorbechev era. So, here’s a list of five insults that were prevalent during the 1980’s, but no longer seem to mean anything.
February 19th, 1812, a man named Adoniram Judson sailed from Salem harbor in Massachusetts to India, and eventually to Burma. This trip was once called “the most important event of the nineteenth century.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if you never heard of Ann and Adoniram Judson. I hadn’t either, until I looked at old lists of significant dates and events. Continue reading “Two hundred years and 127,000 American Missionaries later”
James Madison is often quoted as having been against hand-outs,
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”*
Although these probably weren’t James Madison’s exact words, Congressman Madison probably said something similar.
Daniel Isaac Eaton waited in Newgate prison to find out what his fate would be.
Before Eaton could be convicted, a Mr. Prince Smith filed an affidavit in Eaton’s defense.
In addition to other words of common sense, Mr. Prince Smith told the court that “It was quite impossible to maintain the fear of God by force; and religion ceased to be the fear of God when it became the fear of man.” Continue reading “The sentence for the pamphlet”
In 1812, a luxurious hotel was opened in Dusseldorf by the name of Breidenbacher Hof. Once the most expensive hotel in Germany, it is still among the best known hotels in the world. Continue reading “Dusseldorf’s Breidenbacher Hof is 200 years old, or is it?”
St Patrick’s day “a day always precious in the estimation of the Irishman, was celebrated yesterday at the Free Mason’s Tavern.” Reported the Morning Chronicle.
So the famous playright Sheridan, the Mayor of London, and a few other notables celebrated St. Patrick’s, so what? Well, unlike in previous years, British newspapers in 1812 saw trouble brewing in these celebrations.
This year, the Welsh people may be celebrating a recent Rugby triumph over England.
200 year ago, however, the Welsh in Liverpool gave “loyal toasts” to the Royal family and other British notables.
When Richard Dawkins recently claimed that Christians were “not really Christian at all”, he wasn’t breaking new ground.
Over 200 years ago, Thomas Paine, that oft-quoted American patriot, wrote a pamphlet that said basically the same thing.
Jeffery Hart Bent was not a very forgiving man. Jeffery once passed a toll that he thought he shouldn’t have to pay. When they asked Jeffery for the fare, he rammed through the gate, breaking it, and continued on his way, leaving the broken booth behind him.
When called to Australia’s Supreme Court, Jeffery didn’t seem to see the condemned man as having many more rights than the broken tollbooth. The court was a man short when a squeaky clean English solicitor named Garling was held up at sea on his way to New South Wales, captured by an American ship. Only, they weren’t a short, as there were convicts who had served their time and were eligible to serve in the court. Jeffery Hart Bent, however, would not consider it, and he held in contempt any of his advisors who would.
Judge Bent had heard many stories from his little brother Ellis, no doubt, but nothing could prepare him for the sea voyage he was about to make. Continue reading “Then she stole the sailor’s heart”