I had the great pleasure earlier this week (21st May 2013) to have a tour of part of Lord’s cricket ground, in the company of former England captain Andrew Strauss, and former England wicket keeper, Paul Nixon. Fans of cricket will understand the great excitement that the prospect of a tour of the Long Room…
I spent a very pleasant day today at the Moira Canal Festival, on the Leicestershire / Derbyshire border, quite near home for me. If you have not been, then it is well worth a look. As local events go, it is full of action with plenty of events going on throughout the day, from Civil…
Today is St George’s Day. It is famous for many things; traditionally observed as the date of birth of William Shakespeare, and also his date of death. Not the best birthday… In Roman times, this was Vinalia urbana, the celebration of the wine harvest. On this day on 1014, Brian Boru defeated the Viking hoards…
On Easter Day on Sunday, we went, like many I’m sure, for a family outing. We headed off to Kenilworth Castle, one of the many sites managed by English Heritage, which was certainly more successful than some previous days out like this one… I have recently mentioned some prehistoric sites that English Heritage look after,…
It’s Mothers Day today. Or is it? The answer is, it depends where in the world you are. The UK, and some other countries, celebrate what is commonly known as Mothers Day on Mothering Sunday, the Christian festival that falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent. As far back as the sixteenth century, people would…
I have drawn similarities of events that have happened on the same date in different years in history in the past, like the list of negative world events that have happened on 30th January over the years, and the 18th February is one of those dates. It has been a day for war and war…
I posted last week a couple of “This Day in History” blogs, highlighting the large number of world events that have occurred on 30th January, and about the great storm of 1953 on 31st January. I thought that the 5th February was worth a comment, and hopefully you will see why. There have been some…
I have mentioned previously here that I was lucky enough to work in Castle Donington for several years. The idea of working in the village would have been exciting for me from a young age, and for those familiar with the place, you will know why. If you have heard of Castle Donington, it is…
I blogged yesterday on the apparently large number of incidents, often negative, that have happened on the 30th January over the years, and on Twitter afterwards, I surmised that perhaps there is not an unusual number of world events on this date, it is just that I am familiar with quite a few, and so…
It’s the 30th January. It is a date that always strikes me as one which attracts “events”. The history books seem to have more than their fair share of this date, and I have often wondered why. Perhaps it is just that certain events of which I am aware have occurred on this date, and…