Tag Archives: history

history, natural history, science, topographical

Monthly Links for November

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Christmas is creeping ever closer, but before then we must have this month’s collection of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

The first test image from the new Vera C Rubin telescope has found a tail on galaxy M61 (above). [££££]

Meanwhile a rather strange planetary system has been spotted with three planets circling a pair of stars.

The planet which crashed into Earth, thus creating the Moon, came from the Inner Solar System. [££££]

Recently a very tiny asteroid buzzed past very close to Earth.

Here’s a tribute to Betty Webster, the much ignored woman who discovered the first black hole.

Coming back to Earth … How did a medieval Oxford friar use light and colour to find the composition of stars and planets?

A recent scientific study has found that there are four key ages in your brain’s development – and they’re not quite when you think they are!

A curiosity … It seems we have an internal lunar clock (as well as the solar one) and it’s getting disrupted by light pollution.

Scientists now calculate that the first kiss dates back some 21 million years – so it wasn’t between humans! (Sculpture below is by Brancusi)

The diversity of our dog breeds can apparently be traced back to the Stone Age.

They seem to have memory, but what do trees remember? [LONG READ]

Environment & Ecology

In the UK, on the Isle of Wight, the “White-knuckled Wolf Spider” has been rediscovered.

Would you believe that London is home to a hairy snail (above), which is now subject to conservation efforts?

Meanwhile, an exceptionally rare pink grasshopper (below) has been found in New Zealand.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have discovered a massive ancient Egyptian fortress in the middle of the desert.

In the UK, the find of several Bronze and Iron Age log boats is revealing details of Fenland prehistory.
From

There’s a project which is mapping ancient Roman roads, and they’ve recently added 60,000 miles from right across the Roman Empire. [££££]

Here’s Going Medieval on the Dark Ages.

Well who would have thought it? Finds – including 25 shoes (one, below) – from ancient vulture nests are shedding light on 600 years of human history! [££££]

London

As so often our London section is mostly historical …

There’s a new book, The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown. It’s getting lots of great reviews.

Meanwhile Londonist has an article by Matt Brown on the history of the London Plane Tree. [LONG READ]

Ongoing work under the Houses of Parliament has turned up evidence of prehistoric tools and a lost medieval hall.

In another Londonist post Matt Brown (again) continues his work revealing the detail in John Rocque’s 1746 map of London by colouring it in. He’s now got to Wapping, Rotherhithe and Shadwell (snippet below). [LONG READ]

Still with Matt Brown, and following on from the previous item, he appears to have found the lost island of Shadwell.

And coming right up to date, the 20-year old gates of City Road Lock on the Regent’s Canal are being replaced, allowing a quick peek at the workings of a lock.

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

And finally, for your delectation, here’s a history of slang for virginity – and some links to similar articles from the same author.

history

What Happened in 1825

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So here’s our last instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 1825

9 February. After no presidential candidate receives a majority of United States Electoral College votes following the 1824 election, the House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as President.

24 February. Died. Thomas Bowdler, English physician responsible for the Family Shakespeare and other emasculated works (b.1754).

4 March. John Quincy Adams is sworn in as the sixth President of the United States.

May. The Australian city of Brisbane is founded.

4 May. Born. Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist (d.1895).

7 May. Died. Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (b.1750).

26 May. Two Unitarian Christian bodies, the American Unitarian Association, and the British and Foreign Unitarian Association are founded, coincidentally, on the same date.

6 July. A new Combinations of Workmen Act in the UK makes trades unions legal according to narrowly defined principles.

6 August. Bolivia gains its independence from Spain as a replublic at the instigation of Simón Bolivar.

18 August. Scottish adventurer Gregor MacGregor issues a £300,000 loan with 2.5% interest, through the London bank of Thomas Jenkins & Company, for the fictitious Central American republic of Poyais. His actions lead to the Panic of 1825, the first modern stock market crash, in England.

27 September. The world’s first modern railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opens in England.Stockton and Darlington Railway

25 October. Born. Johann Strauss, Junior, Austrian composer (d.1899).

26 October. The Erie Canal opens, providing passage from Albany, New York to Buffalo and Lake Erie.

Unknown Date. Hans Christian Ørsted reduces aluminium chloride to produce metallic aluminium.

Unknown Date. The first horse-drawn omnibuses established in London.

Unknown Date. London becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Beijing.

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history

November 1925

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Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

3. Alfred Hitchcock’s directorial debut film, The Pleasure Garden, was released.

10. Born. Richard Burton, actor, in Pontrhydyfen, Wales (d.1984)

11. Howard Carter and an autopsy team began the unwrapping of the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The process was exceedingly difficult due to the extreme fragility of the bandages and the resinous coating that held the mummy fast inside the sarcophagus.Tutankhamun unwrapped

11. Born. June Whitfield, British actress, in Streatham, London (d.2018)

12. Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five recorded their first songs together for Okeh Records. These recordings were among the most important and influential in the development of jazz music.

19. The autopsy of Tutankhamun concluded. The bad condition of the body and limited forensic science of the 1920s meant that little could be determined other than the age of the body being estimated to be about eighteen.

24. Born. William F Buckley Jr, American journalist, author and commentator (d.2008)

27. Born. Ernie Wise, comedian, in Bramley, Leeds, England (d.1999)

environment, history, links, medical, natural history, nudism, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Herewith my usual collection of links to items you may have missed, but really didn’t want to. As usual we’ll start with the hard science stuff and gradually get easier.

Science, Technology, Natural World

What can be done about the growing problem of academic fraud?

While we are often sceptical, this can be very selective.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation (left over from the Big Bang) shows an unexpected streak; it’s still there in the latest observations, and scientists don’t understand why, and . [££££]

Galactic centres sometimes blow up, but what we see depends on our point of view. [££££]

Back to Earth (well the watery bit anyway) … There’s a lungfish which has 30 times more DNA that humans – which is a new record for an animal.

What does the world look like to a spider?

Health, Medicine

A lot of men have varicose veins in their scrotum, and it often affects fertility.

We’re still discovering things about the human body … Researchers have now worked out why most of us have innie navels (but not why some have outies). [££££]

Women’s use of cannabis goes back thousands of years.

Recent research is showing how the physical side-effects of antidepressants varies with the type of drug, potentially allowing clinicians to better tailor treatment to the individual.

The medical profession has been dealing with quacks since at least the time of Hippocrates.

Environment & Ecology

Wild honeybees are endangered across much of Europe …

… and it seems that the English garden is endangered with a study finding almost 50% of garden area now paved over.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

An exhibition in Cambridge is showing what archaeologists have found about Ancient Egypt’s workers from things like broken pottery.

You can learn a lot from a merkin.

London

The Boroughs of London is a new map-based book about London’s 32 boroughs which are now 60 years old.

Meanwhile Matt Brown (who wrote the words for The Boroughs of London) has continued his series of colouring thee 1746 map of London, this time with Westminster and Lambeth. [LONG READ]

Food, Drink

Beer is a proof for the existence of God.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Some thoughts on the difference between the freedom of skin and the performative society.

So just why do people wear clothes? Well, it’s complicated!

And finally, I’ll leave you with the results of research where 100 couples slept naked for a month. You might be surprised.

history

What Happened in 1725

Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 1725

20 January.20. James Figg hosts the first recorded international boxing match, fought between English livestock drover Bob Whitaker and Venetian gondolier Alberto di Carni in London .

20 February. The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.

25 March. Bach’s chorale cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, is first performed on the Feast of the Annunciation, coinciding with Palm Sunday.

30 March. The second performance of Bach’s St John Passion takes place at St Thomas Church, Leipzig.

12 May. The Black Watch is raised as a military company, as part of the pacification of the Scottish Highlands under General George Wade.

24 June. The Grand Lodge of Ireland in Dublin holds its first recorded meeting, making it the second most senior Grand Lodge in world Freemasonry.

24 September. Born. Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (d.1803).

29 September. Born. Robert Clive, British general, statesman (d.1774) .

24 October. Died. Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (b.1660).

26 November. British astronomers James Bradley and Samuel Molyneux set up a telescope in Molyneux’s private observatory to begin their observations of stellar parallax of the star Gamma Draconis. The observations lead to Bradley’s pioneering discovery of the aberration of light.James Bradley portrait

Unknown Date. Gradus ad Parnassum, a seminal work on counterpoint, laying out rules of constructing music, is published by Johann Joseph Fux.

history, memes

October Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Classical & Ancient World

  1. What is the name of the home of the Greek Gods? Olympus
  2. Which body of the water was called mare nostrum by the Romans? Mediterranean
  3. Ask and Embla are the Norse equivalent to the Christian what? Adam and Eve
  4. What was the name of the Egyptian God of the Sun? Ra
  5. In Roman mythology, who is the goddess of the sewers? Cloacina
  6. Which word derives from the Latin for “sand” and originally denoted part of a Roman amphitheatre that was covered with sand to soak up the blood from combat? Arena

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

history, memes

October Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Classical & Ancient World

  1. What is the name of the home of the Greek Gods?
  2. Which body of the water was called mare nostrum by the Romans?
  3. Ask and Embla are the Norse equivalent to the Christian what?
  4. What was the name of the Egyptian God of the Sun?
  5. In Roman mythology, who is the goddess of the sewers?
  6. Which word derives from the Latin for “sand” and originally denoted part of a Roman amphitheatre that was covered with sand to soak up the blood from combat?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

October 1925

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Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

2. In London, John Logie Baird successfully transmits the first television pictures with a greyscale image.Early TV picture

3. Born. Gore Vidal, writer and public intellectual, in West Point, New York (d.2012)

5. The Locarno Conference began in Locarno, Switzerland between several European powers to negotiate a security pact.

13. Born. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England (d.2013)

13. The Locarno conference ended with several agreements in place. German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann gave a closing speech in which he said the conference spelled a new era in European relationships, while French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand said it marked the beginning of a new epoch of cooperation and friendship.

16. Born. Angela Lansbury, actress and singer, in Regent’s Park, London (d.2022)

23. Born. Johnny Carson, American comedian and television host (d.2005)

24. Born. Luciano Berio, Italian composer (d.2003)

29. Born. Robert Hardy, actor, in Cheltenham, England (d.2017)

environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

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Here’s this month’s action packed collection of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

It’s that time of year again, when the Ig Nobel Prize winners are announced.
Two articles:
Tipsy Bats and Perfect Pasta, from Scientific American. [££££]
Teflon diet, garlic milk and zebra cows from the Guardian.

And so to something else approaching reality … the oldest known ankylosaur fossil shows the creature was “bristling with spikes”.

I’m not sure this isn’t so obvious it qualifies for an Ig Nobel, but it seems that primates with longer thumbs tend to have bigger brains.

While on brains … apparently the brain’s body map is surprisingly stable even after you lose a limb. [££££]

Researchers have done an incredible amount of work to map out every nerve in a mouse. [££££]

And still with brains … here’s a look at what owning a cat does to your brain and theirs.

On top of which, like humans, cats can get dementia.

When is a dancing spider a different species of dancing spider?

One guy noticed that thousands of flies kept landing on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea, and then leaving a few hours later.

How do you manage to track, find and record invasive Asian hornets in the UK?

Now a couple of items for the deep nerds out there … first, much of advanced maths and data analysis depends on Fourier transforms. But what is a Fourier transform?

Now here’s a look at conceptagion – the idea that an outbreak of “mass hysteria” can cause physical symptoms.

OK, so a shift of focus … there’s what appears to be a huge crater in the sediments at the bottom of the North Sea, which most scientists now think was caused by an asteroid impact.

So a robot lander may (or may not) have found signs of ancient life in Martian rocks – but we won’t know for certain at least until scientists get their hands on the samples.

Health, Medicine

The death of an American child shows just how measles can kill years after the initial infection. [££££]

Here’s some low-down on a virus almost everyone gets – HPV.

And here’s a short tutorial on immunology and the basics of vaccines …

… And a look at how hard it was for germ theory to become the prevailing understanding of infectious disease.

Environment & Ecology

A rare continental ladybird has been recorded for the first time in southern England.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Somewhat surprisingly there is a dearth of historical items this month …

First off, the story of human evolution is being radically changed by a Denisovan skull. [££££]

Here’s an introduction to a new(?) website of maps of some English cities showing the incidence of violence in 14th century.

Finally here … Ten things you maybe didn’t know about forks.

Food, Drink

The UK’s food system is based on keeping prices low, but recent droughts are showing up where and how this fails.

There are increasing concerns over the quality of our food, and here are some red flags on spotting chemical ingredients, kitchenware etc.

Which begs the question: do we actually know what we’re eating?

And how do we tell ultra-processed foods from minimally processed foods.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Ladies … here’s a theory of why your husband “forgets” everything you tell him.

Here’s a piece on the Māori and their tradition of nudity.

And finally for this month, one young lady asks why nudity is such a big deal.

history

What Happened in 1625

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Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 1625

3 February. Francesca Caccini`s opera La liberaziune di Ruggiero has its premiere in Florence.

11 February. Dutch-Portuguese War: One of the largest naval battles ever fought in the Persian Gulf takes place in the Straits of Hormuz as fleets of the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company defend Persia against an attack by ships from the colony of Portuguese India.

7 March. Died. Johann Bayer, German lawyer and uranographer (b.1572).

21 March. James Ussher is appointed Archblshop of Armagh (Church of Ireland) and Primate of All Ireland.

27 March. Died. King James VI & I (b.1566). He is succeeded by Charles I.

18 April. Born. Sir John Baber, English physician to Charles II (d.1704).

9 May. Born. George Pitt, English politician (d.1694).

5 June. Died. Orlando Gibbons, English composer and organist (b.1583).Orlando Gibbons

13 June. King Charles I of England marries Catholic princess Henrietta Maria of France and Navarre, at Canterbury.

18 June. The English Parliament refuses to vote Charles I the right to collect customs duties for his entire reign, restricting him to one year instead.

23 June. Born. John Fell, English churchman and influential academic (d.1686).

July. The Barbary pirates attack south-western EngIand and in August they enslave about 60 people from Mount’s Bay in Cornwall.

27 July. Born. Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich (d.1672).

18 August. Died. Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English diplomat (b.1556).

6 September. Died. Thomas Dempster, Scottish historian (b.1579).

8 September. The Treaty of Southampton makes an alliance between England and the Dutch Republic, against Spain.

2 October. Born. Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass, English noble (d.1687).

1-7 November. Cádiz Expedition: English forces commanded by Admiral George Villiers are decisively defeated by the Spanish at Cádiz.

12 November. Born. Sir Edward Dering, 2nd Baronet, Irish politician (d.1684).

9 December. Thirty Years’ War: The Netherlands and England sign the Treaty of The Hague, a military peace treaty for providing economic aid to King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, during his military campaigns in Germany.

Unknown Date. The Dutch settle Manhattan, founding the town of New Amsterdam. The town will transform into a piece of New York City.

Unknown Date. In England, a very high tide occurs, the highest ever known in the Thames, and the sea walls in Kent, Essex, and Lincolnshire are breached, causing great desolation.