by David West | Oct 19, 2025 | News
It’s hard to choose the subject of today’s blog. As a writer I am tempted by the publication of Jayne Eyre in 1847. Russia is hardly ever out of the news, and today marks the Treaty of Drottningholm between Sweden and Russia in 1791 and Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow...
by David West | Oct 18, 2025 | News
On the 18th of October, 1009, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by Fatimid caliph Al Hakim bi Amr Allah, who hacked the church’s foundations down to the bedrock. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located in the Christian Quarter...
by David West | Oct 17, 2025 | News
The event which has caught my eye for the 17th of October is the founding of the University of Greifswald in 1456, according to Wikipedia, the second oldest university in Northern Europe. I confess that at first reading I missed the “northern” and thought no, Oxford...
by David West | Oct 16, 2025 | News
OK, hands up, I’m not writing about Harry Potter’s owl. Hedwig (in German), Hedvig (in Hungarian), or Jadwiga (in Polish) was crowned king of Poland, even though she was a woman, on the 16th of October, 1384. Born around 1373 or 1374, she was the youngest daughter of...
by David West | Oct 15, 2025 | News
I have posted about my interest in aviation, and I proposed to Claire in a hot air balloon, so I am drawn to balloons for today’s post. On the 15th of October, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon made the first tethered ascent with humans aboard, piloted...
