by David West | Apr 20, 2026 | News
On the 20th of April, 1828, René Caillié became the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing, and the first to leave alive. Chambers Dictionary defines Timbuktu as a noun meaning any distant place and cites the origin as a town in Mali on the...
by David West | Apr 19, 2026 | News
Belgium was the last country Claire and I visited on our Interrail trip last spring. In Brussels I posted about a connection between Sir Anthony Standen and Snow White. The fact is that when Sir Anthony was caught by the Don John, Duke of Austria, in an inappropriate...
by David West | Apr 18, 2026 | News
Lucrezia Borgia was born on the 18th of April, 1480, in Subiaco near Rome. I don’t know much about Lucrezia Borgia other than she was supposed to be rather inclined to poisoning. She predates Sir Anthony Standen so I haven’t previously researched her. She was the...
by David West | Apr 17, 2026 | News
The event which catches my eye for the 17th of April is the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The Bay of Pigs invasion, launched in April 1961, was one of the most dramatic and consequential episodes of the Cold War. Conceived in secrecy, driven by anti-communist urgency, and...
by David West | Apr 16, 2026 | News
Who is Harriet Quimby? If I tell you that on the 25th of July, 1909, Louis Bleriot became the first man to pilot an aeroplane across the English Channel, you’ll probably say “I knew that.” On the 16th of April, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to pilot an...
