by David West | Jun 29, 2023 | News
The statue of Sir Francis Drake stands on Plymouth Hoe looking out to sea. Drake played bowls while waiting for the Armada. Of course he was probably waiting for the tide too. Actually there were three armadas, but we tend to focus on the first one of 1588. The 2nd...
by David West | Jun 28, 2023 | News
Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie, on this day in 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and Gavirilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb nationalist. The assassination triggered a series of...
by David West | Jun 25, 2023 | News
I saw this unusual pub sign in Falmouth today. Apparently there was a prison called Pennycomequick in Plymouth. Pen y cwm coet means the head of a wooded valley in Cornish, and that would fit quite well with the pub’s location. The unusual pub sign made me think about...
by David West | Jun 22, 2023 | News
The church forced Galileo to recant his heresy, on this day in 1633. Galileo believed that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Whereas the church believed that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Galileo plays a major role in my second book, Fire and Earth. When I...
by David West | Jun 20, 2023 | News
I posted recently about my ancestor Elias Standen who was a sergeant farrier at the battle of Waterloo. I didn’t know very much about Farriers, so had to do some research. Farriers are skilled professionals who play an essential role in maintaining the health and...
