by David West | Nov 23, 2024 | News
Apparently Charlemagne never said “Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky” as suggested by Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But he was the first Holy Roman Emperor. Pope Leo III (reigned 795–816) is best known for his...
by David West | Nov 22, 2024 | News
Are beards in? For most of my life I’ve been clean shaven. I grew a moustache for a few months in 1987, but it didn’t suit me. When I walked the Camino de Santiago in 2019 I was saving every ounce of weight in the backpack, so razor and shaving foam were out. The...
by David West | Nov 21, 2024 | News
The “On This Day” website tells me that on the 21st November 164 BCE, during the Maccabean Revolt, Judas Maccabeus recaptured Jerusalem and rededicated the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah. Other sources tell me that Hanukkah in 2024...
by David West | Nov 20, 2024 | News
On the 20th November 1886 Arthur Conan Doyle sold A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes Story to the publisher Ward and Lock for £25. Doyle’s inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes came largely from his former university professor, Dr. Joseph Bell, a...
by David West | Nov 19, 2024 | News
On the 19th November 1850 Tennyson became Poet Laureate. I’ve posted about Gutenberg and his printing press, and also William Caxton, but presses need writers as much as writers need presses. One of my favourite poets is Tennyson. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was...
