by David West | Mar 19, 2026 | News
On the 19th of March, 1649, the English House of Commons passed one of the most extraordinary measures in the history of Parliament: “An Act for the Abolishing of the House of Lords.” The statute declared that the Lords were “useless and dangerous to the people of...
by David West | Mar 18, 2026 | News
I mentioned in my post on Cade’s Point that I am reading a history textbook Reformation to Industrial Revolution by Christopher Hill. In that post I addressed the issue of education, and how the prejudice of the time was that educating the poor was both pointless and...
by David West | Mar 18, 2026 | News
I can’t believe that I haven’t posted about the Tolpuddle Martryrs before. When we kept our boat in Portland we often visited Tolpuddle and Dorchester Museum. So, here we go. On the 18th of March, 1834, six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, were sentenced to be...
by David West | Mar 17, 2026 | News
On the 17th of March, 45 BC, Julius Caesar achieved his last victory in the Battle of Munda. It was fought in southern Hispania (modern Spain). It was a brutal, hard-fought engagement that differed markedly from Caesar’s earlier, more elegant victories. At Munda,...
by David West | Mar 16, 2026 | News
On the 16th of March, 1966, Gemini 8 was launched with Neil Armstrong and David Scott on board. I would have been six years of age. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by flight and space flight, but the details of the Gemini missions are not lodged in my...
by David West | Mar 15, 2026 | News
Greenland has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Before Trump starts getting excited about New South Greenland, it doesn’t exist. But on the 15th of March, 1823, Benjamin Morrell erroneosly reported sighting it near Antarctica. Benjamin Morrell (1795–1839)...