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...
by David West | Oct 14, 2025 | News
I decided to write about Chuck Yeager today, because on the 14th of October, 1947, he broke the sound barrier in level flight over Muroc Army Airfield in California, flying a Bell XS-1. I might have written about Mary Queen of Scots, because her trial began on this...
by David West | Oct 13, 2025 | News
On the 13th of October, 1307, hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested at dawn by King Philip the Fair. King Philip IV of France, known as Philip the Fair (Philippe le Bel), was born in 1268 and reigned from 1285 until his death in 1314. His moniker, ‘the...
by David West | Oct 12, 2025 | News
On the 12th of October, 1692, the Salem Witch Trials were ended by a letter from William Phipps, the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. I’ve posted about the Pendle Witch Trial, and Called to Account, the fourth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures,...
by David West | Oct 11, 2025 | News
The events that jump out for me on the 11th of October concern space flight. On this day in 1968 NASA launched Apollo 7, the first successful crewed Apollo mission. Also on the 11th of October, but in 1984, Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to...
