On the 21st of April, 1509, King Henry VII, or Henry Tudor, died and Henry VIII became king. I have written about Henry VIII but I don’t think I have written about Henry VII. That’s a poor omission because he founded the Tudor dynasty through which my ancestor, Sir...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Battle of Rain was fought on the 15th of April, 1632. I have written about the Miracle of the Rain so let’s delve into the Battle of Rain. Rain is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Lech, close to its confluence...

The Battle of Barnet was fought on the 14th of April, 1471. Barnet got a fleeting mention in my post on Malmsey wine, but let’s delve into the detail. The Battle of Barnet was one of the decisive engagements of the Wars of the Roses and a turning point in the struggle...

Catherine de Medici was born on the 13th of April, 1519, in Florence. She is a minor character in The Spy who Sank the Armada, the first book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have mentioned her in a previous post, but let us look into her life in more detail....

On the 21st of April, 1509, King Henry VII, or Henry Tudor, died and Henry VIII became king. I have written about Henry VIII but I don’t think I have written about Henry VII. That’s a poor omission because he founded the Tudor dynasty through which my ancestor, Sir...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Battle of Rain was fought on the 15th of April, 1632. I have written about the Miracle of the Rain so let’s delve into the Battle of Rain. Rain is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Lech, close to its confluence...

The Battle of Barnet was fought on the 14th of April, 1471. Barnet got a fleeting mention in my post on Malmsey wine, but let’s delve into the detail. The Battle of Barnet was one of the decisive engagements of the Wars of the Roses and a turning point in the struggle...

Catherine de Medici was born on the 13th of April, 1519, in Florence. She is a minor character in The Spy who Sank the Armada, the first book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have mentioned her in a previous post, but let us look into her life in more detail....