On the 8th of January, 1297, François Grimaldi captured the Rock of Monaco. The Grimaldis trace their origins to the powerful Genoese aristocracy of the Middle Ages. They were originally a prominent Guelph family in Genoa, aligned with the papal faction against the...

On the 7th of January, 1940, during the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, Finland’s outnumbered 9th Division stopped and decisively defeated the Soviet Union’s 163rd and 44th Rifle Divisions. The Battle of Raate Road, fought between the 1st and 7th of...

On the 6th of January, 1721, the Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble published its findings, revealing details of fraud among company directors and corrupt politicians. Robert Walpole’s handling of the crisis was commended. The South Sea Bubble was one of the...

I have some writing progress to report. I have had my first article published in Red Herrings, the monthly newsletter of the Crime Writers’ Association. It’s a full-page article directly after the editor’s Happy New Year page. I wrote on the subject of finding the...

I have posted about my interest in aviation. On the 5th of January, 1941, Amy Johnson disappeared after bailing out of her aeroplane over the River Thames and was presumed dead. Amy Johnson, born on the 1st of July, 1903, in Kingston upon Hull, was one of Britain’s...

On the 4th of January, 1853, after having been kidnapped and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup regained his freedom. His memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, became a bestseller. Northup was born in July 1808 in Minerva, New York, into a free Black family. His father,...

Wikipedia tells me that on the 3rd of January, 69CE, the Roman legions on the Rhine refused to swear their allegiance to Galba. Instead they proclaimed their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. The year 69CE is known as the year of the four emperors, so what was...

I am spoilt for choice of events to write about for the 2nd of January. As a chartered civil engineer I really should go for the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818. Then there is the Reconquista in 1492 when the last Moorish stronghold in Spain,...

Happy New Year! But why the 1st of January? It was on the 1st of January, 153BCE that Roman first began their year in office on the 1st of January. In 45BCE the Julian calendar was adopted as the civil calendar of the Roman Republic with the 1st of January as the...

On the 8th of January, 1297, François Grimaldi captured the Rock of Monaco. The Grimaldis trace their origins to the powerful Genoese aristocracy of the Middle Ages. They were originally a prominent Guelph family in Genoa, aligned with the papal faction against the...

On the 7th of January, 1940, during the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, Finland’s outnumbered 9th Division stopped and decisively defeated the Soviet Union’s 163rd and 44th Rifle Divisions. The Battle of Raate Road, fought between the 1st and 7th of...

On the 6th of January, 1721, the Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble published its findings, revealing details of fraud among company directors and corrupt politicians. Robert Walpole’s handling of the crisis was commended. The South Sea Bubble was one of the...

I have some writing progress to report. I have had my first article published in Red Herrings, the monthly newsletter of the Crime Writers’ Association. It’s a full-page article directly after the editor’s Happy New Year page. I wrote on the subject of finding the...

I have posted about my interest in aviation. On the 5th of January, 1941, Amy Johnson disappeared after bailing out of her aeroplane over the River Thames and was presumed dead. Amy Johnson, born on the 1st of July, 1903, in Kingston upon Hull, was one of Britain’s...

On the 4th of January, 1853, after having been kidnapped and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup regained his freedom. His memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, became a bestseller. Northup was born in July 1808 in Minerva, New York, into a free Black family. His father,...

Wikipedia tells me that on the 3rd of January, 69CE, the Roman legions on the Rhine refused to swear their allegiance to Galba. Instead they proclaimed their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. The year 69CE is known as the year of the four emperors, so what was...

I am spoilt for choice of events to write about for the 2nd of January. As a chartered civil engineer I really should go for the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818. Then there is the Reconquista in 1492 when the last Moorish stronghold in Spain,...

Happy New Year! But why the 1st of January? It was on the 1st of January, 153BCE that Roman first began their year in office on the 1st of January. In 45BCE the Julian calendar was adopted as the civil calendar of the Roman Republic with the 1st of January as the...