Desperte Fighting at the Battle of Inkermann
This account of the Battle of Inkermann comes from Private Bancroft of the Grenadiers. He describes the desperate fighting around the Sandbag Battery, “I bayoneted the first Russian in the…
The Storming of Badajoz
At the storming of Badajoz in 1812, George Hennell was attached to the 94thFoot as a volunteer. Here he describes his baptism of fire: “The dead and wounded lay so…
Town Clocks
The end of the Middle Ages saw town clocks being introduced all over Europe. The concept of arriving for and leaving work at certain times was just one example of…
The Blast Furance
In the 1100’s Europeans had mastered a technique for producing cast iron, some 1,500 after the Chinese. This was by means of a blast furnace, so called because of the…
The Windscreen Wiper
The 1908 FA Cup Final was played at Crystal Palace between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United. The omens looked bad when before the match the ground was lashed with rain,…
Thomas Burgess Swims the Channel.
At Dover on 6th September 1911, under a warm blue sky, Yorkshireman Thomas Burgess, aged 37, started his 16thattempt to swim the English Channel. He was stark naked except for…
Fishing As A Tree
In the 18th century, Thomas Birch a keeper of books at the British Museum, was a keen fisherman who devised an unusual way of disguising his intentions. Dressed as a…
Dennis Collins and Pension Rights.
In 1832, Dennis Collins an able seaman who had lose a leg at the battle of Trafalgar, limped 21 miles from London to Ascot, where he attended the races and…
Cheetah Racing
In 1937, Gandar Dower introduced cheetah racing into England as an exciting alternative to greyhounds. He imported 8 cats and staged highly publicized events at Romford and Haringey. He had…
Francis Waring the Vicar in a Hurry.
In the early 18th century Francis Waring was vicar of Heybridge in Essex. He liked to get through a service as quickly as possible. Having set up a small clock…