Julkaisuseuranta
600 ks east of Perth, the City of Kalgoorlie was a unique expression of gold fever. Unlike most goldmining towns, which last for perhaps a decade, Kalgoorlie includes the famous Golden Mile and has an economy driven by gold since 1893. The central area, Hannan St, has fine Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Here visitors can…
Kraków’s Market Square is the centre of the city’s medieval Old Town, designed in 1257 when Kraków won its charter. The grid-like layout of the Old Town and its central square has changed little in the following centuries. Always active, this 40,000 sq ms grouping of café’s, museums, clubs, pubs, music centres, historical landmarks, hotels, shows…
The 7th child in a struggling Leeds family, teenage Jimmy Savile (1926-2011) worked in coalmines in WW2 when he suffered serious injuries in an explosion. So he moved instead to work as a dance hall manager and disc jockey. Later he became a DJ at Radio Luxembourg and then at BBC Radio 1. His work…
A Bluestocking was a mid C18th intellectual woman with strong scholarly or literary interests. A group was founded to discuss the arts, started by two high society ladies in Britain: heiress Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800) and intellectual Elizabeth Vesey (c1715–91). Mrs Vesey organised the first functions in Bath. It wasn’t until she moved to London that any…
Cole at OxfordHistory Extra The first black man recorded as graduating from Cambridge was mixed-race violinist George Augustus Bridgetower (1778–1860). He was elected to Royal Society of Musicians in 1807, and attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he earned the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1811. He was the first West Indian graduate recorded in university records.The second…
James Cook Snr brought his large family from Scotland in 1736 where he had secured more reliable employment on estate farms. As a bonus, he could send young James to school at his employer’s expense. Capt Cook's Cottagetransplanted brick by brick to…
Anne Lister (1791-1840) was born in Halifax Yorks and spent her childhood in her parents’ home. And she was a regular visitor to her aunt’s grand family estate Shibden Hall. Portrait of Anne Lister in her customary dark clothes,by Joshua Horner c1830, Shibden HallLister was not raised to be in business, but to be a wife.…
After the crises of the Maritime Dispute in 1890, Shearers’ Dispute in 1891 and the Great Depression of early 1890s, many in Australia’s working class believed that their nation could never be a workingman’s paradise. Some were drawn to a utopian settlement in Paraguay. William Lane, c1892WikiBritish-born William Lane (1861–1917) was the popular editor of Brisbane…
6.2.2024
Albert Bert Spencer (1886-) was born in Balmain Sydney, younger son of Henrik Henry Spencer, a Danish labourer and his wife Alice. The father died when Bert was a toddler, meaning the 3 siblings were raised by a struggling mother. Hill of Content bookshop, Bourke St MelbourneSpencer’s mother was the inspiration for all his endeavours, introducing him…
2.2.2024
The Leviny house Buda, in Castlemaine bought and renovated in 1863Ernest Leviny (1818-1905) was a Hungarian and a citizen of the Austro Hungarian Empire. He moved from a small town to Budapest, to train as a silversmith and jeweller. In 1843 he lived in Paris developing his craft before moving to London where he set up a…
Petrol in the UK was the first commodity to be rationed, although it was supplied for essential services eg doctors and farmers. When a North Atlantic blockade by German U-Boats stopped imported food, huge shortages were caused and by Jan 1940, the British government had to introduce food rationing. The scheme was designed to ensure fair shares for all…
4.12.2023
Please note that this blog post has major spoilers for the video game Pentiment, which I highly recommend you play before reading further as its a fantastic game! In one part of the game, Andreas (the Player Character) has a discussion with Sister Illuminata regarding various books – depicted here with both characters inserted into…
I am writing a long series on human evolution and the development of human culture. This text is translated from the closing speech of its first season. The title is from the song ”Juokse sinä humma” – ”Run my little horse” by the famous Finnish singer-songwriter Tapio Rautavaara. You can decide for yourself whether this…
On 13 July 2023 the British Library will host the 5th Annual Graham Nattrass Lecture, co-organised with the German Studies Library Group. The theme of this year’s lecture, to be given by Dr Alexandra Lloyd of Oxford University, is the anti-Nazi resistance group Die Weisse Rose (The White Rose); 2023...