Origins of Snooker.

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TODAY THE 19TH MARCH 1938 SIR NEVILLE FRANCIS WILLOUGHBY CHAMBERLAIN’S LETTER TO FIELD MAGAZINE RELATED TO THE GAME OF SNOOKER. HE WAS SAID THE HAVE FIRST MADE THE CLAIM IN 1875, BUT IT TOOK HIM ALL THOSE YEARS TO STAKE HIS CLAIM IN THE FIELD. PRIOR TO THIS IT WAS ACCEPTED THAT ‘COLONEL SNOOKER OF […]

27th FEBRUARY 1596. BEWITCHED!

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In the late Tudor period a group of extreme Protestants took up the case of a 13 year old boy Thomas Darling an alleged case of demonic possession. The case of the ‘Boy of Burton’ attracted national attention and tales of ‘witchcraft’ appealed to a credulous public. (1) The case of particular interest appearing as […]

23rd FEBRUARY 1820. CONSPIRACY TO MURDER.

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England after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 had become a dangerous place with so many displaced soldiers who were to join other disaffected people in a call for parliamentary reform including the extension of the franchise. One result was the increase in covert plotting against the government which came to a head Today in […]

20TH FEBRUARY 1523.

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‘Not so beautiful game: More died playing football than sword fighting in Tudor times.’ An early account in England in 1321 records a dispensation granted by Pope John XXII to William de Spaulding of Shouldham in Norfolk, a canon of ‘Scoldham’ of the Order of Sempringham. It reported no blame is attached to William who […]

9th FEBRUARY 1925. THE WILTING DAFFODIL.

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‘I wandered lonely as a cloud…When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils. William Wordsworth. (1) In the early 20th century the daffodil was under attack from a deadly disease which affected the bulb and the general health of the plant. It resulted in a Wisley botanist James Kirkham Ramsbotham […]

5TH FEBRUARY 1896. ‘The New Photography’.

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One thing apparent in many of my Posts is the influence the Scots and Irish have had in scientific and engineering endeavour in the past; certainly the curriculum was weighted in favour of such practical skills. This is more remarkable bearing in mind the comparative small population of the countries. Late in 1895 after the […]

11TH JANUARY 1784. THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE.

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ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONS WHICH THE ADVENTUROUS RICH BROUGHT BACK FROM THE GRAND TOUR THROUGH ASIA MINOR AND GREECE IN THE 1700S WAS A LOVE OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE RESULTING IN MANY BUILDINGS OF THE SO-CALLED GREEK REVIVALIST STYLE, BOTH HERE AND ABROAD. ONE SUCH EXPONENT IN SCOTLAND WAS THOMAS HAMILTON BORN TODAY IN 1784 WHO […]

25TH DECEMBER 1965. END OF AN ERA.

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IT WAS TODAY IN 1965 WHICH WITNESSED THE END OF CHRISTMAS DAY LEAGUE FOOTBALL WHEN BLACKPOOL PLAYED BLACKBURN, LEAVING BOXING DAY AS THE POPULAR DAY OF THE FESTIVE SEASON. Blackpool had gone against the general trend as most league matches ceased on this day in 1959 when incidentally Blackpool had again played Blackburn. The ‘seasiders’ […]

22ND DECEMBER 1637/8. (1)

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The craft of goldsmiths, a general term. existed in Ireland as early as 1800 BCE., flourishing early in the Christian, and medieval period following the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. By the 16thc there is mention of a guild of goldsmiths.. The Company of Goldsmiths situated in Dublin Castle was founded to prescribe standards of fineness […]

13th DECEMBER 1856. ALUMINIUM.

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Of the 17 essential nutritional elements needed for plant growth aluminium is not one of them. Aluminium (Aluminum in US), is the most abundant metal element and the thirdf most abundant element after oxygen and silicon. It is found in the ore bauxite. (1) It was in 1856 Today, in Household Words, that Charles Dickens, […]