Clik here to view.
Wilfred Owen: Britain's key WW1 poet
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was born in Nth Shropshire, learning at Shrewsbury Technical School. He went to Birkenhead Institute Liverpool& Shrewsbury Technical College, then worked as a pupil-teacher...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cocodile Dundee, Outback Steakhouse, shark attack cocktails
Crocodile Dundee was the second-highest-grossing film in the U.S in 1986, and stood as the highest-grossing non-U.S. film ever at the American box office. There is a strong consensus that the film...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Frank Lloyd Wright's MANY women
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867) was born in Wisconsin. His Welsh preacher grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones, crossed the Atlantic in 1844 with his wife and children, settling in a fertile part of the Midwest...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Panama Canal: corruption or poor science?
Europeans dreamed of a Central American canal for ages; even Pres. Ulysses Grant sent 7 feasibility expeditions. As travel and trade in the Western hemisphere increased, a canal became essential. To...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Edinburgh's 17th century Tron Kirk
Tron Kirk/Church was commissioned in Edinburgh by King Charles I from Scottish architect John Myle, as part of the plan to upgrade Edinburgh to city status. And it seems that the timing was critical....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Voltaire: writer living pre-Enlightenment
François Marie Arouet (1694-1778) was the son of a treasury official. In 1704, soon after his mother’s death, Arouet was sent to the Jesuit Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris for 7 years. He wrote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Remember hopscotch from 1950s & 1960s?
Although I assumed my post-WW2 generation invented hopscotch, that seems highly unlikely. The earliest confirmed mention of the game actually comes from Britain in C17th; in fact a manuscript book of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Archibald Art winners 2026 in Shepparton
Australia’s favourite and most significant art award opened in Shepparton Art Museum for a Victorian showing of the annual Archibald Prize. Judged by the Art Gallery of New South Wales/NSW trustees,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HandleBar Adelaide - pub on wheels
The HandleBar Adelaide uses vehicles devised by brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in Amsterdam in the 1990s. The four-wheel, open frame vehicles, the size of a family car, have allowed fans to take in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canadian history, Hudson’s Bay Co and furs
The C17th fur trade became a major commercial growth in Nth America, due to Europe’s demand for beaver hats. Two French traders planned a trading company to reach the inland via Hudson Bay and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Heysen art, new Museum, The Cedars
The original house, now called The Cedars in Hansdorf, was built in the late 1870s by Alfred Wheelwright, then he sold the property to a North Adelaide gent and onto other moneyed families. Lastly the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gertrude Bell's great Middle Eastern legacy
The female scholar behind Iraq's independenceThe LibrariansGertrude Bell (1868-1926) was the granddaughter of British nobility and the daughter of an monied industrialist. Instead of seeking a life of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dutchies in orange, hot New Year Bondi
Scheveningen beach Netherlands, FacebookThe Dutch connection to Bondi is deeply rooted, generally featuring Dutch-speakers, Dutch music and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jewish Toledo - Spain's finest & worst eras
Toledo, capital city of Old Castile, started with the Romans. Jews have lived there at least since the C6th; in 589 CE, Council of Toledo prohibited Jews from marrying Christians, holding public...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VERY grand hotels!
During our first three years of marriage, while working and travelling around Europe, spouse and I lived in Youth Hostels or slept in the boot of our car. Later, when the children arrived and had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
State killings: Saudi Arabia, USA & Victoria
Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani in Feb 2014 for smuggling drugs.Photo credit: Newsweek.This article was written by the journalist Phillip Adams and published in The Weekend Australian (27-28 Sep...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Goudstikker: stolen art returned to Holland
Jacques Goudstikker's gallery, 1927-40Amsterdam. WikiJacques Goudstikker (1897–1940) was born in Amsterdam, son of a Jewish art dealer. He studied at the Commercial School in Amsterdam, then in Leiden...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Eastbourne UK bandstand and pleasure pier
entertainment facilities on Eastbourne PierLike other coastal towns, Eastbourne began to grow rapidly as the medicinal and leisure benefits of sea air and sea bathing became well known. Locals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
fine Coimbra University Library, Portugal
facade of Joanine Library, University of Coimbraestablished 1717WikiOne of the primary functions of libraries was to protect books from the physical effects of climate, theft, vandalism, and bugs. And...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reducing injections for US children :(
I’ve cited Kat Lay’s “What effect will Donald Trump’s childhood vaccine recommendations have in the US and beyond?” Since appointed in 2025, Secretary Health & Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr...
View Article
