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  • Daily History Picture: Tattooing Flappers April 20, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture:  Tattooing Flappers

    The photo dates to 1930. Are there any good histories of modern tattooing out there?

    Daily History Picture: Bible Talk April 19, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Bible Talk

    Sorry!

    The Supernatural on Ngram April 19, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite, Contemporary
    The Supernatural on Ngram

    Beach has recently been messing about with Ngram, as his leisurely ancestors used to mess around on southern English rivers. Ngram for the uninitiated is a Google tool that allows the user to measure the frequency of certain words in Google Books. It is not as sophisticated as Google Analytics, which measures search terms. But […]

    Nun Immured in Britain? April 18, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, Modern
    Nun Immured in Britain?

    In mid March 1846 the Hereford Philosophical and Antiquarian Association had a meeting at which the Dean of Hereford Cathedral spoke about some remarkable finds at Hill House, at Woolhope not eight miles from Hereford. He spoke with sadness and, yes, some occasional indignation as human bones had been uncovered there. This was, he suggested, […]

    Daily History Picture: In Perfect Harmony April 18, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: In Perfect Harmony

    All together now.

    Self Help as Magic April 17, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Self Help as Magic

    The literature on self help dates back to the book of Proverbs and Cicero, but in its modern multi-billion dollar form it has a particularly American imprint: Dale Carnegie, Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Napoleon Hill among the most interesting. Most self help coaches stress the science of self help: life changes are given as […]

    Daily History Picture: Bull Attack April 17, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Bull Attack

    Dangers of town dwelling in the early 1800s…

    Gulled at Hull April 16, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Gulled at Hull

    This is a uniquely charming Victorian confidence trick to add to our collection. Enjoy! Hull Fair is acknowledged to be one of the largest of its kind in the country. Thousands of excursionists flock into the city on October 11th, and the succeeding days, and every blackguard, thief, and confidence trickster in the North of […]

    Ghost Funeral in Liverpool April 15, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Ghost Funeral in Liverpool

    This is an unusually well written ghost account from Liverpool. It does not appear to come up in any of Tom Slemen’s work on Liverpool (though Beach waits to be contradicted!). This appeared in the Liverpool Post in 1891. Note that in Ireland (with which Liverpool has strong migrant links) this could almost be a […]

    Daily History Picture: Martyrdom April 14, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Martyrdom

    St Thomas and the divine sword…

    Dumb Duels #8: Balloon Fights April 13, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Dumb Duels #8: Balloon Fights

    Want to die? Try fighting a duel in a balloon with blunderbusses and ‘without a parachute’. Two aeronauts, recently arrived at New York, Messrs. John Lewis, from England, and Tarteifter, native of Prussia, met about three weeks ago at Johns Woods, where both intended to make public ascents, and at the end of a dispute […]

    Daily History Picture: Tilting Ground April 13, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Tilting Ground

    From Cumbria, apparently a prehistoric ‘rath’ interpreted as a tilting ground…

    Daily History Picture: Keeping Fit on the Titanic April 12, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Keeping Fit on the Titanic

    Just in case you need to swim a long way…

    Daily History Picture: Tombstone for a Trout April 11, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Tombstone for a Trout

    Loved this one…

    Marriage Letter Spells April 11, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Marriage Letter Spells

    Location: Only attested in the English West Country and only found in one source (Anon 1870) Aim: To discover the name of your future spouse. Ingredients: a bowl, water, some paper, pens and scissors, a literate family member. Method: West Country Spell (anon 1870) (i) Get a literate family member to write out all 26 […]