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  • Mermaid Monday: Mermaid Trade, 1878 February 5, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Mermaid Trade, 1878

    This is an interesting reference to the mermaid business in 1878. As will be seen, a mermaid, caught in the West Indies, was sold to the Westminster Aquarium. It will be remembered that about two months since much excitement was caused by the landing of a West Indian mermaid at Glasgow by the ss Blenheim. […]

    Man at Station Changes Course of War February 4, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Man at Station Changes Course of War

    Mid October 1941. A man with a mustache walks up and down besides a train, while snow falls. He is conscious, all too conscious that he is about to make a decision that will change the direction of the war, perhaps even its outcome: a true hinge moment. And the decision? Quite simply should he […]

    Children and Stories and School February 3, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite
    Children and Stories and School

    Children devour stories… Announce to three kids in bed, just before lights out, that you will tell the tale about ‘naughty Uncle John and the security guard’, or ‘how Daddy went to fox land’, or the one about the ‘biggest fish in Little Snoring’ and absolute silence will reign. The children will listen, crucially ask […]

    Daily History Picture: Book of Hours February 2, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Book of Hours

    Magnificent 15 cent French Book of Hours

    Beachcombed 92 February 1, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Beachcombed
    Beachcombed 92

    Dear Reader, A tense January as efforts to get Italian citizenship run into problems: a middle name on a British birth certificate has already led to hundreds of euros spent on legal advice, consulate visits and general headbanging. Starting, though, the writing of a new book and that is a balm. There follow the most […]

    Index Biography #50: Prize a book January 31, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Index Biography #50: Prize a book

    ***Sue got it – scroll down for the result*** The Index Biography is a quiz pioneered by this blog and introduced in a previous post. The creator must find a biography of a famous individual from history, they must turn to the index and write down eight peripheral facts about the individual’s life. We offered up […]

    Daily History Picture: Young Merkel, Young Love January 30, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Young Merkel, Young Love

    Angela Merkel as a young woman with flares.

    Civil War Horse Luck January 30, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Civil War Horse Luck

    One of the grimmest statistics of the American Civil War is Nathan Bedford Forrest’s assertion that he had twenty-nine horses shot from under him: J. O. Shelby had a more modest twenty-four horses on his tally sheet. With great respect to these two Confederate warriors, there is always the fear that their claims are exaggerated: […]

    Daily History Picture: Books Where Everybody Dies January 29, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Books Where Everybody Dies

    Books where everybody dies. Sorry, but loved this.

    Mermaid Monday: Danish Mermaid, 1749 January 29, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Danish Mermaid, 1749

    Here is a short mermaid report from the middle of the eighteenth century. It appeared in a British newspaper 11 Sep 1749, but the mermaid catch was said to have actually taken place in Denmark 3 Sep of that year. We hear from Nykoping in Jutland, that the Fisherman there had catched a Mermaid, which […]

    The Wild Hunt of 1127 January 28, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
    The Wild Hunt of 1127

    In spring 1127, in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire strange things happened. At night locals heard repeated horn blasts and some, who were foolish enough to be out in the dark, saw ghastly sights: men appeared on black horses and on black goats riding through the woods following black hounds. It goes without saying that this was not […]

    One Duel Eight Dead January 27, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    One Duel Eight Dead

    A duel was described in a British compendium in 1784: the Weekly Entertainer since you ask. The full text is below for connoisseurs, but what was remarkable about it was that eight men died and 2 were injured. Briefly the story went as follows. A group of friends in a tavern in Galway had an argument. At […]

    Truant Lover Spell January 26, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Truant Lover Spell

    Spells… it has been a while. Location: nineteenth-century Ireland Aim: to bring back a lover who is looking elsewhere Ingredients: a fairy woman, a grave, a linen sheet, a moonless sky, seven candles and a wheat sheaf Method: (i) find a fairy woman to assist you: fairy women were the nineteenth-century Irish witches who, using […]

    Daily History Picture: Arch Duke Ferdinand and Family January 26, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Arch Duke Ferdinand and Family

    Arch Duke Ferdinand and Family: aie….

    Daily History Picture: Language Changes January 25, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Language Changes

    Cyclical language…