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  • Daily History Picture: Goldminers, South Africa November 20, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Goldminers, South Africa

    1950s

    Mermaid Monday: Eating Mermaids November 20, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Eating Mermaids

    This interesting account appeared in the British press in 1827 (Anon). It describes excitement about mermaid bones, in Portsmouth and an unusual dinner. ‘Mombuss’ is Mombassa, which we have seen before connected to mermaids. Beach seems to hear Lieutenant Emory, two hundred years ago, leaning across the table and saying ‘capital meat, Captain!’ The skeleton of […]

    Ostrich in Medieval China November 19, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
    Ostrich in Medieval China

    Chinese Ostriches The Qianling Mausoleum was used for three hundred years (from the seventh to the very early tenth century) by Tang dynasty emperors and their court officials. It includes, in some of its magnificent stone sculptures, a large flightless bird, pictured above. This bird is clearly an ostrich, which begs a number of questions. […]

    Fairy Photographs from 1930 November 18, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Fairy Photographs from 1930

    June 1930 and various snooty Britons are opening their spanking new copy of Tatler, the house magazine of Britain’s upper middle classes and down-at-heel aristocrats. But what is this on page 25: ‘a spring time fantasy’ involving some posh tots! It would not be very difficult to imagine that Titania and her friends Peace-blossom, Moth, […]

    Daily History Picture: How to Make a Ghost November 17, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: How to Make a Ghost

    ! 30 Nov 2017: Bruce T writes: Check out the works of Daniel Carter Beard. His books from the late 19th to early 20th are full of such tricks. I own a copy of his “American Boy’s Handy Book”; which is still in print, as are most of his books. The ABHB alone is enough to […]

    Daily History Picture: An Almost Handshake November 16, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: An Almost Handshake

    Kennedy meets Khrushchev.

    Jamaican Immortal November 15, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Jamaican Immortal

    This is one in the immortals series. Human beings who lived remarkably long lives (be they factual or fictional). First the report from 1825. Died on 13 the December, at Kingston, Jamaica, an old negro woman, Patience, alias Nancy Lawrence, supposed to be aged about 140 years. The precise age of this extraordinary creature could […]

    Daily History Picture: Reclaiming Atlantis November 15, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Reclaiming Atlantis

    Who needs the channel study…

    Daily History Picture: Irish Vampire November 14, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Irish Vampire

    Note the harp…

    Mussolini and the Water Sprinkler November 14, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Mussolini and the Water Sprinkler

    There are few things in life sweeter than self important people being made to look silly. The picture above is one of this blogger’s favourite. The subject is, of course, Benito Mussolini, in the mid, late 1930s.* A group of Fascist dignitaries are prancing up some steps at the Foro Italico: but not all is […]

    Mermaid Monday: Nude Scottish Mermaids November 13, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Nude Scottish Mermaids

    Here is a Scottish account from 1833 (Anon) of what were apparently river mermaids. What is most interesting here is certainly the reaction of the community, though the resolution of the mystery has some entertainment value. Some time back, the inhabitants of some hamlets, situated near the Tay, a little below Dunkeld, had been kept in […]

    Daily History Picture: Gaelic Warband Fires Farm November 13, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Gaelic Warband Fires Farm

    Late 1500s

    Braham’s Parrot November 12, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Braham's Parrot

    A busy day in paradise, so Beach thought he would limit himself to sharing this charming parrot story. Mr Braham was John Braham (obit 1856), an early nineteenth-century opera singer: ‘he sang before Napoleon’s Josephine and gave lessons to Nelson’s wife.’ Part of the charm of the story is the parrot in the presence of two […]

    The Half Million Club: Biggest Ancient and Medieval Cities November 11, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval
    The Half Million Club: Biggest Ancient and Medieval Cities

    The half million club is a select group of nine human settlements that managed to break the half million population mark in Antiquity or in the Middle Ages: the biggest cities around before the discovery of the New World. To give some sorts of limit to this exercise six chronological moments have been chosen at […]

    Victorian Urban Legends: the Lady of the Key November 10, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Victorian Urban Legends: the Lady of the Key

    A woman with a key around her neck haunts the French saloons. What is her story? Beach is always looking for Victorian urban legends (this one is 1870) and particularly sexual ones. Ask yourself this. Would this tale have appeared in a British newspaper if it had been set in London rather than Paris? The […]