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  • Hinge Moments: Leave! February 6, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite
    Hinge Moments: Leave!

    History, particularly military and political history, often enough seems to be a series of interlocking junctions and roads. The roads splay and, as we march along, other roads and junctions appear as those behind us disappear in the twilight. In the same way that we sometimes remember our mortality, stroking the skull on the desk, […]

    New History Books: War Against War February 5, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: War Against War

    Michael Kazin, War Against War The failed fight to keep America out of the war.

    Early Alien Encounter February 5, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Early Alien Encounter

    This is a particularly precious account from the Athenian Mercury, a late seventeenth-century publication. As Beach is always interested in encounters with supernatural entities he thought that he would print it in full: this might stand as an early alien encounter. He likes the way the narrative unwinds. He didn’t see the climax coming. Not […]

    New History Books: A House Full of Females February 4, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: A House Full of Females

    Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A House Full of Females Perhaps the book I most want to read from January.

    The Ring Dodge February 3, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    The Ring Dodge

    This trick is so well known that Beach has seen versions of it on crass TV shows. Still here is the ring dodge in all its pristine glory from 1894. At the London Guildhall, on Monday, Ann Francis was charged with attempting to obtain money by false pretences. Detective Evans, of the Great Eastern Railway […]

    Daily History Picture: Catching an Airship February 3, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Catching an Airship

    This picture (1929) is normally shows because it was the last voyage of the airship in question: things ended badly… Beach was fascinated by how they got on. Andrew Z writes, 30 Mar 2017: Your picture of the R101 at its mooring mast reminded me of something I’d read recently in the book “Airship” by […]

    Kidnapped by the Pombero February 2, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite
    Kidnapped by the Pombero

    The story starts nicely enough and then takes a decided turn for the bizarre. In July of last year (2016) a two and a half year old child was lost in the Argentinean countryside in an area of ‘bush and mountains’. Beach’s youngest is two and he shivers to think what this means. The little […]

    Daily History Picture: Six Pack Jesus February 2, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Six Pack Jesus

    This is the worst example I’ve seen, but there are a lot out there: the horrors of late renaissance art.

    Beachcombed 80 February 1, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Beachcombed
    Beachcombed 80

    Dear Reader, A good if terrifying couple of weeks teaching in a new university. Thanks for your interest and support. There follow the most interesting words sent in to StrangeHistory. Thanks to all contributors and linkers… Have a warm February Beach A Very Old Carp: Gary finds the fount of the legend… All the Fun […]

    Daily History Picture: The Naturalist in His Study January 31, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: The Naturalist in His Study

    Love the alligator…

    Index Biography #38: Prize a book January 31, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Index Biography #38: Prize a book

    *** Susan M got this, scroll down for the answer: commiserations to Nate who came in second*** 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 […]

    Daily History Picture: Returning Home from Woodstock January 30, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Returning Home from Woodstock

    Another iconic photograph, presumably staged… 23 Feb 2017: Bruce T ‘the latter started making the rounds about two years ago, it’s a phony. I was once picked up hitchhiking in the mid 70s by a group of guys who thought I was a topless girl. I had hair past my shoulders and was walking facing […]

    A Very Old Carp January 30, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    A Very Old Carp

    This is an uncommonly good fish story. It appears in a curious book entitled: Johann Heinrich Cohausen, Hermippus redivivus, or, The sage’s triumph over old age and the grave. If you want to achieve immortality you should probably give said book a read. In any case let’s move on to a centuries-old carp. It is not only the […]

    Hartlepool Wandering Jew January 29, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Hartlepool Wandering Jew

    This is the record of a Wandering Jew from Hartlepool in the north-east of England. The text is in dialect and a rather difficult dialect at that: it appeared in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail (24 Jul 1880), 4. ‘Did ya ivver knaw thot Wandering Jew cam tiv Hertlepol, sir,’ said an old man, a […]

    New History Books: God’s Generals January 28, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: God's Generals

    Richard A. Gabriel, God’s Generals Great idea but a problem when two of the three may not have even existed… Still, looking forward to digging up this one.