Self Help as Magic April 17, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ContemporaryThe 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 PicturesGulled at Hull April 16, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernThis 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 : ModernThis 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 PicturesDumb Duels #8: Balloon Fights April 13, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernWant 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 PicturesDaily History Picture: Keeping Fit on the Titanic April 12, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesDaily History Picture: Tombstone for a Trout April 11, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesMarriage Letter Spells April 11, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernLocation: 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 […]
Daily History Picture: Stone Bulls April 10, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesBig Ben Superstitions April 10, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernBig Ben the great bell that rings out from Westminster is a central part of British identity: not least because its chimes have, for many years, sounded on national radio and television programs. It would hardly be surprising then that there are superstitions about Big Ben, but what is surprising is that these seem not […]
Natural Ghosts April 9, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernThese words came from an article in All the Year Round 1869 trying to explain ghosts as problems of sensation. It is unusually well written, and goes into some areas of perception that modern studies don’t deal with: we tend to be obsessed by sight. Next to sight, hearing is the sense most frequently imposed […]
Thirteenth-Century Eurasia April 8, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : MedievalIn 1989 Janet Abu-Lughod published her Before European Hegemony. In a series of graphics and discussions she attempted to map out not the trade routes, but the trade zones (‘trade circuits’) that divided up Eurasia and, indeed, Africa to the north of the Sahara and down the Horn. As with many bold economic books, these […]