William Dampier is one of my all time heroes. He was from a small country town – East Coker in Somerset, possibly an orphan who became one of the greatest explorers and mapmakers of all time. His charts were used by Captain Cook on his voyages of discovery that led to so much of Britain’s … Continue reading
Care of the poor, sick and feeble has long been the realm of the Christian church. This has continued longer in Scotland and especially Ireland, than the rest of the UK Across Ireland can be found references to hospitals – such as Hospital, Spital and Spiddel. Each hospital had its own territory, so was called … Continue reading
This is my latest assignment for the masters, an analysis of the only song I seem to never tire of listening to. It is a bit heavy on the quotes, but hopefully some interesting stuff in it too The Pogues’ and Kirsty MacColl’s pop song, Fairytale of New York was released in November 1987 to … Continue reading
No, this is not a bad joke. Or even a good joke, but quite an amazing discovery I have just made. It is to do with Latin script. If you have ever seen the writing on an old Roman monument you may have noticed that it is a string of letters. They did not have … Continue reading
texthistory 