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  • Daily History Picture: Wright Brothers Fun December 23, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Wright Brothers Fun

    OK not serious but loved this memory of the Wright Brothers…

    A Dublin Haunted House Case December 23, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    A Dublin Haunted House Case

    We’ve looked before at Irish haunted houses in court cases. But in this forgotten nineteenth-century ghost story there is some ambiguity about whether the noises were nasty neighbours, creaking floorboards or spirits from the other side (1885) A remarkable case was heard on Saturday in Dublin. Mr Waldron, solicitor’s clerk, sued his next door neighbour, […]

    Daily History Picture: Execution 1945 December 22, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Execution 1945

    Vivid shot of German general Anton Dostler being executed for his part in the murder of American POWs.

    The Loneliness of Nineteenth-Century Infanticide December 22, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    The Loneliness of Nineteenth-Century Infanticide

    Today an unmarried mother, in a western country will be, assuming that the father is nowhere to be seen, taken care of by the state or by her family. This was not necessarily the case in the nineteenth century, and in that period an unmarried mother would find herself the object of scorn to boot. […]

    Daily History Picture: Deportation from Greece December 21, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Deportation from Greece

    Nazi deportations of Greece’s ancient Jewish population, 1943  

    Why Children-Stealing Gypsies? December 21, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Medieval, Modern
    Why Children-Stealing Gypsies?

    The idea that someone is out to get our children has been around from classical times. Several antique Christian writers, for example, credit ‘the Jews’ with stealing children and this became, by the Middle Ages, part of the notorious ‘blood libel’ for which hundreds and perhaps thousands of men, women and, yes, children of Jewish descent […]

    A Monkey in the Late Roman Army December 20, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient
    A Monkey in the Late Roman Army

    Do you remember the ape buried in Iron Age Ireland? Well, here is a cousin, who also travelled far from home. In 2001 a monkey, a macaque, in fact, was dug up at Iulia Libica (Llívia), a late Roman settlement in the Pyrenees. He was, at death, 78 cms tall: a young male. It goes without […]

    Daily History Picture: Heavenly Delights December 19, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Heavenly Delights

    Courtesy of Bosch a view of heaven. We see his hellish scenes too often…

    Witch Oven Near Florence December 19, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Witch Oven Near Florence

    This story appeared in 1893. It is a witchcraft report from Italy in a period when Leland assures us that there were still many cunning women and planet rulers making their living in the country. What is unusual is the advice given. In any case, first the preliminaries… At Ponte a Ema, about three miles […]

    Daily History Picture: Best Ankles Competition December 18, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Best Ankles Competition

    London 1930 a bobby helps to judge who has the best ankles.  

    For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow and WW2 December 18, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    For He's a Jolly Good Fellow and WW2

    A painful moment from 1939, at least for any Britons reading this post. Neville Chamberlain and his capable foreign minister, Lord Halifax, have travelled, 11 January, to Rome for a meeting of minds with Mussolini. In fact, Britain is just nine months away from a World War and a year and a half away from […]

    Daily History Picture: Amelia’s Last Hair Cut December 17, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Amelia's Last Hair Cut

    Amelia Earhart before rushing off for that round world flight…

    Immortal Meals #18: Breakfast in the Forbidden Palace December 17, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Immortal Meals #18: Breakfast in the Forbidden Palace

    The month is March 1912, the day unspecified, but you walk into the dining room in the Forbidden Palace in Peking and one breakfast is much like any other. The sole guest is about to have breakfast and the twenty five dishes for this important meal have just been laid out by the eunuchs. Beach […]

    Daily History Picture: Left Right Change December 16, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Left Right Change

    1967 Sweden changes driving from left to right: curiously fatalaties dropped…

    Roman Coins in Iceland December 16, 2014

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval
    Roman Coins in Iceland

    Roman coins have been found within and without the Empire. Denarii and solidii turn up in Scandinavia, Free Germany, Ceylon, Mainland India and Ethiopia, there is even one fascinating outlier in Madagascar (another post, another day). These coins will have arrived in two separate ways. Some will have been brought by Roman traders and some […]