Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

There is not much to comment on here, just a very unusual passage in a classic Roma book, The Book of Boswell: Autobiography of a Gypsy (1970). The edition referred to here is the 1973 Penguin. Now to the fairies. Notice how they jump in rather matter of factly. Our author is remembering an idyllic […]

  Thanks to Tim for this classic, a Chinese Nazi trying to join the master-race.

The thieves’ candle is a longstanding tradition in Britain, America and, indeed, throughout the western world. Usually the candle was the hand of a dead man with one or more of the fingers made into candles. These candles were supposed to provide safety, invisiblity and be able to cast sleep spells on victims. For example, […]

Sleeping Tommies just arrived in France and going to the front. How many of these were still alive in 1918

Castor oil is a vegetable oil that in Beach’s parent’s generation was used as a panacea for problems of the digestive tract. Unlucky children who had complained of a poorly stomach, perhaps with the foolish idea of missing school, were given a table spoon. Castor oil has no miraculous effect on the body but it […]

  Glorious dragon (avignon bm29 dragon, johan oosterman)

There is always a pleasure in seeing what an almighty mess humans can make of ‘historical’ traditions. Take the following story about someone who is known by every reader of this blog, but who has arrived here, some fifteen hundred years after his death, in a guise that is not (ahem) particularly reminiscent of the historical […]

Dear Reader, the Beachcombing family is now awaiting Emily with trepidation: Mrs B can, as of today, give birth to a non-premature baby and the midwifes are buzzing like flies around ripe stilton. Huge thanks to those who sent in emails below and also to Invisible, Chris S, Ricardo, Wade and Amanda for sending in links. […]

*** Seb J got this with an hour to spare, spool down for the answer*** The Index Biography is a new form of biography 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 […]

Smelling the Russian artillery… Goodbye to bad rubbish

Jauffre getting all kissy in WW1

The machine gun was one of the most vicious military innovations of the late nineteenth century; and in the twentieth century, it slaughtered more individuals than the motor car, Ebola and ISIS put together. However, who had the honour of being first penetrated and killed by a machine gun bullet? The answer depends, of course, on […]

Baby and baby probably in 1940/1941

Woe, the poison duel series is over, at least till someone else finds some new evidence. Here though are two bits of supplementary evidence, poison duels in plays. This slightly bitchy review appeared in 1835. Another new burletta, entitled An Affair of Honour, was also produced during the week at this theatre. The main interest […]

  Sublime beato Angelico at San Marco, note poor Judas…