Fairies in Seventeenth-Century Surrey April 6, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
Lilly and the Fairies at Hurstwood In 1652 William Lilly (1602-1681), a wealthy London business man, bought Hurst Wood (aka Hurstwood), at Hersham, Surrey: in the late 19C OS map above note ‘The Hurst’. It was a substantial property including a house with thirteen hearths and eighteen acres of Parkland. So what did Lilly do […]
Assassination by Plane April 5, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
Assassination by plane. This is opening a new tag on instances where state actors have deliberately killed marked individuals by shooting down or, otherwise destroying, the plane that they happened to be travelling on. Operation Vengeance A couple of examples just to get the ball rolling. First, Operation Vengeance. Early April 1943 the US picked […]
Daily History Picture: German Cavalry WW2 April 5, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesDaily History Picture: Ripper Cartoon April 4, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesDaily History Picture: John Wayne and Famous Drunk April 3, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesWhy Did the Chicken Cross the Road? History April 3, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern
Why did the chicken…? ‘Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? To get to the other side.’ It is one of the most tedious jokes in history, but it is also one of the oldest in continuous use. Now, just how old and where does it come from? Knickerbocker Glory The earliest reference that has […]
Daily History Picture: Malinowski Letter April 2, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesMermaid Monday: Doctor Examines Mermaid April 2, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
This was, I believe, one of the fake letters that P.T.Barnum sent out when he took possession of the Fejee Mermaid in 1842: though I’ve found no other online version. The scallywag here claimed to be a doctor from Montgomery, Alabama, resident in the Indies. I have this day seen, handled, and very closely examined […]
Beachcombed 94 April 1, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Beachcombed
Dear Reader, They are risen! Three of the six Beachcombing tortoises are out now in the garden. Now to business… The most popular posts this month were Bloody Babs Says Goodbye to Tommy If I were your Husband I would drink it When Churchill Came within Twenty Yards of Hitler Gay Fairies What Happened to […]
Index Biography #52: Prize a book March 31, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
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 facts about the individual’s life. We offered up previously here Sheridan le Fanu and Joseph Stalin (he of ripe […]
Charles Montgomery Skinner, Rogue Researcher March 30, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
Charles Montgomery Skinner was an early American folklore writer famous for such works as Myths and Legends of Our Own Lands. Skinner though had a promising background, one that gets him into that select catalogue of ‘rogue researchers’. Charles has just been describing a series of poltergeists, including some phantom snowball throwers. Without presuming to […]
Seventh Bastard! March 29, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
This is a scene that I recently ran across in the parish records and that I can’t get out of my head. It is Sunday morning 14 Oct 1855, and we are at the impressive Church of St Mary the Virgin, Blackburn in Lancashire, England. At the baptismal font waits the local vicar John Arthur […]
Daily History Picture: Korean Poster March 29, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
North Korean Poster: love the art, but genuine? EC writes in, 29 Mar 2018: Sadly not authentic NK propaganda. It’s from deviantart, the artist is “haryarti“. He’s got one for the UK too