Sad Evening Primrose

There aren’t many practical archaeologists who are also published poets. Let us celebrate the life of Nina Frances Layard (1853-1935). She was the first elected woman Fellow of the Society Antiquaries. She was a foundation member (and President 1922-23) of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, and was practical archaeologist and excavator. Most of all… Continue reading Sad Evening Primrose

The moment in the rose garden

Reading in an old archaeological journal from 94 years ago (as you do), about the discovery of a complete Neolithic bowl fished out of the River Thames, it gives a fascinating insight into the ways that historians and archaeologists impose their world view. Without knowing that they do it, archaeologists of today will jump to the… Continue reading The moment in the rose garden

The night sheep saw an angel, maybe

  The Christmas carol does not take a view about shepherds who were “watching their flocks by night”, but watching your sheep has to be a good thing. Maybe on one particular Saturday night certain English shepherds weren’t doing enough watching, or maybe it really could have been the angel of the Lord coming down… Continue reading The night sheep saw an angel, maybe

Dancing your way out

Dancing your way out of poverty and oppression might seem just a bit Billy Elliott. But for at least a couple of families of East European Jews (separated by generations, but with the same impetus), it was not so much a campish musical storyline as real life, real death. A notable similarity in the story… Continue reading Dancing your way out

Marvellous… if true

“When I was younger …sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” The White Queen I’d like to think I am as cynical as one can be without being antisocial. I distrust conspiracy theories and yarns about extra-terrestrials, though I am often intrigued by the evidence presented in support of them. Which… Continue reading Marvellous… if true

A Coming Storm, June 6th, 1885; e pur si muove, tre

In the first week of June 1885, London’s beloved horse-racing festival, the Derby Day meeting, was taking place on Epsom Downs. The era’s greatest jockey, Fred Archer, came home first in the two premier races — both the Derby and the Oaks. In the Derby he rode the favourite Melton and won by a head. In… Continue reading A Coming Storm, June 6th, 1885; e pur si muove, tre

Cherished by the Puritans

This is how Chambers Book of Days in 1869 explained Thanksgiving to the British. You just have time to read this before settling down to an evening of “rustic games and amusements”. THANKSGIVING DAY IN AMERICA The great social and religious festival of New England, from which it has spread to most of the states of the American… Continue reading Cherished by the Puritans

“Not a novel experiment”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but it appears there are those citizens out there today who believe a majority of street people are in some way comfortable with hand-outs. Those who blame the poor often wonder why do-gooders aren’t practical-minded enough to try to actually find vagrants paid work.  Their argument is that the vagrants would not take work if they were… Continue reading “Not a novel experiment”

You’re not the boss of me, or are you?

Has not the British Constitution changed so much since the Act of Parliament allowing admittance into the European Common Market in 1972 that some old rules cease to have application — and the myth of Parliamentary sovereignty is one? EU sovereignty trumping the country’s own sovereignties has been in place in law long enough to… Continue reading You’re not the boss of me, or are you?