Category Archives: UK

Liverpool museums – large version of And when did you last see your father? 1878

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http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/

” The people in the painting are composed like characters on a stage. This adds to the sense of drama in an already tense setting. The viewer is left guessing what the boy will answer. The painting deals cleverly with the themes of innocence and childhood. We wonder whether the boy, who will have been told that honesty is a virtue, will realise in time the gravity of the situation. The small size of the boy, his blonde hair and blue suit highlight his innocence. In order to save his father, he may have to lose some of his innocence and lie to the men questioning him.

Yeames does not appear to favour one side over the other, letting the drama of the situation speak for itself. Although we are aware of the purpose of the soldiers’ visit to the house, he invests the scene with a sense of their ‘moral duty’. The Victorians believed that men in the Civil War fought out of a sense of conviction and loyalty. This is shown by Yeames as, despite the situation, he depicts the men’s human qualities. The soldier in the left of the scene is seen comforting the little girl, who appears aware of the significance of the question. “

The Year London Blew Up

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http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/Y/year_london_blew_up/

The Year London Blew Up: 1974 – Channel 4 Thursday 1 September 9pm, Channel 4 (British TV)


From the page:
“What happens when a city faces a cell of fanatics with a single goal: to bring the maximum terror to the civilian population?

Militant Islamists may be the current threat, but in 1974/5, the enemy was the Provisional IRA.

Four men hiding out in London bedsits carried out over 40 separate incidents across the capital.

The city and its people reeled under the impact of this sustained attack, but finally found the resolve to face the onslaught and defeat it.”

I remember it well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army

“According to reports from Reuters, the IRA killed almost 1,800 people… 600 civilians also died at the hands of the IRA, mostly Catholics. Many of the civilians were deliberately killed,…”

and what were our American allies doing during this? They were complicit by allowing Noraid to solicit funds using the catchphrase:

“Give a dollar, buy a bullet, kill a British soldier”

Sept 2nd – Excellent production BTW

https://www.channel4.com

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913

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http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/


 

Old Bailey Online – The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 – Central Criminal Court

 

A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of ordinary people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court from 1674 to 183

Searchable by: Keyword

Sample:

William Hale. Theft: shoplifting. 

8th July 1719

William Hale of St. Clements Danes was indicted for feloniously stealing 15 pair of Worsted Hose, value 40 s. out of the Shop of  Thomas Rock the 23d of May last.

The Prosecutor deposed he lost a Board of Hose out of his Shop Window; and his Neighbour who lives right against him deposed, that he saw the Prisoner get up and look three times through the Grate, and when he saw the Shop clear, he reach’d over the Grate and took the Goods, whereupon he secur’d him. The Prisoner pleaded that he was Drunk, and lay down there; that he did not take the Goods; but that the Evidence took him and carry’d him into the Shop with the Goods. But that poor Defence did not avail him the Evidence being positive, the Jury found him Guilty .

Sentence: Death .

Death sentence for shoplifting… a tad harsh methinks.

Prime Minister’s Questions July 13th 2005 reaction to 7/7

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http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm050713/debtext/50713-03.htm


Prime Ministers Questions July 13th 2005

Michael Howard: “I am sure that I speak for the whole House when I join the Prime Minister in expressing our sympathy to those who have suffered such terrible losses, and in the congratulations that he has offered to the police and the security services on the outstanding work that they have carried out following last week’s tragic events.

What we now know is appalling to contemplate. It will take us a long time to come to terms with the fact that these atrocities appear to have been committed by those who were born and brought up in our midst. Does the Prime Minister agree that those responsible for last week’s carnage were not acting in the name of Islam but were perverting its teachings? Will he join me and the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) in condemning the attacks that have taken place on mosques?

Is it not the case that anyone who reaches for a stone to throw at the window of a mosque and anyone who nurtures resentment against our Muslim community is the enemy of us all, because they would be acting in the way the terrorists want us to act, thus helping them to achieve their objective of dividing us one from another? “

the very model of a modern labour minister

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http://eclectech.co.uk/b3ta/clarkeidcardswallpaper.jpg.html

Mr Clarke is the very model of a modern labour minister

A musical animation that made me laugh because it has…

“a hint of politics and opinion, a dapper dog singing and the cutest puppy pianist on the planet.”

http://eclectech.co.uk/clarkeidcards.php

Update 2022:

rather dated now but funny nevertheless – a classic example of satire a la UK.

Incidentally, I’m a bit embarassed about the virtue signalling. Quite frankly I don’t really care what happens to the UK now.

BBC – Cult Television – to close 15 July

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The BBC is to close their hugely popular Cult Television site on July 15

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/06/24/20186.shtml


The BBC has decided – as part of its “restructuring of the BBC’s online activities” – to pull the plug on its hugely popular Cult website.

Those not familiar with Cult should mosey on down and have shufti. Readers who already enjoy its eclectic mix should read the following with horror:

This site shuts next month. Bye, then!

Sadly, as part of the restructuring of the BBC’s online activities, this site is closing at the end of the month.

We’re trying to find alternative bbc.co.uk homes for some sites, but much of the content will be removed from the servers, and that which remains will not be maintained.

We’d like to thank all our users (700,000 of you last month!), and to everyone who expressed an opinion of us in the BBC’s Online Audience survey (we nearly came top – beaten only by those pesky News people).

The team have had a wonderful six years looking after the site, and hope you continue to enjoy the BBC’s online offerings.

PS: Don’t worry about the Doctor Who site. It’s safe.

That’s right – 700,000 people a month, so obviously it has to go. What’s more, much of the material faces deletion. Marvellous. As one irate punter puts it: “Who’s the bozo who made this decision?”

The Blue Boar and The Fox, Chipping Norton

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Frontage
The Stable Room
Blue Boar Pub, 1 Goddards Lane, Chipping Norton

https://www.blueboarpub.co.uk

I like pubs, and here are some good ones from West Oxfordshire. They all serve food and the best cuisine is to be found at the Blue Boar, Chipping Norton

The Fox Chipping Norton
Morning Menu

However, the Fox Hotel is firmly at the top of the list. Reasonably priced accommodation, lovely atmosphere and excellent staff.

As a bonus it’s also a Hook Norton pub.

https://www.foxchippingnorton.co.uk
The Fox Website

Halifax Gibbet Capital Punishment in Yorkshire

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http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p456.htm

The Halifax Gibbet in Yorkshire

What is the Halifax Gibbet?
The Halifax Gibbet was a machine like a guillotine that was used for public execution between the 13th and 17th centuries. It is in Yorkshire, England. The earliest recorded execution was in 1286. It is suggested that the Gibbet was built to punish thieves who stole cloth, especially from tenters (a wooden frame that cloth was stretched and dried on).

Escaping the Halifax Gibbet
Convicted criminals did have one of escape. A law stated that if a condemned person could withdraw his or her head before the blade was released and hit the bottom, they could escape to the next town – Hebble Brook – and then they would be free. The one condition: that person could never return. The only lucky and quick guy to do this was John Lacy. On January 29, 1623, John managed to scape and run to freedom. But after seven years, Running Man, as he was nicknamed, foolishly believed that because he had done the impossible he would be allowed back. He was as wrong as he was dumb. As soon as he came back he was immediately put back under the blade again and this time he didn’t stand a chance.

Finding the Halifax Gibbet
Almost 60 people, both men and woman, were executed by the Halifax Gibbet. The town finally stopped using it in 1650. The Gibbet originally stood at Cow Green but it was later moved to a marked site on Gibbet Street. The actual site of the Gibbet was lost after the 17th century until it was rediscovered in 1839 when workmen discovered the skeletons and skulls of two bodies. Possibly the last two men executed. The original blade (the head of an axe) was returned to Halifax in 1970. It can be seen at the Calderdale Industrial Museum. A replica of the Gibbet was reconstructed in 1974.

The Halifax Gibbet

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In memory of:

1286 John of Dalton
15th January 1539 Charles Haworth
20th March 1541 Richard Beverley of Sowerby
1st January 1542 Unidentified stranger
16th September 1544 John Brigg of Heptonstall
31st March 1545 John Ecoppe of Elland
5th December 1545 Thomas Waite of Northowram
6th March 1568 Richard Sharpe of Northowram
ditto John Learoyd of Northowram
9th October 1572 Will Cockere
9th January 1572 John Atkinson
ditto Nicholas Frear
ditto Richard Garnet
19th May 1574 Richard Stopforth
12th February 1574 James Smith of Sowerby
3rd November 1576 Henry Hunt
6th February 1576 Robert Bairstow alias Fearnside
6th January 1578 John Dickenson of Bradford
16th March 1578 John Waters
15th October 1580 Bryan Casson
19th February 1581 John Appleyard of Halifax
7th February 1582 John Sladen
17th January 1585 Arthur Firth
4th October 1586 John Duckworth
27th May 1587 Nicholas Hewitt of Northowram
ditto Thomas Mason (Vagrant)
13th July 1588 The wife of Thomas Roberts of Halifax
5th April 1589 Robert Wilson of Halifax
21st December 1591 Peter Crabtree of Sowerby
6th January 1591 Bernard Sutcliffe of Northowram
23rd September 1602 Abraham Stancliffe of Halifax
22nd February 1602 The wife of Peter Harrison of Bradford
29th December 1610 Christopher Cosin
10th April 1611 Thomas Brigg
19th July 1623 [?] Sutcliffe
23rd December 1623 George Fairbank
ditto Anna Fairbank, daughter of George Fairbank
29th January 1623 John Lacy of Halifax (He escaped from the execution, but returned 7 years later where he was caught and executed immediately)
8th April 1624 Edmund Ogden of Lancashire
13th April 1624 Richard Midgley of Midgley
5th July 1627 The wife of John Wilson of Northowram
8th December 1627 Sarah Lum of Halifax
14th May 1629 John Sutcliffe of Skircote
20th October 1629 Richard Hoyle of Heptonstall
28th August 1630 Henry Hudson
ditto The wife of Samuel Ettall
14th April 1632 Jeremy Bowcock of Warley
22nd September 1632 John Crabtree of Sowerby
21st May 1636 Abraham Clegg of Norland
7th October 1641 Isaac Illingworthof Ogden
7th June 1645 Jer. Kaye Taylor of Lancashire
30th December 1648 (sic) – should read April 1650 Jo. Wilkinson of Sowerby
ditto Anthony Mitchell

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1642 – 1658

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Cromwell at Marston Moor, by Victorian artist Ernest Crofts

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/war/

Update: Original no longer accessible so here’s an alternative full of material about The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1642 – 1658, particularly the English Civil War.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/the-english-civil-wars-history-and-stories/

English Heritage give plenty of links to primary source material

Welcome to the Home Office

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http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/

The Home Office, twinned with Mordor.



Tony Blair continues to eat away at the rights of free born Englishmen. From today I have to apply to the Secretary of State for permission to marry a foreigner, this came as a shock as my fiance and I presented our documents at the registry office today.

Now I can see why the thirteen colonies rebelled against good king George all those years ago.

Stonehenge – Guide for visitors

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“Stonehenge is the UK’s Unmissable Wonder”

http://www.stonehenge.org.uk/

Nice commercial site about Stonehenge, complete with a timeline and some good photos.

From the site:

“There is no documented purpose for this monument but it has been referred to as a burial place, a calendar, and a place of worship and sacrifice. While new research has ruled out some earlier theories, there is still no solid confirmation on the original purpose of this monument. One thing is for sure, knowing the time period that this monument was built and the lack of technology puzzles the mind and creates a worldwide fascination. If you have plans to visit England, no visit is complete without a visit to Stonehenge. The construction and purpose of this monument are still unsure by researchers, but when you walk onto this ground, you will experience a step back in the past. Some visitors find the experience majestic, celestial, or spiritual when they first encounter Stonehenge.”

Mail Preference Service

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http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/

If you live in the UK and want to stop junk mail being posted to your address then this is the site for you. It’s not 100% effective but it’s better than nothing.

“The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a free service set up in 1983 and funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and home addresses in the UK removed from lists used by the industry. It is actively supported by the Royal Mail and all directly involved trade associations and fully supported by The Information Commissioners Office (ICO).”

TPS Registration

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The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the UK’s only official ‘Do Not Call’ register

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

If you live in the UK register your phone number here and stop those annoying unsolicited phone calls. When you do get one, like I did last night you can get their details and then turn the tables on them by saying that you ARE going to report them. 9 times out of 10 they hang up, only a few are big enough to apologise

“From the site:

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the UK’s only official ‘Do Not Call’ register for landlines and Mobile numbers. It allows people and businesses to opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls.

It’s free and quick to register a telephone number. 

The Black Watch – Royal Highland Regiment

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http://www.theblackwatch.co.uk/

‘Watch and Pray’ – The motto of the Black Watch Regiment has never been more appropriate.
Whatever your views about the conflict in Iraq I hope you will join with me and wish these brave British soldiers the best as they fight Bush and Blair’s war.

As their Commanding Officer said on the BBC recently that they had beaten Napoleon and Hitler and their reputation was built on sucess so they are more than equal to the task.