For the last year or so I have been working on a book of English eccentrics. I must say that it has been a lot of fun. I thought that I would share with you all a few examples of my homage to English loopiness. Sit down, make a cup …
Known as František Kočvara in his native Prague, this rather odd fellow was a skilled double bass player and composer. He seems to have traveled considerably, finally finding a home in London where his works were published from the 1770s. He left little of note except one popular composition, …
Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world; with a total land area of only 430 square miles, about the same size as Hertfordshire. It is also the second most densely populated country in the world, just behind Monaco, with 6,430 people squished in per square mile. …
GK Chesterton once wrote “The Victorian Age made one or two mistakes, but they were mistakes that were really useful; that is, mistakes that were really mistaken. They thought that commerce outside a country must extend peace: it has certainly often extended war. They thought that commerce inside a …
Robert Cocking was the developer of an early (subsequently unsuccessful) parachute design and as a result became the first person to be killed in a parachuting accident. He was a professional watercolour artist with a keen interest in science. He had seen Andre-Jacques Garnerin make the first parachute jump …
Brook House in Upper Brook Street is the location of London`s first penthouse and belonged to Lord and Lady Mountbatten. It had thirty rooms including eighteen bedrooms. The Earl however, had very modest sleeping quarters. They were modelled upon a ships cabin aboard a warship – a small bunk …
In 1848 the art critic John Ruskin, he of The Seven Lamps of Architecture – married Euphemia ”Effie” Gray a beautiful 19-year-old. The marriage was never consummated, and after six increasingly unhappy years, Effie fell in love with her husband’s protégé, Millais and set about having the marriage annulled. Ruskin`s reason for …
In 1932, a manager of a woman`s clothes shop in Yorkshire set his sights on a place in history by attempting the first ever solo ascent of Mount Everest. His name was Maurice Wilson and he had a rather cunning plan. He would conquer Mount Everest by crash landing …
When Matthew Robinson inherited the title of Lord Rokeby in 1793 he was already 81 years of age, As an ex Member of parliament he had strong views on just about everything. He was a fervent believer in the health giving properties of fresh air and exercise. He walked …
East Thistle Street in Edinburgh was the site of perhaps one of the most peculiar clubs ever to open its doors in Scotland; namely the Six foot high club. Opening in 1826, membership was only granted to people who were six foot or over. Admittance rules were strict. Each …
