Christmas discovery …

Just published in the current issue of the Merton Journal …

Michael Braddick: Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian www.versobooks.com/products/983... My book of 2025!

Is this the sound of a woodpecker?

Lesson No.2, ask the right questions, but one can’t ask the right questions before Lesson No.1, knowing which are the right questions to ask …

46 years ago today London Calling is the third studio album by English punk rock band The Clash, originally released as a double album in UK on this day in 1979 at CBS Records #punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Today's the feast of St Lucy, 'the year's midnight' according to John Donne's 'A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy's Day', which was written before the Gregorian Calendar moved the feast away from the Winter Solstice. it begins:

The grainy detail on the right shows a bullock crossing the Bodie Creek bridge (1925) from Lafonia to Goose Green, Falkland Islands. It’s a detail from a tiny photograph taken by travelling teacher, Dan Cronin, in 1953. It’s a legacy of cattle farming in Lafonia a century before.

10 December 1968. Thomas Merton delivers his famous Bangkok lecture entitled, “Marxism and Monastic Perspectives”. youtu.be/VpnRpCnAiV4?... Later, that afternoon, he was tragically found dead. The cause of his death was reported as from accidental electrocution. He was 53 yrs old.

8 December 1914. Battle of the Falkland Islands. Concidentially, this year also marks the centenary of the victor’s death, Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee (1859–1925).

Found in a charity shop, signed by the author, a perfect Christmas gift …

Argentine landmines from 1982, Surf Bay and Hooker’s Point near Stanley, East Falkland. The Falkland Islands were officially declared landmine-free in November 2020 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020... (photos: Elizabeth Hughes, 2003)

204 years ago today, 6th December 1821, George Powell (commanding the Dove) and Nathaniel Palmer (Commanding the James Monroe) set out from Britain’s South Shetland Islands and first discovered the South Orkney Islands.

Wild horses, Rabbit Island, part of Roy Cove, West Falkland. Photo: Dan Cronin, 1961.

30 November 1900. Oscar Wilde — playwright, novelist, and poet died. Wilde's most famous last words are: "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go". Another reported final statement, "I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means".

26 November 1981. Britain’s HMS Endurance put in to Bahia Blanca, Argentina, and were hosted by the crew of the ARA General Belgrano. A football match was convened between the two, which Endurance’s crew won 3-2! 🇬🇧⚽️🇦🇷 (thanks to Gary Phillips, Falkland Islands News and History)

Plaque for Scottish Holocaust victim unveiled in Edinburgh www.bbc.com/news/article...

“The only clue to what man can do is what man has done” R.G. Collingwood

22 November 1963. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Texas Governor John B. Connally was seriously wounded in the same shooting. www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/...

21 November 2024. Archaeologists presented evidence for what they believe to be the oldest alphabet on four clay cylinders, dating to around 2400 BCE, from tombs in Umm el-Marra, Syria. sciencevega.com/social-scien...

20 November 1945. 80 years since the start of the Nuremberg Trials. American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley concluded in 1947 that the Nazis were not "spectacular types," but were common in their ambition, low ethical standards, and nationalism, which he believed could be found in many places.

“If we assume from the start that everything mental must be reducible to something physical, then we close the possibility of understanding the mind on its own terms," writes Victoria Trumball. Tap the link now to read more: iai.tv/articles/mem...

16 November 1914. Benedict XV issued his first major public statement, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum www.vatican.va/content/bene... which appealed for peace and urged the warring nations to negotiate. His initial calls were ignored by the belligerents. He appealed for a Christmas Truce on 7 Dec 1914.

The refurbished Shackleton Experience shackletonexperience.ie recently reopened to the public in Shackleton’s birthplace in Kildare, Ireland.

Remembering the great raconteur Richard Burton (1925-84) on the centenary of his birth. youtu.be/_QYhQaSIo_U?...

14 November 1925. The first live test transmission of Ireland’s new radio station, 2RN, crackled across the airwaves. Read Dr. Finola Doyle-O’Neill’s RTÉ Brainstorm article: www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

The Emergency, which was Ireland’s neutrality during World War II. The medal recognises service of at least 365 days between 3 September 1939, and 31 March 1946. It is a bronze medal with a specific reverse design denoting the recipient’s branch of the Defence Forces.

The National Firefighters Memorial (pictured) depicting firefighters in action at the height of the Blitz. It is located south of St Paul's Cathedral in London. Remembering all the brave firefighters in the Blitz and in all wars. #LestWeForget

Buckingham Palace has now confirmed that King Charles has agreed to his brother retaining the South Atlantic medal, as operational medals are not honours. www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family...

6 November 1860. Former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party was elected president of the United States as he defeated John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas. www.ebsco.com/research-sta...

When you inherit an object, you inherit its story. How did a photo of JFK’s temporary grave get into a box of photos in West Cork? A date or personal significance written on the back might be all that’s needed! Ask older family to write a memory (two or three words) on reverse for posterity.

Plunkett was the first Irish-born saint in nearly seven centuries when canonised in 1975.

1 November 1625. 400th anniversary of the birth of Archbishop St. Oliver Plunkett.

Edwardian (1901-10) postcard of a Sunday afternoon ride out, Double House (1890s), Port Stephens, West Falkland, recently recreated by Falkland Islanders in the original location of the Edwardian postcard. Thanks to Janie Rowlands, Kevin Jones & Dion Robertson, #Falklands

Next year marks the 130th anniversary of the development of the travelling teacher system in the rural areas of East and West Falkland, first proposed by Governor Callahan who was born in Midleton in County Cork.

26 October 1529. Thomas More was appointed Lord Chancellor of England, succeeding Cardinal Wolsey. This appointment marked the peak of his political career, placing him in the highest position of authority after the king, but it also put him at the center of the conflict over Henry VIII’s divorce.

25 October 1415. Battle of Agincourt: Henry V's forces defeat a larger French army as the longbow overcomes the armoured knight at Agincourt, France.

24 October 1981. Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting Guernica goes on display in Madrid, Spain, to celebrate the centenary of the artist's birth.

23 October 1679. Meal Tub Plot against James Duke of York (future James II of England). The plot was a secondary event during the heightened anti-Catholic sentiment of the Popish Plot era and was used to fuel further public fear and pamphlet production.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Napoleon's death mask, cast in bronze, was created 40 hours after his death (1821). 📷 google images

22 October 1964. French philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for Literature, saying he doesn't want to be "institutionalized”. voi.id/en/memori/96...