Society

If you are reading this in the UK, have a look at the change in your pocket. One side features a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the other continues the monarchical theme by displaying one of an array of heraldic badges, devices and national icons. Changing over the years, the choice of these designs tells us something of the importance of giving equal weight […]

Coining the home nations

How did Britain’s elite live in the capital once their great London houses had become either uneconomic to run or had been sold off to pay off debts and estate taxes? They would find comfort and a home away from home in a cluster of distinctly upper crust hotels that catered to their every whim. Put yourselves, just for a whimsical moment, into the shoes of […]

Living in London luxury

The London and Birmingham Railway, opened in 1838, was the Victorian equivalent of HS2. In fact, it was far more transformative than its twenty-first century successor – horses, carts, carriages and canals gave way to steam powered locomotion at speeds that radically changed the British economy, society and people. This engineering wonder heralded the start of the modern age and was built in less than five […]

The original HS2

Ambergris is a rare and precious gift from the ocean. It is a waxy substance found floating on the sea or sometimes washed up on a beach. For hundreds of years it was a vital ingredient in producing perfumes; it is a natural fixative that ensures sweet fragrances linger long after they are dabbed to the skin. But it can be described another way: the indigestible […]

Ambergris – floating gold

Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of a flood so devastating it became known as the Great North Sea Flood (or, in Dutch, the Watersnoodramp – the flood disaster). On the night of 31 January 1953, a major storm caused the North Sea to overflow the surrounding low lying coastal areas and to surge upstream, devastating flood plains in England, Scotland, the Netherlands and Belgium. In total, 2,551 […]

The Great North Sea Flood

Lasers! The future condensed into a single beam of penetrating light. What did I know about lasers? Next to nothing. What do I know now? A little bit more, including the surprising fact that laser is an acronym. Someone asked me to write about lasers. Ahem. You could easily write everything I knew about lasers on the back of a fag packet. A small fag packet. […]

Reach for the lasers

In an era when the Communist countries of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe sought to rival the west in everything, how did they respond to Eurovision? Did they mockingly highlight its kitsch naffness as demonstration of all that was wrong with capitalism? Or did they manage to create something even more awful behind the Iron Curtain? The Cold War was a period of sustained tension, […]

Singing for Communism

Archaeological discoveries around the world seem to prove an abiding human obsession about death and the afterlife. From Stone Age burial tombs to the intricate Egyptian funerary text ‘the Book of the Dead’, thinking about what happens when we die is a universal societal trait. The emergence of the Christian concept of Hell builds on earlier ideas and, over the centuries, writers, thinkers and theologians have […]

Hell – a visitor’s guide

As New Year’s Day dawns in the United Kingdom, people across the world have either greeted the start of 2013 or, across the Atlantic, are still waiting to celebrate. Celebrating the start of a new year is a common and ancient custom, even if mankind cannot entirely agree when the New Year starts and how to welcome it. This post looks at some of the more […]

Happy New Year – the right way!

What do the membership rolls of Britain’s largest organisations say about Britain and the British? Wildlife lovers, passionate about history and the countryside, keen Scouts and Guides but less bothered about politics and trade union membership than ever before. This year for Christmas my sister bought my mum and dad a year’s membership to the National Trust. They were absolutely delighted – a whole world of […]

Mass membership organisations in the UK

This year, Preston’s unique Guild Merchant celebrations have been highlighted in several posts. The medieval pageant is held once every 20 years and is the last remaining such commemoration of a royal trading charter in Britain. This year was one of the biggest Guild Celebrations yet, with a year long calendar of events, concerts, processions and parties. The legacy project was the construction of the Guild […]

Cycling the Preston Guild Wheel

Merry Christmas to everyone who has dropped by Vaguely Interesting in 2012! I thought it would be appropriate to do at least one Christmas themed post, and decided on a miscellany of facts and myth busting about this fascinating holiday. So, if you’ve just got a new tablet or laptop and want a festive read, you’ve come to the right place! No one is more associated […]

Christmas crackers

What do you call someone from Kent? This is not the opening line in a rubbish joke and it is not intended to elicit some of the ruder comments that such a question might invite. It is, instead, a straight forward question – what is the proper name for people from the county of Kent? It should be simple, right? Kentish. Most English counties do not […]

Men of Kent and Kentish Men

If you ever felt slightly claustrophobic using a traditional BT telephone kiosk, this might be down to its unique architectural history – the design of the UK’s world famous red telephone boxes was inspired by a nineteenth century tomb. Only two graveyard memorials in London are Grade I listed – the grave of Karl Marx and Sir John Soane’s tomb. Sir John Soane’s tomb was erected […]

Calling from the grave

The Great Depression brought misery, poverty and suffering to millions across America. Did it also bring a significant rise in life expectancy and, if so, how? People look towards the camera ravaged by abject poverty and downcast by crushed hopes. It is the Great Depression and America’s urban and rural poor are photographed for newspapers and unwittingly create some of the most iconic images of the […]

The Great Depression’s surprising silver lining

It was both a working class utopia in the heart of Peckham and a unique experiment to demonstrate a totally holistic approach to health. The Pioneer Health Centre soon became known across the country and around the world as the Peckham Experiment. Did it live up to its name and pioneer a new approach to health in the pre-NHS age? Or were its wide-reaching lessons and […]

The Peckham Experiment

According to Harry Nilsson, one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do. How would he explain the increasing numbers of people who choose to live alone? Perhaps it is because, as he goes on to sing, two can be as bad as one. What started as a European and then western phenomena has now become a global demographic trend. Percentage of households with one occupant […]

Is one the loneliest number?

America has gone Mega Millions crazy, with panic buying of lottery tickets and the attention of the world’s media. But the USA is not the only place to have massive jackpots or generous lotteries. El Gordo and El Niño If a Spanish friend asks whether you will be taking part in the ‘fat one’ or the ‘child’, they are hopefully referring to the Spanish state lottery. […]