Monthly Archives: December 2014

5000 Spirits of a village, or the Layers of The Onion

Posted on December 28, 2014 by ActonBooks

Not a 100 yards from where I write this, in this sleepiest of sleepy Suffolk villages, a murder has been committed. The local paper, the East Anglian Daily Times, to which I am ever grateful for being a newspaper of … Continue reading →

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Wrapped up for Christmas, 1814

Posted on December 24, 2014 by ActonBooks

Treaty of Ghent, you say? Never heard of it? Probably because it concluded a pointless war that neither side really wished for and was subsequently ignored in European accounts of world history. Continue reading →

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‘The air of cities is less pure — more people breathe it’

Posted on December 12, 2014 by ActonBooks

Glancing through my Little Cyclopædia of Common Things, I have to acknowledge once again it’s the small stuff of history that gets forgotten. The Little Cyclopædia is not so little, by the way, stretching to nearly 700 pages. Mine is … Continue reading →

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How to get attention; name your war after body parts

Posted on December 4, 2014 by ActonBooks

It’s an anniversary of sorts. It’s 200 years since the end of a war with a dull name and seven more years since the death that may have started it. The death was that of British Royal Navy sailor Jenkin … Continue reading →

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The night the Pope stole a baby

Posted on December 1, 2014 by ActonBooks

Child abduction is a terrible heart wrenching crime, pure and simple. You let the child out of sight for a second and your baby never comes back. At least one thing’s for sure. At home — right there in front … Continue reading →

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