Tag Archives: provincial newspapers

Catherine Foster; the inquest

Posted on January 1, 2015 by ActonBooks

Just to recap (though it may assist you if you read this and the next couple of episodes by starting from the previous blog), the God-fearing young farm worker John Foster, a one-time neighbour o’mine, swallowed poison from his wife … Continue reading →

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“Useful present for a soldier”

Posted on November 28, 2014 by ActonBooks

Napoleon called the British a nation of shopkeepers. As the first Christmas of the 1914-18 war neared, those shopkeepers of Britain were concerned the country might be distracted from being a nation of customers. To remedy it for that year … Continue reading →

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A pebble on his grave: Albert Grant 1831-1899

Posted on August 29, 2014 by ActonBooks

He was once so eye-wateringly rich, he bought Leicester Square when it was under threat of redevelopment, just to give it to the nation. Continue reading →

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“In consequence of having had the screw put on…”

Posted on August 16, 2014 by ActonBooks

Every once in a while you bump into something you weren’t looking for, but the happenstance makes you smile. Although FH Lewisson of Auckland, New Zealand has been dead this many a long year, you have to have hoped that … Continue reading →

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Local newspapers have a death wish

Posted on July 17, 2014 by ActonBooks

On British local newspapers, traditionally that time-honoured apprenticeship of newsgathering, ill-fitted Fleet Street tricks are being aped. You can see this for yourself in headline language used to “big up” a story. “Council boss hits out over bins horror”, “Attendance … Continue reading →

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