Flight of Fancy!

This postcard was sent to someone in Liverpool in 1912. It was three years after Bleriot had flown across the English Channel. I am not sure how high they are flying but it raises a few questions. Why haven't their hats blown off; has the draught extinguished his pipe; why isn't her hair more windswept; and, most importantly, what on earth have they done with their legs? It also looks like the undercarriage is about to collide with St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Stand-off

Looking at this print I made from a glass plate negative, I think this cat and dog must have come to some sort of agreement to pose for the photographer. I can detect that the cat is not quite relaxed. What do you think?

Early Colour

I just love the way some Edwardian postcards were so well hand-tinted that they looked like real colour photographs. Here are two examples.

Amazing Blitz Pictures of Britain in WW2

Blitz Britain: Amazing colour pictures of London under siege from Nazi bombers during World War II. Click HERE to view them

Americanisms

The BBC has released details of the 50 most detested Americanisms. Click HERE to view them. I wonder if any American followers know of a list of most undersirable Englishisms?

Funeral March for a Marionette

I found this animation on YouTube which took one year to make. Enjoy!

Star of the County Down

I heard a song by John McCormack on Desert Island Discs this week which caught my imagination, Here it is in a 1939 recording. Wikipedia records the fact that that McCormack (1864-1945) was a world famous Irish tenor. Read more about him HERE. His is an interesting story. The recording reminded me of a section from On Wenlock Edge - Vaughan Williams' song cycle drawing on six poems from AE Houseman's A Shropshire Lad. Does anyone else recognise the similarity?

School Certificate

Here is a school certificate awarded to Samuel Rogers whose Band of Hope membership document was recently posted. Remarkably for the time, he was advanced a standard for subjects 7 to 17: Recitation, Geography, Singing from Rote, Grammar, Composition, History, Drill, Algebra, Shorthand, French and Gymnastics. Didn't young scholars fit a lot into their schooldays in 1892?

Sowing Seeds!

Another leaflet from my extensive Second World War Dig for Victory campaign collection of ephemera. In America, I believe they had 'Victory Gardens'.

More Temperance Memorabilia

The Independent Order of Rechabites was a friendly society that was founded in England in 1835, according to Wikipedia. It was part of the temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

Big Foot!

A few months ago, I saw this giant shoe outside a London theatre. It was used to advertise a musical - Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I wonder how tall the owner is!