I don't know why, but medicine, especially medical practices form the past, have always fascinated me. As an avid reader of History Extra by the BBC, I came across an interesting article this morning: Seven Surprising Facts About the History of Medicine. Not only was this worth a read, but extra investigation. Fact One: Many of the... Continue Reading →
And stealing some more good stuff to share
Statue of King Harold II at Waltham Abbey
The future king, Harold II Godwinson, was born into an Anglo-Danish family whose extensive influence and power meant they were frequently seen as the power behind the throne. This also meant that they were often seen as a threat to the man wearing the crown – especially Edward the Confessor – and suffered exile as a result.
Harold was born around 1022/3 to Godwin and his wife, Gytha Thorkelsdottir. Gytha was a member of the extended Danish royal family, as her brother, Ulf, was married to King Cnut the Great’s sister, Estrith. Gytha’s nephew, Sweyn Estrithson, would eventually rule Denmark as king. Harold received the earldom of East Anglia in 1044 and, as the oldest surviving son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, he succeeded to his father’s earldom in 1053. Godwin died at Winchester in Easter week of 1053, after collapsing during…
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I’m pinching stuff again. This is an interesting read
In the previous post, the battle had reached a turning point, one that had finally made a dent in the English Shield Wall. We saw previously, how the Normans had been fighting hard to crack the hard nut that was the English defence. No matter how hard the infantry and cavalry fought, they just couldn’t break in. Even the Norman archers had not made much of an impact. The terrain was not conducive for archers to shoot up hill on such an incline, many of their arrows fell short or went over their enemy’s heads. And it depended on which way the wind was blowing, too, for the wind in their faces would have hampered their shots. The archers were lightly armoured, and most likely would not have wanted to come too close to the fierce, snarling men of the shield wall with their huge Dane axes that could cleave…
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I'm super busy at the moment writing for three different projects. One, my novel, is approaching the stage where I am going to need an editor. So I've started looking. Where do I start? With what I know and trust is the answer. I know both Cayce Berryman and Michelle King through as fellow admins... Continue Reading →
I love Animal Farm! An interesting look at it here
I recently watched an Intelligence Squared debate between two inimitable men of letters, Will Self and Adam Gopnik, on the motion entitled “Brave New World vs Nineteen Eighty Four.”
But the real purpose behind the debate, much more than a simple literary analysis of two great novels, became clear immediately with the moderator’s introduction. “Rarely can a debate [such as this] claim to be so urgently topical. And yet somehow with two novels, one written in 1931 and the other written between 1948 and 1949, you nevertheless have two works that speak to us in our own time with great urgency and topicality.”
Ah, yes. The great urgency and topicality, always, of dystopian fiction.
In one sense it’s a completely ridiculous statement to make. The world today is far from a dystopia; and, in fact, it’s becoming increasingly less like a dystopia. Consider just a few key metrics: Poverty, Literacy…
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I have a special treat for you today! Mary Anne Yarde, author of the Du Lac Chronicles series, has a greed to do a post for me on Lord Tennyson and his influence on Arthurian Legend. I know you will enjoy it. Lord Tennyson and his influence on Arthurian Legend. In 1846 William John Thoms, a British... Continue Reading →
I had the please of attending a concert the other night that traced the history of music over the last 2000 years. When the they sang a song in Middle English, I was reminded of the fact that the language in England has not always been one that most of us today understand. I resolved... Continue Reading →
I love the Tudors. A new dynasty rising from the brutality of a bitter war with the joining of two houses. The desperation to provide heirs to provide a continuous line of Tudors that, in the second generation of Tudors, created turmoil for so many. The pressure was on six women in particular: Katherine of... Continue Reading →
I mention the weather ALL the time. I don’t think we realise how much influence it has over what we do
MyAnglo/German ancestors led ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
When writing about their history, I embellish the hard facts from the archive. I imagine how they lived. Family stories, cards, letters and memoirs, inform my imagination. This, mixed with a very large dose of social history, makes up my writing resource.
Why have I written about my family, in historical fiction format? I hear you ask.
Well, to be honest, my research left family members, unimpressed. My accumulated pile of documents and certificates left them cold. They just could not see the exciting story he records revealed to me.
So I decided that the facts presented in a story might grab their attention. To my delight, my family now love the story of their ancestors. And to my surprise and joy, so have hundreds of readers from around the world.
Many readers have asked me, why I mention the weather…
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