It was on this day in 1942 that Robert Ballard, the marine biologist with experience in deep-sea diving and exploration, was born. His name became well-known after his discovery of the Titanic along with the retrieval of a number of artifacts as well as underwater photographs. At a de
I don’t know about you but I love those documentaries that follow the efforts of search teams that are looking for some long-lost treasure. The other day I was fascinated to read the story of the discovery of the royal ship HMS Gloucester, 27 miles off the coast of Norfolk. It took fo
For countless decades people living in Britain have been changing their names, and no, I’m not thinking about maiden names but rather their first names. For those who have a different cultural heritage, names can quickly become a challenge – people don’t pronounce them right and frequ
Since 1840, the way we send letters, affixing a stamp with an image of the monarch’s head, has changed remarkably little. Well, not any longer. Perhaps you have already bought some of the new definitive stamps and noticed that there is a QR code on the side. So, did you scan it
It seems that storm season is when large numbers of sea creatures get washed up on beaches and then stranded. Storm Arwen produced this along a short stretch of the Murray Firth near Inverness with some starfish. There have been many adaptations of a story called “The star thrower”. I
There are a few jobs in life, when you survey them, especially the dangers, that make you seriously wonder why people do them. I can identify with those in the military that go on dangerous tours in places like Afghanistan and yet there are others that go within a very short distance
If you’ve been lucky enough to get away for a holiday recently you might have noticed, when you returned, that the spiders have been particularly busy leaving those calling cards all around the windows and ceilings. Apparently, this is the time of year when they tend to get a bit fris
It should have been just another day in the office, but it was not to be. The man was a public figure, virtually a household name, a man at the top of his game. Of course, I am referring to Matt Hancock, who until recently, was the government’s health secretary. If anyone should have
The death of anyone, however long-expected, always comes as a shock. What has been unsurprising, with the passing of Prince Philip at age 99, has been the genuine national sadness and sense of pathos for what the Queen must be going through after 73 years of marriage. Prince Philip wa
Until recently the name GameStop would not have rung many bells but that has all changed thanks to a bunch of users on the popular Reddit platform, recently ranked the 17th most-visited website in the world. The story centres around numerous small shares investors, the “Reddit army”,
In the same way that we all know that hindsight is a wonderful thing, similarly there can be benefits, even substantial ones, that are only observed, as it were, in the rearview and not up front. I once heard someone giving thanks for COVID and I could see that immediately there opene
Due to the large amount of recent rain, one morning I perched myself atop a nice stable three-legged iron garden table and pushed out the large volume of water that had collected on our gazebo. It made light work of all that heavy water. However, within the space of half of one second
The time is fast upon us where we are, much more widely, going to have to don our masks out in public places. So, have you decided yet what type of mask you are going to wear? Will it will be a bulk buy of the cheapest and most basic mask? Alternatively, will you do even better than t
It has been now a couple of weeks’ worth of lockdown changes with: 2 million primary children invited to go back to school, more people back in work, and the restrictions generally somewhat eased. Opinions are pretty mixed as to whether we are truly following the science or whether we
Just 10 days ago the world learned that the renowned African-American mathematician, Katharine Johnson, had passed away at that grand old age of 101. Ms Johnson was hired by NASA in 1953 to be, what they called at the time, a “human computer”, using nothing much beyond pen
By now the decision has likely been made and the result out in the public domain – I refer to the choice over whether to let Huawei equipment form the heart or just a lesser part of the 5G national network. For some of us “early adopters” we might be quite excited ab
Very recently I came across a fascinating article on the subject of distraction. Even for the most focussed and work-efficient people, getting distracted is nigh on impossible to avoid. So you’re sitting having an intensive discussion with someone and then you hear that faint
They call it a story of greed, deceit and herd madness. Over the last couple of months there has been a series of BBC podcasts with the title: The Missing Cryptoqueen. It has to do with the sudden disappearance of Dr Ruja Ignatova, founder of the amazing cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin,
We’ve probably all had the experience of a removal lorry stopping right next door. For most of us we’re a bit wary of the newcomers since we don’t know whether they’re going to be good, bad or truly monstrous! In one recent case a lady called Hillary had a woma
Thinking of the most basic staples of life, our bread and water, I wonder how far you would be willing to go for them? I recently came across a couple of stories which showcase what people have been willing to do. The first is from a village in East Java province called Klepu. There t
You have to feel sorry for the poor guy. He went into Leicester Royal Infirmary for a botox injection and came out full on circumcised! Not the best way for a hospital to make their mark. Of course I understand that, with the best will in the world, we are all fallible people. Even wi
I was amused hearing about the family that got a celebratory takeaway when their child was threatened with a detention for talking in class. As may not surprise you, the backstory for this news item was a bit more complex and involved. A girl called Red had gone through nursery school
It comes under a raft of names: a bonanza, a treasure trove, a windfall etc. It was just the other week we were hearing about the lady who scooped the lottery jackpot and walked away with a cool £1m in prize money. What was particularly interesting was that the lady concerned, Paula W
Knives making better lives London has just opened a new outdoor gym by the name of Steel Warriors. There’s no membership fee, there’s even a free coaching facility. Now if this doesn’t already sound too good to be true, this gym has been built from two tonnes of surr
The picture on the front was that of an elephant pushing the baby along with its trunk, the title: “Nudge” by Prof Richard H Thaler who has just now been awarded a Nobel prize. The previous Prime Minister took up some of his ideas in the creation of an internal depar
It was this month I bumped into a BBC article highlighting a new word that seems to be doing the rounds at the present: ableism. The article explained:
Minding my own business out and about in Thatcham Town Centre on Monday 27th January 2014 and I spy the BBC Radio Berkshire car and Bridgitte Tetteh scouting around for likely interview candidates – so here we go Lord – in for a penny in for a pound.