949
St Cuthbert reminds a young monk that the labourer is worthy of her hire.
Cuthbert made a habit of walking to outlying villages to preach the Good News. These trips took him away from his monastery in Ripon to some lonely spots over many days, and his trainee companions often found them hard going.
Picture: © Rob Farrow, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 18 2018
950
Michael Faraday’s tour of Europe included a ‘picturesque’ multicultural event on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.
In November 1813, Napoleon Bonaparte, smarting from his humiliating Retreat from Moscow, was waging war across Europe. This did not stop Sir Humphry Davy (who called him ‘the Corsican robber’) going to Paris to receive the Napoleon Prize, or young Michael Faraday from going with him, and afterwards they went on to the Kingdom of Naples, then under French control.
Picture: By 1Chiki1, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 16 2018
951
Young inventor James Watt’s life in London was overshadowed by the perpetual fear of being snatched.
In 1756, James Watt was not yet the creator of the first commercial steam engine, but a lowly maker of scientific instruments in London. The Seven Years’ War was just getting under way, and Watt was so afraid of being scooped up for service at sea or in some colonial plantation that he dared not go out of his door.
Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 16 2018
952
After a thousand years of uneasy cohabitation, Edward I decided that there was no place for Jews in his Kingdom.
Few countries can claim to have a clean record when it comes to the treatment of Jews, and England is no exception. Confined by law and custom to trade and money-lending, Jews were both indispensable to the economy and the target of suspicion and resentment, leading King Edward I to give an infamous order.
Picture: From the Imperial War Museums Collection, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 13 2018
953
The more that pioneering engineer George Stephenson understood of the world around him, the more his sense of wonder grew.
Many Victorian scientists rebelled against the Church, at that time dominated by a colourless Calvinism that stifled wonder and mistrusted enthusiasm. But in private, many retained a powerful sense of the reality of God through wondering at his creation, as railway pioneer George Stephenson did.
Picture: © Luca Baggio, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.. Source.
Posted March 12 2018
954
Sir Hubert Parry was delighted to see teachers and pupils pushing each other to do better.
In an address to the students of the Royal College of Music in April 1918, Sir Hubert Parry said they were fortunate that when the College was founded in 1882, teachers were beginning to understand that the young respond better to respect and persuasion than to drill-ground severity.
Picture: From the Imperial War Museums Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 11 2018