319
Sir Bernard Pares warned that after the Great War, Western powers must not assume Germany’s role as supercilious bully.
In 1916, Sir Bernard Pares looked ahead cautiously to the end of the Great War, and to the prospect of an end to Germany’s high-handed economic domination over Russia. Knowing the Russian Emperor Nicholas’s goodwill towards England, Pares urged Prime Minister Herbert Asquith’s government to set an example of restraint, liberty and understanding, and not simply to take the German Empire’s ignoble place.
Picture: © Ernst Sandau (1880–1918), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 29 2022
320
Thomas Telford told the parish council of St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury that their leaky roof was the last thing they should worry about.
In July 1788, rising surveyor Thomas Telford was living in Shrewsbury Castle as a guest of the local MP, Sir William Pulteney, who had acquired the historic fortress through his wife Frances and wanted Telford to make it habitable. News of his residence nearby reached the parish council of St Chad’s Church, who thought he might be just the man to mend their leaky roof.
Picture: © Richard Symonds, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted January 27 2022
321
A French poodle won the heart of a fastidious English officer by covering him in mud.
The cat, wrote Nora Alleyne, has been the heroine of many extraordinary tales of homing instinct, yet other animals deserve a mention, such as the flock of sheep that repatriated themselves from Yorkshire to their breeding-ground north of the Cheviots. There are numerous stories of dogs, too, finding a way home in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
Picture: © Yellowst0ner, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted January 23 2022
322
Twenty teams of dogs ran a life-or-death race against time over Alaska’s frozen trails to bring medicines to desperately sick children.
In the icy winter of 1924-25, the town of Nome in Alaska was completely cut off by road, rail, air and sea. When Curtis Welch, Nome’s only doctor, diagnosed diphtheria among the town’s children in mid-January, the race was on to bring thousands of doses of antitoxin from the nearest railway station, 674 miles away over the old Iditarod Trail. American women were among those agog for the latest updates.
Picture: © Markus Trienke, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted January 23 2022
323
A cat moved home from Edinburgh to Glasgow and seemed to settle in nicely, but it turned out she was only biding her time.
In a pamphlet published in 1815, the anonymous authors took a look at British zoology, aiming (they said) to amuse, to instruct and “to look through Nature up to Nature’s God”. The collection of anecdotes about cats included this remarkable story, a tale of stubborn determination worthy of Robert the Bruce’s famous spider.
Picture: By John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 22 2022
324
The Russian Consul in New York issued a stern rebuke to those trying to break Britain’s ban on slave-trading by sailing under his nation’s colours.
Long after slavery was criminalised throughout the British Empire, the abuse went on unabated in the USA. Hoping to escape the wrath of the Royal Navy, traders with their wretched cargo would sail to America under false colours, but on April 2nd, 1836, the Russian Consul in New York, Alexis Eustaphieve (1755-1857), issued this stern Consular notice to any who thus dishonoured the Russian flag.
Picture: © Sara Raymer, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 21 2022