England
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Twelfth Night and Nollaig na mBan
Traditionally, the Christmas season lasted from Christmas Day on the 25th to January 5, and there was a celebration and a holiday for each one. These were typically in honor of a specific saint. In medieval Europe, the Christmas holidays were: Day 1 (25th December): Christmas Day, which celebrated the birth of Jesus Day 2 (26th December): St Stephen’s Day. Day 3 (27th December): St John the Apostle. Day 4 (28th December): The Feast of the Holy Innocents. This celebrated the babies killed by Herod in his search for Jesus Day 5 (29th December): St Thomas Becket. Day 6 (30th December): St Egwin of Worcester. Day 7 (31st December): New…
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Kidnapping a King- The Fall of Thomas Seymour
Henry VIII had labored over the need for a son. He changed the country’s religion and sent two women to their death- one by neglect the other to the block- to get his much beloved son. Finally, Edward was born to his third wife, Jane Seymour, on October 12, 1537. Jane died in the process and Henry grieved, but it was a small price to pay for an heir. Edward’s life and health was guarded zealously as he was the one thing standing between the Tudor dynasty and oblivion. However, Henry didn’t live as long as he had planned. Most people don’t. He left Edward a ten year old boy…
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Canada Bill Jones
Born in a Romnichal tent in Yorkshire, Jones learned classic scams young. At twenty, he migrated to Canada in search of fresh marks. He honed his three card monte travelling Canada as a thrower with Dick Cady. Three-card Monte sometimes known as find the lady and three-card trick is a confidence game in which the victim, or mark, is tricked into betting a sum of money, on theassumption that they can find the “money card” among three face-down playing cards. When Jones wanted bigger game, he left Cady and headed south to the Mississippi riverboats. There he joined up with George Devol, Holly Chappell and Tom Brown, working gambling boats.…
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Anne of Cleves- The Ugly Wife
When we discuss Henry VIII, we talk about his six wives- the faithful one, the coquette, the mother, the ugly one, the flirt and the nurse. Anne of Cleves was famously called by Henry VIII “the Flander’s Mare” and claimed that he was incapacitated by her “slack breasts” and “evil smells”. But what do we know of this woman, who was defamed throughout England as too unattractive to marry? Anne was born September 22, 1515 to Duke Johann III the late Duke of Juliers-Cleves. She was the second daughter, and had a brother William, who became the Duke after her father’s death, and a sister Amalia. Sybille was an older…
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The Great London Smog of 1952
Also sometimes called The Big Smoke, was a severe air-pollution event that affected London in December of 1952. A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions to collect airborne pollutants. Coal use was the main culprit, and it all came together to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday, 5 December to Tuesday, 9 December 1952 and then dispersed quickly once the weather changed. It caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas. It was far more severe than previous smog events experienced in the past called “pea-soupers”. However, the effects were more long lasting than the…
