It struck on October 23, 1942.There was no warning. For families across Britain it was like any other Friday night settling around a cosy coal fire listening to the BBC Home Service with its cheery wartime distractions: a concert from… Read More ›
medical and nursing
Coughs and Sneezes
Whoever thought it up deserves a medal. Few catchphrases last a century and still resonate with the public. “Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases” originated in the 1918 influenza pandemic to support a US Public Health Service campaign. It was tagged… Read More ›
Call the Midwife Christmas Special (2)
Part one of this quiz was about nurses. This is part two aimed more at film and TV buffs. CtM was really well filmed – something new for the Hebrides? Nope. Two of the greatest cinematographers cut the their teeth… Read More ›
Call the Midwife Christmas special
Tens of millions around the world will tune in to the Call the Midwife special on Christmas Day. It’s set in the Outer Hebrides in late 1964. Here’s part one of a wee quiz to tease out the history. Part… Read More ›
Fags, footie and Fergie
Everyone comes to the history of the NHS from their own perspective. Thus, if you’re over 40 you’re likely to be clueless about Dr Finlay’s Casebook although it was the first peak time BBC original TV drama in the 1960s. And… Read More ›
Making a drama out of a crisis
When all else fails after 90 years it’s time to throw the kids into battle. Which is why Gullane Primary youngsters were the stars of a new musical premiered this month at the National Museum of Scotland. Next week Hitherfield Primary… Read More ›
Every picture tells a history
I’ve always thought this is the best photograph of a nurse I’d ever seen. The sheer joy in the midwife’s face is utterly captivating. I first came across it as postcard in the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas’s, as… Read More ›
Life saving archives
We don’t hear much about the capacity of archives to prolong or even save life. Left gathering decades of dust, we tend to think of them as a health hazard rather than their potential for improving health and wellbeing. A… Read More ›
The benefits of frontier-free science
It’s hard to pin down what we actually lose if the free movement of people and ideas diminishes or dies. Scotland’s historic close links with Europe help explain its overwhelming vote to stay in the EU. Free exchange in the… Read More ›
Sister Dora – the first female statue?
The first public statue for a woman in Britain turns up in an unlikely place. Walsall is an industrial town in the Black Country north of Birmingham. I have a lot of affection for it – it’s where I did… Read More ›
