Henry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville, has left us with a problem. Not so much his statue – perched 150 feet above St Andrew Square in Edinburgh he is already out of sight with only defecating pigeons for company. It’s… Read More ›
Scotland
Growing bananas in Haringey
When discussion gets a bit shouty shouty, it’s usually time for a quiet listen. Sir Geoff Palmer’s interview with Jim Al-Khalili is 28 minutes of utterly engrossing radio – at times shocking and funny but ultimately life affirming. Best just… 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 ›
Venice – the first British Embassy?
A longer version of this with a focus on religious issues in Venice appeared in the August edition of Life and Work magazine: Venice November 2018: Great to see Henry Wotton still has oversight of the Foreign Office – his… Read More ›
Scotland goes tapestry bonkers (part two)
The Scottish Parliament has never seen anything like it – more than 30,000 people queuing up outside and desperate to get in. Over three weeks they waited patiently for an hour or more just to see the Great Tapestry of… Read More ›
Polish women soldiers in Gullane
One of the great pleasures of wasting an idle hour looking at archive film is the electric jolt of surprise that causes you to fall off your chair. In my case it was this clip of around 100 female… Read More ›
Bright spots for digital history
(This post appeared first on the allmediascotland site) Amid all the gloom that hangs over traditional news media, there’s one bright spot from an unlikely source. Digging up old stories and putting them on the web is flourishing. The fancier… Read More ›
Who was the real RS McColl?
Another gem from British Pathe – featuring Robert Smyth McColl, co-founder of the sweetie shop and newsagent chain which bears his name to this day. Click on the image to view. He was one of Scotland’s greatest players, scoring a… Read More ›
Revealed: IBM’s founder was a chip off the old block
IBM (International Business Machines) is now celebrating its first 100 years with a range of activities across the world. As you’d expect, it is a very impressive corporate web history with a strong emphasis on continued progress in the Panglossian… Read More ›
The History Company 