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90 years ago, on 15th September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed in Germany.  Jews were no longer classed as German citizens, and the Nazi flag was adopted as the national flag of Germany. They were known as the Nuremberg Laws because they were announced at a Nazi Party rally in that town. They had...

Sixty years ago, on 4th September 1965, Albert Schweitzer, German-born French theologian, philosopher, organist, physician and missionary doctor to Africa, died. He was winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize. Schweitzer was a devout Christian with a passionate allegiance to Jesus. His key philosophy was “reverence for life”: no-one, he felt, should harm or destroy...

Next year, the largest-ever exhibition of Queen Elizabeth II’s clothes will be staged at Buckingham Palace, in honour of the centenary of her birth. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, will include some 200 items – around half of which is to be displayed for the first time. As well as clothing, jewellery, hats,...

The wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation is deeply worried about our butterflies. Or rather, the lack of them. It seems that more than 80 per cent of our species have declined sharply in number since 1970s. Each summer sees the Big Butterfly Count, when the public is encouraged to send in the number of butterflies they...

This annual ‘celebration’ of the diversity and quality of British Food is aiming to be bigger than ever this year, involving restaurants, pubs, schools, universities, care homes, the NHS, and even the Houses of Parliament. Why not take advantage of the fortnight, and see what one of our local restaurants and pubs might offer?

Walking by rivers or the sea has long been a favourite pastime of those of us out for a relaxing stroll. But in the UK just now, beware. Too many of our rivers and too much of our coastline has been infected with raw sewage. Some statistics:  there are about 14,500 storm overflow drains in...

All in the month of August The black boy who died for ‘flirting’ with a white woman The atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima The vicar who won Wimbledon Looking back on JAWS – 50 years on Pope Leo is a distant cousin of Madonna Wildfires in the UK The unlikely helper of red squirrels **...

It was 1,700 years ago, on 25th August 325 that the First Council of Nicaea ended with the adoption of the Nicene Creed. It summarised the Christian faith and established the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. 250 years ago, on 5th August 1775 that the first Europeans entered San Francisco Bay. Spanish explorer Juan de...

Seventy years ago, on 28th August 1955, Emmett Till, an African American teenager, was mutilated and killed in Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman. His death was one of the key events to motivate the Civil Rights Movement. Emmett was only 14, and lived in Chicago, where in an urban context racial tensions...

Eighty years ago, on 6th August 1945, the US Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. The centre of the city was totally destroyed, and about 80,000 people were killed immediately. A further 60,000 died by the end of the year, from injury or radiation. Hiroshima was the...

Ninety years ago, on 21st August 1935, John Hartley, the British tennis player, died. He was the only clergyman ever to win Wimbledon and was World Number One in both 1879 and 1880 – winning Wimbledon both years. The Revd John Thorneycroft Hartley was born in 1849 in Wolverhampton and was well connected: his parents...

The shark that came to Amity Island for dinner – most people aged 60 and over remember him as the scariest fish they ever saw.  As this summer the famous film celebrates its golden anniversary, here are some fun facts about the film which you may not have known… When Jaws was released in the...