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All in the month of May Remembering Bertrand Russell Coventry Cathedral – 60 years on Knit a corgi for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Time to welcome your slugs and snails Why a Russian novelist is so popular just now Nature threatened by dog poo Our addiction to plastic English is becoming, like, less formal maybe,...

It was: 150 years ago, on 18th May 1872 that Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian, and writer was born. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature. 125 years ago, on 26th May 1897 that Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula was published. 100 years ago, on 27th May 1922 that Christopher Lee, British film...

It was 150 years ago, on 18th May 1872, that Bertrand Russell, the Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian, and writer, was born. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature for championing “humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”. A member of a prominent aristocratic family, the 3rd Earl Russell was a very public figure who lived...

Sixty years ago, on 25th May 1962, the new Coventry Cathedral was consecrated. The previous one had been destroyed by German bombing during World War Two. The Queen had laid the foundation stone in 1956, and she was present for the consecration. On the night of 14th November 1940, the old Cathedral – together with...

Thousands of people across the country are buying in light brown and white wool just now, in order to knit up a corgi in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It is a fun way in which anyone with knitting needles can get involved in the coming celebrations. If you google ‘knitting patterns for corgis’,...

So says the Royal Horticultural Society, as it recently began a campaign to encourage us to see the gastropods in our gardens in a better light. The RHS says that the species play a key role in garden ecosystems, and thus are in need of ‘positive PR’. It seems that only nine of the 44...

Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote of the “pleasure of despair”, and it seems that many pessimistic modern readers agree with him. Whatever the reason, sales of the Russian author’s brand of ‘gloom and nihilism’ has become the fastest growing market for Penguin Classics, with sales of Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground quadrupling. Dostoevsky...

These days, it is unthinkable to leave your dog’s waste on the pavement when in town. But in the countryside, too many of us still think it is okay to let our pets foul an area of natural countryside.  Now a recent study has found that this can be especially harmful to nature reserves. The...

Take a good look next time you go to the supermarket. What is the thing you see most?  Plastic. It is everywhere. Tight around the cucumbers, holding the groups of apples together, protecting the chickens, keeping the sausages in a neat line. The yoghurt pots are all plastic.  And on it goes…. Milk, juice, water,...

In the biggest ever study of its kind, researchers from Lancaster University looked at 100 million words to analyse trends. One expert says: “The most striking thing we found is how informal language has become. There has been a systematic shift towards more informal vocabulary and grammar.” Some examples include a steep decline in the...

All in the month of April National Pet Month 1st April – 2nd May 2022 3rd April – the Boat Race 12th April – International Day for Street Children 75 years since the school age was raised Remembering Johannes Brahms Remembering the Samuel Morse of Morse Code ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks...

It was: 150 years ago, on 2nd April 1872 that Samuel Morse died. This American artist and inventor helped develop commercial single-wire telegraph systems and co-developed Morse code. 125 years ago, on 3rd April 1897 that Johannes Brahms, German composer, piano virtuoso and conductor, died. 100 years ago, on 3rd April 1922 that Joseph Stalin...