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When did you last see your elderly neighbour? Seriously: are they okay? During this time of social distancing, it is all too easy to assume that the elderly person you never see is simply safe indoors. But are they? Isolation can be dangerous: it is too easy for them to have had an accident and...

The lockdown this Spring at least gave Nature a brief respite. Wild goats, herds of deer, sparrowhawks, stoats, snakes, badgers, spawning toads and songbirds all seemed to have enjoyed the peace and quiet. We, in turn, have enjoyed watching them from our windows. As Mark Thompson, a presenter on Stargazing Life, said, “This lockdown is...

Editor:   We have made this section ‘timeless’ with regard to the current coronavirus outbreak, because the articles here need to be still ‘usable’ and relevant for your May magazine!  We are doing a WEEKLY coronavirus update on another part of the site.  Please go to:  Resources / Editorial / Coronavirus update.   Any problems?  Please...

It was: 200 years ago, on 11th May 1820 that the British Royal Navy sloop HMS Beagle was launched. This was the ship that took the naturalist Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage around the world (1831-36). Also 200 years ago: on 12th May 1820 that Florence Nightingale was born. This Italian-born British social reformer...

When the WHO (World Health Organisation) decided to make 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, they based it on the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth on 12th May 1820. But with the arrival of the coronavirus, it is a remarkably apt year to celebrate all that nurses do for us. As the...

Florence Nightingale was born 200 years ago, on 12th May 1820. Best known as the Lady with the Lamp who saved many lives in the hospitals of the Crimean War, she was also a social reformer, a statistician and the founder of modern nursing. She was named after the Italian city of her birth, but...

This year’s Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed for a year because of coronavirus. But 80 years ago, the Tokyo Games scheduled for May 1940 were cancelled completely, because of World War II. Originally rescheduled for Helsinki, they were eventually abandoned, and the Olympic cycle did not restart until 1948 in London. The cancellation proved...

I was 15 in May 1945, when Britain celebrated VE Day. It stood for Victory in Europe and followed an agreement by the Allied powers following the German surrender. Needless to say, although the war with Japan was not over, it was a noticeable moment. No more bombs, missiles and blitz – and the ‘boys’...

VE Day (Victory in Europe) – was celebrated 75 years ago this month, on 8th May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe. It was marked with a public holiday. The previous day the formal act of military surrender had been signed by Germany, and celebrations broke out when the news was...

Two hundred years ago, on 11th May 1820, the British Royal Navy sloop HMS Beagle was launched. It was the ship that took Charles Darwin on the voyage around the world between 1831 and 1836 that led to his putting forward the theory of Evolution. HMS Beagle was one of 100 ships of its class,...

All in the month of APRIL The spread of Coronavirus The great Raphael William Wordsworth – the ‘Church of England pantheist’ The Hubble Space Telescope Gen Z ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable dates in the month (this time, APRIL) down the years. Here is a range from which to pick...

It was: 500 years ago, on 6th April 1520 that Raphael, Italian Renaissance artist and architect, died, aged 37. (Unknown illness.) 250 years ago, on 7th April 1770 that William Wordsworth, British Romantic poet, was born. He was Poet Laureatte 1843-50. 200 years ago, on 8th April 1820 that the famous Ancient Greek statue of...