Month: January 2026

Posted on

News from the Almanac of the Past January 22nd 2026

May Day Bedfordshire
May Day Bedfordshire

This has become the day in which I update readers on the purpose and future plans for the Almanac of the Past.

What is the Almanac of the Past?

The nature of an almanac is to be a pot-pourri. They are about seasons, time, folklore, history, important events, and anniversaries. I also like to cover history, famous people and discoveries. Gods, Goddesses, Saints, sinners, and archaeology. What I want it to be is something that makes us more mindful about the passing of the year. How seasons and time change the way people see their world. My focus is mostly on the UK, but also on Rome and Greece. With occasional excursions to other ages, places and universes. I am also trying to find more content that is London-based.

What is the plan for the Almanac of the Past?

I plan to have one entry for each day. The problem with this, is that as I fill in the empty days, I will be republishing the already filled days. So subscribers will be seeing content they have seen before. Currently, I am trying to improve and extend existing content so it is worth reading again. And I am groping towards a final format for each day.

This is what I think it is. Each page will have the following sections:

Seasonal content: folklore about the day in question. Including historic texts about gardening, farming, cooking, witchcraft superstitions etc.

Saint or God/Goddess of the day

Calendar content: about epochs, ages, years, months, days, hours, and everything calendrical

Major article about something that happened on this day in history

On This Day section where other things that have happened on this day have happened.

I guess rather than a post it will be more like a newsletter of the day?

The almanac of the Past Publication

If I get the formula right, I will attempt to get a publication from it. Otherwise, it will remain online. So:

How’s it doin’?

The first graph, above, shows a steady growth from 2,000 views in 2020 to 26,000 views for 2025. Although encouraging, it has not gone ‘Kardashian viral’ as yet. 75% increase last year. This was partly achieved by taking more care of SEO – search engine optimisation. I’ve been doing a lot more of this. But if you are interested in this read last year’s ‘News from the Almanac of the Past’.

Screenshot from Jetpack showing the geographic reach of the Almanac of the Past from 2020 – 2025

The second graphic shows where the readers come from: mostly from the UK and the US, followed by France and Germany. It shows vast stretches of the world not registering as converts to the Almanac of the Past, including Greenland (or do I mean Iceland?).

Next up ‘Favourite pages, and referrers

Screenshot from Jetpack showing the most viewed pages (left and Referrers (Right)

The Skimmity Ride is way out ahead, the most popular post. The page is about a procession ‘designed to humiliate a member of the community.’ Why is it top? I think because hardly anyone else posts about it, so if you want to know what Thomas Hardy was writing about in the Mayor of Casterbridge my site is the go-to place.

Next is the ‘Beginning of the Universe‘ Post. This pleases me because it is something I discovered myself while writing the blog. It explains the beginning of the universe, the beginning of the year, the beginning of spring, and the Birthdays of Adam, Lilith, & Eve; the conception of Jesus, and why the year began in the medieval period on March 25th. So again, you won’t find this information easily in any one other place. The Almanac of the Past explains it all.

Queen Elisabeth I’s Nicknames are third. She is always popular and the nicknames she gave to her advisers are fun, and either flattering or rude.

Then we have the post on Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates. It is an interesting post, of course, but why it rates highly I have no idea. Maybe people know this expression ‘I am just going outside and may be some time’ and want to track it down?

The last one I shall mention is the ‘Miracle of the Testicles‘. This is one of my favourite posts! (I just typed: ‘because it’s nuts’ without realising the pun, so please forgive me!) But, really, it shows the often risible ways the early Saints became famous. And yet beneath that there is a real need in the community for spiritual help which the origin stories touch. Its high ranking must be down to the word ‘testicles?’ No?

The other side of the graphic shows referrers, which are mostly the obvious ones like search engines and facebook. But there is also a fansite for Damien Lewis, the actor who was in Band of Brothers and Henry VIII in Wolf Hall. One of his pages mentioned my page.

Screenshot from Jetpack showing the posting ativity for the past year. Grey means no posts, Dark green 2 or more, light green one post a day.

Posting Activity shows you how far I am from achieving one Almanac post a day. Not far in the winter, more to do in the summer.

So how can you help?

If you have a website or a blog or a social media page, post a reference to one of my pages, and encourage people to have a look. If you receive the email as a subscriber, occasionally visit the site, and like it? Send a WhatApp group a link to my page. Help me go properly viral, then, I can get a publishing deal, publish my Almanac and then my novels …… do it before you forget!

Any problems for the Almanac of the Past?

Please continue to forgive my wretched proofreading.

First Published in 2026

Posted on

On Resolutions. Aquarius & T-Shirts January 21st St Agnes Day

black and ehite engraving Aquarius (detail from Kalendar of the Shepherds)
Aquarius (detail from Kalendar of the Shepherds)

The Sun enters the house of Aquarius

‘The man born under Aquarius shall be lonely and ireful; he shall have silver at 32 years; he shall win wherever he goeth, or he shall be sore sick. He shall have fear on the water, and afterwards have good fortune, and shall go into divers strange countries. He shall live to be 75 years after nature.’

‘The woman shall be delicious, and have many noises for her children; she shall be in great peril at 24 years and thereafter in felicity. She shall have damage by beasts with four feet and shall live 77 years after nature.

The Kalendar of Shepherds, 1604 (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly)

Resolutions & Predictions

the Author sporting a Betsy Trotwood aphorism ‘Never be mean, never be false, never be cruel’

The Kalendar of Shepherds predictions for those born in Aquarius, (see above) are so specific they cannot help but be wrong for most people. Surely, the art of the prophecy, is to be vague, be general and to know human nature.

By the 21st of January, we should have an idea of whether we are going to keep to your resolutions or not. And perhaps we should now be tuning them or adapting them to fit our lives as actually lived, rather than on our pious hopes. (for more on prophecy, see my post here).

Wisdom in a Taxi Ride

In 2023, on January 21st after my Uncle Brian’s Funeral. I had a chat with a taxi driver on the way to the railway station . He told me that funerals make him wonder how his behaviour might influence those the people who will, one day, make that special effort to turn up at his funeral. As a young Asian guy, he was thinking ahead quite some way.

I replied that ‘Funerals make me reflect on how much time I have spoiled by not being fully engaged in the moment’. All those conversations where my mind wandered. Those radio programmes I only half heard as I tried to read a book at the same time. All those train journeys, walks in the woods or along the canal while listening to headphones. My visits to relatives where I rushed back to get home as quickly as possible. Being present in the moment was, maybe, the key to improving the quality of life and interactions with others.

Dickens’ solution to the woes of the world

We continued chatting through the short journey. As we arrived in the forecourt of the station he suggested we exchange a final word of wisdom. As we had been talking about history, I turned to Charles Dickens. I told him Betsy Trotwood’s words to David Copperfield:

“Never,” said my aunt, “be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel. Avoid those three vices, Trot, and I can always be hopeful of you.”

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

I said that Betsy’s words stem from Charles Dickens’ belief that the key to progress in the world was to ignore the dogma of religion but to live by just one tenet.

‘Treat people as you want to be treated by others.’

In return, he told me of an Islamic teacher who responded to his enquiry. ‘How to ensure salvation given all the many (possibly conflicting) moral teachings and texts there were’. The answer was, if he lived wisely and considered his impact on others, he could be sure of salvation.

By this time, I had missed my train. But the two of us had had a moment of connection. There are plenty of trains from Guildford to Waterloo.

Dickens Philosophy

Dickens was a brilliant propagandist against the evils that are endemic in society. And yet, he was no socialist. He wrote ‘Hard Times’ which is a virulently anti-trade union story. But his recipe for improvement in society was based on implementing the broad understanding of religion, as expressed in these two quotations:

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39).

“Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

T-shirts & the Rolling Stones

Philosophy for life as told to St Patrick by a Druid

I have a lot of t-shirts with quotations from history on them. I suspect I am one of the very few people who store his t-shirts in chronological order. The selfie shows chronologically, the first, and the last is:

“You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime you’ll find
You get what you need”

by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

As the Rolling Stones have a big part to play in the musical history of Lindon, here are the lyrics in full and a youtube video.

You can’t always get what you want

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man


No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime you’ll find
You get what you need

repeat above

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse”
Sing it to me, honey


You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need
Ah baby, yeah
Ah


I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And, man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was “dead”
I said to him


You can’t always get what you want, well no
You can’t always get what you want. I tell you, baby
You can’t always get what you want, no
But if you try sometimes you just might find, uh, mm
You get what you need, oh yeah, woo!
Ah, woo!
You get what you need, yeah, oh baby
Ah yeah


I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well, I could tell by her blood-stained hands, sing it


You can’t always get what you want, yeah
You can’t always get what you want, ooh yeah, child
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yeah
Ah baby, woo!


Ah, you can’t always get what you want, no, no, baby
You can’t always get what you want, you can’t now, now
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find that you
You get what you need, oh yeah

Ah yeah, do that

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/rolling_stones/you_cant_always_get_what_you_want

YouTube Video

And here is an early video of the band, with Brian Jones, playing the song. Sadly, it doesn’t have the sublime choir singing the chorus. Youtube will probably play an ad. I don’t make any money from that by the way!

First written on 21st January 2023, revised January 2024, and republished 2026

On this day

1793 Louis XVI of France was guillotined at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. The National Convention convicted him of high treason 4 days earlier

Posted on

The Eve of St Agnes & Keats January 20th

Porphyro looking at the sleeping Madeline by Edward Henry Wehnert (1813-68) Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/wehnert/8.htm
Scene from the Eve of St Agnes & Keats poem. Porphyro looking at the sleeping Madeline by Edward Henry Wehnert (1813-68)
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/wehnert/8.html

January 20th is the Eve of St Agnes & Keats wrote a poem on the subject. The poem is one of his most important and was written in 1819, published in 1820. Folklore held that a maid would dream of her future lover on St Agnes Eve if she took certain precautions. In particular, they had to go to bed without supper, and transfers pins from a pincushion to their sleeve while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. John Keats used this tradition in his epic poem.

St Agnes was a martyr who, at 13 years old, refused to marry a pagan. She was martyred by being stabbed in the throat. Agnes is well attested and on a list of martyrs dating to AD345. She is the patroness of young women and of chastity. Her feast day is January 21st. I wrote about St Agnes and the Fraternity of St Anne and St Agnes on Distaff Sunday.

The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats

The poem begins with a great description of winter.

St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!
       The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
       The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
       And silent was the flock in woolly fold:
       Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told
       His rosary, and while his frosted breath,
       Like pious incense from a censer old,
       Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death,
Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.

Keats sets up the drama with a poetic description of the folklore:

They told her how, upon St. Agnes’ Eve,
       Young virgins might have visions of delight,
       And soft adorings from their loves receive
       Upon the honey’d middle of the night,
       If ceremonies due they did aright;
       As, supperless to bed they must retire,
       And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
       Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org

In the poem, the maid Madelaine goes to sleep to dream of her love Porphyro. He risks everything to visit the young girl, and watches her while she sleeps. She dreams of him. Waking up and seeing him, Madelaine lets him into her bed thinking she is still dreaming.

She realises her mistake and tells him she cannot blame him for taking advantage as she loves him so much. But if he leaves her, she will be like “A dove forlorn and lost / With sick unpruned wing”.

The two lovers escape and run away together.

Keats & TB

Keats was born in a livery inn in Moorgate, in the City of London. He lived in Cheapside, later in Hampstead, and was published in Welbeck Street in the West End. As a young man he trained as a surgeon at Guys Hospital, Southwark. But he never practised, although he did consider a post as a Ship’s Surgeon.

One wet, cold February he went home to Hampstead on the roof of a stage coach.  But. he had forgotten his coat, so he got soaked and chilled to the bone.  That night, he coughed up blood. His medical and family experience led him to believe it was a fatal sign of consumption. He had lived in a small house with his brother and mother, who both died of TB. Keats had helped nurse them. 

Later on, however, he consulted a doctor. He was told his illness was psychosomatic. And his thwarted love for his next door neighbour, Fanny Brawne, was contributing to his illness. As his consumption advanced, he was advised to go to a warmer climate.  So, he embarked at Tower Pier by the Tower of London. He transferred to a small sailing ship at Gravesend called the Maria Crowther. On the ship to Italy, he shared a cabin with another consumptive.  The two consumptives, had opposite ideas as to whether the portholes needed to be open or closed for their health. Letters he wrote makes it clear he was desperate to stop himself thinking about Fanny Brawne. He got to Rome where he died, achieving, he felt, nothing worthwhile in his life.  His memorial stone proclaimed:

“Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.”

On This Day

1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the Commons holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster.

1649 – The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings. The Solicitor General John Cook was appointed prosecutor, presided over by John Bradshaw

Today is also St Sebastian’s Feast Day. He has become a gay icon, and was celebrated in a Latin language film by Derek Jarman from 1976. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiane)

StSebastian by Marco Zoppo, Courtauld Gallery photo K Flude

A full version of the film is available on Youtube, but here are some scenes:

Events Coming up!

January 25th 2026 Reenactors commemorating the execution of Charles I in Westminster

Pikes at the Palace: English civil war re-enactors to march through London

Kevin Flude’s walks to commemorate the Martyrdom of Charles I

Charles I and the Civil War. Martyrdom Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Jan 30th 26 To book

The Civil War, Restoration, and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour 7:30pm Fri 30th Jan26 To book

First written on January 23, republished on January 20th 2024, 2025,2026

Posted on

Rabbiting January 19th

London Illustrated Almanac of 1873
January from London Illustrated Almanac of 1873

January & Rabbits

In January, the ‘coney is so ferreted that she cannot keep in her borough’ says Nicholas Breton. He wrote in the January entry of the Kalendar of Shepherds. (See my post here). In modern speech he means, ‘the rabbit is so hunted with the aid of ferrets that she cannot keep to her burrow’. The London Illustrated Almanac of 1873 chose the Rabbit as its wild animal of the month.

Good Luck Rabbits!

If you need good luck say ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. No less a person than FD Roosevelt used to say this. No one knows why. Rabbits’ feet are lucky too. I remember some of my friends had them in our Surrey village in the early 60s. Some of Dad’s neighbours kept ferrets, and I remember dead Rabbits hanging from walls. The merits of the feet are given by the history.com website:

“A 1908 British account reports rabbits’ feet imported from America being advertised as ‘the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left-handed, red-headed bow-legged Negro riding a white horse,’

https://www.history.com/news/

As to why, no one really knows. But Pliny the Elder in 71AD reported that cutting off the foot of a live hare could cure gout. There are European traditions of rabbit and other animal’s feet amulets curing all sorts of ailments. There are associations with witches, who could shape-shift into a rabbit. So a rabbit’s foot would be witchy and therefore powerful. In March, I reported on the Hare, and their, similar, associations with witches:

As Mad as a March Hare March 28th

To find out about Rabbit welfare have a look at Rabbiting On Magazine.

Rabbit, Rabbit

For lovers (?) of music, Chas and Dave’s hit song ‘Rabbit’ has a chorus of ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. According to the Cockney singers (they do love a Knee’s Up) it comes from the Cockney Rhyming Slang expression: Rabbit and Pork. This means ‘Talk’ because it rhymes with ‘Pork’. But, according to the rules of Cockney, you can shorten the phrase to Rabbit. To hear about the origins of the song, and royal connections, click here. To watch the official video. (It is misogynistic and of its day. Also, you may have to listen to an advert, but I don’t make any money from the ad!)

Now, I must stop rabbiting on. Time to get things done.

On This Day

1915 – German Zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn. 20 people killed in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target. See my post on the September 8th Zeppelin attack on London.

Today the V&A ‘celebrated’ Blue Monday with an article on China’s Blue and White Ceramics.

First, published, as January and Rabbiting in 2023, revised in January 2024, 2025, January moved to its page and page revised and retitled 2026

Posted on

Blue Monday January 19th

Hackney Marshes, Jan 2022, Chris Sansom

Third Monday in the year – traditionally the most depressing day. Traditional in the sense of the word meaning ‘made up recently as part of a marketing campaign” in 2005. It was only a marketing stunt but seems to have stuck. So, ‘officially’ Blue Monday is the third Monday of the year. It was worked out using this ‘equation’:

[W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x NA

(W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action. (For more on Blue Monday read: https://news.sky.com )

More seriously, a large scale study has shown that: ‘suicides were most likely to happen on Monday compared to other days of the work week, with about 15% to 18% of suicides occurring on those days. And across all the studied countries, the likelihood of suicide always increased on New Year’s Day.‘

https://gizmodo.com/these-are-the-days-when-suicide-risk-is-highest-global-study-finds-2000516224

The suggestion was that people might put off any attempt, hoping the weekend might mark the turning of a corner. Then Monday arrives with no improvement. Similarly, we struggle through Christmas and New Year, and by the third monday are low on hope.

However, do not despair! If you have got through to today, things are on the up! Only yesterday, my companion pointed out that the evenings were now noticeably lighter. And also, I saw my first snowdrop. Signs that the Spring is beginning to prepare to spring. We are turning the corner, and hope springs eternal.

Samaritans & Chad Varah

If you need more help then ring the Samaritans 116 123 or visit their contact line here:

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan

Chad Vara with Samaritan’s Phone ouside of St Stephen’s Walbrook (Wikipedia)

About 25 years ago, I used to lead a London based Cultural Studies programme on which we visited the Temple of Mithras, Saint Stephens, Walbrook, the Roman Amphitheatre and Guildhall. In St Stephen’s I would point out the glories of Wren’s most beautiful Parish Church as well as a telephone on the wall. This recorded the foundation of the Samaritans organisation by the Rector, in the Church in 1953.

The Rector was Chad Varah, and in that year the Grocers’ Company offered him the living of St Stephen Walbrook. The phone line’s original number was MAN 9000 (for MANsion House). It and the volunteers were originally in the Crypt. They received their first telephone call on 2 November 1953. Thereafter, it grew into a worldwide organisation.

Plaque on St Stephen’s wall commemorating Chad Varah;s foundation of the Samaritan’s Photo K Flude

My groups were on a strict timetable. I would sit them down on the seats (made by Chad Varah’s son) around the marvellous Carrera marble sculpture by Henry More that dominated the Church. More often as not, Chad Varah would appear unannounced and give my group an erudite explanation of the history of the Church. Then he would explain his collaboration with Moore and the controversial developer Peter Palumbo in the transformation of the interior. My schedule was shot but what a lucky day for my groups. He was always charming, and gave freely of his time.

Interior of St Stephen’s Walbrook, showing the Henry Moore sculpture which, in 1987, was very controversially installed in the Church.
St Stephens Church, Walbrook
St Stephens Church, Walbrook. This is an unusual and rarely seen view, as it is normally obscured by a building in the right foreground. It shows that Wren only put effort into those parts of the Church that were visible from the streets around the Church. (the White stone segments)

Here is a rather interesting short video of the so-called Cheshire Cheese Sculpture with Chad Varah walking around it.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=174446679595037

You might like to look at my post here which includes a recording of a Swedish choir singing in St Stephens.

Revised and Samaritans added 2026

Posted on

Lambing January 18th

Hermes the ram-bearer near Roman 1st BCE copy of 5th Greek statue
Hermes the ram-bearer, Roman 1st BCE copy of 5th Greek statue

Lambing

You are getting another copy of this because it was published without additions I made to the On This Day section.

If a lamb be born sick and weak, the Shepherd shall fold it in his cloak, blow into the mouth of it and then, drawing the Dam’s dog, shall squirt milk into the mouth of it. If an Ewe grow unnatural, and will not take her Lamb after she has yeaned it, you shall take a little of the Clean of the Ewe (which is the bed in which the Lamb lay) and force the Ewe to eat it, or at least chew it in her mouth and she will fall to love a Lamb naturally. But if an Ewe have cast her Lamb, and you would have her take to another Ewe’s Lamb, you shall take the Lamb which is dead, and with it rub and daub the live Lamb all over, and so put it to the Ewe, and she will take to it as naturally as if it were her own.

Gervase Markham, ‘Cheap and Good Husbandry’ 1613 (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly).

All about Lambing

Lambing can begin in the second part of Janauary in the south-west of the UK. But it gets progressively later as you travel north. Itinerant shearers, now often from New Zealand, travel the country shearing sheep. They will begin in the south and then progress north.

March and April are peak lambing time in the UK. But the season runs from February to April. Some farmers even lamb before Christmas (and it is not unknown to lamb in November).

The country expression is ‘in with a bang and out with the fool’ which suggests an ideal time to tup, is November 5th, on Fireworks Night. So that the lambs will be born, 5 months later, around the 1st of April. A litter is normally one or two but occasionally more. Ewe’s get fed depending on how many lambs they will be having.

Thomas Hardy & the Reddle Man

In the ‘Return of the Native’, Thomas Hardy has a character called Diggory Venn, he is a reddle man. He travels the country in a little pony and trap selling reddle. This is a red ochre dye with which shepherds mark their flock. Part of the plot is about the reluctance of women to marry a man whose red, reddle-stained face, makes him look like a devil.

The reddle is used to mark sheep, particularly before lambing. The ram is given a collar or girdle with a marker full of reddle in it. When he mounts the ewe, she will have a red mark on her back. When she has been tupped twice, she will have two red marks on her back. She will then be taken out of the field, to encourage the ram to impregnate the others. Reddle and other dyes can be used to mark lambs chosen for slaughter, or dipping, or weighing etc

(Tup is a country verb: I tup. You tup. We are tupping etc., and means what happens when the ram ‘covers’ the ewe).

For more on Thomas Hardy see my posts:

Hardy’s Henge
The End of Hardy;s Tree

And about the Mayor of Casterbridge:
Wife selling
Failed Weather Forecasting
And the most popular of all my posts: The Skimmity Ride

On This Day!

1486 – Dynastic marriage of King Henry of Lancaster (Henry VII) to Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, ends rivalry that led to the War of the Roses

1779 – Peter Mark Roget, physician, scholar, thesaurus creator was born, brought into this world, delivered, popped out, brought forth, sprogged, engendered, begat, birthed.

1896 – First xray generating machine displayed to the public by American H L Smith, but building on the work of English physicist William Crookes and German, Wilhelm Röntgen. Portable machines, designed for hospital use on the Battlefields were developed by Spaniard Mónico Sánchez Moreno and the Polish/French scientist Marie Curie.

First Published 2023, revised 24,25,26

Posted on

To Concordia on the Day of Peace January 17th

“To Concordia,¹ the Sixth Legion, Victorious, Loyal and Faithful and the Twentieth Legion [dedicates this].” found at Roman Corbridge (Coriosopitum)
“To Concordia,the Sixth Legion, Victorious, Loyal and Faithful and the Twentieth Legion [dedicates this].” Found at Roman Corbridge (Coriosopitum)

Concordia on the Day of Peace

Today, doesn’t seem a great day for peace. But, Concordia was the Roman goddess of conciliation and harmony. The 17th January is also the Day of Peace for the Goddesses Felicitas, and Pax. So, let’s hope the Roman Goddesses can dispense some peaceful balm and wisdom on our leaders.

There are altars to Concordia in Britain at Corbridge and Carlisle on the Roman Frontier. The Gods of Roman Britain points out that the altars are found where there were:

‘detachments of troops from more than one Roman legion posted in the same place’.

Does this suggest that the soldiers needed to be reminded that they should not fight each other?

The altar stone pictured above is dedicated to the VI Legion and the Twentieth. The Twentieth, called Valeria Victrix, was stationed in Deva – Chester. But there are stones such as the one above which shows a detachment (or vexillation) was sent to Hadrian’s Wall. For more on the stone and Corbridge see this site. The VIth Victrix legion served on Hadrian’s Wall and their HQ was at Eboracum (York).

Ovid & Concordia

The Roman Poet, Ovid seemingly locates the Day of Peace on the 16th January. But for the 16th he writes: ‘Radiant One, the next day places you in your snow-white shrine’. The Goddess Book of Days puts her on the 17th. So, perhaps, I’m right placing her on the 17th, afterall?

The translator of Ovid’s almanac poem, the Fasti, A. S. Kline, explains that the Goddess Concordia:

‘symbolised the harmonious union of citizens. A temple was erected to her in 367BC (on the Capitol, near the temple of Juno Moneta) It was erected by Marcus Furius Camillus at the time when the plebeians won political equality. The Temple of Concord was restored by the Emperor Tiberius from his German spoils in AD10.

This is how Ovid puts it:

The Fasti, by Ovid

Book I: January 16
Radiant one, the next day places you in your snow-white
shrine,
Near where lofty Moneta lifts her noble stairway:
Concord, you will gaze on the Latin crowd’s prosperity,
Now sacred hands have established you.
Camillus, conqueror of the Etruscan people,
Vowed your ancient temple and kept his vow.
His reason was that the commoners had armed themselves,
Seceding from the nobles, and Rome feared their power.
This latest reason was a better one: revered Leader,
Germany
Offered up her dishevelled tresses, at your command:
From that, you dedicated the spoils of a defeated race,
And built a shrine to the goddess that you yourself
worship.
A goddess your mother honoured by her life, and by an
altar,
She alone worthy to share great Jupiter’s couch.

Book I: January 17
When this day is over, Phoebus, you will leave Capricorn,
And take your course through the sign of the WaterBearer.

Camillus was a semi-legendary military leader who is said to have built the Temple to Concordia in 367BC. The Temple was rebuilt several times. In 121 BC is was rebuilt at a larger size. Thereafter, the Senate would meet there during and after political conflict. Ovid’s revered Leader above is Tiberius, and his mother is Livia, the wife of Augustus. Tiberius filled the Temple full of art treasures. So, it became a museum and a tourist attraction for visitors to Rome. For more on Concordia and Pax look at my post here. For more Ovid, read my post here.

On This Day!

1752 – Today is also Twelfth Night Old style which is the date of the celebration of the last night of Christmas according to Julian Calendar which was replaced by the Gregorian in 1752. So Old Style time to Wassail the Orchard! Wassails are currently being held in various places in London. See here for the Bermondsey Wassail. See below for more details.

1773 – Captain Cook captained the first Ship (the Resolution) to cross the Antarctic Circle

1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Island

Today is St Antony’s Day – father of Monasticism, curer of St Antony’s Fire, patron Saint of domestic animals, especially pigs. The runt of a litter is a ‘tantony pig’ and the smallest bell in a chime is a ‘tantony bell’. His symbols are pigs and bells.

Wassail Day at the Village Orchard Dulwich

London Wildlife Trust Wassail Day Website landing page
London Wildlife Trust Wassail Day Website landing page

Run by the London Wild Life Trust. The web site says:

Celebrate Wassail Day with us on Saturday

London Wildlife Trust welcomes the local community to awaken the apple trees to ensure a good harvest of fruit in autumn in a traditional Wassailing event.

Activities on the day will include apple inspired crafts, bird feeders, warming bread on the fire (weather permitting), pinning toast to trees (this apparently helps with a good harvest!) and more! 

First written in Jan 2023, revised and republished in Jan 2024,2025,2026

Posted on

Queen Elizabeth I’s Nicknames January 16th

Today is the day after the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth 1’s coronation, 1559. She soon developed enduring relationships with the senior members of her Government. For example, William Cecil, Lord Burghley served the Queen for the rest of his life – from 1558 to 1598 when he died.

Queen Elizabeth I gave leading members of her Court, nicknames. I have been tracking them down. I eventually found a post in The Chronicles of History. The author is a follower of this blog. The Chronicles mentioned three of them, so I went in search for the rest, and here is what I found:

Her chief minister, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was called her ‘spirit’ and her alleged lover, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was her ‘eyes’. Rather more cheekily, she called François, Duke of Anjou, her ‘frog’.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-elizabeth-i/

List of Queen Elizabeth I’s Nicknames

Putting my various sources here is my ‘definitive list’.

Elizabeth called Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester “Eyes”
William Cecil was “Spirit”
Robert Cecil was her “pigmy” or “elf”
Sir Christopher Hatton was “lids” or less flatteringly her “mutton”
Francis Walsingham was her “Moor”
Francis, Duke of Alencon, (her French suitor) her “frog”

http://everythingelizabethan.blogspot.com/2011/03/she-was-fond-of-nicknames.html

People on the list of Queen Elizabeth I’s Nicknames

A comment on the same page says the ‘moor’ was, in fact, Edward De Vere Earl of Oxford, suggesting the attribution to Walsingham is a mistake. De Vere had a house in Clapton, Hackney, very close to where I lived. De Vere is one of the strongest candidates (or so the conspiracy theorists say) to have written Shakespeare’s plays. Queen Elizabeth 1 has also been named a candidate for the world’s greatest playwright.

Robert Cecil was Lord Burghley’s son and largely took over his father’s role.
Christopher Hatton was a handsome aristocrat who had a lovely house and garden in Holborn. It is now a street called Hatton Garden, famous for jewellery and jewellery heists.

Francis Walsingham was the ruthless spy master that helped turn late Elizabethan England into a simulacrum of Stasi East Germany.
Duke of Alencon was one suitor she seemed to take seriously, although she gently mocked him.
Dudley was her favourite and almost her official escort/companion. (Did she have a sexual relationship with him?)

When I published this recently, I got an email from Jan-Marie Knights, an author, and she was able to persuade me that the Queen loved Dudley like a Brother, but never would marry him.

She showed me an extract from a book which has a letter saying the above – from Lord Burghley to his political agent in Germany. The book is The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth by Frederick Chamberlin (New York: Dodd Mead and Co, 1922).

Here is a photo of a page of the book with the letter.

Page of The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth by Frederick Chamberlin (New York: Dodd Mead and Co, 1922)
Extract from the book is The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth by Frederick Chamberlin (New York: Dodd Mead and Co, 1922).

Jan has published a book called The Tudor Socialite, which documents the ‘Tudor High life in bite-sized chunks.’

For a list of Gifts to Queen Elizabeth I have a look at the Folger Library page here.

For Queen Elizabeth I’s Coronation look at my post here.

On This Day

27BC Gaius Julius Caesar given the title of Augustus by the Roman Senate marking the official end of the Roman Republic. 

Another example of how a system with elections and checks and balances can be subverted.

550AD Ostrogoths conquer Rome after bribing the guard.

1275 Edward I allows his mother Eleanor of Provence to expell Jews from Winchester, Cambridge, Marlborough and Gloucester

1537 Bigod’s Rebellion.  Following successful negotiations between the Pilgrims of Grace led by Robert Aske, a new rebellion was led by Sir Francis Begod. It failed utterly buy leald to the rescinding of pardons.  This saw Robert Aske hanged at York. Bigod and many others were also hanged. The female conspirator was dealt with as follows:

‘And the same day Margaret Cheney, ‘other wife to Bulmer called’, was drawn after them from the Tower of London into Smithfield, and there burned according to her judgment, God pardon her soul, being the Friday in Whitsun week; she was a very fair creature, and a beautiful.’

Wriothesley’s Chronicle

First Published in January 2023, republished in January 2024,2025, 2026

Posted on

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation January 15th

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation. Litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation. Litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)

Queen Elizabeth 1 Accession

Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne on 17 Nov 1558. Her accession was greeted with an outbreak of joy by the Protestant population. But the supporters of her dead sister Mary 1 did not want a Protestant monarch. On hearing the news of the death, Elizabeth rushed to occupy the Tower of London. She even risked shooting London Bridge, such was her haste. (see my post of the accession of Queen Elizabeth I)

She consulted lawyers about the legal position. Elizabeth, and her sister Mary, were declared bastards by two Succession Acts passed during Henry VIII’s ‘troubled’ married life. The Third Succession Act of 1543/44, following Henry’s marriage to Katherine Parr, restored Mary and Elizabeth to the Royal line. But it did not restore their legitimacy. Rather than tackle the complex legislation, Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, advised:

“the English laws have long since pronounced, that the Crown once worn quite taketh away all Defects whatsoever“. (Wikipedia)

Which, when you think about it, basically legitimises any successful ‘coup’! And, from a legal perspective, she was still, arguably, illegitimate.

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation

Her courtiers immediately began work on the Coronation, scheduled for January 15th 1559. In terms of Coronations, this was rushed. The precise date was, in fact, chosen by the Royal Astrologer. John Dee, a famous mathematician and credulous astrologer,. He found a date that the celestial bodies deemed propitious. But it needed to be sooner rather than later because Elizabeth’s position was so insecure.

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation Procession

The Coronation began with a procession from the Whitehall Palace in Westminster. Then back to the Tower of London for the Vigil. Followed by a Royal Procession through the City of London to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation service. After the Coronation, there was the traditional Coronation Banquet at Westminster Hall.

The Vigil Procession was on the Thames where she was escorted to the Tower by ‘ships, galleys, brigantines‘ sumptuously decorated. The Royal Entry consisted of 5 Pageants and 11 Triumphal Arches.

The first pageant showed the Queen’s descent from Henry VII and his marriage to Elizabeth of York. This marriage effectively ended the Wars of the Roses by linking the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The pageant also emphasised her ‘Englishness’ as opposed to the Spanish affiliations of Mary. The second pageant demonstrated that the Queen would rule by the four virtues of True Religion, Love of Subjects, Wisdom and Justice. At the same time she was shown trampling on Superstition, Ignorance and other vices.

The Procession at Cheapside

The third pageant, at the upper end of Cheapside near the Guildhall, provided the opportunity for the City to give Elizabeth a handsome present. This was a crimson purse with 1000 marks of gold, showing the closeness of the City and the Crown. The fourth pageant, contrasted a decaying country during the time of Mary with a thriving one under Elizabeth. It featured the figure of Truth, who was carrying a Bible written in English and entitled ‘the Word of Truth’. The Bible was lowered on a silken thread to the Queen. The Queen kissed it and laid it on her breast to the cheers of the crowd. She promised to read it diligently. The final pageant was Elizabeth portrayed as Deborah, the Old Testament prophet. Deborah rescued Israel and ruled for 40 years. So she was an ideal role model for Elizabeth. (For more details, look here.)

‘All the houses in Cheapside were dressed with banners and streamers, and the richest carpets, stuffs and cloth of gold tapestried the streets’.

British History.ac.uk Vol 1 pp315 -332

Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation in Westminster Abbey

The Coronation was traditional – in Latin and presided by a Catholic Bishop, but there were significant innovations. Important passages were read both in Latin and in English. The Queen added to the Coronation Oath the promise that she would rule according to the:

‘true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom.’

This showed the path Queen Elizabeth was going to take. She would introduce innovation gradually into tradition, but emphasizing that the fundamentals had indeed changed. This was going to be a Protestant reign.

See also tomorrow’s post on the Nicknames the Queen gave to her advisors.

‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died’

Can I remind you that I wrote a best-selling book on the Kings and Queens of Britain? It has sold over 130,000 copies, has been reprinted several times and in several editions. Further details here.

On This Day

1535 King Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Church of England

1759 The British Museum opened to the Public.

1867 Ice breaks on the boating lake at Regent’s Park, London, Forty people die.

2001 Wikipedia Day. The free wiki content encyclopedia launched. (Other days are possible but this one is the earliest recovered wikipedia page. I begin editing pages on November 28th, 2003.

Revised January 2026

Posted on

Ice age Lunar Calendar in the Palaeolithic (20,000 years ago) 14th January

The Moon over 28 days, sketch from photo.

This page is about the discovery of evidence for an Ice age Lunar Calendar. The alignment of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments shows that there was a calendar of the year in use. But in 2023, evidence of a Palaeolithic Calendar was discovered by an ‘amateur’. Furniture maker Ben Bacon studied markings in cave paintings at Lascaux, Altamira and other caves.

Sketch of 23,000 year old cave painting, below the head of the animal are dots which arethought to be lunar months of the mating season
Sketch of 23,000 year old cave painting, below the head of the animal are 4 dots which are thought to be lunar months of the mating season

He collaborated with Professors at UCL and Durham. They interpreted markings showing the use of an Ice age Lunar Calendar to mark the mating season of particular animals. A Y shaped mark he interpreted as meaning ‘giving birth’. The number of dots or dashes drawn by or in the outline of the creature coincided with their mating season. They determined this by studying the mating season of modern animals, which corresponded with the palaeolithic markings.

For further details, read the article in Cambridge Archaeology here.

At Stonehenge, there are suggestions that the alignments to Midsummer and Midwinter Solstices stretch further back into the Mesolithic period. (For more about Stonehenge see my post).

On this Day! A Whopping, whopping mallard!

1437 – Workmen discovered a giant Mallard which inaugurated ‘Mallard Day’ at All Souls, College, Oxford. It must have been colossal, as they celebrated with an annual torch lit duck hunt on the nearby River Thames.

Sadly, it is no longer annual and has been relegated to a once-a-century event. Each year, however, all they do is sing the song:

Griffin, Bustard, Turkey, Capon,
Let other hungry mortals gape on,
And on the bones their stomach fall hard,
But let All Souls men have their Mallard.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
It was a whopping, whopping mallard.

Therefore, let us sing and dance a galliard,
To the remembrance of the mallard.
And as the mallard dives in pool,
Let us dabble, dive and duck in bowl.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
It was a whopping, whopping mallard

Chambers. Book of Days, 1864

1872 Greyfriars Bobby died. Bobby was a Skye Terrier or Dandie Dinmont Terrier. When his master died, he spent 14 years guarding his owner’s grave in the famous Greyfriars’ graveyard in Edinburgh. There are books, there are films, there are statues. But facts are in short supply. One claim is that stray dogs have been known to find their way into graveyards, people feed them. The dog makes it their home. So Bobby may not have been related to anyone buried there, and was devoted to the food he was given. But then that ruins a good story.

Greyfriars
Information Board for statue of Greyfriars Bobby
Statue of Greyfriars Bobby
Burial Stone marking the grave of Greyfriars Bobby

Photos K Flude

1896 – First public screening of a motion picture was given in London at the Royal Photographic Society. But was it, as with most inventions, much more complex than that? So read WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? A mini chronology of the start of cinema to see how it really was.

Finale

All together now What was it? ‘A Whopping, whopping mallard!.’

First published 2023, Whopping Mallard! Introduced, 2025, Greyfriars Bobby developed 2026

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress