By Tim Lambert I went to Krakow for a short break in September. It was a beautiful city with very pretty architecture. The streets were very clean, and I felt safe all the time. Food and drink were reasonably cheap, and to my surprise, everyone I spoke to spoke English. There were plenty of nice… Continue reading Tim’s Tourist Guide to Krakow
Category: Articles
British Inventions
By Tim Lambert The British invented a huge number of things. This is a look at just some of them. There are far too many to include them all! 1698 Thomas Savery made the first steam engine 1701 Jethro Tull invented the seed drill 1733 John Kay invented the flying shuttle 1761 James Harrison invented… Continue reading British Inventions
A History of Puppets
By Tim Lambert Early Puppets There have been puppets since Ancient Times. As early as 2,000 BC there were puppets in Ancient Egypt. Puppets were also popular in Ancient Greece. Chinese shadow puppetry dates from the Han Dynasty, 2000 years ago. In Indonesia, Wayang Kulit is a traditional form of puppetry in which leather puppets… Continue reading A History of Puppets
Catherine Hayes
By Tim Lambert This was a notorious case from the early 18th century when murderers were caught because of a head. Catherine Hayes was executed for killing her husband in 1726. She was born Catherine Hall near Birmingham in 1690. She moved around the country working as a domestic servant. Eventually, she was employed by… Continue reading Catherine Hayes
A History of Stockings
By Tim Lambert Early Stockings People have worn stockings since Ancient Times. Roman soldiers wore stockings called udones, especially in cold climates. The oldest existing stockings were made in Egypt in the 4th or 5th centuries AD. Early socks had split toes and were designed to be worn with sandals. In the Middle Ages, both… Continue reading A History of Stockings
A History of Pencils
By Tim Lambert Early Pencils The name pencil comes from a Latin word, Penicillus, which means brush. In the Middle Ages, in England, a pencel was a small brush made of camel hair, used for painting. Graphite was discovered in Bavaria in the 15th century. However, a pure deposit of graphite was discovered in Borrowdale,… Continue reading A History of Pencils
A Brief History of Contraceptives
By Tim Lambert Life was hard for women before artificial contraception. Not only did they usually have large numbers of children, but those children were also born close together. Reliable contraception was one of the great inventions of the 20th century. Of course, people have always attempted to prevent pregnancy. In Ancient Egypt, women made… Continue reading A Brief History of Contraceptives
A History of Pewter
By Tim Lambert Early Pewter Pewter was an alloy of tin and lead (although today lead is no longer used. Modern pewter is made of tin, antimony and copper). The earliest known pewter was made in Egypt in about 1,500 BC. The Romans also made pewter. In the Middle Ages, pewter was used by the… Continue reading A History of Pewter
A History of Lead
By Tim Lambert Early Lead People learned to use lead as early as 6,500 BC. It was used to make beads in what is now Turkey. Lead proved to be a useful metal because it has a low melting point and it does not corrode. The Romans used lead to make pipes. In fact, the… Continue reading A History of Lead
Famous Women Pilots
By Tim Lambert In 1784, Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered balloon. In 1909, Elise Deroche became the first woman to fly solo. Raymonde de Laroche was born in 1882. In 1910, she became the first woman to gain a pilot’s licence (in France). Harriet Quimby was born in 1875.… Continue reading Famous Women Pilots