I hated history at school. It seemed to be nearly all battles, maps with arrows showing troop movements and then failed treaties. To a 1960s teenager, history only went to prove that Bob Dylan was right to cry ‘how many…
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Everyman’s (and woman’s) history
Sometimes I wish I still believed in the heaven of my childhood, where departed souls met up with old friends and family while keeping a benign eye on those below they once knew. It would be such fun right now…
Tagged with: Bob Dylan, First World War, history, Shipley, Stringfellow, Windhill, World War 1
Posted in History, Yorkshire
Posted in History, Yorkshire
Unlocking the Lock’s secrets
This painting of Hirst Lock on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal is tucked away at the end of a dark corridor off the main council chamber in Bradford City Hall. It first came to my notice when local barber and historian Peter…
Tagged with: A Wilson, Hirst Lock, Hirst Mill Crescent, Hirst Wood, Leeds Liverpool Canal
Posted in History, Yorkshire
Posted in History, Yorkshire
How did you watch television?
When I told my grandchildren I’d grown up in Blackham, a village that didn’t have mains drainage or electricity at the time, their first reaction was ‘How did you watch television?’ As I explained that we didn’t have television, and…
Tagged with: Blackham, local history, Oxford, Pearce, Petford, Tummons, University of Leeds
Posted in History, My Life
Posted in History, My Life
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