Welcome to the Website of Alan Burnett: writer, blogger, collector of old photographs, and devotee of all things pointless and inconsequential.
I Was Nearly Kilt Last Night
“We got away for a few days. The weather is lovely. I was nearly kilt last night climbing hills. This is just at the top where we live”. A brief explanation of the message on this old postcard may be necessary. The word “kilt” is a northern expression meaning “killed”. The hill in question is Salterhebble Hill, and those who know it will appreciate how you might be nearly kilt climbing it.
Keep readingThe Art Of Football
I created this on my iPad last night while watching the England vs. DR Congo football match. My excuse is that you had to do something rather than just suffer in silence.…
The Beauty Of Shape
What better way to start the second half of the year than with this photograph I took over half a century ago? I’m not sure what went through my mind when I…
Sunny, Happy Days
What a difference a century makes. Warm weather at the end of June 1926 meant that kids at Holy Trinity School in Halifax had their lessons outdoors, “under ideal conditions.” A hundred…
A Grainy Memory
It was the 1980s. It was somewhere in the Lake District, I think. It wasn’t raining – rare for the Lake District – and the light of day was beginning…
Leave The Faces Well Alone
All lovers of old photos are faced with endless decisions about artificial intelligence: when to use it, how much to use it, and whether to use it al all. Don’t…
Another Wall
Another photograph of another Yorkshire stone wall. This one is far more recent, however. It is also in a very different part of Yorkshire. This was taken in the north…





