Author: Alan Burnett

Random History : Giving Way To The Enjoyment Of The Conservative Ball

This week, our random-number-driven time machine takes us back to the year 1893 and to Huddersfield, where someone has been giving way to the enjoyment of the Conservative Ball. It resulted in ten bob fine plus expenses! Serves him right is all I can say. OBSTRUCTING A POLICE OFFICER AT THE CONSERVATIVE BALL : Joseph Crow … Continue reading Random History : Giving Way To The Enjoyment Of The Conservative Ball

Shopping In Curacao

10 From The Caribbean : 1. Shopping In Curacao The first of a short series of photographs from my recent trip around the Caribbean. This first one was jumble of straight lines and natural curves in a shopping centre in Willemstad on the island of Curacao. Somewhere amongst all those lines and curves are a … Continue reading Shopping In Curacao

Postcards From Home : Siddal’s Comet

My relationship with Siddal is somewhat akin to the relationship between the earth and Halley's Comet. Very occasionally we are in close proximity: as a teenager I sought out a pub there that was reputed to have a liberal interpretation of the licensing laws, and many years later my brother lived there for a few … Continue reading Postcards From Home : Siddal’s Comet

Back Home

Here we are, back again. And it wasn't Mablethorpe, but somewhere a little more sunny. Exotic beaches and tropical cocktails are all very well, but they can't hold a candle to the fifty shades of grey that you can find on a soot-coated wall of a Yorkshire mill. The Caribbean Sea may be azure blue … Continue reading Back Home

Gone To Mablethorpe, Back Soon?

That's it! I've had enough of the grey skies and drizzle-caked streets of West Yorkshire for a while. It's time for a break: time for the sun, time for the sea, time for something different. So if nothing emerges from my various blogs and social media streams over the next couple of weeks, worry not. … Continue reading Gone To Mablethorpe, Back Soon?

A Trip Through The Stratosphere To Southend (Sepia Saturday 452)

The Sepia Saturday theme this week focuses on means of transport and has a photograph from the 1950s that seems to look back to an earlier age. My submission is a photograph from the 1930s that looks to the future.

What Is Picturesque About Halifax?

Here's a challenge for you! If you had to put together a postcard featuring five views of Halifax and entitled "Picturesque Halifax", which views would you choose? Probably not the ones featured on this vintage postcard from 100 years ago.

A Telephone Call Interrupts A Night At Huddersfield’s Microscopical Soiree

My random-driven time machine sends me off to a meeting of the Huddersfield Literary And Scientific Society in 1879, but whilst I am looking at a wood spider through a microscope, a telephone call teaches me a lesson about history.

A Marine, A Car, And Half A Dog

A caption on the reverse of this photograph claims it was taken at the Marine Hotel in Barmouth in 1928. Other than that, I know nothing about it. We have, however, a marine, a car, two fashionable ladies and half a dog. What more could you possibly require in order to write a cracking who-done-it?