EXCAVATIONS UP MY BACK PASSAGE : SERIES II The need to initiate a second series of "Excavations Up My Back Passage" has been brought about by the impending arrival of a new garage door. In order to install it, the garage needs clearing of a twenty year accumulation of rubbish - an extension of the … Continue reading How I Found My Brain Up My Back Passage
Author: Alan Burnett
Random Times :Riding Off Into The Shipley Sunset In A Bentley
"Random History" is what happens when you mix together a newspaper archive, a random number generator and a man with too much time on his hands. Today our random-driven time machine takes us back to SATURDAY 21 JULY 1934, and the West Yorkshire town of Shipley. The front page of the Shipley Times and Express … Continue reading Random Times :Riding Off Into The Shipley Sunset In A Bentley
What’s In Store?
This is a scan of a quarter-plate glass negative which must date from the end of the nineteenth or early twentieth century. The seven featured subjects are an interesting collection: they could be the staff of a draper's shop or a saloon bar. There is something vaguely H G Wells about them - that might … Continue reading What’s In Store?
Nine Distilleries : 9. Jura
There are currently only eight distilleries on Islay, so to get to the last of my nine distilleries entailed a short ferry trip to the island of Jura. Despite being thirty miles long and seven miles wide, Jura has a population of less than 200, and only one road, one pub, and one distillery. The … Continue reading Nine Distilleries : 9. Jura
Nine Distilleries : 8. Bowmore
Bowmore - the last of my Islay distilleries - is a bit special. It is situated in the town of the same name; or at least what passes for a town on Islay. It has a tasting room with views to die for and malt whiskies to make your passing entirely painless. It is one … Continue reading Nine Distilleries : 8. Bowmore
Nine Distilleries : 7. Caol Ila
I wanted to go to the Caol Ila Distillery for two reasons. First, it would count towards my full set of Islay distilleries, and second, I was desperate to know how to pronounce it! For years, I have been going in pubs, seeing a bottle of Caol Ila behind the bar and being reluctant to … Continue reading Nine Distilleries : 7. Caol Ila
Daily Victorian : A Good Book And A Black Crepe Dress
This is a Cabinet Card which must date from the last decade of the nineteenth century and it comes from the Kingston-On-Thames studio of Fred Palmer. Written on the reverse is "Gt Grandma Hinton (Watts)". I have had a quick look to see if I can see any obvious descendants, and not been able to … Continue reading Daily Victorian : A Good Book And A Black Crepe Dress
Daily Victorian : That Look
A carte de visite from the 1880s from the Edinburgh studio of James Good Tunny. The subject of the photograph is unknown, but that look is unforgetable.
Nine Distilleries : 6, Bunnahabhain
It was the kind of day where Mother Nature decides that colour is an optional extra. The road we drove along looked as if it was heading directly to the end of the world with no option to pass Go. The distillery had the look of a half-abandoned film set; brooding in a way that … Continue reading Nine Distilleries : 6, Bunnahabhain
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