Category: News From Nowhere

No Message Required

This is a rather strange picture postcard featuring the Victorian and Edwardian entertainer, Marie Studholme. The photograph is fetching enough: she sits suspended in a hammock next to a table bearing a tennis racket. The table, however, also contains a basket full f some strange unidentified objects that look rather like a cross between a … Continue reading No Message Required

Hand Still Improving In The land Of Possibilities

A moment in history captured by a cheap picture postcard. It is April 1906 and MBD is in Washington DC. He - or could it be, she - is there for the day: and that can mean either Washington or, more specifically, the Pensions Building. The building is a grand affair, built in the mid … Continue reading Hand Still Improving In The land Of Possibilities

The Lonely Ascent Of Mount Blackley

It was a glorious Spring day today and we were tempted outside. Wanting to respect the Government advice on social distancing and the avoidance of parks and beauty spots, we decided to attempt the ascent of Mount Blackley by taking the old footpath from South Lane in Elland to the top of the hill in … Continue reading The Lonely Ascent Of Mount Blackley

Great Questions Of Our Time No. 376 and 377

I know what a burlesque artist is, and I have seen a good few comediennes: but what, in the name of all that is risqué, is a "serio"? Perhaps Miss Mollie May can enlighten us. And whilst we are at it, whatever happened to smoking concerts?

Halifax Borough Market And Architectural Football

I was scanning some of my old negatives yesterday and came across this photograph of Halifax Borough market, which dates from around 1967 (say what you want about decimalisation, it provides invaluable help in dating old photographs).  Halifax's indoor market was - and still is - one of the finest examples of these Victorian cast-iron … Continue reading Halifax Borough Market And Architectural Football

Taking A Chance With A Seamstress

An advert in an old newspaper advertises sewing machines, and lists the machines available. It is 1870 and the machine age is beginning to make the transition from factory to home. The machines are ornate and their names are as cursively evocative as their shapes. You can choose between a Tudor and a Little American, … Continue reading Taking A Chance With A Seamstress

Letters Patent For Artistic Improvement

According to the scrawled date on the reverse of this Victorian Cabinet Card, it was taken somewhere around the 11th November 1889. The clothing and the photographic style fits well with this date, and we know that the studio - Brown, Barnes & Bell of Liverpool and London - were active at the time. The … Continue reading Letters Patent For Artistic Improvement

Letters From Almondbury

For years I have been fascinated by the decorative tiles in the entrance hall to Wesley Hall in Almondbury, near Huddersfield. They were, no doubt, a memorial to the founders of the church - now they are also a memorial to decorative style.

Rock Of Ages

"It is a matter of intense debate amongst mathematicians and theoretical particle physicists as to whether it is possible for any three dimensional object to have just three edges. It is clear that none of the participants involved in such discussions have ever been to Elland - for Elland has just three edges: Hullen Edge, … Continue reading Rock Of Ages