Category: Random History

On This Day : Cruising With The Dressed Dolls

If you put an advert in the papers today inviting people to a September cruise, no doubt they would turn up with suitcases packed and passports at the ready. Sixty-fives years ago, however, expectations were far less exotic. The 10th anniversary September Cruise was being held at the Alexandra Hall in Halifax, and rather than … Continue reading On This Day : Cruising With The Dressed Dolls

Terrible Tragedy In Halifax

Don't you just get fed up with the state of the modern media, with all the sensational headlines, lurid stories and titillating images designed to get you to follow links to stories that never live up to what they promised? Take me back to the good old days when serious writers upheld the very highest … Continue reading Terrible Tragedy In Halifax

Advertising Feature

For some time now we have held out against the relentless drive to monetise creative content with clickbait and product placement, but alas we have been forced to give in to the demands of commercial necessity. We therefore announce the addition of advertising content to our blogs and social media feeds.

A Super-Charged Excursion To Northowram

I am not sure whether it was the headline about Halifax's super-charged bus, or the photograph of a collection of trilby wearing municipal leaders gathered around a Halifax Corporation double decker, which caught my attention - but whichever it was, my attention was caught. Having spent a fair amount of my youth waiting for such … Continue reading A Super-Charged Excursion To Northowram

Foresight And Tramlines – Shelter From The Coming Storm

SHELTERS FOR AN EMERGENCY : Coun E Wrigglesworth of Hill Side, Park Field, Triangle (who attracted wide notice when he built his own house of concrete blocks some years ago) is now erecting a concrete shelter, which will be of use in case of emergency. The roof will be reinforced with old tram lines. This … Continue reading Foresight And Tramlines – Shelter From The Coming Storm

Old Photo, Old Lane, Old Tom

I must have taken this photograph of the Old Lane Inn, Halifax in the mid 1960s, by which time it had already closed (it briefly came back to life as Dicky Mints 20 years later). The monumental bottle of beer painted on the gable wall should have been listed and saved for posterity. The illustration … Continue reading Old Photo, Old Lane, Old Tom

The End Of Chapeltown

My image today is based on a Halifax Courier photograph of the demolition of the Chapeltown area of Halifax in 1939. Chapeltown, near the bottom of Pellon Lane, was an area where a large number of common lodging houses were located - along with the town’s dungeon.

Click Bait

Twenty-first century media is driven by little other than the remorseless drive to get you to click on some meaningless advert for funeral plans, miracle diets, or mobility scooters. We live in the age of click-bait, and stories that are designed to draw you in, like some digital Venus flytrap, and consume your very soul. … Continue reading Click Bait

Fading In Halifax

I was flicking through the TV channels the other day, wondering whether to watch a concert from Australia, a quiz show from America or a cricket match from India, when I started getting bored with it all and reading an old newspaper instead. The newspaper was from one hundred years ago (Halifax Courier, Wednesday 10 … Continue reading Fading In Halifax