Following on from my fascination with the history of the London Underground earlier this week, I wanted to share this amazing video with you. It shows original footage of London in 1927 next to the same journey photographed now. It’s not just interesting to see how different things are (the number of buses vs cars,(…)
Oops, I’m slightly late to the party (the best people always are)! London Underground turned 150 last year. Admittedly this passed me by at the time, my excuse being that I haven’t lived in London for 10 years now. Having said that I’ve kept a real fascination for the history of the Tube. When I(…)
This image probably depicts crew men of the four-masted steel barque MAGDALENE VINNEN in a boxing match at wharf number 2 in Woolloomooloo. The vessel sailed into Sydney Harbour on 27 February 1933, under the command of Captain Lorenz Peters. The barque was loaded with almost 16,000 bales of wool, the fourth largest shipment to(…)
My little boy has seen 3 different Santas this year (or rather he’s seen Santa 3 times this year) and was slightly confused by the fact that Father Christmas wore glasses two of the times and then didn’t the third time. He whispered that he thought the last one *might* have been one of Santa’s(…)
Christmas is hurtling towards us now. How many sleeps left? I think it’s 4 but I’m writing this before I’ve had my 2nd cup of coffee of the morning and I might be wrong. I should have asked my 7-year-old, he would have answered without hesitation! I thought I’d get in the festive spirit and(…)
This picture perfectly captures for me the style of the 1930s. I think my glamorous 1930s ideal probably stems from watching too many Poirot and Hollywood movies, where all the young people were beautiful, tanned and althetic, all the men had slicked back hair and dashing looks and the women had perfect pin curls. I(…)
Less than a year after its birth, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced its first astronaut class, the Mercury Seven, on April 9, 1959. Project Mercury proved that humans could live and work in space, paving the way for all future human exploration. This cutaway drawing of the Mercury capsule was used by the(…)
50 years ago today President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a visit to Dallas, Texas. The news shocked the world. These photos look perfectly normal snaps until you find out more about them and then they become incredibly powerful. The photo above was taken earlier that day when the President and a smiling Jackie(…)
The youngest US president to be inaugurated and the youngest President to die in office, it is 50 years this week since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In a week where talk of his assassination will be everywhere here are some happier photos of him.
A girl de-fluffing her extremely furry angora rabbit, 1930s.
In Flanders Field In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now(…)
This photo was taken at the opening of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in September 1967. The Triceratops, named Uncle Beazley was placed in the parking lot, where you can also see him in the snow in 1977 (below).
Everybody knows the beautiful green cigarette packets with a beautiful woman on the front dressed up in a tiger suit. She looks at you with intense seductive eyes and even if you don’t smoke, you’d want the packet just for its beautiful picture. A lot of people like the cigarettes or like the packet but(…)
I seem to have a slight obsession with vintage mug-shots this week and I couldn’t resist sharing these beautiful photos with you. They were taken between 1910 and 1930 by New South Wales Police Department. Called ‘special photographs’, I’m not sure whether they replaced traditional mug-shots or were supplimentary, but they were photographs of “men(…)
I was talking about my fascination with vintage mug-shot photos a few days ago and since then I stumbled upon these amazing photos of 1920s women who were incarcerated at the State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW. What makes these photos so interesting is that they took a full length photo of each woman,(…)
It’s my son’s school trip today. They’re learning about World War 2 in history at the moment and they’re off to have a WW2-themed day at Holdenby House where they’ll get to experience cooking with rations, bomb shelters and various other things which *may* give him nightmares. Having said that learning about the war is(…)
George Washington’s teeth which, contrary to popular myth, weren’t made of wood. He had various pairs, and the pair he had when he became president were made from hippo and elephant ivory with gold springs. I’m not sure whether the pair above are those, but they certainly look about right don’t they? Washington suffered from problems(…)
I’m not sure quite what the story is behind these photos of the Statue of Liberty. It seems that various body parts went on a world tour before they were finally assembled an put into place in 1886. Does anyone know a little more about the history of this? Either way, the photos are fascinating.(…)