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One hundred years ago, on 5th January 1919, the German Workers’ Party was founded by Anton Drexler. In February the following year it was renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – better known as the Nazis. Drexler was a Munich locksmith who was opposed to the armistice of November 1918 and followed the outlook...

Sister Mary Teresa – the future Mother Teresa – arrived in Calcutta 90 years ago this month, on 6th January 1929, to begin working with the poor and the sick. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1910, she was of Albanian heritage but had moved to Ireland in 1928 to join the Sisters...

It was 50 years ago this month, on 30th January 1969, that the Beatles gave their last public performance – on the roof of Apple Studios in London. It was their first truly live show since their final tour ended on 29th August 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. They had become less popular...

Do you have asthma?  Then beware of air pollution.  It may cause one in three cases of asthma hospitalisation worldwide. So concludes a recent major study at The George Washington University in Washington DC.  Doctors found that nine to 23million annual asthma A&E visits worldwide may have been triggered by ozone, a pollutant generated when...

According to the current Ipsos MORI Veracity Index, our faith in bankers is growing.  Public trust in Britain’s bankers has actually doubled in the past five years, with two in five of us now saying we would trust a banker to be truthful. The people we trust most of all are still our doctors and...

Nearly 50,000 children in the UK are living with adults who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, according to recent Public Health England figures. That will include a proportion of middle class and professional families.

Satellite pictures of earth are usually beautiful, but not these: The Environment Agency has begun using satellite images to monitor plastic pollution off Britain’s shores, so that it can send clean-up teams in to protect wildlife. Each year the world makes about 380million tons of plastic.  At least eight million tons of the stuff ends...

Who thinks up tests like this?  Scientists have been out collecting spiders from rural and urban areas all across Europe, to test whether or not their natural fear of light is changing. They found that country spiders, regardless from which country, still prefer quiet, dark places.  However, urban spiders are becoming brazen, and are happy...

All in the month of December How Silent Night first began – 200 years ago Peaceful Praise on a silent night The Conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge How A Christmas Carol first began – 175 years ago The legacy of Miss Potter The podcast phenomenon Expensive Christmas cracker The great ‘Takeaway’ take-over  ** Editor:  We continue...

It was 200 years ago, on 24th December 1818 that the popular Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’ was performed for the first time, at midnight mass at a parish church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It had been written just a few hours earlier by teacher and church organist Franz Xaver Gruber, to lyrics by priest...

One of the most popular Christmas carols, Silent Night, was performed for the first time 200 years ago this month, on 24th December 1818, at midnight mass at a parish church in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria. The carol was originally a poem, written in six verses by priest Joseph Mohr two years earlier. Because the...

200 years ago this Christmas Eve a parish priest near Salzburg in Austria and his organist wrote a new carol for the midnight mass. The priest, Fr Joseph Mohr, provided the words in a poem he had recently written. The organist was Franz Xavier Gruber who created a tune of haunting beauty. The carol, Stille...