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It was 150 years ago, on 1st October 1873, that Sir Edwin Landseer, artist and sculptor, died.  He is known mainly for his animal paintings, and for the lion sculptures at the base of Nelson’s Column in London. He was a popular painter in his lifetime, appealing to people across class boundaries, and his death...

We are following the Americans in spending more and more money on Halloween. Since 2013, UK consumer spending for Halloween products has more than doubled. It’s gone from about £230 million in 2013 to about £687 million last year, according to the statistics website statista.com. Of that amount, we spent nearly £29 million last year...

The nights are getting darker, and many people are getting SAD, as the autumn closes in around us. SAD is properly called ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’, and it is a kind of seasonal depression. How can you tell if someone has SAD? The symptoms include: a persistent low mood, a loss of pleasure in everyday things,...

All in the month of September 25 years of Google Remembering the genius of JRR Tolkien Remembering W H Auden North Korea – how it all began Weather by app? Do you like the exterior lights of modern cars? Why car tyres are not good for you ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks...

It was: 125 years ago, on 26th Sept 1898 that George Gershwin, American composer, was born.  Known for his operas, Broadway musicals and film scores. 100 years ago, on 4th Sept 1923 that Noel Coward’s musical revue London Calling! was first performed, in London. It was his first publicly produced musical work. Also 100 years...

It was 25 years ago, on 4th September 1998, that Google, the internet search company, was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students at Stanford University in California. The company was originally based in a friend’s garage at nearby Menlo Park. It began in January 1996 as a simple research project which employed...

Fifty years ago, on 2nd September 1973, JRR Tolkien, the fantasy writer, poet, scholar and educator, died. He was best known for his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Born in Bloemfontein and descended from a family that originated in an area that was then East Prussian and is now Russian, Tolkien...

Fifty years ago, on 29th September 1973, W H Auden, British-born American poet, died.  He is widely – though not unanimously – regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Wystan Hugh Auden had been born in York and died in Vienna. In later years he had been splitting his time between...

Some 75 years ago, on 9th September 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established, headed by Kim Il Sung. Korea as a whole had been under Japanese control most of the 20th century, with many Korean guerrilla groups fighting to regain the country’s autonomy. The Second World War led to the...

Do you watch the weather via an app? It seems millions of us do, as we try to outguess what the British weather is going to do next. There are thousands of weather apps out there, and it seems that you can find one that will predict almost anything you want. But if you want...

Have you noticed that the exterior lights on many newer cars are smaller than they used to be? Many motorists are finding this difficult when driving in sunshine, as they still need to see what other cars are signalling to do. But the arrival of LED light clusters means that car manufacturers have been fitting...

Here is a sobering thought: it is not just your car’s exhaust fumes that damage the environment. It is also your car’s tyres. It seems that as rubber tyres wear down, they shed tiny particles that together with other car tyres, form vast clouds of toxic particles along the roads. These pollutants may be invisible,...