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It was 250 years ago, on 22nd June 1772, that the Court of King’s Bench ruled that slavery was illegal in England and Wales. It remained legal in British Overseas Territories and colonies until 1833. In the 1772 case of Somerset v Stewart, William Murray, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, made a very specific ruling that...

Twenty-five years ago, on 26th June 1997, J K Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the UK. It received massive acclaim, and another six best-selling books and eight hugely successful films followed. The books have been translated into over 80 languages, and have sold more than 500...

Just 15 years ago, on 29th June 2007, Apple released the first iPhone. From the original concept of an efficient, easy-to-use, slick mobile phone, it transformed by the time of its creation into what was described by Brian Merchant, author of The One Device, as the “primary platform for thousands of apps offering streaming music...

‘Marriage should be honoured by all.’  Hebrews 13:4 A new Act of Parliament has introduced no fault divorce to England and Wales. Now one or both parties to a marriage can get a divorce without the need to blame the other person. It was introduced because there were a very small number of marriages where...

All in the month of May Remembering Bertrand Russell Coventry Cathedral – 60 years on Knit a corgi for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Time to welcome your slugs and snails Why a Russian novelist is so popular just now Nature threatened by dog poo Our addiction to plastic English is becoming, like, less formal maybe,...

It was: 150 years ago, on 18th May 1872 that Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian, and writer was born. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature. 125 years ago, on 26th May 1897 that Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula was published. 100 years ago, on 27th May 1922 that Christopher Lee, British film...

It was 150 years ago, on 18th May 1872, that Bertrand Russell, the Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian, and writer, was born. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature for championing “humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”. A member of a prominent aristocratic family, the 3rd Earl Russell was a very public figure who lived...

Sixty years ago, on 25th May 1962, the new Coventry Cathedral was consecrated. The previous one had been destroyed by German bombing during World War Two. The Queen had laid the foundation stone in 1956, and she was present for the consecration. On the night of 14th November 1940, the old Cathedral – together with...

Thousands of people across the country are buying in light brown and white wool just now, in order to knit up a corgi in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It is a fun way in which anyone with knitting needles can get involved in the coming celebrations. If you google ‘knitting patterns for corgis’,...

So says the Royal Horticultural Society, as it recently began a campaign to encourage us to see the gastropods in our gardens in a better light. The RHS says that the species play a key role in garden ecosystems, and thus are in need of ‘positive PR’. It seems that only nine of the 44...

Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote of the “pleasure of despair”, and it seems that many pessimistic modern readers agree with him. Whatever the reason, sales of the Russian author’s brand of ‘gloom and nihilism’ has become the fastest growing market for Penguin Classics, with sales of Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground quadrupling. Dostoevsky...

These days, it is unthinkable to leave your dog’s waste on the pavement when in town. But in the countryside, too many of us still think it is okay to let our pets foul an area of natural countryside.  Now a recent study has found that this can be especially harmful to nature reserves. The...