Category Archives: Animals

When There Were Birds

Our new book was published in hardback and e-book on 11th November 2021, called When There Were Birds: The forgotten history of our connections. It is available in all superior bookshops and libraries, as well as online retailers. See our website page for details and reviews.

An audiobook will be available in 2022.

“a marvellously original slice of social history” (Daily Mail, Book of the Week)

 “an appealing social history of Britain … [with] a lot of quirky information” (The Independent)

“The facts and folklore of birdlife … are dissected in admirable detail” (The Sunday Times)

 

Climate Change in 1859

Earlier in the year, we were enjoying a lengthy bout of sunny weather in Britain, with predictions of the summer turning into a prolonged heatwave, like the memorable year of 1976. Record-breaking temperatures are often reported with triumph by newspapers, as if this is a good thing. Then later on came the inevitable floods and high winds, leading to much misery.

 

Sunshine and showers in Devon in the summer of 2019

Such changeable weather is duly attributed to climate change, and yet the evidence for Continue reading

Seafurrers

We  mentioned the highly entertaining Seafurrers blog in our newsletter 47. This is a blog that Bart the Cat maintains, telling tales about his ancestors. He has now gone into print, with a delightful book called Seafurrers: The Ships’ Cats Who Lapped and Mapped the World by Philippa Sandall, illustrated by Ad Long. It’s published in hardback by The Experiment in New York (ISBN 978-1615194377) and by Affirm Press in Australia and New Zealand (ISBN 978-1925712155) and contains a wealth of feline and maritime trivia.

San Roque in Spain

The traditional time for planning holidays was once the period after Christmas, when – in the northern hemisphere – the days are short, dark and cold. If one of the holiday destinations you are considering is Spain, bear in mind that there is much more to the country than ‘sea, sand and sangria’. You do not have to travel far from the coast to find small settlements steeped in history, and the delightful town of San Roque in Andalusia is a good example.

Gibraltar in exile

San Roque is situated on the main coastal highway between the surfing centre of Tarifa (Europe’s most southerly town) and Marbella and Malaga on the Costa del Sol. It is built on a hill a short distance inland from the Bay of Gibraltar, and its key historical significance lies in the relationship with the Rock of Gibraltar. After the British Admiral George Rooke took Gibraltar with an Anglo-Dutch squadron of ships in 1704, many of the existing inhabitants fled to San Roque, which King Philip V of Spain designated ‘Gibraltar in Exile’.

Picturesque San Felipe Street in San Roque

The old quarter of San Roque is an area of buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries that was designated a collection of Listed Historic Buildings in 1975. Continue reading

Regent’s Canal

Prince Regent

One of the projects with which John Drinkwater was involved after the Napoleonic Wars was the construction of the Regent’s Canal through London, which was begun in 1812 and completed in 1820. The Regent’s Canal was part of a grand plan of the architect John Nash to redevelop a large area of central London for the Prince Regent. Prince George, later King George IV, ruled as Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820 when his father, George III, was too incapacitated by mental illness. Like the canal, other parts of this scheme, such as Regent’s Park and Regent’s Street, were named after the Prince.

Tunnel vision

The canal was designed to link the Paddington section of the Grand Junction Canal, which had opened in 1801, with the River Thames at Limehouse. Unusually for a canal just over 8½ miles long, Continue reading

Seafurrers and Jack Tar

Our book Jack Tar plays a role in a blog post called ‘Nelson’s Floating Menagerie’ (for November 14, 2016). This is a wonderful blog called ‘Seafurrers: True Tales of the Ships’ Cats that Lapped and Mapped the World’, which you can enjoy here.

Picture credit: “Illustration cobbled together by Ad Long”

Seafurrers is hosted by Bart the Cat, though we do suspect some human participation as well. Continue reading