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Growing up in Kentucky Abraham Lincoln witnessed slaves being herded along the highway like cattle. It made a lasting impression on him, and he became convinced that no person should ever be the property of another. But slavery was a fact of life and some 4 million were enslaved at the time of his election as president in 1861. He was determined to use the power he now had to set them free; a reso...

In the mid-nineteenth century the American financial system was facing an existential threat from counterfeit currency. Something had to be done and so the Treasury established a secret service to go after the counterfeiters. But at the turn of the century, it was a threat to democracy itself that galvanised the service into the one we are most familiar with today – on 6 th  September 1901 Pr...

I recently found myself in conversation with someone bemoaning their experience of going to a church that was a bit ‘happy clappy’. They were not a regular churchgoer but had gone for the baptism of their second child. Their first child had been baptised in a more traditional church and this had clearly been more in keeping with their expectation of what church should be like. I find this attitude...

In 2014 ‘Cheka’ Tsybukh was 16 years old when she first volunteered as a medic in eastern Ukraine helping those being wounded in the fight against Russian aggression. She served for three years but returned again in 2022 after the full-scale invasion. She still had her whole life before her but was quoted as saying, ‘I want children, I want a house. I want to plant tomatoes… but the most important...

When the Michelin brothers started making car tyres, they weren’t thinking about fancy restaurants but how to feed themselves. To do that they needed to sell as many tyres as possible either on new vehicles or as replacements. So it was that they hit upon the idea of a free guidebook including recommendations about where to eat. The more people drove the sooner they would need new tyres. The star...

When Jesus was telling his friends what to look out for as signs of his imminent return, I wonder if he had Taylor Swift in mind? Amongst the things Jesus mentioned were earthquakes and once again Taylor’s enthusiastic ‘Swifties’ have made the earth move. During her recent concerts in Edinburgh seismic activity was detected 6km away as her fans jumped and danced the night away.  Dancing Swift...

With the UK general election in full swing the political parties are starting to publish their manifestos. They will be full of promises to cut taxes, create jobs, spend billions on healthcare and housing and generally make us all feel richer and happier. The problem is we’re all rather cynical, convinced that politicians promise the earth and then fail to deliver once the election is over. But ma...

Robert Cumming was not the first art critic to be puzzled by Filippino Lippi’s famous 15 th  century painting Virgin and Child. It depicts Mary cradling the infant Jesus on her knee with two saints, Dominic and Jerome, praying in the foreground. But the picture’s perspective seems all wrong. The hills in the background look as if they might topple out of the picture, Jerome and Dominic s...

In the blockbuster movie Gladiator, Maximus is a Roman General betrayed by Caesar’s son Commodus. Reduced to slavery Maximus fights to survive and eventually comes face to face with Commodus once more at the Colosseum in Rome. He has worn a mask to fight but Commodus commands him to reveal his identity. Maximus turns, removes his helmet, and declares ‘I am Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of th...

While he may have jumped before he was pushed it was refreshing to hear Humza Yousaf’s speech as he stepped down as First Minister of Scotland. Firstly, he admitted that he had made a mistake and secondly, he said he wasn’t willing to trade his values or principles simply to stay in power. He also told his political opponents he bore them no ill will and wished them well. It’s not often that polit...

How on earth did St George end up as the patron saint of England? Legend has it that he was born in the third century to Greek Christian parents. A soldier in the Roman army he rose to become a member of the Praetorian guard under Emperor Diocletian but was then martyred for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. He was, apparently, decapitated on 23 rd  April AD303. So, he never set foot...

At the beginning of William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies a party of school children are stranded on a desert island without any adults. For the first time in their lives, they can do as they please. The prospect of being able to indulge in unbridled freedom brings a previously unknown joy. Sadly, their attempt to build utopia quickly descends into chaos as the selfishness of their human heart...

Being in the right place at the right time is all it takes to lift someone from obscurity to fame. Take for example Wyckoff van Derhoef. He happened to be in Belfast and needing passage home to New York at the same time the RMS Titanic was preparing to leave for Southampton. Setting sail on 2 nd  April 1912 the Titanic carried a skeleton crew, a snagging team from Harland and Wolff and a sing...

On the morning of 16 th  March 1912, Captain Lawrence Oates walked out of his tent in the Antarctic and into temperatures of -40 0 C. He was suffering from frostbite and gangrene and was slowing the expedition down. His parting words were “I may be some time”, but he knew he was going to die, and this act of self-sacrifice was an effort to save his companions. Writing afterwards in his diary...

Made famous by Kevin Costner’s film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, the Sycamore Gap tree stood for 300 years. That was until persons unknown decided to cut it down. Over the years thousands had made the journey to Hadrian’s Wall to take its photo and to have their photo taken with it. So, the shock and dismay at this mindless act of vandalism was felt around the world. Seemingly the tree was gone f...

Where I live I am surrounded by beautiful countryside and there are lots of walks to choose from. So over the years my family and I have developed a short hand way of referring to them. If I return from a walk and say that I have been ‘Under the A23’, or that I did ‘Big Swing’, ‘Short Vineyard’ or ‘Mill Ponds’, the rest of my family will know exactly where I’ve been. Of course for anyone outside o...

With depressing regularity, we discover the devastating impact of our failure to look after God’s creation. With our backs turned toward God and His image in us faded, we exploit rather than steward His wonderful world. This time it is the turn of the humble donkey. First domesticated in Kenya and the Horn of Africa over 7,000 years ago this beast of burden transformed the world by carrying heavy...

This week Dr Georgia Carroll is preparing to deliver the keynote address at a conference in Melbourne, Australia. The conference has attracted global interest from academic institutions across the globe. The subject of this symposium? The stunning popularity and influence of the pop star Taylor Swift. With world leaders begging her to tour their countries to boost their economies, experts using he...

Last week a lawsuit was lodged in the Delhi High Court. The case in question concerns a dispute over which family can lay claim to direct lineage to the creator of one of India’s most popular dishes – butter chicken!  Over seventy years ago the owner of an open-air diner needed to use up leftover tikkas and hit upon the idea of adding tomato gravy and dollops of butter. Fast forward to today...

For prospective homeowners nothing beats the sight of watching a new-build house rise from the ground. Rather less exciting is watching it disappear again. Such was the experience for many of those buying houses on the Darwin Green estate on the outskirts of Cambridge. Of dozens of houses that were built 83 were found to have ‘issues’ with their foundations. Thirty-six had to be demolished and ano...

With freezing temperatures I’m wondering whether I might wake up one morning to a blanket of snow outside. Only it wouldn’t be a blanket but billions of individual ice crystals lying together. And while they might all look the same each one would in fact be unique. The atmospheric conditions through which they had fallen would have made them form ever so slightly differently. That said the heart o...

Most of us wake up each morning confident that we will see the end of the day. But sometimes something happens to remind us that that might not always be the case. Still reeling from the recent earthquake Japan is now confronted with another tragedy. A coastguard plane carrying aid has collided with a passenger jet engulfing it in flames. Sadly, five aboard the smaller plane have perished while re...

When it comes to wrapping presents there are different schools of thought. Some opt for a plain and simple approach with nice paper, neatly wrapped; some like to add ribbons and bows that look very pretty; and some dispense with wrapping altogether and just pop the gift in a pretty bag. In the end, of course, however exciting the wrapping, it’s the gift inside that counts. When it came to wrapping...

Despite its stirring theme tune one of our favourite Christmas movies, The Great Escape, is a tragic tale. It tells the story of Allied airmen who tunnelled their way out of Stalag Luft III during World War Two. Of the 76 who escaped only three made it back to England and of the rest fifty were executed. When the war was over a detective, Wing Commander Bowes, was sent to Germany to find those res...

Many years ago, my brother and sister were at Victoria station waiting for a train to Brighton. They sat on a bench watching a train on the platform and as it began to pull out my sister turned to my brother and said, ‘I think we could have got that one.’ History doesn’t record my brother’s response, but I suspect it was something along the lines of, ‘Why didn’t you say something before it was too...