Writer and blogger
“Whatever the French can do, the English can do bigger!” was the proud boast of Sir Edward Watkin, but his attempt to build a tower that was bigger than the Eiffel Tower and would have been ten times taller than London’s then tallest structure, St Paul’s Cathedral, was doomed to failure through a poor choice of venue and compromises in design. However, something equally iconic rose up on the site.
To read the curious story of Watkin’s Folly, follow the link below:
The Leyland cypress aka the leylandii started life, rather like the Granny Smith apple, as a botanical fluke, but from the 1930s took over British gardens. There are nearly as many of them in the UK as humans and they are all genetically identical to their original parents.
The rise and rise of the leylandii is featured in my latest article to appear on Country Life magazine’s social media platforms.
To read the story in full, follow the link below:
/
A fan was a must-have piece of a lady’s dress in the 18th and 19th century, but did they use them as a means of communication and if so, what did each movement signify?
The history of the language of fans is featured in my latest article to feature on Country Life magazine’s social media platforms.
To read the article in full, click on the link below:
The curious and fortunately short-lived craze for having a living, breathing hermit living in your country estate is explored in my latest article to feature on the social media platforms of Country Life magazine.
To read more about this 18th century craze, follow the link below:
Absinthe was the victim of its own success and the mythology that surrounded it. My latest article to feature on Country Life magazine’s social media platform charts the rise, fall, and rise of the green fairy.
To read the article in full, follow the link below:
The curious and ingenious attempt of Carl Linnaeus to design a clock which harnesses the opening and closing times of certain plants to tell the time.
To read the article in full, follow the link below:
A peculiarly British accompaniment to buttered toast, Gentleman’s Relish was considered to be too strong for women and the hoi polloi. To read about its fascinating history, follow the link below:
Why do there appear to be so many magpies, a bird once associated with bad luck and death and one almost exterminated in Britain? Sometimes relative stability seen against the context of general decline can seem to be an increase.
To find out more about the magpie, click the link below:
Heron of Alexandria was the first to develop a vending machine over two millennia ago. Curiously, around four people a year are killed by them in America.
To find out more about the history of the vending machine, follow the link below:
Firmly in the tradition of the Roman favourite, garum, and discovered by accident, Worcestershire sauce is surprisingly coy about one of its most important ingredients. Why is that?
The story of this quintessentially British sauce can be read by following the link below:
Martin Fone 