On 26thJuly 2018 pioneering aviator Mary Ellis passed away at her home on the Isle of Wight at the age of 101.  Speaking on her 100thbirthday she declared that of the many different types of planes she had flown during the Second World War, the Spitfire was her favourite.  She said, ‘I love it, I […]

In moments of despair and desperation words of hope can make the difference between life and death.  Recognising this simple truth led teenager Paige Hunter to attach messages of hope to Wearmouth Bridge in Sunderland – a place where tragically some of those in the deepest despair end their lives.  Amongst the messages she left […]

It’s a curious thing but the most successful music compilation album in the world, now in its 35thyear, took its name from a 1930’s advert for Danish eggs and bacon.  Preparing for its launch in 1983 studio executives were struggling to think of a name when one of them noticed a poster on the wall […]

For Novak Djokovic yesterday’s win at the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final was the sweetest of victories.  But that wasn’t because he’d earned himself another £2.25m in prize money, nor because it marked a triumphant return from two years battling injury and self-doubt, nor because it clocked up his 13th Grand Slam title.  Asked what it […]

Given everything else going on the world the rise of a new President of Ethiopia in January 2018 went largely unnoticed.  But under his leadership a country, once synonymous with Biblical famine, has continued on a path of positive transformation. Amongst many changes has been the ending of a long-running border war with neighbouring Eritrea, simply […]

With the England football team through to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, it seems that their manager can do no wrong.  In fact, his character as a thoroughly kind and decent bloke is shining through, and the hashtag GarethSouthgateWould is trending on social media. My personal favourite […]

I’m not sure that the National Health Service has a strapline, but if it did it might well be, ‘We Welcome Strangers’, because while we think of ourselves as ‘patients’ when we visit a ‘hospital’ the Latin word from which that word derives means ‘stranger.’   In a famous passage about sheep and goats in […]

On the 23rdMay 2014 the Glasgow School of Art was devasted by a fire started by a small canister of expanding foam.  Opened in 1909 and regarded as the masterwork of designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, those who knew the building were devastated. Despite extensive damage there was no question of the building being pulled down, and […]

‘We cannot tolerate more attacks on our cultural heritage.’ So said a despairing official from Spain’s art conservation association, following yet another botched attempt by an amateur to restore a work of art. The arts and craft teacher called in to restore the 16thcentury wooden sculpture of St George had done their best, but the finished […]

They say that if it seems too good to be true then it probably is.  But that didn’t stop hundreds of people in Florida paying almost a hundred dollars a time to purchase ‘golden tickets to heaven’ from Tito and Amanda Watts.  Tito assured prospective buyers that the tickets were made from solid gold and […]