Trafalgar : The Royal Navy’s Greatest Ever Victory ?
The Battle of Trafalgar was to witness both the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte’s plans to invade Britain, and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson. It was never going to be any ordinary battle, and quickly acquired a heightened, almost magical, reality.
English Language History : What Caused the Great Vowel Shift?
English is arguably the single most important and influential language in today’s world. It does however contain many vagaries and annoying inconsistencies. One of which is the variations of how vowel combinations should be pronounced. For example, the ‘ea’ in ‘bread’ is pronounced the same as the ‘e’ in ‘bred,’ and not the same as the ‘ea’ in ‘break. This is down to “The Great Vowel Shift”
Euchre – Guernsey’s Card Game
The card game of Euchre can arguably be considered Guernsey’s national game. Across the island there’s a collective enthusiasm for the game that has resulted in leagues, clubs, Euchre drives and many a private euchre party . But how do you play it?
Is there Such a thing as Weather in Space ?
Space is, famously, a pretty empty place. So, how is it possible to have weather there?
The Redcoats are Coming ! – But Why Were the British ‘Red Coats’, Red?
Ever wondered why the iconic symbol of British Empire and military prowess – the’Red Coats’ – are red? The answer might surprise you! Why did the British Army Wear Red ? Its official adoption dates from February 1645, when in the middle of the English Civil War, the English Parliament passed the New Model Army ordinance. The New Model Army The New Model Army ordinance of 1645 prescribed that the English...
Why Do Light Bulbs Light Up
Why Do Light Bulbs Light Up? The answer to this one is in fact changing … In this article we look at BOTH Incandescent and LED Light bulbs.
The Worlds Longest Running Battery
In a physics lab at the University of Oxford there is a battery that has been powering a metal ball ringing two bells for a staggering 175 years and nobody knows why.
Were the Moon Landings Fake ? – Debunking The Conspiracy Theories
To have to be forced to even think about debunking this question is something of a sad indictment of our current zeitgeist. That said, the Moon Landing conspiracy, is one of those theories that seems to persist – so we’ll give it our best shot to explain the most pertinent objections that are often quoted as ‘proof’ that it was all fake, and nothing more than an attempt to humiliate the Russians and hoodwink the world in the cause of American glory.
Origins of Some English Eponyms : Titch, Platonic, Maudlin, Machiavellian
Eponyms are one of the most fascinating examples of how the English language gains new words. In this article we take a colourful look at the phenomenon that is the eponym gathering together the stories of the people behind the words that have passed into our everyday vocabulary : Titch; Platonic; Maudlin and Machiavellian.
How Can Flies Fly at Speed into a Pane of Glass and Seemingly Remain Uninjured ?
How Can Flies Fly at Speed into a Pane of Glass and Seemingly Remain Uninjured ?
The answer lies in a basic physics equation – one we would all have learned at school – and in the fact that the anatomy of a fly is rather springy.
5 Words Introduced to the English Language by Rudyard Kipling
Shakespeare is often credited as a the most prolific contributor of many of the words we use today in the English language. However he’s not the only venerable writer to do so. Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, was also a highly prolific contributor, coining and popularising many words and phrases still in use in modern English.
The Origins of England’s Three Lions
“It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, Football’s coming home ” – So goes the ever popular 1996 “Three Lions” song. So when did the three lions symbol come to be used as England’s royal arms and therefore on the England team shirts ? The answers is somewhat surprising and reveals why in the past we might’ve been singing “three leopards on a shirt”
Time to Take Out the Space Junk
According to NASA, America’s space agency, the skies high above the Earth are cluttered up with around 23,000 pieces of man-made space junk measuring 10cm or more across, zipping along at great speed and posing a threat to working satellites.
English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.
