The Royal Standard
The Queen’s Royal Standard and its usage The royal standard is actually a banner of arms and it used by members of the royal family, notably Her Majesty the Queen. It flies above her royal homes when she is in residence. Traditionally, it is the only flag that is flown from royal properties Why the flag is never at half mast The flag exists in order to show that the monarch is in residence and is never flown at half mast (or...
The secret branch of the British Royal Family?
Is there a secret branch of the British royal family? It’s very possible isn’t it? And many people believe that there are unknown direct descendants of Queen Victoria alive and well in Britain today. Royal princes of course were encouraged to sow their wild oats and there were several children resulted but in one case, it’s thought that family of hidden royals exists which began when one of Queen Victoria’s...
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Do you believe in ghosts? I had never thought much about this question – until one night in 1968. I was a young policeman on a lonely country beat. That’s me in the photo; the big guy, end of the row, right. And that’s the whole team at the village police station in a rural part of Essex, England, where I was sent after my basic police training. I had visions of fighting crime on mean city streets; a bit like ‘Dragnet’ on...
Today in history: December
What happened on this day in December? 1st Jaco Pastorious born 1951 Lou Rawls born 1933 Woody Allen born 1935 Richard Prior born 1940 Margaret Whigham born 1912 2nd MariaCallas born 1923 Desi Arnaz died 1986 3rd Agatha Christie disappeared 1926 Oswald Mosley died 1980 Ozzy Osbourne born 1948 Charles Pillsbury born 1842 JAQUO.com purchased 2014 Princess Victoria died 1935 Renoir died 1919 4th Bert Lahr died 1967 Mary Celeste found...
The Great Beer Disaster
The Great Beer Disaster of 1814. On Monday October 17, 1814, a huge vat of beer burst in the centre of London sending a tidal wave of black porter ale, 15 feet high, flooding into houses, drowning people, and demolishing property in its wake. At the heart of London’s retail centre today is a crossroads, where the Charing Cross Road, intersects with Oxford Street, New Oxford Street, and Tottenham Court Road. Just a few yards along...
The Last Taboo
How do you tell someone they … stink? I think it must be as difficult today as it was for me 40 years ago. In the early 1970s I worked as a clerk in an East London Youth Employment Service. My job was to register young people under 18 for work and help them find a job. They had to sign on twice a week to get their unemployment benefit, which included checking with me to see what vacancies were on offer. At that time the employment...
Christine Granville
The strange story of Krystyna Skarbek. On June 15th, 1952, a woman’s body was found in the Shelbourne Hotel in London. She had been murdered, stabbed in the heart. The authorities believed her to be a thirty-seven year old married woman who worked as a stewardess on ocean liners. This was only partially true. Christine Granville was forty four year old Krystyna Skarbek, the daughter of a Polish nobleman. Yes she had been...