Dunkirk

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of Dunkirk, and I thought it worth acknowledging. There's a series of pictures here.

It and the Battle of Britain are iconic events of WWII for Britain, but especially Dunkirk, because of the participation of ordinary people. It forms the background for an episode in the excellent Foyle's War, and also Paul Gallico's novel, The Snow Goose.

BBC recently did a play of this book. You can hear it here.


Jo

More on fabrics

My posts here are forwarded to my Facebook page, and I received these interesting comments there from Jo Koster.

"There's an exhibit on quilts currently at the V&A that shows lots of small bits of these fabrics. Interesting to see the smaller prints evolve as textile machinery grew more sophisticated but also as demands for smaller-scale pieces grew.

Here's the V&A link. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/quilts-1700-2010/. People who are interested: try the "textiles resources" link on the left-hand bar. Lots of photos (download for free) and many other resources."

Thanks, Jo.

Jo

18th century fabrics

A lovely page on 18th century fabrics that is part of a great site on costumes.

Enjoy!

Jo

Eighteenth century servants

I've blogged about 18th century servants and their wages here.

Jo

wild weather in the past

A timely reminder that wild weather isn't new, and nor is nasty winter weather in England.

From the letters of Horace Walpole.
"Arlington Street, Feb. 22, 1762. (PAGE 173)

"As we have never had a rainbow to assure us that the world shall
not be snowed to death, I thought last night was the general
connixation. We had a tempest of wind and snow for two hours
beyond any thing I remember: *chairs were blown to pieces, the
streets covered with tassels and glasses and tiles, and coaches
and chariots were filled like reservoirs. Lady Raymond's house
in Berkeley-square is totally unroofed; and Lord Robert Bertie,
who is going to marry her, may descend into it like a Jupiter
Pluvius."

*chairs here means sedan chairs.

If you want to read his letters, and many other interesting old books, they're available on line in a number of places including Fullbooks

Jo :)

Coming in June -- click here.

Pictures of old Darlington

There's a great collection of old postcards and photos of the Darlington area on this website.

There are pictures here of Thirsk, which features in Secrets of the Night. At left is a photo of mine of The Three Tuns, in which some scenes are set.

There are some more in the middle of this page, though I note that the picture of The Three Tuns isn't working. Have to fix that.

This page is particularly interesting. It compares modern pictures with old photographs.

Darlington isn't that far from here, and my husband's family lived in Middlesbrough, not far away, after moving from rural Yorkshire in the Beverley area to get jobs in industry. Part of my MIP, An Unlikely Countess, is set in Darlington, which is how I found this site in the first place.

Best,

Jo

Title usage

As a reminder, I have a page on my web site giving a simple overview of peerage titles for the romance writer.

There are a number of other articles. Click here for the menu.

The picture is of a backboard, if you've ever wondered what they were. It has a heart-shaped flat piece at the back, and by holding it on this way, the posture was perfected, in theory at least.

Enjoy!

Jo