Uranus

On 13 March 1781, the famous astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. The outer planets fascinated me when I was a boy because so little was known about them. Today we know far more about them but we have now discovered many mysterious heavenly bodies even further away.

Let The Cat Out of The Bag

 Why do we say let the cat out of the bag? This old saying is probably derived from the days when people who sold piglets in bags sometimes put a cat in the bag instead. If you let the cat out of the bag you exposed the trick. I have heard it said, on certain historical ships I could mention that it comes because a cat o'nine tails was kept in a bag. But the cat o'nine tails was not used by the English navy till the mid-17th century and the saying is certainly older than that.

Myths about witchcraft

 This is an interesting article about myths about witchcraft 

Gladys Moss

 Gladys Moss was the first female police officer in Sussex, in 1919

The End of Corporal Punishment

 On 25 February 1982, in a case brought by two Scottish mothers, Grace Campbell and Jane Cosans Grace Campbell the European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools if it was against the parent's wishes was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It was then an untenable situation that teachers could hit certain children but not others so in 1986 the British parliament voted to end corporal punishment in state schools. It became illegal in 1987. Well done ladies.

Arangela Tarbotti

 Arangela Tarbotti was born on 24 February 1604. She was a famous writer who vigorously attacked the condition of women in the 17th century. We don't often hear about her today but in her own time she was highly respected and she corresponded with famous scholars in Europe.

Warrington

 I wrote a brief history of the town of Warrington in Cheshire