Tolpuddle Martyrs

 On 19 March 1834, the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to 7 years transportation. They were convicted of making an illegal oath. They tried to form a trade union and they swore an oath of secrecy, which was then illegal and gave the authorities an excuse to arrest them.

Pictures of Frome

 I took some pictures of Frome in Somerset 

Red Letter Days

Why do we say red-letter days? In the Middle Ages, saint's days were marked in red in calendars. People did not work on some saint's days, which were also called holy days. Our word holiday is derived from a holy day.

Diving Suit

 I found an interesting video about the world's oldest diving suit  

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