Tuesday, 28 January 2025

The Cathars

 I wrote a brief history of the Cathars, a religious sect that flourished in southern France in the Middle Ages

Monday, 27 January 2025

Blackpool

 I wrote a brief history of the English seaside town of Blackpool. It's a famous resort. 

Sunday, 26 January 2025

Holocaust Memorial Day

27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day. On 27 January 1945, the Russian army liberated Auschwitz concentration camp.

Thursday, 23 January 2025

On Tenterhooks

 Why do say on tenterhooks? After it was woven wool was pounded in a mixture of clay and water to clean and thicken it. This was called fulling. Afterward, the wool was stretched on a frame called a tenter to dry. It was hung on tenterhooks. So if you were very tense, like stretched cloth, you were on tenterhooks.

Monday, 20 January 2025

Sliced Bread

 Sliced bread went on sale in the USA in 1928. The first recorded use of the phrase ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ (or one just like it) was in 1952 when a comedian called Red Skelton said in a newspaper that television was ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’.

Adverts for sliced bread said it was the greatest thing since wrapped bread (wrapped in waxed paper). So the best thing before sliced bread was wrapped bread.