Category Archives: History

Leicester’s history revealed by Google Street View

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According to the Daily Mail today Google is extending its Street View service to peer at 95 per cent of homes in the UK.

Greyfriars

In honour of this I’ve uploaded (above) a pic taken from a screen-grab of Street View of the spot in Leicester where a memorial plaque to Richard III, who some say is buried beneath the streets of the ancient city, is mounted. Except it’s covered up (Google Street View pic taken in 2009). By a lettings advert. For a building which is still vacant. And which is surrounded by barbed wire.

Fortunately the advert has gone now, and the memorial is now visible.


There’s a nice article from the Leicester Chronicle, donated by the Richard III Society, on clues to where exactly Richard III might be buried. Personally my favourite plaque is round near the old castle, which says something like ‘back at the time of the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 the people of Leicester met two kings in three days’. Or words to that effect.

The exact location of the battle between the two kings of England is now on show to the public:

The precise location of one of Britain’s most famous lost battlefields has been revealed today (19th February 2010).

The latest discoveries, announced by Leicestershire County Council pinpoint the exact location of Bosworth Battlefield, where Henry Tudor and King Richard III clashed on 22nd August 1485, and shed new light on the way the battle was fought and where King Richard III died.

The exact location, which has been the topic of much debate amongst historians for years, was discovered as part of a groundbreaking archaeological survey to locate the Battle of Bosworth, funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

London, the original robot battlefield

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Did you know that London was the original robot battlefield, using radar unit produced by the Radiation Lab at MIT, creating automated anti-aircraft fire to bring down German V-1 flying bombs? Terminator must have spoke cockney, originally, albeit designed by American Hendrik Wade Bode?

Save the Bowstring Bridge

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I thought I should report this from the Leicester Civic Society as I understand there’s a petition to save the Western Bridge:

“The ‘Bowstring Bridge’ viaduct at the junction of Western Boulevard and Braunstone Gate has been a Leicester landmark since the 1890s and is now under imminent threat of demolition.

“De Montfort University now own the nearby Pump & Tap public house and the land surrounding the bridge and are seeking to build a new swimming pool there. Various reports have suggested that the bridge is in danger of collapse yet years of delays to the demolition and the fact that the road underneath is still in use suggest otherwise. It has carried 1000 ton trains for over 100 years!

“The bridge itself is primarily above the road and does not substantially occupy development land. We believe a solution can be found whereby DMU get to build the much-needed city centre swimming pool whilst retaining this unique remnant of the Great Central Railway.

“DMU have made some important contributions to the regeneration of Leicester and we believe this is an opportunity for them to go the extra mile and prove they care about Leicester heritage. The bridge itself would make a fantastic centrepiece to any new development.

“We therefore call upon De Montfort University and Leicester City Council to retain and reuse the bridge. Please sign our online petition below.”

Hmm, wonder if my old Leicester classmate of BBC TV’s Restoration Marianne Sur knows about this?

New York was once in Leicestershire hands

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While my uncle is reportedly the last surviving member of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment I was reminded of the history of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment today with a visit to the Newake Houses Museum. Little did I know that in 1776 the forerunner to the regiment, the 17th Regiment of Foot, helped capture New York in the American War of Independence. There’s a pic of a button left in New York as way of anecdotal proof.

By the way on the subject if the number 17 it’s a curious contradicttion that if you search wikipedia that against ’17 (number)’ that it both appears as “the high incidence of the number 17 and its function as ‘the most random number‘ as described by MIT“, and the “least random number (17), according to the Hacker’s Jargon File“.

 

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Painting the Forth Bridge to be a thing of the past – well, almost

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Story from The Telegraph..

“Work on giving the Forth Bridge its last coat of paint for at least 20 to 30 years is being accelerated. Balfour Beatty, the engineering group, has promised to try to complete the most famous painting job in Britain by 2012 and finally consign the familiar bon mot “like painting the Forth Bridge” to history.”

“Summits”

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Christ’s Fellow Professor David Reynolds and alumnus Russell Barnes (m. 1987) have teamed up again to make a series of films entitled “Summits”.

Ranging from Chamberlain and Hitler to Reagan and Gorbachev, this three-part series will air on BBC4 on Wednesdays at 9pm, starting on Wednesday 30 January, with repeats probably on Thursdays and Saturdays.

It is linked to David’s book “Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century” (Penguin). Russell’s other work includes a series of films about Darwin, written and presented by Richard Dawkins, to be screened at the end of 2008.

  • Read the Christ’s College magazine article on David & Russell (PDF).

    • Mercurial systems

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    One to watch – Mercury Computer Systems (MRCY) which recently launched Visage Imaging. 52 Week High = 14.66; currently pretty near the low; watch?

    PS: Talking about ‘mercury’ heard the amazing news that the first emperor of China is reportedly buried with rivers of mercury surrounding him. Got to get to that exhibition at the British Museum. Was a great BBC TV documentary last night. Loved the moment where the two curators laughed at being sent an acrobat with one leg. I think you missed the point there.

    Calais

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    Centre of Calais

    We’re staying right next to the old tower in the centre of Calais!

    A little bit of China comes to London

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    Thanks to Robert, and the BBC, just found out that a little bit of China comes to London in September:

    “China’s famed Terracotta Army is to star in an exhibition about its first emperor at the British Museum.

    “About 20 life-size figures from the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi are being loaned for the event.

    “The tomb, dating from 210BC, contains several thousand individually modelled figures intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife.

    “The museum’s Reading Room is undergoing a

    Winston Churchill gets the chop

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    Sad to hear Winston Churchill has been dropped from the history syllabus, according to the Sun.

    I appreciate not everyone thinks Churchill was a great hero, but that’s no reason to give me the boot, after all who else would have done his job?

    So to my one and only Churchill anecdote! Leading European political historian Paul Ginsborg was based at Churchill College, Cambridge, and every evening at ‘formal hall’ you had to make a toast to Churchill the man.

    Well, Paul didn’t really like having to do that he told us, his students – but fortunately found a ‘work around’. Recalling a conversation he had with a member of the Italian resistance imprisoned by Mussolini, who said to him that “when they heard Churchill’s name they knew they would soon be free”, Ginsborg said he always thought of that when he made the toast to Churchill.