stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
In January 1951, a hunter called Bill Said brought three gorillas to Columbus Zoo in Ohio. Two of the apes, Millie Christina and Baron Macombo, stayed at the zoo as a mated pair. On 22nd December 1956…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
In 1844 a group of twenty-eight artisans in Rochdale, near Manchester, established the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. While not the first co-operative in England, the Rochdale Pioneers set ou…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
In 1934 the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi produced nuclear fission for the first time for which he received the Nobel Prize for Physics four years later. After receiving his prize, Fermi emigrated to…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
Born on 30th July 1818 at the Parsonage in Thornton, near Bradford, Yorkshire, Emily Jane Brontë was the fifth of six children of Revd. Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria. Nearly two years after her…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
Born in 1603 in the Dutch province of Groningen, Abel Tasman entered the service of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company). By the mid-1630s Tasman was serving as a mate on…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
At the dawn of the twentieth-century, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright left their cycle manufacturing business in Dayton, Ohio and travelled to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to undertake experiment…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
On 16th December 1707, Mount Fuji in Japan erupted. While this Hōei Eruption (as it became known) did not produce a lava flow, during its two week duration the eruption sporadically released hundreds…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
Thomas Wright Waller was born in New York City on 21st May 1904. His mother, Adeline, taught him to play the reed organ with which he later accompanied his father, the Reverend Edward Waller, an Abyss…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: Stepterix's Blog
Another of my favourite songs of all time: Roberta Flacks's haunting yet beautiful version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".In 1957 the English folk singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl composed th…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
Born in Flint, Michigan, in 1941, John Sinclair became a major figure in the late 1960s counter-culture movement. He wrote for the underground press, organised free festivals and managed the garage ro…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: Bloody Computer!
As I mentioned in a recent post, I have recently switched to a Linux distribution as my operating system of choice. Many other users may be put off from making a similar switch because they are concer…
Read More »
stepterix has posted a new entry on: The Modern Historian
At 1pm on 11th December 1866, three schooners sailed from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, their destination was the Needles, near Cowes in the Isle of Wight. The three yachts taking part in 'The Great Atlant…
Read More »