I have been camping, and lo it was very much fun! Sweet Babou and I and the small herd of daughters were invited to go along with our friends, whom we call our Host Family who are showing us how to be properly British and do British stuff, on a small camping trip for the… Read more Camping in the Welsh Marches
On 25 May 1553, Lady Jane Grey married Lord Guilford Dudley, the fourth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, at the insistence of the dying King Edward VI. Although the whole thing was young king’s idea, poor Northumberland was cast as a criminal mastermind using a union between Lady Jane and his son to… Read more The Unjust Unpopularity of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
Sunday was a lovely, sunshiny day in South Wales so my Sweet Babou and I loaded the kids up and took them to meet some friends for an amiable amble through Fforest Fawr (which means the big (hunting) woods in Welsh), also known to locals as Bluebell Woods. It feels wonderfully rural but in reality… Read more A Sunny Sunday in Fforest Fawr
Today is the 80th anniversary of the tragic end of the Hindenburg zeppelin. The airship burst into flames on May 6, 1937 and was destroyed in less than a minute. There were 36 passengers and 61 crewmen on the Hindenburg, and despite the fact the ship turned into a plummeting inferno, the majority of… Read more The Hindenburg Disaster
Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest generals in the history of the Western world, died on 5 May 1821 in exile on the Island of Saint Helena, after his ambition exceeded even the limits of his military genius. The last word he ever spoke was the name of his first wife and true love, “Joséphine“.… Read more The Death of Napoleon Bonaparte
The Battle of Tewkesbury occurred on 4 May 1471 and cemented the reign of King Edward IV by destroying the hopes of the House of Lancaster. Although their king, Henry VI, was still alive, his only son and heir, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, who was only a 17 year old boy, was defeated… Read more The Death of Edward of Westminster
Happy May Day Birthday to my darling middle daughter, Buttercup! I had heard all my life that “May babies were good babies” (they weren’t fussy and were healthy) and that babies born on Beltane were a particular blessing for their parents … and particularly blessed individuals. This belief may have come to America with the… Read more Beltane Babies Are Best!