The Year It All Began – 1858! “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, […]
The Year It All Began – 1858! Read More »
THE “ALMOST” PERFECT CRIME Along with my passion for history, I have always loved mysteries and perfect crimes that go wrong. The infamous Great Brinks Robbery in Boston, Massachusetts, that happened on this date (January 17) in 1950 and was described at that time as the “Crime of the Century,” contains elements of all three.
The “Almost” Perfect Crime Read More »
What does December mean? Another year is almost over. It went by in a flash! December is all about Christmas although many stores were already in Christmas mode before Halloween. I still remember the “good old days” when the Christmas rush did not start until the middle of December and, in the far off distant
What does December mean? Read More »
Today I Welcome a Visiting Author to My Blog: Judith Arnopp, How to Dress Like a Tudor PROLIFIC HISTORICAL FICTION WRITER FROM THE UK, JUDITH ARNOTT, HAS STOPPED BY TO TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT ONE OF HER LATEST BOOKS – “HOW TO DRESS LIKE A TUDOR.” I don’t always dress like a Tudor lady, but
Today I Welcome a Visiting Author to My Blog: Judith Arnopp, How to Dress Like a Tudor Read More »
November Blues Welcome to November, the month of dreary rain, gunpowder plots, beheadings, doom, and gloom! Or so it would seem, according to history. The word ‘November’ comes from the Latin word novem meaning nine because November was once the ninth month of the year (in the Roman calendar.) Today, of course, in the Gregorian
When a Princess Came to Town Although Queen Victoria herself never visited British Columbia’s capital city named for her, one of her four daughters, Princess Louise, (her sixth child,) came to Victoria in September 1882, with her husband, the Marquis of Lorne. She loved the city so much that she urged her husband to prolong
When a princess came to town Read More »
Was this the beginning of technology? On July 23rd, 1829, William Austin Burt patented the “typographer,” later to be known as the typewriter. The very first patent for a “writing machine” was given to one Henry Mill in 1714, but nothing survived to prove its existence. For this reason, Burt’s typographer in 1829, which printed
Was this the beginning of technology? Read More »
“GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, AND GROW UP WITH THE COUNTRY.” This well-known quote has been spoken many times, but do you know who first said it? It was a man named Horace Greeley, a journalist, editor, and political leader, who wrote those words to his readers on July 13th, in 1865. He had a passion for
Go west, young man, and grow up with the country Read More »
A Scandalous Love Affair Today we are accustomed to scandals in the news, but this was not case in early Victoria. Rumours surrounding one young woman during the 1890s, for instance, were therefore thought to be quite shocking. The lady in question was Bertha de Miranda Genn who led a very unorthodox life. Born in
A Scandalous Love Affair Read More »
The Lady who knew “next to nothing” about Gardening. Jeanette Foster Kennedy was born in Toronto, Ontario, on February 26th, 1868, one hundred and fifty-five years ago, but her presence on Vancouver Island is still very much alive. Although her ancestry was both Canadian and Irish, she was destined to become famous on the Saanich
The Lady who knew “next to nothing” about Gardening Read More »
