MA Day school

Today i attended the first day school of my current Open University course (which is an MA in History of course), the day school was at the OU's HQ in Milton Keynes. This was the first time i had been there, indeed the first time i had been to MK! An interesting if slightly strange place to be sure, both the campus and MK! I of course got lost on my day to the day school (well its traditional for me, i just wonder how it is possible for someone to have such a lack of a sense of direction!)

The day school was good, though tiring, and i had a nice chat with my tutor. Unfortunately at the train was delayed coming back home due to some overhead line problems nearly Wembley (though in the end my train was only delayed 30 minutes). That meant i had time to have a surreal chat with a dopehead on the train platform, he was on the run from the police for breaking his bail conditions because he couldn't go back home because his girlfriend (who seemed also pretty drugged up) had burnt all his clothes and stabbed him. He was looking to go to Wales to hide, though got on a train for Glasgow. I think he was too high to really care one way or the other!

A825, early thoughts

I started my MA with the OU module A825 a few weeks ago. So far i notice it is a lot more hands off by the course team, to date i've been asked to read a book (Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850) and come back when i've done so for discussion. Thats fine with me though i tend to be a bit of a slow reader so i'm only half way through the book yet.

On November 5th there is the first of 3 day schools for the course, at the OU's HQ in Milton Keynes, i am hoping to be able to attend this. That should be where the course really starts to get going.

Its hard to know at this early stage how well i am doing and how well i am understanding the content, the first test comes in December when i have to submit my first assignment! It has been a little difficult getting going, i've had nearly a whole year off since the end of the last module on my BA, and the study habits quickly fade!

Mastodons were hunted in North America 800 years earlier than thought

From the Guardian

"Humans were hunting large mammals in North America about 800 years earlier than previously thought, new analysis of a controversial mastodon specimen – with what appears to be a spear tip in its rib – seems to confirm."

Photo : St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford

This Saxon tower is the oldest building in Oxford. I have just visited the historic university city, you can see all of my photos here!

Ancient 'paint factory' unearthed

From the BBC

"The kits used by humans 100,000 years ago to make paint have been found at the famous archaeological site of Blombos Cave in South Africa.

The hoard includes red and yellow pigments, shell containers, and the grinding cobbles and bone spatulas to work up a paste - everything an ancient artist might need in their workshop."

A silent movie star is reborn: Pola Negri's lost Mania is found

From the Guardian

"The tragedy of silent cinema is that we have so little of it. Of all the films made in the silent era, no more than 20% are extant, and even fewer of those are available to be seen by the public. But happily, that isn't the end of the story. Those missing reels have not all been burned, re-used or left to rot. New discoveries are being made all the time, and each lost film that is returned to the fold has something to teach us about cinema at the beginning of the last century – and the best of them are a delight to watch as well."

A new adventure begins

Next month will mark a year since my final exam of my BA History with the Open University, and as that degree is safely out of the way (i got a 2:1) its time to move onto the MA...

I registered for the course back in April ready for a start in October, that did seem a long way away when i registered but now i am just a few weeks away and yesterday i received my course materials... and there seems to be a lot to read!

Hopefully i don't have to read all of it as there is a choice of module later on in the course, this part of my MA will be a 15 month course too not a 8 month one like the BA modules were. Maybe i'll make a start with reading the introduction at least at the weekend.

Photo : Tomb of King John

The tomb of King John of England in Worcester Cathedral. More photos from the cathedral plus Worcester itself can be seen here.

Is Saudi Arabia finally taking an interest in its own heritage?

From the Guardian

"For years, the country has been erasing any evidence of its polytheistic, desert-dwelling past. But now, slowly, the tide may be starting to turn."

Lost Hitchcock film to be given Hollywood premiere in New Zealand archive

From the Indy

"Thirty years after his death, a film by Sir Alfred Hitchcock will once more enjoy a Hollywood premiere after a copy of what is believed to be the earliest surviving film from his back catalogue was found in New Zealand."

Photo : Hatton Locks

Hatton Locks heritage workshops and offices on the Grand Union Canal. More photos at Hatton Locks can be seen here.

Hilarious and Surprising Predictions of the Future…From the 1960s!

From Singularity Hub

"Nothing should make a futurist more wary than looking at the history of the profession and seeing how hilarious its mistakes have been. Jetpacks, flying cars, death rays…the future isn’t quite what the past hoped it would be. Of course, when predictions do come true it can be really shocking."

(Videos galore included)

Open University new fees

As you may know i am an Open University student having completed a BA in History with them last year and am preparing to start a Masters in October. Today the Open University have announced their new fees from 2012 as part of the big shake-up of university funding and like everywhere prices are going up. "Full time" undergraduate degree fees will now be £5000 a year. That is for 120 points which is the most you can study in a year with the OU. Most people tend to do no more than 60 points a year, from 2012 they will be paying £2500 a year for a 60 point module. For comparison over the 6 years of my degree i paid somewhere between £600 to £700 a year.

Obviously this is a big increase and i fear for the OU's future a bit. A lot of people choose OU degrees for interest not career reasons and they will likely be put off by these fees, i might well have been if i was looking to start in 2012 though a History degree was always my dream.

Although student loans will be available that does not apply to everyone. Value for money will also become a much bigger issue. Although i think the OU is great (obviously) £2500 a year for a few books, a dozen tutorials and an exam seems a lot steeper than a few hundred pounds. "Normal" universities might be still a lot more expensive but you do get the day-to-day university experience as part of that. Working at a university myself i know where the money has to go to pay all the other costs involved in running a university but these are not so apparent or even relevant to your average student.

The Open University is still a great option though but i think they may need to up their game a bit. At where i work i have noticed students becoming much more concerned with value for money and have a much higher expectation from their career mortgage investment (which is what your student fees and loans are) so the same will be true at the OU.

Silent movie scores found at Birmingham central library

From Birmingham News Room

"Staff at Birmingham City Council making preparations for their move to the Library of Birmingham building in 2013 have uncovered what could be the UK’s largest collection of silent movie scores, including a unique Charlie Chaplin theme tune."

Heavy armour would have exhausted the French at Agincourt, say scientists

From the Guardian

"Would the battle of Agincourt have turned out differently if the French had worn lighter armour? Perhaps, say researchers who have discovered that the heavy steel-plate armour worn by the French would have exhausted them before the fight with the English had even started..."

Nice video of people in suits of armour on a treadmill. The comments on the article are interesting.

Photo : Sopwith Camel

See more photos from my visit to the Imperial War Museum here.

A history of the News of the World – in pictures

With the last ever issue of the News of the World, proported to be the largest selling English language newspaper, on Sunday due to the phone hacking scandal the Guardian have a photo gallery looking back over the newspaper's 168 year history.

Bones, hairs and blood: relics that stretched pilgrims' grasp of humanity

From the Guardian

"An understanding of the medieval cult of martyrs' relics can help open our minds to the otherness of beliefs in today's world."

10 more fascinating facts about Erdington

1. Mothers was a famous rock club that ran from 1968 until 1971, it located on Erdington High Street opposite St Barnabas church. Pink Floyd recorded part of their Ummagumma live album there. Other bands that played there included Black Sabbath, The Who and Free. Not a bad line-up!
2. Rookery House in Rookery Park was originally called Birches Green however it was renamed in the early 20th century because it was bought by someone who owned another house just down Kingsbury Road also called Birches Green.
3. In 1960 a Mr T.Haywood, who was a lorry driver from Erdington, became the first person to walk from Edinburgh to London in less than 7 days when he beat the time set by Dr Barbara Moore.
4. In 1880 the landlords of the Roebuck and the Red Lion pubs were questioned by the police for allegedly allowing illegal gambling on their premises.
5. Erdington Safeway was one of a number of the firm's stores which were targetted by an extortioner who deliberately contaminated jars of food in 1981. A ransom demand was sent to the company's headquarters for £500,000. Jars of gherkins at the Erdington store were found contaminated with paraquat. 
6. The orphanage set up by Josiah Mason cost £60,000 back in 1870 and was given an endowment valued at £200,000
7. A notable horse race in the 1870s, often mentioned in the same breath as the Grand National, was the Erdington Plate. The race was often held at Sutton Coldfield race track.
8. The Bagot Arms pub is named after the Bagot family who owned Pype Hayes Hall during the 19th century. The house was sold to the wire making industrialist James Rollason in 1906, who now has a road named after him in Erdington.
9. In the early part of the 20th century Erdington had an ice rink which was on the site of the current fire station.
10. Spring Lane Primary School was the new site of the school that was once on the High Street but moved after WW2, during the war the Spring Lane site was a barracks and armoury.

Sources : various including The Times Digital Archive and old Ordinance Survey Maps.

A computer dating revolution (of the archaeological kind)

From the Indy

"The long-lost ‘history’ of prehistoric Britain, including our island’s first wars, is being re-discovered - courtesy of innovations in computer programming as well as archaeology."

Photo : Shakespeare's tomb

The Bard's tomb in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon.

I took a number of photographs in historic Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday, you can see them all here.

10 fascinating facts about Erdington

I am thinking about doing a Erdington history blog, while i decide here is a little list of 10 fascinating facts about this village i live in.

1. Chester Road probably predates the Romans and as you can thus imagine is one of the oldest roads in the area. Between Kenilworth and Brownhills the road follows the route of the ancient Welsh Road.
2. The Dwarf Holes were mysterious artificial caves, which were lost due to the construction of the Gravelly Hill Interchange. They may have dated from the Stone Age. They were mentioned in deeds dating from the 15th century in any case.
3. The brick factory on Holly Lane supplied the bricks for many of Erdington's houses up until WW2. Twenty million bricks were used to build Fort Dunlop.
4. Fort Dunlop was at one time the largest tyre factory in the British Commonwealth, it was built where it was because of the ready supply of water from the River Tame and surrounding fields.
5. The murder of Mary Ashford in Erdington in 1817 and the resulting trial ended up with the British legal system being changed after the defendant Abraham Thornton challenged his accuser (Mary's younger brother) to a duel who, as he was just a young lad, declined thus forcing the case to be dismissed. News of this case travelled far and wide, when Thornton tried to emigrate to the US he had a lot of trouble trying to get a ship in Liverpool as the fellow passengers did not want to share the same boat as a "murderer".
6. Number 2 Fern Road was the last house with a thatched roof in Birmingham though it's roof was replaced in 1944 due to the fire risk.
7. Six Ways is reputed to be the oldest traffic roundabout in the UK.
8. In the 1900s Birmingham Council planned to build a gas works on the Glenthorne estate, luckily they built the Birches Green housing estate instead.
9. The Acorn Hotel was located on the High Street on the junction of Church Road up until the Second World War, a pub called The Acorn occupies part of the same site.
10. Two companies bid for the railway line from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield, the winning company building what is now the Cross City Line. The alternative plan envisaged a rail route to Erdington that would have gone along the Tyburn Road and Wood End Lane with stations on Mason Road and Orphanage Road.

Bibliography
Arkinstall M & Baird P (1976), 'Erdington Past & Present', Birmingham Public Libraries
Baxter M & Drake P (1995), 'Erdington', Tempus
Baxter M & Drake P (2003), 'Erdington Vol 2', Tempus
Maxam A (2008), 'Vintage Images of Erdington Birmingham', Adlard

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images

From the BBC

"Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings."

Huguette Clark: New York's billionaire recluse dies, aged 104

From the Guardian

"For 80 years her life was set in aspic, preserved as if in a time warp in an ever-shrinking social world that ended with her death this week aged 104 in a hospital room accompanied only by the nurses caring for her and her beloved French dolls."

Help the Aston Manor Road Transport Museum!

The Aston Manor Road Transport Museum is a great place which i have visitedquite a lot over the years. It is under serious threat of closure though! Have a look at their website where they explain the situation and show we can help. Lets hope they can survive because their collection is terrific!

Anthropocene: Have humans created a new geological age?

From the BBC

"Over the last 11,700 years - an epoch that geologists call the Holocene - climate has remained remarkably stable.

This allowed humans to plan ahead, inventing agriculture, cities, communication networks and new forms of energy."

Isn't this just short-termism and Human ego though? Previous epochs lasted millions of years, because of us we need to change one after a few thousand years?

Time is short in the last Nazi hunter's quest for justice

From the Indy

"For someone who enjoys the awesome reputation as the world's last Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff is disarmingly candid about how he started in the business of tracking down the perpetrators of genocide. Born in 1948, he had neither direct experience of the Holocaust nor any burning teenage ambition to bring mass murderers to justice. In fact he was more interested in basketball."

'Cutty Sark' goes up in the world

From the Indy

"One of Britain's best-preserved maritime treasures has been hoisted more than 10 feet into the air.

The Cutty Sark, the world's only surviving tea clipper, was lifted about 11ft 6in above the bottom of its dry berth in Greenwich, south east London."

Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era

From the BBC

"Italy recently said it was ready to join in Nato's air attacks on targets in Libya - and with the announcement came a sense of history repeating itself.

It was in Libya, almost exactly a century ago, that a young Italian pilot carried out the first ever air raid."

Mysterious Maine earthquakes caused by Ice Age rebound

From Wired

"On the last day of April and first five days of May, dozens of tiny earthquakes caused Maine’s eastern coast to tremble. What could have shaken this geologically quiet region, located in the middle of a tectonic plate, far from any active faults?"

5 May 1821: The first words published in the Manchester Guardian

From the Guardian (see link for image of first page)

"Napoleon had died that very day, but there was no mention of his death for weeks. Instead, the Guardian immortalised a lost labrador on a front page made up entirely of advertisements. News did not replace ads on page one until 1952."

Last WWI combat veteran Claude Choules dies aged 110

From the BBC

"The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110.

Known to his comrades as Chuckles, British-born Mr Choules joined the Royal Navy at 15 and went on to serve on HMS Revenge."

The number of people with living memory of the war must be dwindling too, it will slip from living memory within 10-15 years i suspect as the 19th century recently did though of course WW1 is an event which remains vivid in our collective memory thanks to the advent of 20th century media technologies.

Giant ants spread in warm climes

From the BBC

"A giant ant growing over 5cm (2in) long crossed the Arctic during hot periods in the Earth's history, scientists say, using land bridges between continents.

The ant, named Titanomyrma lubei, lived about 50 million years ago and is one of the largest ant species ever found."

The concept of land bridges across the Arctic during very warm periods is very interesting.

Lost Civilizations : 12 Societies that Vanished in Mystery

From WebEcoist

"Why would a flourishing civilization, advanced for its time, suddenly cease to exist, its inhabitants gone and its architecture abandoned? Conspiracy theorists offer all manner of offbeat explanations including alien abduction, but in the case of these 12 societies, the causes were likely more mundane: natural disasters, climate  change, invasions and economic irrelevance. Still, we don’t know – and likely never will – exactly what happened to bring about the end of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, the Minoan society of Crete or two ancient civilizations right here in the United States."

The evidence that backs up World War II stereotypes

From the BBC

"We all know the cliches of World War II - that the German military was ruthless and brutal, for example, and Italian soldiers gave up without a fight.

But sometimes cliches are true. New evidence published this month in Germany indicates that the stereotypes were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality."

Coal miner to future Queen : Kate Middleton's family tree

The BBC have an interesting infographic showing the comparative family trees of the royal couple ahead of their marriage in a few days. Kate Middleton's family tree is interesting as on one side of her family are coal miners and general labourers up until the end of the First World War and manual workers up until the mid part of the 20th century.

It should be noted though that this isn't that unusual. The 1920s saw a great social upheaval with many families moving up (and down) the "social scale".

• Kate Middleton family tree

Signed up for the Masters

After months of "umming" and "ahhing" i have finally made a decision about my future academic career and signed up for a Masters degree... actually no that is a lie i knew it was going to do MA History with the Open University at least a month ago but just didn't get around to actually signing up for it! Still thats done now and i shall be a student again on the 1st of October (assuming they accept me and i can't see why not).

I think it will take about 3 years to do the Masters, half the time it took me to get my 2:1 BA Honours with them but i guess it will all be at a higher level without the need for the introductory stuff but i am ready. This was my long term goal really when i started my OU career over 6 years ago, BA, MA and then PhD? And then have my own history programme on Channel 5. Well maybe not the latter.

I am looking forward to it though maybe not the TMAs again and the dissertation i will have to do eventually i shall try and keep from my mind for now...

Yuri Gagarin: First human space flight celebrated

From the BBC

"Russia is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed a single orbit of Earth.

It will be marked by ceremonies and a 50-gun salute at the Kremlin in Moscow."

• Follow Yuri Gagarin's flight (Guardian)
• The day the Earth stood still (Indy)
• Yuri Gagarin in pictures (Telegraph)

Luftwaffe Dornier 17 at Goodwin Sands 'still intact'

From the BBC

"The discovery of a unique German warplane off the Kent coast left experts "incredulous". New images suggest the Dornier 17 is still intact and there are hopes that it will go on show.

They called it "the flying pencil": a slim, elegant aircraft originally designed in 1934 to carry passengers, which by the start of World War II had been converted into a deadly weapon of war."

First homosexual caveman found

From the Telegraph

"The male body – said to date back to between 2900-2500BC – was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women of the Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age.

The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb in the Czech Republic with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs, rituals only previously seen in female graves."

Jordan battles to regain 'priceless' Christian relics

From the BBC

"They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born.

A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007."

How De Valera asked UK to smear IRA chief Sean Russell

From the BBC

"Newly released documents suggest that the man who helped found the Irish Free State, Eamon de Valera, covertly co-operated with Britain to crush the IRA."

Britain from the air in times gone by

From the Telegraph

"The Aerofilms Collection is a collection of historical aerial photographs, now owned by English Heritage, which dates back to 1919. A project is currently underway to digitise the oldest and most important images, with many expected to be viewable online by the end of the year." Click to access the gallery.

Dirt: the filthy reality of everyday life

From the Guardian

"Dirt, the Wellcome Collection's riveting new show, opens with a shocker: a window so filthy not an inch of glass is visible beneath the grime, a thick brown substance that twinkles repulsively in the gallery lights. It is gutter dirt, pavement dirt, the dirt of cities blown with dust and litter. It causes immediate recoil."

• Photo gallery - exploring the visual history of our complex relationship with dirt and disease includes a fascinating selection of 19th and 20th century poster and advertising campaigns

Peru fresco may be linked to human sacrifices

From Euronews (includes video)

"Colourful murals have been discovered on the walls of an ancient temple in Lambayeque in Peru."

Stone tools 'demand new American story'

From the BBC

"The long-held theory of how humans first populated the Americas may have been well and truly broken.

Archaeologists have unearthed thousands of stone tools that predate the technology widely assumed to have been carried by the first settlers."

New research questions who in the Confederacy had the most war dead

From Foxnews

"Historian Josh Howard is playing with fire in the heart of the old Confederacy, with a scholarly finding that could rewrite the history of the Civil War, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday."

The Staffordshire Hoard

"A solitary man with a metal detector makes an astounding discovery in a farmer’s field just outside of Lichfield in Staffordshire – over 3,500 items of gold and silver with precious stone decorations. Now world famous, the Staffordshire Hoard is so much more than a collection of Anglo-Saxon war booty – it’s the legacy of craftsmen whose artistry fashioned precious metals and gemstones into incredibly detailed sword hilt fittings, helmet parts and other items. It’s also the story of kings, religious men and their warriors, who carried these pieces into battle, who fell, and were later stripped of their finery..."

Well now the hoard has a (rather nice) website where you see what its all about. Its also well worth a visit to see it at the museum too.

Mass graves to shed light on Britain's bloodiest battle

From the Indy

"It was one of the biggest and probably the bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil. Such was its ferocity almost 1 per cent of the English population was wiped out in a single day. Yet mention the Battle of Towton to most people and you would probably get a blank stare."

Frome Hoard of Roman coins to stay in Somerset

From the BBC

"The largest ever collection of Roman coins found in Britain in one pot will stay in the county where it was unearthed.

The Museum of Somerset has raised £320,250 to keep the Frome Hoard. There had been fears it would go to London."

North Wales hillfort test of Iron Age communication

From the BBC

"An experiment has shed light on how Iron Age people communicated from their hilltop homes 2,500 years ago.

About 200 volunteers stood on the summit of 10 hillforts in north Wales, the Wirral and Cheshire, and signalled to each other with torches."

No reason to be mardy about Americanisms

From The Guardian

"Mr Tickle munched his biscuit. He looked out of the window. 'Today looks very much like a tickling day,' he thought to himself." From Hawaii to Cape Town, São Paolo to the Philippines, I can't imagine that Roger Hargreaves would have been anything other than delighted to know that all around the world, people are reading his epic tale of a tickle with "extraordinary long arms" out loud as part of the British Library's project to "capture the sounds of spoken English" everywhere (have a listen – it's great stuff).

Blacked up and in a bow tie: Eva Braun in party mood as rare set of pictures of Hitler's wife are unearthed

From the Daily Mail

"Previously unseen images from the fascinating private albums of Eva Braun have come to light.

They give us incredible retrospective access to Hitler’s little known companion and her extraordinary life."

Certificate!

I received my certificate from the Open University earlier this week. Although i knew i had passed my degree in history already maybe i did not really believe it until i held the certificate in my hands! Six years of (sometimes) hard work and (usually) enjoyable study and it all seems worth it now!

I am still considering my options for postgraduate study, it is likely that i will stay with the OU but i have been looking at some other distance learning masters courses with other universities. I do not have to make a full decision just yet but soon i suspect.

I am also looking at this blog and how it can properly develop into something worth reading. I have been treading water with it over the last couple of years to just repost historical news from elsewhere. I will continue with news but maybe have a weekly digest and instead post more original thoughts...

Last WWI combatant to mark 110th birthday

From Yahoo News

"World War I's last surviving combatant Claude Choules will celebrate his 110th birthday on Thursday with a low-key party, his son said, describing his father as a reluctant "celebrity" who hates war."

NZ quake unearths 'time capsules'

From the BBC

"Two objects believed to be time capsules have been discovered in the aftermath of last week's ruinous earthquake in New Zealand.

A glass bottle with a parchment inside and a metal cylinder were found by rescuers searching the grounds of the cathedral in the city of Christchurch."

Bletchley Park Turing archive saved after campaign

From V3

"A campaign to save a collection of Alan Turing's most important works has succeeded in purchasing them for Bletchley Park.

The collection contains offprints of 15 of Turing's 18 published papers assembled by his friend and colleague Max Newman. It includes Turing's first published paper, as well as his initial plans for computing and artificial intelligence."

How fearless British pilots downed giant German Zeppelins using exploding darts in the First World War

From the Daily Mail

"It was the logical way to take targets that were essentially a massive balloon filled with flammable gas.

When British First World War pilots were asked to take down German zeppelins they did not turn to guns - but a giant exploding dart."

First Valentine: Lasting legacy of 500-year-old love

From the BBC

"Love it or hate it, even the most hardened anti-Romeo will be hard pressed to avoid Valentine's Day this year. But as an exhibit at the British Library currently on show is testament to, there is a first for everything - even on Valentine's Day."

Genetic study uncovers new path to Polynesia

From Science Daily

"Surprising new evidence which overturns current theories of how humans colonised the Pacific has been discovered by scientists at the University of Leeds, UK."

Civil Rights on the Flip Side: Vintage Gospel 45s Show a Surprising Number of Civil Rights Songs on Their “B” Sides

From News Wise

"A surprisingly large number of “B” sides on old 45s of gospel songs address the subject of civil rights, the Vietnam War and other social issues, according to a Baylor University researcher who is overseeing a preservation effort called the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project.

The recent discovery “tells us that the gospel community was much more involved in the civil rights movement than we previously thought — outside of Mahalia Jackson and Dorothy Love Coates, who we knew were very involved,” said Robert Darden, an associate professor of journalism at Baylor and a former gospel editor for Billboard magazine."

A medieval mural depicting Henry VIII has been uncovered by a couple renovating their home

From the Daily Telegraph

"Angie Powell, 57, and her husband Rhodri, 56, uncovered the 20ft wide, six ft high, wall painting as they peeled back wallpaper and mortar from their grade II listed home.

The priceless picture, which shows the monarch sitting on his thrown wearing his crown and holding a sceptre, is thought to have been painted shortly after the house was built at the turn of the 15th century."

Hackers and hippies: The origins of social networking

From the BBC

"People that have been to see last year's blockbuster The Social Network, could be forgiven for thinking that the rise of sites like Facebook started just a few years ago.

But to find the true origins of social networking you have to go further back than 2004.

In a side street in Berkeley California, the epicentre of the counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s, I found what could well be the birthplace of the phenomenon."

Caligula's tomb found after police arrest man trying to smuggle statue?

From the Guardian

"The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site.

After reportedly sleeping with his sisters, killing for pleasure and seeking to appoint his horse a consul during his rule from AD37 to 41, Caligula was described by contemporaries as insane."

However not all are convinced. From Past Horizons

"However Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge University, reported in the Times newspaper that she disagrees with the conclusion of the Italian police and cites some compelling evidence to show why this can’t be the tomb of Caligula."

Hoodlums in bloomers: The female army of shoplifters that ransacked West End shops and hid loot in their knickerbockers

From the Daily Mail

"The air was thick with smoke and a huge number of empty wine and beer glasses were scattered about the bar of The Canterbury Arms Club in Waterloo, South London. It was December and a group of young men and women were getting into the festive spirit.

Though 1925 had been a bad year for many, for these revellers it had been lucrative. Their business — if that was the right word — was booming, and they had good reason to celebrate."

Madresfield Court: The King's redoubt if Hitler called

From the Telegraph

"January 1941: the Battle of Britain, so long in the balance during the summer and autumn of the previous year, is lost. The Germans, despite heavy casualties sustained during four months of desperate fighting following their landings near Dover, Folkestone and Eastbourne, have broken through the British line at Ashford and are preparing a thrust towards London. It is time to institute Black Move."

Neanderthal faces were not adapted to cold

From Physorg

"Neanderthal faces had prominent cheekbones and wide noses previously thought to have developed in extremely cold periods because large sinuses were needed to warm air as it was inhaled. One problem with this theory is that modern people such as the Inuits, and other mammals living in Arctic regions have not developed large sinuses, and their sinuses are often smaller, and another problem is that it has never been proven that Neanderthal sinuses were larger."

How even German civilians took part in killing concentration camp survivors

From the Daily Mail

"A new book about the closing days of World War II chronicles how German civilians murdered many concentration camp survivors as they moved through their towns and villages on infamous 'death marches' back into the shrinking Reich.

The violence shows how even with their nation in ruins, the Allies advancing on all fronts and the war hopeless, ordinary people were so indoctrinated with Nazi hate they were prepared to kill defenceless people in cold blood."

2,100 year-old Greek coin may have marked rare astronomical event

From Unreported Heritage News

"An unusual Greek coin, minted around 120 BC, may have marked a moment in time when people in ancient Syria saw Jupiter being blocked out by the moon.

On one side is a portrait of Antiochos VIII, the king who minted it. On the reverse is a depiction of Zeus, either nude or half-draped, holding a sceptre in his left hand.  Above the god’s head is the crescent of the moon, and his right arm is outreached with a star like figure (that may in fact be Jupiter) hovering just above his palm."

King James Bible: How it changed the way we speak

From the BBC

"The impact of the King James Bible, which was published 400 years ago, is still being felt in the way we speak and write, says Stephen Tomkins.

No other book, or indeed any piece of culture, seems to have influenced the English language as much as the King James Bible. Its turns of phrase have permeated the everyday language of English speakers, whether or not they've ever opened a copy."

Climate change may be responsible for the rise and fall of Roman empire, scientists find

From the Telegraph

"Researchers who used tree growth rings to study the impact of unstable climate patterns found that they could be linked to historical events that have had devastating consequences.

Scientists discovered that periods of warm, wet weather coincided with prosperity while dry or varying conditions occurred at times of political turmoil, such as the fall of the Roman Empire and the Thirty Years' War. "

Pioneering Edsac computer to be built at Bletchley Park

From the BBC

"The first recognisably modern computer is to be rebuilt at the UK's former code-cracking centre Bletchley Park.

The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (Edsac) was a room-sized behemoth built at Cambridge university that first ran in 1949."

Neanderthals and early modern humans had same lifespan

From Past Horizons

"A new study by a Washington University in St. Louis suggests life expectancy was probably the same for early modern and late archaic humans and did not factor in the extinction of Neanderthals."

'Oldest known wine-making facility' found in Armenia

From the BBC

"The world's earliest known wine-making facility has been discovered in Armenia, archaeologists say.

A wine press and fermentation jars from about 6,000 years ago were found in a cave in the south Caucasus country."

Study Of Lice DNA Shows Humans First Wore Clothes 170,000 Years Ago

From Medical News Today

"A new University of Florida study following the evolution of lice shows modern humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago, a technology which enabled them to successfully migrate out of Africa. "

Out for the count: Could the 2011 census be the last?

From the Indy

"Where will you be sleeping on 27 March 2011? In a bungalow, a penthouse or a caravan?

Who'll be sharing your bed? Will you say bedtime prayers or will you be using a Jedi mind trick in the morning? Strange questions, but ones you could well be asked during the UK census this spring, when an incredibly detailed questionnaire will drop through the letterboxes of 25 million households."

The Mediterraneans

From Popular Archaeology (includes video)

"Plato's writings about an ancient advanced civilization may not be altogether fantasy. New scientific research is raising some tantalizing new considerations. Was there indeed a great founding culture and people that gave rise to the well-known civilizations that ringed and navigated the Mediterranean and laid foundations for the emergence of European societies?"

A prehistoric map painted on a cave in India

From Archaeo News

"A team of researchers from the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed maps depicted on the roof of a cave in Karnataka (India) that date back to 1500-2000 BCE. What was once thought to be a megalithic burial site with just paintings of animals and humans, could be the proof of the cartographic skills of prehistoric Indians.

The discovery by deputy superintending archaeologist T.M.Keshava and his colleagues a few months ago in the caves of Chikramapura village on the Tungabhadra river's left bank (Koppal district) is believed to be the first-ever aerial map of a region drawn by prehistoric people."

A triage to save the ruins of Babylon

From the NY Times

"The damage done to the ruins of ancient Babylon is visible from a small hilltop near the Tower of Babel, whose biblical importance is hard to envision from what is left of it today.

Across the horizon are guard towers, concertina wire and dirt-filled barriers among the palm trees; encroaching farms and concrete houses from this village and others; and the enormous palace that Saddam Hussein built in the 1980s atop the city where Nebuchadnezzar II ruled. "

Cretan tools point to 130,000-year-old sea travel

From the Guardian/AP

"Archaeologists on the island of Crete have discovered what may be evidence of one of the world's first sea voyages by human ancestors, the Greek Culture Ministry said Monday

A ministry statement said experts from Greece and the U.S. have found rough axes and other tools thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years old close to shelters on the island's south coast."