Quantcast
Channel: The History Press blog
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 750

The Friday Digest 31/05/13

$
0
0

THP Friday digest


The Friday Digest brings you the best of the week's history news gathered from the experts:

  

The Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll. Although the number of guns and gun ports is not entirely accurate, the picture is overall an accurate illustration of the ship. Image from http://www.historytoday.com/margaret-rule/sinking-mary-rose


* The Tudor warship Mary Rose sank in 1545 whilst leading the attack against a French invasion fleet in the Solent. The wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1971 and the ship was salvaged in 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust. Now, the secrets of Henry VIII's flagship are being revealed to the public. 

A purpose built museum, costing £35 million, will be opened to the public later today, reuniting some of the 19,000 artifacts with the sixteenth century hull of the ship.  Faces of some of the crew have been recreated by forensic science experts using skulls found with the wreck in the hope that living relatives of the Mary Rose crew may be identified through DNA .  Discover how the Mary Rose crew members were revealed after 500 years, and how a drowned sailor's appearance was recreated

It is so strange to see the faces of the men who died so many years ago, it really brings history alive


A researcher working near the carcass of a well-preserved female mammoth. Image from http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/403691/Preserved-Ice-Age-mammoth-found-with-FLOWING-BLOOD-boosts-bid-to-clone-prehistoric-beast


* The news that a preserved Ice Age mammoth has been found with flowing blood has sparked a wave of interest in cloning and boosted calls to bring the extinct creatures back from the dead.

Do you think this is a good idea or would it end as badly as Jurassic Park


Royal Mail has released a set of stamps, featuring six portraits of the Queen, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her coronation. Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22710797


* Sunday 2 June 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation and the Royal Mail have released a set of stamps to mark the occasion. The set includes a portrait commissioned by the Royal Mail which has met with derision from critics, with people claiming that it looks more like Margaret Thatcher.  

Television in the 1950s was still a new phenomenon but how did the Coronation turn it into the first mass medium to rattle the radio's cage

 

The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne. Image from http://www.oocities.org/coronation_book/ 

 

* I know a lot of you are Tudor history fans and this stunning Coronation Book for Queen Anne Boleyn makes for interesting reading. The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Queene Anne- Wyfe unto the Noble Kynge Henry the VIII was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1533 and has a description of the festivities. If you are interested in learning to be a Tudor, History Today has the article for you...
 

All images courtesy Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) - and subject to copyright. Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22439586

* In May 1953,  Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the summit of Mt. Everest and their sons have followed in their footsteps, six decades after the first expedition to the peak. The modern experience of climbing Everest is quite different with the summit becoming congested with climbers in 'the world's highest traffic jam'.

Valery Rozov, an extreme sports star from Russia, successfuly completed the world's highest base jump - leaping off the north face of Mount Everest at a point that was 7,220m (23,680ft) above sea level.

 

Breaking the code ... The Dos Pilas archaeological site in Guatemala. Photograph: David S Stuart/University of Texas. Image from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/28/maya-script-glyph-language-decoding

 

* Is internet English debasing the language? Barely a week goes by without language and grammar being back in the news and this week is no exception. Simon Horobin, an English Professor at Oxford University, has asked for spelling and grammar pedants to relax but which side of the argument do you come down on?

 

* Internet users are helping to decode the mysteries of the Mayan script that has been secret for hundreds of years. Researchers began this task many years ago but online collaborators have sped up the process. Want to get involved? Head over to the Maya Decipherment blog...

  

Book shelf. Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/39136843@N05/3709418364/


*  Reaching readers is one of the biggest challenges for publishers and authors alike. According to #reachingreaders, advocates, authenticity and content are key, do you agree? 

* Books have an amazing ability to change people's lives and everyone has a favourite book (or five!) Waterstones have been gathering a collection of stories and The Books That Made Me shares the lives that have been changed by books.

* Where is happiness in twentieth-century fiction? It seems that food and feasting aid happiness, as do pigs (unless you live on Animal Farm of course)...

 

 Thinkstock image as seen http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22639754

 

* Did Mussolini really get the trains running on time or was it just fascist propaganda? 

* Cobblestones are part of the fabric of the historic heart of Rome and the uneven stones relect the history of the 'Eternal City'. They have a certain charm but whilst they are loved by tourists, residents are less than keen and many cobbles are being replaced by tarmac, but should they be preserved?
 

Parliament has recently bought a portrait of Margot Asquith by Philip de Laszlo. Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21772657 

* The next History Press newsletter will be focusing on 'extraordinary women' but if you can't wait  that long, the fascinating story of Margot Asquith: Britain's most colourful 'first lady'  and the news that Amelia Earhart's plane has possibly been revealed should keep you going. 

 

The brothels were termed "comfort stations. Copyright House of Sharing. Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22680705?ocid=socialflow_twitter_bbcnewsmagazine


* The former South Korean 'comfort women' of the Japanese military brothels are living out their days in a 'living museum' that records and commemorates their suffering. Despite an apology from the Japenese government 20 years ago, these women still feel that they have never had a full and sincere apology for the shameful treatment that they received. 
 

How to make friends by telephone. Image from http://contactsheet.org/junk/telephone2.html


* An ettiqutte guide showing you how to make friends using the telephone...

 

Choreographer and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, left, in the original Rite of Spring. Image from Rex Features. Image from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22691267


 * Did the Rite of Spring really spark a riot? You would expect the premiere of a ballet to be a more cultured affair but apparently on 29 May 1913, Stravinsky's Rite became a riot

 

WWII veteran Irving Mann poses for a photo with his dog tag that was found and returned to him, in Rochester, N.Y. Mann says he was skeptical when an email from a French woman recently arrived at his Rochester jewelry store. She said she’d found the tag in her barley field and was looking for its owner. (AP Photo/David Duprey) (The Associated Press)  Image from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/27/long-lost-dog-tag-returned-to-ny-wwii-vet-who-lost-it-in-france-it-was-found-in/


 * A long-lost dog tag has been returned to its owner, the NY WWII veteran who lost it in France, 69 years after it disappeared. This story gives absent-minded people like me hope, maybe some of the things I have lost over the years will turn up eventually too! 

   

 Which history and publishing stories have you enjoyed reading this week?


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 750

Trending Articles