Perhaps you’ve stood in line with the masses at some hot, crowded tourist site this summer wondering why everyone feels like they have to go to the same places.
The origins of this phenomenon lie in the Grand Tour, a ritual for aristocratic young Englishmen. Why did they go? Where did they go? What did they bring back? And when did tourism become a mass phenomenon?
From "criminal conversation," a tort arising from adultery. A 19th century detective invented a device to detect vibration through walls called the crimconometer, which I can't find an online source for, but I learned about in "Black Swine in the Sewers of Hampstead."
On this day, July 7th, in the year 1940, Richard Starkey was born at home in a poor working-class area of a dilapidated city in northern England. His parents, both bakery workers, divorced when he was a small child. Called ‘Ritchie’ by his family and friends, he was a cheerful and outgoing boy, though quite sickly.
In the early summer of 1947, Ritchie fell dangerously ill. Rushed by ambulance to the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, the six-year-old was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. An operation revealed that his appendix had burst, causing infected peritonitis.
He continued to slip in and out of consciousness for several months. During that difficult period, his mother Elsie was told three times that he would not survive the night. One of those occasions was the eve of his seventh birthday.
Even when he left hospital at the beginning of 1948, convalescence from his surgical wounds was slow and painful. Ritchie remained a frail child, frequently ill, and rarely attended school. He later spent two years in a sanatorium after acquiring pleurisy at the age of 13.
It was during this time that he was introduced to the drums by a health worker who gave children musical instruments to amuse them. Ritchie did not return to school after his release from the sanatorium, but worked at various jobs, eventually becoming an apprentice joiner for an engineering company, where he and other employees formed a skiffle band. In 1959 he became the drummer for another skiffle band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and adopted his stage name.
Though he might have died as a child, he always stayed upbeat — and went on to become one of the most famous and successful people in the world. Today Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr, celebrates his 84th birthday.
@humanhorseshoes@numismatics@histodons Of course - Just as long as my posts DO come across as informative and "here is some history around this particular piece" rather than "The ideology in this country at this time was perfect, we should all do that!" (I'm not even sure what that would say about me with the ecclectic mix of pieces I post!)
Have you noticed Australians' affinity for naming places 'Great'? We have the Great Dividing Range, the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Australian Bight and the Great Ocean Road – just to name a few!
So, what do you think Australia's greatest Great place is? Let us know in the comments 👇
Learn more about our country's naming peculiarities and the etymology behind our Great locations… https://ausgeo.co/greatplaces
Edo — the ancient Japanese city now known as Tokyo — may have been one of the world's first large-scale ecological civilizations. From 1603 to 1868, as a result of the government's policy of not trading with outside nations, there was a scarcity of cotton and timber, which meant that everything was reused, repaired, repurposed or recycled. Traditional kimonos would become pyjamas, diapers, floor cloths and eventually fuel; candle wax drippings were remoulded, modular house design meant that floorboards could be reused; leftover straw from growing rice became sandals and rope. Here's Roman Krznaric's story for the BBC on what we should learn from this era.
@anniemo
My friend yuko said most japanese don't know that, but they are teaching it now. She knew it though. Haven't heard from Aoi at all. @CultureDesk@histodons
Historians and anthropologists of Mastodon! I'm looking for some inspiration regarding city state politics and sociality for an upcoming TTRPG campaign. Any books or material on the subject (be it about Greek, Italian, SEA, anything really)? #worldbuilding#fantasy#scifi#history#anthropology#citystates
@Lassielmr@democratsabroad@histodons sorry. Small Edit. “… most Dems will VOTE for age induced cognitively declined Biden or even his cadaver over Trump.”
@homelessjun@histodon@histodons I think that the term ‘celt’ refers to more than one particular people, their settlements spread as far west as Ireland and as far east as Anatolia.
it was surprising and a bit confusing to me to read about how widespread the celts were in the book because i had known only of the celts of ireland and scotland. there was passing mention of differences between the various celtic cultures and peoples. it would be helpful had writers and historians amplified the differences between them.
Anglo-Saxons may have fought in northern Syrian wars, say experts
“These finds put the Anglo-Saxon princes and their followers centre-stage in one of the last great wars of late antiquity. It takes them out of insular England into the plains of Syria and Iraq in a world of conflict and competition between the Byzantines and the Sasanians and gave those Anglo-Saxons literally a taste for something much more global than they probably could have imagined.”
@bibliolater Note that by the 8th century there was a Schola Anglorum (English quarter) in Rome because of all the travel back-and-forth, so the Anglo-Saxons were never all that insular — I suspect that stereotype came from 19th century Romanticism, trying to depict them as pure germanic warriors unsullied by Latinate decadence, or some similar racist nonsense.
As Almbjär is an expert on 18th century Swedish #consuls in Spanish port towns, it does not come as a surprise that he contributes with his expertise on the development of #earlymodern Scandinavian #diplomacy for the #emdiplomacy handbook. He thus presents the first ever comprehensive summary of the development of #emdiplomacy in #Scandinavia (4/5)
His project on Swedish #consuls points to something that seems to be a characteristic of Scandinavian #emdiplomacy: the very close connection between #diplomatic activities and (maritime) #trade interests, commercial #diplomacy in other words.
Permanent #embassies in #Scandinavia developed relatively slowly. It was not before the 1600s that #resident#diplomats became a feature of Scandinavian #diplomacy. We know much more about the foreign #envoys in the North than about Scandinavian diplomats at foreign places. Writing about #earlymodern Danish and Swedish #diplomacy is not easy, as Scandinavia seems to be a blind spot in the historiography on #earlymodern#diplomacy and for #NewDiplomaticHistory. But Martin manages to cover a wide time span from the end of the #MiddleAges to the 18th century. (5/5)
🇩🇴🇺🇸As a First-Generation Adult Child of Immigrants, I consider it my civic duty to spread awareness for Project ‘2025’.
📣‘Project 2025’ represents more than an ideological insurrection; it’s an assault on our multiracial, diverse democracy. It also poses a danger to our national security and international order. To learn more about their plans, look up “Project 2025”.
TRUNK. A nose. How fares your old trunk? does your nose still stand fast? an allusion to the proboscis or trunk of an elephant. To shove a trunk: to introduce one's self unasked into any place or company. Trunk-maker like; more noise than work.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)