How Michael

Henry Curwen, the forgotten man of Anglo-Indian journalism

THUD! A noise I heard every morning when I was on holiday in India. The sound of a newspaper landing on the doormat. There’s something strangely reassuring, when you’re in a foreign land, about having access to a daily English language paper.

Last updated 2 April 2009
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Set an example on drinking too much – close the House of Commons bars

PRICE hikes for strong drink – for our own good, of course!

Last updated 26 March 2009
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Fit punishments and a hangman who turned against hanging

“MY OBJECT all sublime I shall achieve in time – to let the punishment fit the crime, the punishment fit the crime!” Ten bonus points if you can identify the source of this quotation.

Last updated 19 March 2009
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Biscuits, brushes and brooms, sage predictions for prosperity

PREDICTING the future is a chancy business.

Last updated 12 March 2009
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A Canadian’s rough guide to West Cumbria

“WIFE-KICKING and child-slaying are their drunken amusements – and they turn upon any outsider who attempts to check them.”

Last updated 5 March 2009
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Vagrants – a Victorian problem that we just can’t seem to solve

“HE THAT will not work, neither shall he eat!”

Last updated 26 February 2009
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Championship curling in Cumbria and a massive solid gold medal

BOWLS on ice! That’s how I’ve always thought of curling. But I must confess that I’ve never quite understood what the ‘scrubbers’ were about.

Last updated 12 February 2009
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Long-running debate about reforming the House of Lords

REFORM the House of Lords! It’s a cry on the lips of various pundits and politicos recently. It’s one they make from time to time – whenever they encounter any minor difficulties. And, who knows, they might even mean it this time.

Last updated 5 February 2009
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Old-style patent remedies for the aches and pains of winter

COUGHS and sneezes spread diseases! And I’ve been coughed and sneezed at so many times these past few weeks by persons, of all ages, who haven’t had the common courtesy to use hand, tissue or handkerchief to contain their germ laden expectorations.

Last updated 29 January 2009
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Today Pitcairn islanders burn their boats to mark Bounty Day

RUSSELL McCoy arrived at Birkenhead Docks in May 1881, on board the ‘Harvey Mills’ – an American ship.

Last updated 22 January 2009
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Warmth, comfort, companionship or vile hovels – the pub or home

WORK is the curse of the drinking classes!

Last updated 15 January 2009
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Celebrating their fame with civic naming – how very un-British

I WANT to ask you a question. When next you’re in Workington town centre, standing underneath the lopsided flying saucer perhaps, look out for one of the street signs.

Last updated 8 January 2009
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Dialect maestro with local roots

OOPS! It’s slap on the wrist time.

Last updated 5 December 2008
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Do you remember Children's Hour?

JACK and Vi Blench had a farm in Walton. They took up occupation in 1950. After 1953 it was, at least for many young wireless listeners, probably the best known farm in the country.

Last updated 14 November 2008
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Charity began at home in the 1930s

SHE WAS an old lady, obviously a pensioner, and she hadn’t much in her trolley – only a few food essentials, mostly knockdowns and special offers – but as she handed them to the young girl on the checkout I could sense a quiet panic gripping her as, open purse in hand, she realised she didn’t have enough to pay for her purchases.

Last updated 6 November 2008
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Hopes and dreams of generations now reduced to a basket of fading images

THERE they lay in a basket in the antique shop, a motley collection of old, some of them very old, photographs.

Last updated 30 October 2008
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REMEMBER cinema organs? Most big cinemas had one. Some time during the evening one of these musical juggernauts would rise from its pit and the resident cinema organist would do his stuff, invariably playing at least one show-off piece which involved using most of its special effects.

Last updated 23 October 2008
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Get back on your bike – there’s a new cycling craze about to start

GOLD medals galore for Brits in China! How fantastic.

Last updated 9 October 2008
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When wasteful Workingtonians had a plentiful supply of water

WATER, water everywhere – nor yet a drop to drink! We’re not talking about the Ancient Mariner here – but about West Cumberland back in 1891. Or, to be really exact, the inhabitants of Dean, Winscales, Kirklands, Deanscales and a few other of the more remote villages in the area. Due to logistical problems, they were experiencing a water shortage. And where there was no shortage, villagers were often loath to drink such water as was available because it was “tainted by iron ore, or polluted by sewage.”

Last updated 25 September 2008
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Matrimonial resolutions and rules of an 18th century bride

I RESOLVE to be very frugal and never to put my husband to any needless expense! And I likewise resolve to lay aside all fondness for dress, but to be always exactly neat and clean!

Last updated 18 September 2008
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