CuppaTea

Yesterday I used a recipe I've never used before, one from my great-grandmother. I have no personal memories of this woman, as she died when I was very small, and the main reason I chose the recipe was to use some of the huge amount of plums we have at the moment. My Mum has fond memories of this cake, so I was really looking forward to giving it a go and tasting it for myself. Only to find that it is difficult to follow a simple recipe if the woman who passed it on to another generation was the kind of person who deliberately gave less than the full information required...

We returned from Las Médulas for a late lunch, and thoroughly enjoyed the food prepared for us in our absence! Then a second trip was brought up. The only problem seemed to be that we couldn’t fit all 6 of us in the car. As the father of one of the students had stayed behind in the morning, we decided that one of the other three of us students would stay behind. And yet, when I drew the piece of paper to stay behind, no one seemed happy to leave it at that. I was a bit embarrassed to be the cause of so much hassle, as I was actually happy to stay home, but in the end we had three cars and fourteen people (including four children) heading out for the next trip. We headed for Aturias, a neighbouring autonomous community. An autonomous community is a little bit more independent than a state in Australia, as far as I understand it, but I’m not entirely sure of all the differences. And even though Spain is about the same size as South Australia, there are 17 autonomous communities...

The pageview statistics leapt suddenly beyond the ability to do any more historical posts - at least for the AD timeline. In this last post I thought I might speculate about the future. What might happen in 29 years' time? As my interests tend more towards fantasy fiction than science fiction, I am not as familiar with this sort of speculation - so expect it to lack a scientific edge! I would love to hear your thoughts as well! I may have a wedding to attend - for a niece or nephew. Or celebrate the birth of a great niece or nephew - making me feel old in anticipation! They are all under three years old at the moment! I have a few friends who write and hope to publish novels (and some who already have published) - so one of them could potentially win the Nobel Prize for Literature! That would be great! There will be a king on the throne of England - possibly William V or maybe even George VII (I doubt that Charles will still be alive, but who knows? It could be Charles III)...

This will be the second to last post in this historical series. Although, the last one won't exactly be historical... Come back next week to see what I mean! This was so recent, yet I wonder how many of you can think of anything significant that happened that year off the top of your head. What follows is a list of events, with one event or incident from each month included, from my usual sorce . US Airways Flight 1549 from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, was hit by a flock of geese, which caused a loss of thrust in both engines. Captain and First Officer safely ditched the plane in the Hudson, and all 155 passengers and crew survived. The Black Saturday bushfires, the deadliest in Australian history, killed 173, injured 500, and left 7000 homeless. Most of the fires were ignited by fallen or clashing power lines or were deliberately lit. NASA's Kepler Mission launched from Cape Carnaveral, a space photometer to search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way...

 Languages change over time - some more than others. It is easier to talk about how languages develop and change and influence each other once they have been written down. If you have ever wondered about the complications of English spelling, the amount of variety in how it is used, and why it is spoken in so many places, check this video out! Similar processes have been involved in other languages as well, although I haven't seen clips that are quite as cool for any others. Spanish, for example, was more influenced by Latin than English was, but was then influenced by Arabic when the Moors invaded and ruled over a significant amount of the Iberian Peninsular (from about 700-1500AD), and was also inlfuenced by American Indian languages from South and Central America. And they had a translation of the Bible in Spanish about 50 years before the English received the King James Version. On the literature side I am not sure about whether there is anyone significant who created ne...

A very significant year! My year! But what happened? I wonder what you know about that year. I wonder if any of the following will surprise you.  The beginning of one of the worst droughts in Australia, part of the lead up to the Ash Wednesday fires the following year. In Australian film and television: The Man From Snowy River was released; Sons and Daughters premiered; and channels Nine, Seven and the ABC conducted stereo test transmission. Ian Thorpe was born. And one of the Melbourne Aussie Rules teams moved to Sydney, becoming the Sydney Swans. And the Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane. And in the rest of the world... This was also the year Prince William was born. Canada gained full political independence from the United Kingdom (while remaining part of the Commonwealth), and patriated its constitution, which included a bill of rights. Nicole won Eurovision for Germany with Ein Bisschen Frieden . Chariots of Fire won Best Picture and three other Academy Award...

Some random facts selected from Wikipedia . Western Samoa became independent from New Zealand. The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records. They record their first single, 'Love Me Do'. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro. Coups and counter-coups and communist alliances... Wars and alliances... NASA launched Ranger 3 to study the moon. It missed the moon by 22,000 miles... Ranger 4 crashed on the moon... They don't seem to have much more luck with the Mariner program later in the year either... During a new moon and solar eclipse an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurred (that is, the five which can be seen with the naked eye). The French entry wins the seventh Eurovision Song Contest. (For those of you unfamiliar with this event, check it out next year. It is bizarre and fascinating and draws a huge Australian audience - we even got a video link message this year! There should be plenty on YouTube from it!) A plane chartered...

I am re-reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen at the moment, so I want to start this post with a quote from chapter 14: "Yes, I am fond of history." "I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all - it is very tiresome: and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches that are put into the heroes' mouths, their thoughts and designs - the chief of all this must be invention, and invention is what delights me in other books." So in honour of Catherine Morland, I shall endeavour to avoid wearying or vexing you with the quarrels of popes and kings, or war and pestilences, or good for nothing men! (That will be one way to keep this really brief!) Princess Elizabeth announced her engagement to Lieutenan...

And the slide down from the Roaring Twenties into the Great Depression has begun... Is it bad that there are more feature films that I'd be interested to watch from 1931 than from this year? Amongst the most popular films released that year, according to IMDb , were Frankenstein , Dracula , and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ! Ooh, and City Lights , starring Charlie Chaplin! In other topics , Albert Einstein began doing research at the California Institute of Technology, along with astronomer Edwin Hubble. Thomas Edison submitted his last patent application. And 'The Star Spangled Banner' became the national anthem of the United States of America. Sir Isaac Isaacs became the first Australian born Governor-General of Australia! An earthquake in New Zealand destroyed much of the city of Napier. Another earthquake destroyed Managua in Nicaragua. The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in Madrid (but when was the first?!) after municipal elections resulted in triumph for th...

And we're into the twentieth century! Only 100 years of history remaining to this series! So much has happened since the first post in this series, 882 .  I think this is the first time the 'births' list has threatened to outnumber the entries for events in the year on Wikipedia ! So what did happen? Mexican Revolution Building of Canberra began First Balkan War... and the Second Balkan War Assassination of King George I of Greece First full-length Indian feature film released Rockefeller Foundation charter approved, and the foundation began with a $100,000,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller - that's a LOT of money!!!! The Little Mermaid statue was finished in Kopenhagen, Denmark Stainless steel invented King Otto of Bavaria was deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig Ford Motor Company introduced the first moving assembly line First packaged cigarette Georges Sagnac showed that light propagates at a speed independent of the speed of its source  W...

Wow, you should see how long the Wikipedia page for 1878 is! But I'll keep this as brief as possible! While I am not a Doctor Who fan (I've just never watched it), apparently the novel Imperial Moon is set in this year. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was published in complete book form in Moscow. Cleopatra's Needle arrived in London. Pope Pius IX died, having been pope for 31 and a half years, the longest definitely confirmed reign. The next pope is Leo XIII. Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was established. The Salvation Army 'foundation deed' was signed. Russia seems to have been at war with everyone! Or at least terrifying everyone with the threat of war if they weren't actually already at war. In other parts of the world, the Lincoln County War began in New Mexico. And the Second Afghan War began, and the Nauruan Tribal War began... Lots of fighting, lots of deaths. In addition to war related deaths, Yellow Fever in t...

Another busy year! Most significantly, as far as I am concerned: Pride and Prejudice was published! Yay! And then there were a few wars: Argentinian war for independence Mexican war for independence Napoleon seems to have been fighting the whole of Europe (winning some and losing some) The Russians won a lot of land under the treaty which ended the Russo-Persian war The United States of America seems to have been fighting the British in Canada? And in the United States itself? Simón Bolívar led an invasion of Venezuela, and was named El Libertador ("The Liberator")   A few other random facts: Pineapples were introduced to Hawaii Australia's first coins were minted, transforming Spanish Silver Dollars into two coins: the Holey Dollar (5 shillings) and the Colonial Dump (15 pence), replacing the rum economy Mathieu Orfila published Traité des poisons , formalising the field of toxicology William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth sought and...

It seems that this random date may hold greater significance than I expected. But some of you from the USA may be able to tell me that before I begin! The Sugar Act and the Currency Act were passed in the British parliament, affecting the colonies on the American continent. It seems that this began or heightened the concern over 'taxation without representation' . John Wilkes was thrown out of the British House of Commons for seditious libel according to Wikipedia , and for 'Essay on Women' according to HistoryOrb  - although these appear to be the same thing, with Wikipedia calling it 'Essay on Woman', and it appears to have humiliated and angered his opponents, especially John Montagu the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Less political events of the year: a level 5 tornado hit Woldegk in Germany on the 29th of June Immanuel Kant published Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto , "a story, t...

I have so rarely noticed a pageview statistic which has a whole number, but in the spirit of allowing completely random dates, I thought I'd see what happened in 1700. And it was a significant year! (Just look at the length of the Wikipedia article !) Everyone seems to have changed their calendar! Protestant Western Europe (except England) started using the Gregorian calendar, Russia started numbering the year from the birth of Christ instead of since creation (I would be curious to see how they determined the date of creation before that!), and the Swedes adopted their own calendar. International attempts to set a date for any meeting must have given people headaches! And that is not to mention the complicated information about whether or not people observed a leap year! The Cascadia earthquake occurred on the 26th of January, affecting 600 miles of the North American west coast, and creating an Orphan Tsunami which hit Japan. The 'Lesser Great Fire' destroyed a subs...

There is a novel by Eric Flint and David Weber called 1633 (a sequel to a book called 1632 ) about a town from West Virginia transported through a vortex to Germany during the Thirty Years' War. Sounds delightfully unrealistic! But in the real world of actual history, what did happen in 1633? At least, according to such reliable sources as Wikipedia and HistoryOrb ... It was the year of Galileo's trail before the Inquisition, and that he was forced by the Roman Catholic Church to recant his heliocentric view of the solar system. A professorship in Arabic studies was founded at Cambridge University. A Ming Dynasty fleet beat the Dutch East India Company at the island of Quemoy. In Ethiopia the Emperor Fasilides expelled the Jesuit missionaries. Shogun Tougawa Iemitsu outlawed Christianity in Japan and began a policy of extreme isolationism. Events which appear to have happened in the general vicinity of what is now known as Germany: Samuel de Champlain reclai...

So, the semester has finished! I feel like I have learned so much, and yet there is still so much more to learn! Hopefully I never stop learning, and I hope you won't either, so to facilitate the learning, let's see what happened in 1578... Edinburgh Castle was rebuilt (David's Tower had been destroyed during a seige of the castle by English forces attempting to capture Mary Queen of Scots). The British defeat the Spanish Armada, signalling the beginning of the decline of Spain and the rise of Britain as world powers. (See this quiz site .) Elizabeth I apparently gave Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion, who then occupied Ghent with 500 horsemen. Sir Humphrey Gilbert received a patent from England to explore and colonise North America. (See here .) Back to Wikipedia for a few final tidbits of information. Martin Frobisher and the rest of his expedition were apparently the first Europeans to celebrate Thanksgiving in North America, in Newfoundland. The Eng...

Oh, the anticipation has been exquisite! So, do you know what happened in 1492? Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon (Spain) finally defeated the Moors, with the long war ended by the surrender of Granada. (This war is known as the Reconquista , and was endorsed by the popes as a crusade.) The Jews were ordered out of Spain (unless they converted to Christianity), so over 100,000 left for Portugal or the Ottoman Empire. And Columbus, financed by Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, sailed for India and discovered the New World instead. ( See here .) Travelling to this site reveals some of the other events of the year: Jan 16th - The first grammar of a modern language, in the Spanish language, presented to Queen Isabella . Mar 4th - King James IV of Scotland concluded an alliance with France against England. Aug 11th - Rodrigo de Borja became Pope Alexander VI. (And yes, that means a Spanish pope.) Oct 2nd - King Henry VII of England invaded France. Oct 12th - Fle...

It's been a while since I posted anything, and today I'm busy with an assignment, but I wanted to briefly move on with my history post, so that I can reach my next cool goal! So, what happened in 1458? I'm resorting to Wikipedia again to try to keep this brief in writing time, but it is looking like a fairly busy year! Of popes and royals: Matthias I Corvinus became king of Hungary. George of Podebrady became king of Bohemia. Pope Pius II became the 210th pope! After the death of Pope Callixtus III. Of significant (or interesting) deaths: Alfonso V, king of Aragon (June 27). Succeeded by his brother, John II (Juan II - why are some names of foreign monarchs anglicised unnecessarily?) Lazar Brankovic, Despot of Serbia (February 20). (Interesting title!) Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqu és de Santillana, a Spanish poet (March 25). Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (December 26). Isabelle Rom ée, mother of Joan of Arc. She had succeeded in having her daughter...

One hundred and six years to go! Getting excited! But what was happening near the end of the fourteenth century? Apparently this was the year that the 'barbaric Lithuanians' finally caved in and accepted Christianity (a thousand years after it was first accepted in Europe). I want to read the book, The Conversion of Europe (if I haven't already during the year I studied European history at university). And now, having spent at least the last half hour looking at that book on Amazon, I'll resort to Wikipedia for the rest of the information I share with you! Royal drama this time! Elizabeth Kotromanic, mother of the overthrown Queen Mary of Hungary and Croatia, arranged the assasination of the ruler of Hungary, Naples, Achaea and Croatia! Mary regains her rule over Hungary and Croatia, the son of the assassinated man becomes the King of Naples, but Achaea, though sought by many pretenders, apparently had no ruler for the next ten years! The kings of Portugal an...

What happened near the end of the thirteenth century? Resorting to Wikipedia again to make this a quick post! And it's a papal year!  Celestine V became pope, much to his own surprise apparently, after two years without a pope. ( Nicholas IV had died in 1292!) He issued an edict to the effect that a pope was allowed to abdicate, and then he did so on December 13, having worked without much effect as pope for only five months. He was succeeded by Boniface VIII, who became pope on Christmas Eve (seems to be a popular date for becoming pope!), and who worried that his predecessor might be set up as antipope, so he had him arrested and imprisoned! (Is this the pope everyone was referring to when Benedict XVI resigned earlier this year? Apparently not - Gregory XII resigned in 1415, but Celestine was the last one to resign voluntarily before Benedict XVI. ) Other international events: Kublai Khan died February 18. Mściwój II of Pomerania died December 25. I have no idea where ...