John Welford
Bio
I am a retired librarian, having spent most of my career in academic and industrial libraries.
I write on a number of subjects and also write stories as a member of the "Hinckley Scribblers".
Stories (501/0)
"A Small Family Business": a play by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn (born 12th April 1939) has been a mainstay of British comedy drama for many years, with more than 80 plays to his name, nearly all of which have premiered in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where Ayckbourn was the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre (formerly the Library Theatre) from 1972 to 2008. “A Small Family Business” was one of only four plays not to have been premiered there, having been produced during a short sabbatical that Ayckbourn took at the National Theatre in London. It was first staged on 21st May 1987.
By John Welford3 years ago in Geeks
The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch is often regarded as one of the forerunners of Surrealism, and it is not difficult to see why. His highly detailed paintings depict human beings and animals in fantastical and nightmarish situations that, because of his use of translucent oil glazes, produce a strange sense of reality. This is the key to Bosch’s work, because he used his art to offer a moral message.
By John Welford3 years ago in Geeks
The Penlee lifeboat disaster, 1981
The Penlee lifeboat disaster of 19th December 1981 brought home to everyone who sets sail around the coasts of Great Britain just how much we owe to our lifeboat crews. They are all unpaid volunteers whose equipment is paid for entirely by public donations. They give their time, and sometimes their lives, in selfless devotion to their fellow seafarers.
By John Welford3 years ago in FYI
Did pasta reach Europe thanks to Marco Polo?
Pasta, in its various forms, has been a mainstay of the Italian diet since the Middle Ages. However, it is known that the Chinese had been eating noodles, a closely related foodstuff, for thousands of years prior to that. Could it be that the Italians learned about pasta from the Chinese?
By John Welford3 years ago in Feast
The Pig War of 1859
The Pig War of 1859 scarcely deserves to be called a “war” at all. Only one shot was fired, which accounted for the aforementioned pig, but the rest of the affair was a matter of threats and gestures, although it was not fully resolved for another thirteen years.
By John Welford3 years ago in FYI
A conversation with Philip Pullman
In 2008 the well-known writer Philip Pullman was given an honorary Professorship in the Department of English at Bangor University, North Wales. As a graduate of that department (in 1974) I was invited to attend a reunion at which Philip Pullman gave an inaugural talk.
By John Welford3 years ago in Geeks
Globular star clusters
Globular clusters are spherical clusters of stars that typically contain a few hundreds of thousands of stars, or even as many as a million. They are not galaxies, but are associated with galaxies in that they orbit around the galactic plane in a spherical halo.
By John Welford3 years ago in FYI
The Navigation Act of 1651
Empires of the Ancient and Early Medieval world were primarily continental in nature, in that a powerful nation pushed its borders ever wider by conquering its neighbours. However, from the mid-16th century onwards, as European explorers discovered lands across the sea that offered massive opportunities for trade or plunder, empires became trans-oceanic and intensely competitive, so that nations such as Britain, Holland, Spain and France found themselves in conflict over pieces of land across the world, as well as the sea routes that were essential for their trade and defence.
By John Welford3 years ago in The Swamp
The myth of Atalanta
Mortal women (i.e. not goddesses) do not get a particularly good press in Greek mythology. They tend either to be driven to murder as revenge for wrongs done to them, e.g. Clytaemnestra and Medea, or seducers who bring death and destruction in their wake, most notably Helen but others include Phaedra and Astydameia.
By John Welford3 years ago in FYI
Anglo-Saxon Architecture
Modern knowledge of Anglo-Saxon architecture is limited by a number of factors. One is that many of their buildings, particularly domestic dwellings, were wooden, and so have not survived. Another is that people of later ages built over the top of earlier foundations, thus obliterating or confusing the evidence of what was there before.
By John Welford3 years ago in FYI