Paul Asling
Bio
I share a special love for London, both new and old. I began writing fiction at 40, with most of my books and stories set in London.
MY WRITING WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH, CRY, AND HAVE YOU GRIPPED THROUGHOUT.
paulaslingauthor.com
Stories (80/0)
SECRET 360-YEAR-OLD DOORWAY UNCOVERED IN LONDON
Historians working on the renovation of the House of Commons have found a lost 360-year-old passageway, hidden in a secret chamber. The doorway was created for the coronation of Charles II in 1660. This was to allow guests to access a celebratory banquet in Westminster Hall, the building next to the modern day Commons chamber.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in FYI
BURIED TREASURE UNDER THE STREETS OF LONDON
For over 300 years, buried treasure lay undisturbed below one of London’s busiest streets. No one knew it was there until builders demolished a timber-framed building in Cheapside near St Paul’s Cathedral, in June 1912. The building had stood on the site since the 17th century, but the cellars were older and lined with brick.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in FYI
REASONS TO BE GLAD YOU DIDN’T LIVE IN THE 19th CENTURY
If you are unhappy with the standard of medical care at present, it’s still a million miles away from the dark days of the Victorian era. While the most significant breakthroughs in medicine have come from experimentation, it was more often than not a torturous and unsuccessful affair in the 19th century.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in FYI
VICTORIAN SURGERY WAS OFTEN A DEATH SENTENCE
VICTORIAN SURGERY WAS OFTEN A DEATH SENTENCE From the first cut to the severed limb dropping into a box of sawdust, surgeon Robert Liston could remove a leg in 25 seconds. His operations at University College Hospital in London in the early 1840s were notorious for their speed and intensity.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in FYI
VICTORIAN CHILD LABOUR
The average age at which children started work in early 19th-century Britain was ten years old. In London and other industrial areas, children started work earlier, on average at eight and a half years old. Many of the young workers started in factories, crawling beneath the machinery to clear it of dirt, dust, or anything else that might interrupt the workings of the machines. Most children worked under the same disadvantages, working for low pay, performing work that was dirty, dangerous, and working long hours.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in FYI
BRANDING A PERSON WAS ONLY ABOLISHED IN 1879
Branding on the face was used to reprimand people on the margins of society. Judges would punish the poor for minor thefts, deter beggars, suppress prostitutes, drive homeless people out of the parish and subdue the mentally ill. Judges thought by combining physical pain with lifelong humiliation would be a powerful deterrent. ‘T’ meant thief, ‘B’ blasphemer, and ‘FA’, false accuser: sometimes an ‘F’ on one cheek and an ‘A’ on the other.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in Criminal
THE SEX LIVES OF VICTORIANS
The Victorians overturned 600-year-old laws of consent. In 1848 alone, some 2,700 girls aged between 11 and 16 were hospitalised for venereal diseases in London. The vast majority of these girls had been working as prostitutes. And this was almost the tip of the iceberg.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in Filthy
BRAVE LADY
I remember when I was first diagnosed. I had that split second when I opened my eyes in the morning thinking the MS wasn’t there. Then the truth hit. It was then the first thing, I thought of each morning. And the last thing I thought of before, I fell asleep.
By Paul Asling2 years ago in Humans