Not far from the place in Bethlehem where Jesus is said to have been born there’s a gift shop dedicated to Banksy. In fact, it seems the whole quarter is given over to this infamous graffiti artist from my home town of Bristol. Before purchasing some prints of […]
Walking through the Arab quarter in Hebron’s old city is an eerie experience. Bar the Israeli soldiers standing guard in watchtowers and on rooftops, the place is deserted. The shutters on the shops along what was once the city’s busiest street are permanently down. Some 10 years ago, […]
Blue and white flags are up shops, final sound checks are being made at open air stages and soon fireworks will light up the sky. If they’ve not already, parties marking 65 years of Israel’s independence will soon get underway. It’s going to be a late night for […]
Like other areas of London, Rotherhithe’s population exploded in the 1800s; growing from close to 10,000 people in 1801 to some 38,000 a century later. Workers flooded into the area as new docks were dug and warehouses built, creating employment for an army of dockers. By the mid-1820s […]
No matter where you are in Britain it seems you are never far from a post box. From isolated hamlets to busy city centres, it’s more likely than not there is one of Royal Mail’s cylindrical red pillar boxes just around the corner from where you live. Most […]
The names Pompeii and Herculaneum strike the fear of death. Even if you can’t recall the date of AD79, you will probably know that these cities in southern Italy were wiped out when the volcano on nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted. Thousands of lives were lost in the ash […]
Past In The Present 