Month / June 2024
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Darwin and the kissing bug.
The date is 30 June 1860. The location is the new University Museum (now the Oxford University Museum of Natural History). Upwards of 500 people have squashed into the first floor Library…
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The tower, the college and the weather station
The forecast was rain, so I took an umbrella to Green Templeton College for the tour I had booked through Oxford’s Civic Society. It’s not a famous college. For a start it’s…
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The medieval floor tiles of the Greyfriars
It’s easy to miss them as you glide up to the top floor of the new Westgate Centre. But glance to your right and there on the wall is a significant part…
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Chris Raworth, fairground model maker
I was delighted to be invited to meet Chris Raworth at his workshop in Middle Barton, catching him just after he had assembled his set of gallopers for the last time to…
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Cecily Peele, author, illustrator, mapmaker (1892-1984)
I have long been enchanted by Cecily Peele’s “MAP OF OXFORD’S HISTORY; WITH SOME OF HER WORTHIES”, (above) published in the 1930’s. A cursory glance at this funny, colourful pictorial depiction of…
