Norwegian Fjords: A Select History
The defining feature of Norway’s coastline are the many fjords that cut into the interior of the country providing waterborne access inland. Fjords are so characteristic of Norway that two, … Continue reading
Beer, Bans, and Brennivin: Prohibition in Iceland
Late at night on May 10, 1988, and a dozen joyful Icelanders flash victory signs outside the Alþingi as the upper house votes to bring an end to a year long … Continue reading
The First Cod War
London, 1883, and the respected biologist Thomas Huxley rose to address the assembled delegates at the International Fisheries Exhibition government. Since 1858 Huxley had been closely involved with the British … Continue reading
Scotland invented the bicycle (?)
Back in 2005 the British Broadcasting Corporation invited the listeners of its You and Yours programme to vote for their favourite invention. The winner by a country mile was the … Continue reading
The Miners’ Strike in South Wales, 1984-85
“The policies of this government are clear – to destroy the coal industry and the NUM.” Arthur Scargill, President, National Union of Mineworkers “History will record that the British miner … Continue reading
Donetsk, isn’t it Boyo!
I wonder how many Russian nationalists know of the Welsh heritage of the industrial city of Donetsk, birthplace of pole-vault legend Sergey Bubka, shoe banging Nikita Krushchev, and Yevgeny Khaldei, the photographer … Continue reading
Skuldelev 3: Viking merchant shipping in the 11th Century
At some point between 1070 and 1090 AD, five ships were loaded with stones and scuttled to form a defensive barrier in the Peberrenden channel of Roskilde Fjord. These medieval … Continue reading
Danish flint daggers: Technology and society in late Neolithic and early Bronze Age Denmark
Finds of flint daggers from Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age Denmark represent what many archaeologists regard as the pinnacle of flint knapping technology in the Stone Age, surpassing the … Continue reading
Hanse
The ‘Steel-yard’ at London, now the site of Cannon Street Station, was once the western terminal of the Hanseatic trading system that linked England with Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia, and … Continue reading
Sild: Herring fisheries in the medieval Baltic
Let all the fish that swim in the sea, Salmon and turbot and cod and ling, Bow down the head and bend the knee, To herring their king – to … Continue reading
Horse railway
In the 1830’s the Austro-Hungarian Empire boasted the world’s longest horse railway connecting Linz in Upper Austria to České Budějovice in Bohemia. Originally envisioned in 1807 by Professor Franz Joseph … Continue reading
Noordzee
Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with the mantra Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, the tone poem of the … Continue reading
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