In January 1874, the naturalist, writer, publisher and fisheries inspector, Mr. Frank Buckland Esq., gave one of his famous lectures to a large audience, which consisted principally of parents with their young children. The event was billed as a holiday diversion ‘especially for juveniles’ and it was held at the Society for the Encouragement of…

In 1877, Frank Buckland, Spencer Walpole and Archibald Young were commissioned by H.M. Government to inspect the ‘Scotch’ Herring Fishery. They travelled all around Scotland gathering ‘evidences’ (sic) at various locations. The following year, these evidences were published in full, along with their conclusions, a map of their route, and several appendices. The proper title…

It was the name on the door that gave me a jolt. It was always going to be a possibility that I would meet up with my own past, but I wasn’t the slightest bit prepared for it. I knew the address. I’d been there before, albeit a long time ago. It was a shock,…

‘Erin Greengloves and her Big Fight with Gunnar Lokka the Giant’ is not quite the inversion of the giant-killer tales of old it might seem. Certainly, the Giant is the invader and Jack, re-imagined as a stubborn, single-minded lass, is the unlikely defender of the community. There is also the episodic description of challenges overcome…

The acronym is the enemy of understanding. One on its own is bad enough, but a whole string of them, beaded haphazardly together, is a recipe for incoherence. Fortunately, I am able to expertly decipher all but the most obscure of initialized titles, monikers, headings and labels. Yet any obstacle to comprehension must be a…