In my last post, I mentioned that Halloween was quietly replaced in the seventeenth century by Guy Fawkes Night, because it was seen as suffering from the double whammy of being both pagan and catholic. The fake sacrifice on the Samhain bonfires became an effigy of Guy Fawkes, and the night gradually became nothing more […]
It’s Halloween today, so here’s a very brief history of the holiday. A complete history would probably run to several volumes. Halloween’s a lot more than just a modern excuse for kids to get sweets. It goes back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, marking the transition of summer into winter and the night when
A spellchecker is a great tool – as long as it’s used in conjunction with a human brain. It’s main shortcoming, of course, is that it can’t read your mind. It doesn’t know what you meant to say; it can only tell you whether the word you’ve used exists. Even if it’s completely the wrong
I don’t suppose most people are aware that today, 29th September, is the feast of Michaelmas. It doesn’t loom large in modern life, but at one time it was one of the most important days of the year. In the church calendar, Michaelmas is the feast of the Archangel Michael, but it’s also one of
Some years ago, I went on one of those tourist-trap boats on the Thames. The guide kept up the usual cheery chatter, and one of the pieces of “information” he gave us was that the word wharf is actually an acronym, standing for Ware House At River Front. I was immediately dubious about that, and
I’ve just had an eye-test. I have them every two years, and this time, as usual, they’ve slightly updated the glasses I use for reading and screen-work. Since I spend a large proportion of my time staring at a computer-screen, it’s essential to look after my eyes. After all, it wouldn’t be so easy to
Copyright is everywhere. We all know what it is – more or less – but exact details are harder to pin down, especially since the internet has thrown up extra challenges and uncertainties. In essence, it says that the creator of any work (words, music, images, filmed material or buildings, among many others) should have
Most of us want to be as ethical as possible, in our businesses as well as our personal lives. For some businesses, it’s easy enough to identify areas where that’s possible, even if achieving it isn’t always quite as easy. We can ensure our office stationery is made from recycled paper. We can ensure that
Needless to say, we all have interests that we’d like to concentrate on, whether that’s football, quantum physics or the wheel configuration of classic steam locomotives. For me, it would be a mixture of history and literature, perhaps with some music thrown in for good measure. For a copywriter, the ideal would be to make
I consider myself lucky to live and work in the beautiful Lea Valley in Hertfordshire. In spite of urbanisation and some rather questionable architectural choices in the 1960s, we have the nature-rich marshlands on either side of the river, an area apparently prized by bird-watchers (I love seeing birds, but I don’t have the patience