Richard Gordon describes Liston as “the fastest knife in the West End. He could amputate a leg in 21⁄2 minutes”. Indeed, he is reputed to have been able to complete operations in a matter of seconds, at a time when speed was essential to reduce pain and improve the odds of survival of a patient; […]
Category Archives: history
Google Maps: Roman Empire Edition
As a Classics student and an Oregon Trail buff, this is beyond cool. Ever wondered how long it would take to travel from Rome to Constantinople at the peak of the Roman Empire? Or from Luna to Larissa? Or Parma to Thessalonica? This map of the Roman World created at Stanford University is awesomely realistic […]
The Tin Noses Shop
I think I’ve posted about Harold Gillies before, but his life’s work was so wonderful it bears repeating. Writing in the 1950s, Sir Harold Gillies, a pioneer in the art of facial reconstruction and modern plastic surgery, recalled his war service: “Unlike the student of today, who is weaned on small scar excisions and graduates […]
99% Invisible
A hard-to-impress friend posted about this blog the other day, so I knew it was had to be impressive. Irregularly updated, but pretty fascinating. I’ll have to check in on this one in the future. The Walled City gained a reputation as a sort of den of iniquity—there were high levels of prostitution, gambling, […]
Reflections from a Secret Service Agent
The events of the moment (in gory detail, be warned) Kennedy was killed, as told by the Secret Serviceman who leapt onto the back of the limo after the shots were fired. In the clip — known as the “Zapruder film,” for Dallas dressmaker Abraham Zapruder, who shot the footage — a Secret Service agent is […]
MAIDEN STONE
My memory of this stone is very vivid, despite last seeing it when I was 6 or 7 years old. I even remembered the name and the hand mirror carving. A few clicks from Google and I’m seeing it again for the first time in 30 years, courtesy this website documenting the Pictish stones. The […]
Notes from the Foundling Asylum
A heartbreaking little glimpse at an old social institution: The foundling hospital. The most affecting room at one of my favourite Paris Museums documented the history and fallout of the institutionalisation of child-dumping, complete with lazy-Susanesque “foundling wheels” for easy (and anonymous) drop-offs. One display case showed letters from distraught parents, torn in zigzags, saying […]
Martin Dardis
I’m rewatching All the President’s Men (for the umpteenth time) and in my usual movie-watching mode, I’m pausing every 5 minutes to look stuff up on Wikipedia. Fans of the book/movie/conspiracy will find this little tidbit amazing: During World War II, on December 29, 1944, Dardis was a gunner with the 468th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic […]
Tribune Tower
Prior to the building of the Tribune Tower, correspondents for the Chicago Tribune brought back rocks and bricks from a variety of historically important sites throughout the world at the request of Colonel McCormick. Many of these reliefs have been incorporated into the lowest levels of the building and are labeled with their location of […]
Richard III Found?
Not sure how this didn’t get more press, though admittedly I’ve been ill this month and slept through a lot of radio news reports. Archaeologists searching for the grave of Richard III have said “strong circumstantial evidence” points to a skeleton being the lost king. The English king died at the battle of Bosworth in […]