1816

Posted on 17/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

Little OwlAfter the battle of Waterloo brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars and peace to Europe, everyone lived happily ever after (except Napoleon, obviously). The next thing to happen was the death of George III in 1820, after which the Prince Regent got a real job for ten or so years before passing the baton on to his brother William IV, ‘Sailor Bill’. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Object(s) Of The Month: March

Posted on 14/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

UmbrellaSome of the most ancient artefacts which have survived to grace our modern museums were carved from bone or ivory: hardwearing substances, which survive almost anything except a severe conflagration or a deliberate act of grinding them to shards or powder. The earliest known worked ivory consists of beads made from mammoth tusks, found in the area of Baden-Württemberg in Germany and in various cave sites in France, and figurines from the same caves have been dated to 35,000–30,000 BP. Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Cambridge, Exploration, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Ceramic Bestiary

Posted on 06/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

CustardLisbon claims to be the oldest city in the world, on the basis that it was thriving long before Athens, Rome etc. It also claims to have been founded by Odysseus on his way back from Troy: the name used to be Olyssepolis (city of Ulysses), Olissipo, Lisboa. Julius Caesar was there, and called it Julia Felicitas, and there are many Phoenician, Roman, Germanic and Moorish remains still visible on, and especially under, its seven hills. Continue reading →

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Object of the Month: February

Posted on 28/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

Small YoungerI urge you to visit the small but perfectly formed exhibition currently in the Shiba Room of the Fitzwilliam Museum, which contains flower paintings from the wonderful collection of Henry Rogers Broughton (1900-73), 2nd Baron Fairhaven, whose bequest to the museum I have mentioned before. The title ‘Crawling with Life’ gives the clue: all the images selected have insects, or gastropods, or in one case a bird, decorating (and in some cases predating upon) the plants. Continue reading →

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Unlit Candles

Posted on 24/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

candleWhat I know about the Tractarian controversy of the nineteenth century could be written on the head of a very tiny pin and is mostly drawn from the fiction of Antony Trollope (though I have no reason to believe he’s not in fact a good guide). However, recent reading has revealed some fascinating details about the effect of the Tractarians on church music, and the minutiae of the various debates/arguments/squabbles are fascinating, not least for their (to a twenty-first-century eye) quite staggeringly triviality – especially in the context of the horrendous social problems which many of the Anglican churchmen involved in the controversy were simultaneously (or perhaps consequently) able to ignore. Continue reading →

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Only A Pigeon

Posted on 20/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

Small single daisyI have discovered (as I imagine that many (very) amateur naturalists do) a strong strain of speciesism in my makeup. It’s only a daisy, when looking for wild orchids at Fulbourn Fen; it’s only the collared doves, eating the nyger seed intended for the goldfinches in the garden; it’s only a mallard, when looking for the elusive kingfisher along Hobson’s Brook; it’s only a wood-pigeon, when looking for hawks on the telegraph lines. (Incidentally, what do telegraph lines now carry?) Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: February

Posted on 15/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

1 blackthornI decided to write this month about blackthorn, or sloe, the white-blossomed, early-flowering, native shrubby tree so often seen in hedgerows. Then I started doing some research, and discovered how complicated it all is, but I have tried my best … Continue reading →

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Akragas

Posted on 12/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

Pink almondSo, there we were on Monday morning at Palermo train and bus station, clutching our remaining possessions to us, not sure what else the robbers might home in on – the clothes off our backs, perhaps? Or was the university medical school short of bodies for dissection? (It did not help that I had taken as part of my holiday reading Hilary Mantel’s The Giant, O’Brien.) Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Orto Botanico

Posted on 08/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

Hibiscus smallThe things I most disliked about Sicily were (a) being robbed; (b) the number of wild birds (especially goldfinches) hung up in tiny cages. On the plus side, there were plenty of things to like, including the Botanic Garden at Palermo. Continue reading →

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The Cost of Sunshine

Posted on 05/02/2016 by carolinemmurray

Town hall‘Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the evening?’ My recent encounters with the criminal fraternity of Palermo were pretty trivial by comparison with the assassination of a President of the United States, but they really brought home to me the difference between knowledge and logic on the one hand and personal and emotional experience on the other. Continue reading →

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