Mike Rendell
This blog has grown out of the research which has gone into my book The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman. It derives from the huge volume of papers which I have inherited from Richard Hall - my 4 x Great grandfather - ordinary everyday papers such as shopping lists, jottings on the back of tea packets, as well as diaries, journals and inventories.
Categories used most frequently by the blogger:
Caricatures Lifestyle Miscellaneous Diary Entries Heroes &Villains Book Art Fashion Entertainment Diary entries. Miscellaneous Matters medical Heroes &Villains Buildings Antiques Paper cut-outs The Weather and Natural Phenomena Matters Maritme Newspaper entries Talks Travel
Make me a cup of coffee – instantly!
25 November 2023
I recently gave a talk on board the lovely ship Sirena, on the history of coffee. Part of the research for it took me off at a tangent into the history of instant coffee, and I was ...
A load of hot air? No, the anniversary of the first manned flight in a balloon, 21 November 1783.
21 November 2023
Jacques-Étienne_Montgolfier Joseph Montgolfier The history of early ballooning neither began nor ended with the first manned flight in a hot-air balloon, designed by the Montgolfier...
Christopher Pinchbeck, a much-maligned jeweller and clock maker, died this day 1732.
18 November 2023
pinch-beck noun 1. An alloy of zinc and copper used as imitation gold. 2. A cheap imitation. adjective 1....
Visit to the newly opened British Museum on 11 October 176
11 October 2023
Writing in 1760 my ancestor Richard Hall records in his diary: “October 8 – went with Mr Crouch to see the British Musæum”, He would have been amongst the very first visitors...