1745 Coaching Stone - Original 18th Century GPS!

Sutton: 18th Century Coaching-Stone – the Original GPS! (13.4.2026)

I may well have written about the old coaching-stones scattered around Sutton and Cheam – I now of two – but was unaware of the date they were established. Basically, these devices informed travellers on foot, horse, or carriage – how many miles it was from where they were to the centre of London. Coachmen could either read the inscription engraved on the stone – or was taught what the stone said and remembered where it was when driving on the road – either way – these coaching-stones served as the original GPS system for travel. I think the Roman established something similar thousands of years ago – so the concept was not new in 1745. What I did not realise is that these stones have now received official recognition of being historically important monuments worthy of preservation and protection. The iron-bars and plaque are the new editions which I only saw when taking a rare walk through Sutton.

Soviet Arctic Monument

USSR: Vladimir Putin Lays Flowers at the Soviet Arctic Monument! (27.3.2025)

Opened in 1974 on the 30th Anniversary of the defeat of Nazi German forces in the Arctic, the Monument is located at an altitude of about 200 metres above the sea level. It is here that Soviet artillery crews stood their ground, repelling enemy attacks. Standing 42 metres tall, the monument is one of the tallest in Russia. Also on display at the site are anti-aircraft guns, neighboured by a sloped triangular pyramid symbolising a flag at half-mast in mourning.

Stonewall Erases Trans!

US: Trans Erasure – Protests at Stonewall National Monument – “LGBTQ” changed to “LGB”! (16.2.2025)

“The transgender community threw the first bricks that launched the contemporary LGBTQ human rights movement,” said State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal. 

“It was trans women of colour, trans women like Sylvia, Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, trans women that put their lives on the line, that stood on the front lines of this revolution. They are the reason why we have the rights that we have today, not just for trans people, but for LGBT people in general,” Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative board member Angelica Christina said. 

“We’re going to do everything we can, especially with our nonprofit that fights for equality all over the globe, Stonewall Gives Back Initiative, to make sure that people know that we’re not going to tolerate this. Progress and civil rights, LGBTQ rights have never been made by being silent, and we’re not going to be silent,” Stonewall Inn co-owner Stacy Lentz said.

US Citizens Visit the Shrine of Their Deceased Ancestors!

China: List Unveiled of WWII US Anti-Japanese Aviator Casualties! (4.9.2024)

Margaret Kincannon, the daughter of a Flying Tigers veteran, believes that the example of cooperation with the Flying Tigers can be used today, “because if they could do it at that time with the differences in culture and language, then we can do it now.”

The Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall is China’s first international anti-Japanese aviation martyrs memorial hall. Its collection contains rich historical materials about the air forces of China, the Soviet Union, the United States and other countries that were jointly fighting against the Japanese invaders in China during the Second World War. The names of nearly 4,300 Chinese and foreign anti-Japanese aviation martyrs are engraved on the monument in the memorial hall.

East Germany Guards JV Stalin!

JV Stalin Says “Happy Workers’ Day”! William Shakespeare Says Soviet Beauty Shines On! (1.5.2024)

Toppled statues lay in deconstructed heaps – but the meaning such devices represent carries-on regardless into the uncharted future. Objects can be smashed – that is easy – but equally new objects can be designed and constructed – this is a matter of collective action and progressive thought. It does not really matter what William Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote Sonnet 55 – when I heard it today in both Old and New English – it struck me that he had perceived a deeper (hidden) meaning in passing outward structures. Structures that by there very nature, must, at one point or another, pass away into oblivion. But there is hope of a re-birth – even if the Bard couches this reality in the terms of “Judgement day”!

St Mary's Church

WWII: Did Duddington Possess a Home Guard Platoon? (19.10.2023)

I keep a website dedicated to my paternal (‘Wyles’) family name – centred on the Northants village of Duddington – where my family lived for at least the last 500 years (and perhaps longer). Although my last direct relative left around 1906 – and that I live in South Greater London – we have visited Duddington around ten-times for research field trips since March 14th, 2009, and have amassed a large dossier of historical data! This can all be accessed at the above link. I am still researching whether Duddington possessed a Home Guard Platoon during WWII – and as of yet – this puzzle has NOT been solved!

1 2 3 4