A former apprentice stonemason who helped build the Houses of Parliament is thought to have borrowed the book in the late 1800s

Austral-Asia: Controversial New Find Suggests 19th Century Aussies Could Read! (9.8.2026)

“It does have beautiful illustrations in it and some pages that fold out to show you they were using exact measurements of some of the monuments in Greece.”

She said in 1872, the council got a £200 grant to establish the town’s library and and it had fewer than 1,000 books in its collection, with the overdue book marked as number 506.

There’s no way to know exactly who borrowed the book or when, Hudson said, as the library’s borrowing records from that period have since been lost.

However, the book is no longer available to borrow, having been added to the library’s collection of special items, which can be viewed on request.

“It won’t be able to go out again… we don’t want to wait another 150 years for it to come back,” Hudson joked.

As for the book’s much-delayed return, Simmons said he believes his great-grandfather would be pleased with the final chapter of its journey.

“I think he’d be happy to see the book returned and he’d probably have a bit of a laugh about it.”

A parade of Ukrainian nationalists in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) in honour of the visit of the Governor-General of Poland, Reichsleiter Hans Frank, October 1941

UK: BBC Article Omits “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA) – Murdered Millions of Jews, Soviet Citizens & Others – Whilst Fighting for Hitler During WWII! (21.6.2026)

It is a blatant “lie” that UPA ever fought the Nazi Germans – it was a staunch ally of Hitler and carried-on fighting until its total destruction in 1947 (there were the odd attack on German police stations and depots – but this was when the Nazis were losing and being pushed back. This demonstrates how the UPA possessed no moral backbone at all – and would attack its allies. Either way, these minor opportunistic attacks did not alter its pro-fascist ideology or murderous intent). With Truman coming to power – all the agreements and treaties that favoured the USSR were dissolved, abandoned, or ignored – as the US sought to create a new enemy. Since the resurgence of Ukrainian Neo-Nazism – a completely new pseudo-history has been developed – replete with fake lineages and wannabe generals and leaders. This truly is the domain of mental illness – but a mental illness encouraged by the West and its anti-intellectual mouthpieces such as the BBC! Finally, modern Russia is a bourgeois, capitalist State which possesses a mixed bag of historians. Some take the Western approach of demonising the USSR (a form of self-hate) – and in so doing excuse the behaviour of the UPA – whilst others are not supportive of the USSR – but oppose the UPA (basically – Russian Nationalists). There are a few modern Russian historians who are level-headed and sane and do not apologise for the USSR – but seek to have its history properly expressed and understood.

Coffins containing the remains of the Chinese People's Volunteers martyrs, escorted by honor guards, are about to be loaded onto vehicles at Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 22, 2026. (Photo: China News Service/Yu Haiyang)

China: Bodies of Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPVs) Returned from South Korea! (24.4.2026)

The remains of 12 Chinese People’s Volunteers martyrs who lost their lives during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) were returned to China from the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Wednesday. A Chinese Air Force Y-20B large transport aircraft carrying the remains of the fallen soldiers, escorted by four J-20 fighter jets, is pictured in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, April 22, 2026.

Yuri Gagarin Monument - UK!

USSR: Yuri Gagarin – “AD 1961” – First Man in Space! (13.4.2025)

Yet one of the most unexpected tributes to the first cosmonaut lies far from space museums or bustling capitals — on the windswept Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland.

Here, just steps from the Neolithic village of Skara Brae – a UNESCO World Heritage Site inhabited over 5,000 years ago – stands a carved stone that simply reads: “First Man in Space, AD 1961”. Nestled among markers of human milestones, it honours Gagarin’s place in our shared journey — from ancient stargazers to modern explorers.

This is a quiet reminder that Gagarin’s reach extends far beyond Earth’s orbit — and even beyond the expected.

💐 Recently Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin and Russian Consul General in Edinburgh Denis Moskalenko laid flowers at the site, paying tribute to the first man in space.

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