Ten years ago today …

… it was announced that the remains discovered on the site of the Leicester Greyfriars were indeed those of Richard III. On this page you can see both mitochodrial DNA lines: the first by John Ashdown-Hill and the back-up by Leicester University, both to collateral descendants in Commonwealth nations. Here you can see how easy it…

Songs of Praise about Richard III….if you live in Australia….

  Unfortunately for the rest of us, this programme is not available here, unless you subscribe to this site. Here’s hoping it’s eventually broadcast again here in the UK.

You never know what could be lying around in your shed….!

Amazingly, a 12th-century Norman chainmail hauberk has been found in an Irish shed.  Apart from rust, it’s in perfect condition! Unbelievable. Not only do I find little more than useless pieces of clay pipe in my garden, but everything in my shed is guarded by an army of large, vicious warrior spiders in league with…

Sorry, Frederick Forsyth and John Stonehouse, but Henry VII did it first

I expect you all know the basic premise of Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal (published in 1971). A mysterious and ruthless assassin obtains a birth certificate and passport in the name of someone who died as a child, before setting out to kill de Gaulle. In 1974, John Stonehouse followed this method by “borrowing”…

The first female Richard III in Australia….

Well, it seems that women playing the Bard’s Richard III go back further than I realized. It’s not a new thing, by any means. This article is about Elizabeth Winstanley, who died in December 1864 at the age of 64. She originated in Wigan, Lancs, and her family emigrated to Sydney in 1833. An interest…

Today Flinders; who might it be tomorrow….?

Who else might be waiting to be discovered? Which great figures from the past, thought to be lost forever, are just lying there impatiently, wondering when we’ll get around to them? How many tombs, destroyed by Henry VIII’s love life, might yet be retrieved…? Oh, we hardly dare wish! Richard III was found, and just…

Corris, Tey and The Daughter of Time….

Peter Corris, “the godfather of Australian crime”, has died at the age of 76. His name may not be all that well known to us (well, to me, I confess) but he was clearly a towering force in the literature of his home country. When I received notice of this obituary, it was stated that he…

A new tool uses DNA to predict eye, hair, skin colour…

A new tool uses DNA to predict eye, hair, skin colour … Quote from the above article: “The tool has been used by law enforcement in the Netherlands, Poland, and Australia, but it has not yet been adopted in the United States, Walsh said. It has also been used on ancient DNA, and it was…

George III revealed

This documentary, presented by Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail, unveils some of our longest-serving King’s secrets, such as a draft abdication letter after American independence was achieved. It also discusses his health issues in greater detail. Until recently, it was thought that he suffered from porphyria, a physical disease that Mary Stuart carried to…

Sad news Down Under

In memory of Leo van der Pas, the Dutch-born cyber-genealogist who died in Canberra earlier this year: http://www.genealogics.org/index.php