Category: History

How the Brigadier Lost His Ear

I think it’s time to reassess Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories. I last read them more than half a century ago. Now I find them both funnier and much more interesting.

The Finnish Boys

Sometimes ignorance makes me chicken out of something but then I find out. Earlier this year, in the forest cemetery outside Tallinn, I saw a memorial to “The Finnish Boys”.

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Man in White Suit

When I saw a man dressed like this at the forest cemetery in Estonia I thought maybe he was a forensic policeman gathering evidence. This seemed unlikely so I filed the matter in a bulky folder labelled Unsolved Mysteries.

Petrine Baroque

The proximity of the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox cathedral to parliament, in the centre of Tallinn, I suppose aroused anti-Russian sentiment and led some people to moot its demolition and replacement with a park.

Toompea Time

There was a fine view of this tower, Pikk Hermann, from the fifth floor of one of the Radissons in Tallinn.

On Stage Coaches

In my terraced street there have been a few false starts. The pavements were taken up to lay cables for TV; roofs were adorned with giant white mushrooms for TV; a proposal to communally install solar panels did not gain traction; plastic caddies for bio-waste likewise did not get wide take-up.

Sir Walter

The most interesting of the Gilbey brothers is Walter. They were all good businessmen and philanthropic but Walter had a deeper hinterland. “In 1858, the year after his return from the Crimean War, Walter had married Ellen Parish, the fourth daughter of the landlord of the White Horse Inn at North Street, and soon after… Continue reading Sir Walter

From Gilbey to Guinness

W. A. Gilbey was founded in 1857 and was initially successful because wine imported from South Africa attracted less duty and the brothers passed on this advantage to their customers. That got them off the ground but almost immediately, in 1860, the rules changed.