It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
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What Western Park is famous for
This would look great in the hall way
Fairwell to the Wheatcroft Collection at Donington Park

Leicestershire has many claims to fame. One; it has the world’s largest private collection of grand prix cars. Two; it has the world’s largest private collection of WW2 military vehicles. Both have been on show at Donington Park in north west Leicestershire for many, many years. Alas, time moves on.…
@Allontheboard
Joseph Goddard’s beautiful bank

Leicester has lots of beautiful and interesting buildings. Among them is Joseph Goddard’s impressive bank on the corner of Granby Street and Bishop Street. With its stunning stained glass and high lantern beamed ceilings, this French Gothic Revival masterpiece was executed with modern styling when it took shape between 1870…
From 1897 to now – the simplified Sturgess car story

Leicester’s Walter Edwin Sturgess was a man on the move. When he opened a shop in 1897 and became successful selling modern prototype bicycles, he wasn’t planning on stopping there. And true enough, Wal’s first business in Leicester’s Shaftesbury Road was soon eclipsed by a second in Narborough Road which…
Recent images of Leicester, Leicestershire and London
“A perfect tornado of furious sound”: Breaking the Hindenburg Line with the 46th
The Royal Mail in 1916 liked a cup of cocoa
Off to France for the centenary of 1918 with the BBC
The Belgians are here! Head of Steam opens in Leicester
Recent images of Leicester and Leicestershire
A tour of Leicester Castle with the guy who found RIII
Charnwood Forest, Beacon Hill and Bradgate Park
Western Park Beer Festival is coming next month
Leicestershire’s surprising rock credentials
Passchendaele, 100 years on

A hundred years ago WW1’s second most notorious bloodbath was churning up souls in Flanders. Here, I spare a few words on Leicestershire’s involvement at Passchendaele. The three Leicestershire Regiment officers stared at the map, looked hard at the surrounding mud and then, with incredulity, at each other. The…
Recent pics of Leicester and Leicestershire
Download 2017 at Donington – Leicestershire’s international rock address
The new(ish) 150AD mosaics, buildings in Great Central Street and a bridge over the Soar
Tigers at Passchendaele 100 years on

It’s that time of year again when passports and European health insurance cards get squirrelled away into luggage containing two-pin adaptors and phone chargers. Tomorrow (Monday, May 8) we are taking the EuroStar across the channel and heading for Belgium. Our visit this year coincides with the impending anniversary of…
St Peter has got it going on
Gig in Leicester
Up on the roof
Old Leicester adverts: Everards, Kendalls, G.Folwell and son etc
Around the world in 80 Plates: Day two, Portugal
Roy Watts and the International Brigades
Brain vomit
KRIII was lost for centuries – but a 1792 map comes pretty bloody close
Legend of the Hangman’s Stone
Legend of the Hangman’s Stone is taken from Thomas Rossell Potter’s Charnwood Forest – its History and Antiquities, 1842. It’s a traditional slice of folklore about a man out poaching who comes a cropper. In this story a man named John Oxley meets his maker snared on an igneous…
Leicester Comedy Festival’s #deadmonarchs exhibition
Hibernot at Rockingham Castle: Winter is served
Scotland is closer than you think
The Walcote murder and the hanging of William Henry Palmer
Recent images of Leicester and Leicestershire

Ulverscroft Priory, just minding its own business, 13th century. Aylestone Meadows on Sunday, January 22. Poplar skeletons at Western Park on Wednesday, January 25th. Twin Lakes in Melton, back in December. Imagine saying house to that. Twin Lakes. Nothing says Christmas like meerkats shivering under a heat lamp. National Space…
Around the World in 80 Plates. Day one. Cyprus/Greece.
Gig upstairs at BrewDog on Friday, January 20 – with added Framework beers
Tree porn in Western Park
Framework Brewery – Leicester city centre’s first craft brewery
“Presently both sides were out of their trenches, shaking hands and exchanged tobacco for cigarettes and chocolate. Four of us went over and were met by six Germans.”

On Christmas Eve, more than a century ago, a brave officer from the 1st Leicestershire Regiment climbed out of his trench and walked steadily towards No Man’s Land. Major Archibald Buchanan-Dunlop, who was serving on the frontline at Ypres in Belgium, hadn’t lost his mind. And he hadn’t gone accidentally…
The priest that came back and other odd stories

Old newspapers, journals and books are a rich source of eerie WTFisms …as exhibited by these few pieces of shrapnel below. Having rifled through city and county’s past the most disturbing tale was found in John Nichols’ near biblical History of Leicestershire. Nichols himself relays the story in hushed tones…
When it’s actually okay to get yourself arrested
Thornton Reservoir
The mud was scraped away and one word could be seen…Leicester
When St John’s lads carried swords
Letting it all hang out in Ratby
You say you want a revolution…
You’ll never look at Simon de Montfort the same way again

Simon de Montfort drew his last exhausted breath on a bloody Worcestershire battlefield. Outnumbered four to one, the powerful sixth Earl of Leicester had refused pleas to escape to safety as the Royalists continued their charge forward. “Our bodies are theirs, our souls are God’s,” he boomed as a hit-squad…
A few words on gardening
Meet you at the Clock Tower, yeah?
Filth and more filth: The Leicesters at Vimy 1916
I read the news today…oh boy

We are doomed. I love my cousins in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, eastern Europe – all of them. Many EU policies embrace better environmental legislation, better laws regarding employment and family, and many have better attitudes towards equality. Sat here this morning, mournful at the…
Recent images of Leicester and Leicestershire
The lovely and secluded walled garden at Braunstone Hall
Ralph Hollingworth – our top brass in SOE
Austin Healey gives it some lip

This little feature was published back in the summer of 2013. Austin Healey, as you can see, gives good copy. Sports people, generally, can be rather dry. The commitment, the single mindedness, often doesn’t do much for personality. Again to Tigers, that doesn’t go for Cockers. The Tigers coach was…
Kilworth House – a little cakey kiss from heaven

Leicestershire, through agriculture and industry, has always had fairly deep pockets. Which means we have quite a number of lovely homes nestled within the gentle gold and green of our shire’s undulating countryside. Kilworth House (Hotel and theatre) is one such place. Former home of genuinely lovely Black Sabbath guitarist…
\,,/(*_*)\,,/ It’s Download time \,,/(*_*)\,,/ \,,/(*_*)\,,/ \,,/(*_*)\,,/

It’s that Paganistic time of year when 120,000 tattooed, long-haired, skinny jeanists come to worship upon the sacred fields of north west Leicestershire. Roll ups? Check. Leather boots? Check. The ability to lose one’s mind/wallet/friends? Check. This weekend, Download festival is serenading Donington Park. Rock’s General Synod first hooked up…
A day at Age Concern in Leicester
Leicester win the league
Coming soon – our trip to the Somme
New thoughts on an old theme

Braunstone: It’s an old place name meaning brown stone and brown stones y’all can often be mistaken for poo. This scatological parallel fits well with the the general thinking on Braunstone Estate, AKA Braunstone or Brauny. But Braunstone, a name which anoints the housing estate, town and village, isn’t shit.…
Leicester city on Leicester City today
And let’s not forget the new Leicester snooker World Champion
Good morning world – what a beautiful day
Crisps, beer and a doughnut box…Leicester City on eBay
Secret Beer Club: It’s not secret and it’s not a club
Recent pix of Leicester, a couple of Manchester and a few of Jodrell Bank
The late 14th century Guildhall in Leicester
The Wheatcroft Collection

With the annual French/Belgian battlefield experience rapidly approaching and Download rock festival soon after, my thoughts are currently turning towards Donington, which combines military on one hand and music on the Devil-horned other. Cue an article from 2012… Kevin Wheatcroft next to a German half-track Some people…
Belgrave Hall – words to follow. It’s half term and tonsillitis time.
Bradgate Park today – words to follow
Simon Hoggart
Fresh photos of Leicester
The Beatles at De Montfort Hall in Leicester
An art lesson at HMP Leicester

Leicester prison is a narrow, claustrophobic building, overcrowded with men who’ve made bad choices. I’ve been to HMP Leicester twice. It is, on the outside, a whimsical concoction. A romantic dream of what a castle should look like – a portcullis, meaty turrets and arrowslits (Image at the bottom). On…
If a Jim Steinman LP was re-imagined as a church window
Recent photos of Leicester and Leicestershire

What says Mothering Sunday more than dressing as one of Simon de Montfort’s knights at the Battle of Evesham (August 4, 1265)? Exactly. We were back at Jewry Wall Museum on Sunday to join in the 50th birthday celebrations. There were demonstrations, from Leicester’s many different periods, my daughter had…
In memory of George Higgs age 109
The Fashion Gallery at Snibston Discovery Park. Part 1 of a Snibby series.
Coming soon…The Fab Four
A true story in 56 words
I never spoke out until I was 40. It was taboo. Men aren’t victims of abuse
The Turkish Baths
Our World War – nice job Bruce Goodison
Paganism in Leicester
The virtually unknown Battle of Losecoat Field
The Battle of Frezenberg Ridge
Photos of Leicester and Leicestershire
Jewry Wall
Great firkin news for people in Leicester who like beer
King Dick’s bed (Not a porno)
Catching up with Albert – the safe-blower who broke out of Leicester Prison

In a semi-detached on the outskirts of Sheffield, Albert Hattersley glances at the Leicester Mercury headline of Saturday, December 19, 1953, 30FT JUMP TO FREEDOM IN PRISON ESCAPE “It was 36ft,” says the pensioner, jabbing a peevish finger at the front page. “I should know.” It’s been 57 years since…
Thought for the day: Imagine waking tomorrow and all music has disappeared
Who knew the zombie apocalypse would be so much fun?
The future of Leicester Central
Images from LE1 and elsewhere

Currently on display in Dover Street, Leicester. Just excellent. Walkers. Best pies. No contest. Leicester Market vinyl stall. Leicester Fridge do Naked Comedy at Manhattan 34. Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival on Friday, February 5. Leicestershire love god drops by the Mercury offices and visits the newsfloor. Pre-Eurovision. Nicely…