If you flick through the pages of rock’s vast and sticky encyclopaedia, it won’t be long before you come across a Leicester or Leicestershire-related entry. Here, I’ve done some of the leg-work for you. So prepare to be pleasantly surprised by three blokes called Jo[h]n. 1. Disarming rock lunatic…
Joe Wykes, Lee Miller and Nick Reynolds are turning a golden shade of brown under the blazing sun. It’s a glorious, Tarmac melter of a day – the car thermometer reads 33C – and the three thatchers are up on the roof, overlooking a dazzling swathe of pretty, patchwork fields.…
If you follow the co-ordinates 52.57 latitude and -0.99 longitude you will end up in Scotland. This may come as a surprise to a number of ordinance survey enthusiasts as Scotland, on closer inspection, appears to be in the very centre of England. And it is. You will find that…
Yonks back there was a series in the Mercury on the men hung and buried inside the steep walls of Leicester Prison. William Henry Palmer was among them…and he didn’t go quietly. They’re supposed to do it with weary resignation; a sniff, a sorrowful glance, sometimes even with a…
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…
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…
It’s a hot day at Charnwood Acres Country Club. So hot, in fact, that people aren’t wearing any clothes. But that’s par for the course at Charnwood Acres, one of the largest naturist resorts in Britain. At this verdant paradise in Ratby, just a 15 minute drive from Leicester city…
Edward Ludlam’s name didn’t do the decent thing and die with its owner in the summer of 1776. Instead it emerged rudely triumphant more than 30 years after Edward – or Ned – was laid to rest at St Mary’s Church in Anstey. If the name rings a bell, it’s…
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…
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…
The clothes you see below have recently been put into storage. The exhibition has been dismantled. Packed into boxes and put in a loft at Beaumanor Hall. To see them now you require a special appointment. Snibston Discovery Park in Coalville – and I’m going to stick my neck on…
It’s a riches-to-rags story where the ponies, nannies and chauffeurs are swallowed in the vortex of a collapsing city knitwear firm. It’s a story where the finishing school-raised family matriarch, recently divorced, finds herself making a living changing roller towels in pubs and clubs across Leicestershire. It’s a story which,…
Newish among the artillery of the National Trust is an Arts and Crafts family home nestled in the scenic folds of Charnwood Forest. “This is the postcard shot, really,” grins Joe Thompson, the head gardener, as he leads us down the proverbial garden path, past a crest of heather…
At this time of year the people of Heather like to go a bit batty. In a nice way. Across the village, wherever you turn, the streets and gardens are full of scarecrows. Some will have a contemporary theme, some will be traditional and the rest…
You don’t need me to tell you this, but Old John, a chubby stone tower that looks a lot like a beer tankard, is Leicestershire’s most iconic landmark. This photogenic enigma has been crowning the highest, rockiest peak in the tumbling, well-loved acres of Bradgate Park since the autumn…
