Looking back in time
Now and again I enjoy look back and reminding myself of the important events which occurred in 1936 when I was born. To herald my arrival into the world, both King George V and Rudyard Kipling died, Edward V111 abdicated, the Spanish Civil War began and four years later WW11 began. Apart from the BBC opening its first TV channel, there was not too much to look forward to.
Curiosity getting the better of me and with time on my hands this week, I looked up to see what going on in 1873, the year my father was born in 1873. Queen Victoria had already been monarch 36 years, the...
In the Sinai Mountains
It is getting cool during the day and downright freezing at night. The Sinai mountains are at an altitude of over 2,400 m, with peaks covered with snow during the winter. Snow is good because it means water for the Bedouin gardens, but it also means less customers because nobody wants to spend a chilly night on a mountain and wake up to frozen pools of water.
'As a child the brutal cold was more terrifying than the war'
It was not Hitler that frightened me but the cold. From autumn to spring, the cold was everywhere. There was little escape, even when there was the rate chance the sit in front of a fire. As a child everyone had a right to the best and closest place to the fire before you did and so, you usually ended up in the place no-one-wanted-at the edges or at the back.
Eight years ago Laura Pollán was a schoolmarm
Eight years ago Laura Pollán was a schoolmarm who lived with her husband Héctor Maseda, leader of the illegal Cuban Liberal Party. Despite all the vicissitudes of living in a country where the freedom of assembly is penalized, the family tried to lead a normal life in its small house on Neptuno street. But early one morning several heavy knocks on the door heralded that their lives were about to change irreversibly. After an exhaustive search, Maseda was jailed and sentenced to a prison term of 20 years on charges of endangering national security.
The Welshman who gave his name to the world's highest mountain
2012 marks 160 years since scientists mapped and surveyed the mighty Himalayas. Sion Morgan looks back at the role of Welshman George Everest, whose name adorns the most famous peak of all
In 1852 a group of scientists completed a 50-year project which began at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains to map and survey Asia’s mammoth mountain range.
Among the pioneering researchers whose blood, sweat and tears were given to the cause was a man from Crickhowell called George Everest.
