The Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris is almost the French equivalent of the Science Museum in London, and it is absolutely packed with the most fascinating historic, scientific, mechanical, experimental and industrial exhibits. Be prepared to allocate plenty of time...
A new exhibition featuring 23 exotic clockwork treasures beloved by Chinese emperors, and loaned from The Palace Museum in Beijing, opened this week at the Science Museum in London. The magnificent 18th century automata, called Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: meaning ‘self-sounding bells’ or ‘bells that ring themselves’, combine timekeeping,...
Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, has started its annual deep clean, which, it turns out, is quite a complex process requiring more than a can of Pledge (other multi-surface cleaners are available) and a feather duster! The deep clean includes everything from...
These days, the huge fortified bunker built by the Germans in 1941 to protect its U-boats, is no longer referred to as the “U-boat base” or “the U-boat pens”. Instead they simply call it the ‘submarine base’, maybe to disassociate it from its origins, but we all...
The Museum of the Liberation of Paris, in Paris, tells the story of the occupation of Paris in the Second World War, its resistance, and its eventual liberation in Aug 1944. It’s not a museum loaded with artefacts, most of the displays are reproduced historic photographs, documents...
The Last Hill is a new book by Robert Drury and Tom Clavin about a little-known fierce battle fought in December 1944 to capture a strategic hill in the Hürtgen Forest on Germany’s border. The 400 metre (1,315ft) steep-sided ‘Hill 400‘ lies 5 kilometres inside the German...
A piece of wreckage, thought to be from HMS Campbeltown was discovered in 2020 on the seabed and is now awaiting a new home. Other Saint-Nazaire Posts Operation Chariot Battlefield Trail in Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire Mystery Wreckage Submarine Espadon – Museum Ship EOL Centre éolien – Learning Centre...
On 28 March 1942, the Royal Navy and British Commandos attacked the docks at Saint-Nazaire in what became known as ‘The Greatest Raid of All’. The targets of the amphibious assault, Operation Chariot, and the key locations of the onshore skirmishes are still there, and Saint-Nazaire Tourisme...
It’s Trafalgar Day tomorrow (21 Oct) and the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) is revealing some of Lord Nelson’s letters in a temporary exhibition that will run till 16 April 2023. ‘Nelson In His Own Words: Treasures from the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation’ features rare &...
The answer is NO, but what’s interesting is that if she had made her ill-fated breakout into the Atlantic a year later, she might have been. By then, if the same ships had intercepted her they would have been carrying red (HMS Rodney) and yellow (HMS King...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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