"Legend has it that the villages of Puddletown and Briantspuddle, which used to contain the word ‘piddle’, changed their village titles to avoid embarrassing Queen Victoria whilst she was visiting." So says the newly-published Little Book of Dorset. Is it true? …
SIR ANTHONY JOLLIFFE GBE DL DSc has announced that he will retire, after 28 years as President of the Society of Dorset Men, at the annual meeting next April. The only Weymouth man to become Lord Mayor of London told 187 members of the society at the annual County Dinner, held…
AT LEAST 150 YEARS of Dorset history can be explored in fascinating detail through the archives of Cosens, once Weymouth’s largest employer. The spread of tourism, the fortunes of the Navy, the grandeur of paddle steamers, the fragile life of piers, the differing economic merits of shipwrecks, chimpanzees and striptease, these are just some of [...]
IN JULY 1953 Philip Larkin stayed at the Royal Hotel on Weymouth seafront. He came on holiday with his mother Eva and was often mistaken for her brother or husband. He didn’t seem to mind this. He enjoyed holidays, despite claiming not to, and he liked Weymouth. This is how he…
A NEW service from the British Library allows users to search through an online map of Dorset for old recordings of songs and stories.…
An opinion piece about plans to spend £45,000 studying carnivals along the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon IS THIS country too anchored in its past or feeling too guilty to be so politically correct? There is a certain irony that Carnival should be studied in a country that…
NEARLY £45,000 is being offered to a student able and willing to spend three years studying carnivals along the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon. “Studying” here means both taking part and observing, so a bonny mix of skills is potentially called for. If you’re tempted to apply – and the studentship…
