Category Archives: Biographical sketch

Short occasional biographical sketches of people, places, companies, things or events

Art for the sake of it

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Gary

I am currently reading Heartists by Joanna Pietikäinen. It’s the biography of Carolina Benedicks-Bruce and William Blair Bruce which we bought last week from Brucebo, on Gotland. I’m about a third of the way through and have come across the … Continue reading →

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Mr Trosa

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Gary

Hans Nilsson was born on January 29, 1920 in the hospital at Nyköping. His parents, Johan Ivar and Anna Amalia (nee Karlsson), lived on Västra Långgatan, Nyköping. The other momentous thing that happened in 1920 was that Ivar Nilsson started … Continue reading →

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Is it better to die by accident?

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Gary

Arthur Henry Laird was an accountant. He was born in Poplar, London on 13 April 1878 to Andrew Brodie And Margaret Laird (née Barr). They had two other children, both boys. They were named Stanley Morrison and Andrew Oswald Laird. … Continue reading →

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Affairs off the stage

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Gary

On October 12, 1916, Captain Alfred Amory Sullivan of the South African Infantry, was killed in action during the Battle of Le Transloy, part of the Somme Offensive. He was just one of many casualties from the South African Infantry. … Continue reading →

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Taxi!

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Gary

While I’ve been shifting photos between apps, I’ve come across a few legacy pages from our website. I had the idea of adding them to the blog and gradually deleting them from the site at large. I figured I could … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographical sketch, Gary's Posts, Lymington 2024 | 1 Comment

Why did the squirrel cross the road?

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Gary

On the way to the market on Saturday, I saw a squirrel walk out of a front garden towards the busy road, stop at the kerb, look right then left before racing across to the other side. There were no … Continue reading →

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Fordingbridge kills famous artist

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Gary

It isn’t often that we find somewhere that almost instantly turns us off, but that’s exactly what happened today when we made the instantly regrettable decision to visit Fordingbridge. Another memorably awful place we visited was Hällefors back in March … Continue reading →

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Family ties

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Gary

Angela Lansbury died today. She was a bit of a stately galleon, as Joyce Grenfell would no doubt exclaim. She was 96 and probably just waiting to outlive QEII. We saw her a number of years ago, playing Madam Arcati … Continue reading →

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Soldier for hire

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Gary

I am currently reading a book about Swedes who have participated in wars around the world over the last 100-150 years while the country itself retained neutrality. Most of these soldiers of fortune went out and did battle for, essentially, … Continue reading →

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Women artists of the 19th century

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Gary

The Middle Floor of the National Museum in Stockholm, has art and design objects from 1800 to the present day. Included are a number of portraits of female artists. Not that you’d know that they were artists from the paintings. … Continue reading →

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