Blog

When the plane landed at the tiny aerodrome in the forest it was snowing out of season. No sooner had the handful of passengers disembarked than the Junkers was turning to depart. A minute later it wa ...

“The point of civilization is to be civilized; the purpose of action is to perpetuate society, for only in society can philosophy truly take place.”
― Iain Pears, The Dream of Scipio

In 1813 the first tin canned goods were made for the Royal Navy by Bryan Donkin and John Hall who created the world's first commercial canning factory on Southwark Park Road in London. This very early example was presented to the Lit & Phil with an interesting background story...

The Independent Libraries Association was founded in 1989 to further the conservation, restoration and public awareness of a too little known but significant section of our cultural heritage. It aims to develop links between its constituent members by means of co-operative agreements, newsletters, social gatherings, seminars, workshops and meetings. Its President is actor and antiquarian book dealer Neal Pearson.

We live in an age of stuff. In multiple aspects of our modern lives, we are confronted with an oftentimes overwhelming abundance, and an insidious demand for our attention: the colossal archives of services such as Spotify and Netflix offer more entertainment than could be ingested in several lifetimes, and this with only a superficial appreciation of the material.

Folk music is not just or only music from olden times sung by old men singing with a finger in their ear in the upstairs room of a pubs. It's alive and well and very much a living tradition. The Lit & Phil's music librarian has written a short blog about a few of its current exponents.

In the spring of 1827, an event took place in the north east of England that was a landmark in the related worlds of art and natural history. At this time the charismatic and larger than life wildlife artist and publisher John James Audubon was on a tour of the United Kingdom in order to raise subscriptions for his planned magnum opus “The Birds of America.” Newcastle and its surrounding area were one of his ports of call.

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
― Groucho Marx