Dark History

I recently came across a Latin phrase I hadn't encountered before  - homo homini lupus est. Apparently it's a quote from Plautus and means something on the lines of man is a wolf to other men. I think it may be a bit unfair to wolves, but writers love new phrases.

Now, where can I use it?

It was in an article on the History Today website about dark tourism and our fascination with the violent past. As I'd been blogging last week about the attraction of writing and reading villains and crime, it was rather apt. We are fascinated. Practically every city has an array of ghost walks and trails that visit sites of murder and mayhem, most notably London and Jack the Ripper. And old buildings frequently have a macabre or spooky tale or two attached. We like to be scared and horrified.

The article raises some interesting issues about our preoccupations and mentions the commemoration of the Pendle witches. I was at Lancaster University and the story of the witches was local history/folklore. There again - the pull of the the dark side.

The full article by Suzannah Lipscomb is HERE

Mirror, Mirror?

The clock is ticking ...

I recently read an article on the blog of the history magazine, History Today, that I found quite fascinating. It was about mirror years - and the time line of your life. (And you know I can never resist a time line!) The proposition behind it is that you can actually be closer in time to an event that took place before your birth than something that happened during your lifetime. Think about it.

You find your 'mirror year' by subtracting your age from your date of birth. I'm not telling you mine, but at the moment it's the same year that my grandmother was born. That's another thing, it changes as you age. My mum is 94 and in her current mirror year Beethoven was still composing. I'm not sure how she'll take that, if I tell her!

There has to be an idea for a book in this. At the moment I've no clear thought on what that might be, but I can feel some sort of stirring around a time slip. I expect my subconscious will come up with a plot, if and when it is ready.

If you want to look at the original article, you can find it here

Worth a look to find out what events Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling have close to them.