Month: June 2009

Courtesy of the British Library’s new British Newspapers 1800-1900 (= about 1910 in practice) service, this image comes from the Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times of February 15th, 1908. There are two points of interest here, the first of course being tempora mutantur and that we all agree with the sentiments in the caption….

We’ve – I think I can count you in if you’re reading this – all been frustrated from time to time by “life expectancy at birth” type stats which fail to take into account the skewing effect childhood mortality has on the overall figure. If you were born in the 1840s, for instance, your life…

I certainly didn’t know this, and you may not either, but until 1912 goalkeepers were allowed to handle the ball anywhere inside their own half. It was only subsequent to that that handling by keepers was restricted to their own penalty area. (Handling doesn’t mean carrying in either instance – which is why keepers in…

Those of us old enough to remember the Times website going down under the pressure of releasing its archive to RBKC will love this: http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

We’ve already discussed here that football crowds in Edwardian England were the biggest concentrated peaceful gatherings of human beings permitted by authority since ancient times, that football went around the world faster than rock and roll would later do, and that the game as we know it is a phenomenon of urban industrialization. But its…

..involving, if I remember correctly, George Best, who, when leading a youth coaching session for schoolkids, introduced what looked to them like a fat old man. “This”, he proclaimed, “is Puskas. The best player in the world.” (Or words to similar effect). Blank looks from the youngsters. Then Best punts a football in his direction…

Little by little,  but at increasing pace, the footage is digitalized. This is a unique cultural moment, in which a broadband connection brings you everything free at the point of use: Picasso drawing with light, Schnabel playing Schubert, and, as here, Ferenc Puskas. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMJkdxPtFFE]

Give this clip less than three minutes of your time – and then see if you don’t want to watch it again. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ONqxJV__fE] Found using the superb new bing.com video search. Windows Live, Office 2007, Windows ICE, Windows 7, and now this. Are Microsoft feeling OK? Are they suffering Apple entryism? Because all of a…