Monthly Archives: January 2019
HISTORIC EXPANSION: MOSCOW McDONALD’S
The first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15th, 1955, and the franchise went on to become a family favourite in the U.S.A. The first Canadian one opened in 1967. By the 1970s, McDonald’s restaurants were popping up in Europe as well, but Russian kids didn’t get to go to one until […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: LONGEST RUNNING KIDS’ TV PROGRAMME
Question: What is the longest running children’s TV programme in the world? Answer: England’s Blue Peter which first appeared on the BBC in October, 1958, with the name being derived from the nickname of the blue nautical signal flag with a white square in the centre that indicates a ship is ready to sail. I […]
HISTORIC FUN: POPULAR TOYS OF YESTERYEAR
By the end of January, if not before, a lot of kids will already be bored with some of the stuff they got for Christmas, so here’s a decade-by-decade look at the toys their parents and grandparents favoured in their day. https://www.parent.com/the-toys-that-have-captured-kids-imaginations-for-decades/
HISTORY-BASED ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS: ROBBIE BURNS DAY
For some kid friendly Burns Night activities, visit: https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/burns-night
TRIVIA TRAIL: SUPERSONIC JETS
Question: On January 21st, 1976, two Concordes supersonic jets carried out simultaneous take-offs from Heathrow Airport in England and Orly Airport in France, embarking on what was, for each, the first commercial flight with fare-paying passengers. Where were they going? Answer: The British Airways one was headed for Bahrain, the Air France one for Brazil, […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: WARS OF THE ROSES EMBLEMS
Question: The royal houses of Lancaster and York fought for the crown of England in an ongoing dispute that took up much of the fifteenth century and was later known as the Wars of the Roses because of the rose emblems each side sported. A marriage between scions of the families represented by the Red […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: ROYAL OVERTHROW
Question: What reigning monarch was overthrown by American forces on January 17th, 1893? Answer; Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani, queen of the Hawaiian Islands, which would be officially annexed by the United States of America five years later. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3159
2018 CRITTERS READERS POLL AWARD
My Shield Of Beom placed fifth out of a list of twenty-five YA books published in 2018.
HISTORIC CELEBRATION: HEN GALAN – THE ‘REAL’ NEW YEAR
Happy New Year – if you live in Cwm Gwaun in Wales. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tiny-welsh-village-celebrates-new-14149569
Time Travelling With Kids 