In my last blog piece about my Toast Water Jug, I quoted Mrs Beeton’s 1869 recipe for Toast-and-Water. Many readers responded: “so have you tried it?”.  To be honest, I hadn’t. But I have tried it now. I decided to test it out. Under laboratory conditions, of course. This piece is my Toast Water Test … More Testing Toast Water

Here’s a picture of a shelf in my house. Take a close look. Does anything look strange? Does anything look anomalous? Here’s another picture of another shelf. See what I mean? Yes, there’s an odd pot out. I have many more shelves like these. Some in the house, several in the shed, and I’m not … More Toast Water

This blog piece features the death of a beloved pet dog. My last blog piece featured the death of a beloved pet cat.  I hope readers will believe me when I say that this is entirely coincidental. On reflection, I suppose it’s quite possible that a blog themed around the demise of domestic animals might … More Alas! Poor Puggy!

In this piece I’m setting out to prove that the 1747 death by drowning of Horace Walpole’s cat Selima was not an accident. No, it was murder. I had some trouble choosing a title. Since this blog follows on from three previous postings featuring the Lounge Lizard Captain Jefferson Davis Cohn, I might have chosen … More Cat Murder Mystery

My self-imposed task in this piece is to establish a connection between a Lounge Lizard called Captain Jefferson Davis Cohn (born 1881) and a Cat called Selima (died 1747). Warning: the connection is rather tenuous. Regular readers of this blog already know about Captain Cohn (see here and here).  He was, among many other things, … More Lounge Lizard: Chapter 3

In my last blog piece I introduced readers to Jefferson Davis Cohn, colourful character, lounge lizard, charmer, wealthy businessman, horse breeder and man-about-town. I hoped you were interested in hearing about this rather overlooked figure who operated just off the centre of high society in the 1920s and 1930s, but I might have detected just … More Lounge Lizard: Chapter 2

I’ve been blogging recently about the contents of an old leather suitcase which belonged to a very wealthy gentleman from the West of Scotland. Fitted out as a top-quality travelling dressing case, it was stored unopened for 80 or 90 years and has only very recently come to light. It contained all kinds of interesting … More Lounge Lizard: Chapter 1

In my last-but-one blog piece (called Flea Market Supplementary) I said I’d get back to you about two envelopes discovered inside a suitcase belonging to a wealthy Scottish sporting gentleman. One of the envelopes didn’t have anything interesting in it but is of interest in itself (well, of interest to me, anyway), and I’ll write … More A Day at the Races

  A picture that I bought last week in my local auction room features a portrait of a 71-year-old Jewish gentleman, balding, with a grizzled grey beard and oval wire-rimmed glasses. Please note that any possible resemblance between him and this blogger is entirely coincidental. Anyway, I’m only 70 years old. What originally attracted me … More Degenerate

I ended my last blog piece like this:  “When Mary’s sister-in-law heard that Mary was going to take a stall at the flea market, she got an old suitcase out of an outhouse and asked her to sell it for a few pounds. And guess what? Both the suitcase itself and its contents turned out … More Flea Market Supplementary