We’ve all heard of gun runners, drug runners, booze runners, ciggy runners, and so on. A friend of mine even told me of his tee-total, staunch Methodist, aged great uncle whose weekly ‘running’ consisted of taking a bottle of Irish Whiskey to his equally aged, though...
Audrey Hepburn remains an enduring symbol of grace, beauty, and humanity. Born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium, Hepburn's rise from her modest beginnings to become a Hollywood legend and a compassionate humanitarian is a story of inspiration and nostalgia....
The Blackpool Tramway is a British icon, one of the oldest electric tram systems in the world and a symbol of Blackpool's rich history. Stretching along the Lancashire coastline, the network has been intrinsically tied to Blackpool's evolution as a beloved seaside...
The Trafford Centre, nestled in Greater Manchester, England, stands as one of the United Kingdom's premier shopping and leisure destinations. Its journey through time is a fascinating story of persistence and evolution. Let's take a closer look at how this iconic...
You are going to be disappointed if you think this article might be a review for a new movie in the Iron Man Franchise from Marvel Studios. Our iron man isn’t Robert Downey Jr. It is in fact Freddie Steele who became one of Port Vale’s most loved and respected...
A Royal Beginning (1844) Manchester Victoria Station opened its doors on January 1, 1844, marking the start of what would become a long and storied history. It holds the distinction of being the first station in the UK to be named “Victoria,” thanks to the special...
Douglas Earle Marshall, Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway was on a roll. The company was pleased with the success of his I3 class 4-4-2 tank engines, so much so that Douglas was given free reign to design...
In this case the last loco was not some last of its class high-performance main line express engine that once grabbed the headlines but a lowly tank locomotive that attracted little attention. On week ending 16 February 1952, British Railways officially withdrew...
In the mid-'90s, Manchester was more than just a city; it was the beating heart of the British music scene, pulsing with the energy of a new generation of bands ready to take on the world. Among them, one band emerged like a lightning bolt, electrifying not just the...
The Second World War was a period of profound upheaval for the United Kingdom, not only on the battlefields but also on the home front. As bombs fell and men went off to fight, the people left behind faced a different kind of challenge: making do with less. Rationing,...
War clouds were already gathering in September 1938 when gas masks were handed out at this unnamed Liverpool school in an eerie echo of the Covid pandemic nearly nine decades later.
A young girl looks on bemused as respirators are fitted around the table. Little did she know that her world would never be the same again.
Europe was on a knife-edge at the time as Germany had annexed Austria in March 1938 and was vigorously claiming territories in the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia.
Gas masks were issued to all British civilians when the Second World War broke out in September 1939 after Germany’s invasion of Poland.
Fears were high that poison gas might be dropped in bombing raids.
Not only that, the destructive power of modern bombers had been demonstrated all too starkly in the devastation of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War.
But even though most sides in World War II had amassed stockpiles of poison gas, it was never used in battle due to the dire threat of retaliation.
It was estimated that Germany alone had manufactured 7,000 tons of the nerve gas Sarin by 1945.
Our modern image from the streets of Liverpool in October 2020 shows how face coverings had become an integral part of our daily lives during the Covid pandemic.
Featured Image: NHS Covid 19 Angel by Akse, Andrew Watson
Former daily newspaper editor and group editorial director for leading national media brands, Malcolm is a regular contributor to the iNostalgia National History with a love for our national heritage.