Proofreading, Translation and Other Things

Note: I actually started drafting this blog post some time ago. Like many others, I was shocked and saddened at the unexpected news of David Bowie's passing. I therefore decided to wait for a while before finally publishing this article in its complete form today (18 July). ---------------------------- It's no secret among those who know me that genealogy is a major passion of mine. When I was a child, my grandmother would often tell me stories about how she'd grown up in rural Wales, evoking images of a way of life that no longer exists. I always had it in the back of my mind to draw up a family tree. Sadly, I never managed to do so during my grandmother's lifetime, mainly because I wasn't sure how to go about it. Building a family tree! That changed in around 2009, when I became aware of the BBC series " W ho Do You Think You Are? ". The premise of it is that they take famous people and trace back their roots, using historical do...

Lest We Forget I, like many others, have been deeply moved by the commemorative display of 888,246 poppies at the Tower of London. Each one represents a British or colonial soldier who fell in the First World War. Today, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will mark 96 years since the armistice, after four long years of fighting, the collapse of the Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires, and the deaths of over 37 million people. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. ( For the Fallen - Laurence Binyon ) And today I took the opportunity, during the two-minute silence, to think of five fallen soldiers in particular whose stories have captivated, intrigued and/or touched me in some way. Sgt/Warrant Officer Thomas Harper Bond   (1886-1920) My great grandfather Thomas, photographed in Febru...