Very rare, and candid childhood photos of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England are to be auctioned off.

It is hard for me a child of the 70s to even imagine our Queen this young!

According the the BBC a collection of pictures from an album which belonged to Sidney Cumper, a footman and page to Queen Mary, the present Queen's grandmother, is being put up for sale. The pictures will be sold by auctioneers Reeman Dansie and are expected to fetch more than £600.

You can view more samples including a vintage one of the Queen in bell bottoms on the BBC website.

Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose was sunk by a French cannonball and this was covered up by political spin, according to a new academic study.

Here is a snippet from the BBC in regards:

Until now it was believed a combination of wind and tide pressed Mary Rose over, causing her gun ports to flood in a 16th Century battle in the Solent.

But University of Portsmouth geographer Dominic Fontana said the truth was withheld to maintain the Navy's image.

Mary Rose sank with the loss of more than 400 lives on 19 July 1545.

By claiming the ship was toppled by wind and an incompetent crew, the Navy's supremacy was maintained, Henry VIII's pride remained intact and the French were unable to claim victory, said Dr Fontana.

Full BBC Article Here

Somehow I am NOT surprised.

Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered another pyramid - the country's 118th so far. All that remains of the pyramid is a square-shaped structure.

Please note that this entry is for both the Tuesday, and Wednesday editions of WW.

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Image Credit: BBC

Is it really any surprise that Britain's most famed hangman was a drunk? How soul sapping of a job must it really have been especially in the early days before the technique of the short drop was perfected? Gah!

The execution diary of one of the UK's best known hangmen offers hints at the slide into drinking which ended his career in 1910. The log book is currently being auctioned off.

Here is a snippet from the BBC:

Henry Albert Pierrepoint was sacked for arriving for an execution "considerably the worse for drink" and fighting with his assistant, John Ellis.

The erratic handwritten entries in his log towards the end of his career are said to be evidence of this drinking.

It is expected to fetch up to £3,000 at auction in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Henry, originally from Nottingham, was the first of the Pierrepoint family to become an executioner when he started his career in 1901 - he was involved in 105 hangings.

He took great pride in his work, was known to calculate his drops carefully and is said to have never "bungled" an execution, said auction house Frank Marshall and Company.

Full BBC Article Here

I think I have finally recuperated enough from my youngest daughter's 13th birthday bash last weekend to blog a bit about it.

The party itself (included 18 kids) was a huge success. All of the guests seemed to enjoy themselves, and my daughter said it was epic!

We rented out a room at a local community center, and for four hours danced, played games, and stuffed ourselves with pizza, chips, candy, and cupcakes.

There was a lot of planning that went into this party (something I had wanted to do for the youngest for a long time) and was blessed to have the help, and assistance, of my hubby for baking 35 cupcakes, setting up the sound system, ordering four party pizzas, and generally lifting, carrying, hanging decorations, and all the other odd jobs no one thinks about, but has to be done, my eldest kiddo Steph, and my niece Sam (pictured above) who both helped Dee-Jay, and run the games, and finally both my sister, and BF Lisa for helping out, and taking tons of pics, and video for us to remember in years to come. And of course ALL of them for helping with the clean-up afterwards!

Help and assistance freely, and lovingly given is a great blessing indeed.

Blog Your Blessings

It is that time of year again. Yep, time to ask the kids to get their Christmas lists ready. This always brings back fond memories for me of growing up in the 1970s, and anticipating Christmas morning.

More often then not I was very lucky in that at least a couple of the toys on my list were delivered by Santa under the tree. My lists always included things like Nancy Drew, and Bobsey Twin books, Barbie dolls, and board games like Clue.

I would also occasionally receive something that I was not expecting like one of these hopper thinga-ma-boobers.

Remember these? My only real memory of the hopper thingies is hopping down a set of cement steps on one of them. Ouch!

When did you grow, and what were some of the things on your list?

Thank you to Abbey for putting together Nostalgic Saturday. Why not join us?!

Every Monty Python fan is going to be familiar with the dead parrot sketch.

BUT....did you know that there is an ancestor of Monty Python's famous dead parrot comedy sketch that has been found in a joke book, dating back to 4th Century Greece!

Here is a snippet from the BBC:

Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, which has been translated from Greek manuscripts, contains a joke where a man complains that a slave he was sold had died.

"When he was with me, he never did any such thing!" is the reply.

In the Python sketch, written 1,600 years later, the shopkeeper claims the dead parrot is "pining for the fjords".

The 265 jokes in Philogelos are attributed to a pair of jokers called Hierocles and Philagrius, about whom very little is known.

Full BBC article here

Other jokes include farts, sex, ugly wives, and a dimwit referred to as "a student dunce".

Hmmmm....does not seem so far off from modern jokes now does it????