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frimleyblogger.bsky.social
Martin Fone
@frimleyblogger.bsky.social
23 followers 5 following 270 posts
Blogger, freelance journalist, www.windowthroughtime.wordpress.com https://www.countrylife.co.uk/author/martinfone
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frimleyblogger.bsky.social
Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 21h
The story of #shrapnel, an #armament developed by Henry Shrapnel #militaria
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/s...
Shrapnel
The technical definition of shrapnel is “an artillery projectile provided with a bursting charge, and filled with lead balls, exploded in flight by a time fuse”. It was a deadly and game-changing a…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 1d
My thoughts on Cyanide in the Sun, a collection of short stories with a holiday theme #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/c...
Cyanide In The Sun
A review of Cyanide in the Sun, edited by Martin Edwards – 250821 Cyanide in the Sun is the second collection of short stories with a holiday theme that Martin Edwards has curated for the British L…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 2d
How to move from driving on the left to the right #Sweden #HDay #motoring
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/h...
H-Day
At 4.50am on September 3, 1967, drivers in Sweden were required to drive on the right side of the road rather than the left. This was the second time such a switch had been made: in 1718 such road …
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 4d
My thoughts on #Maigret's Holiday #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/m...
Maigret’s Holiday
A review of Maigret’s Holiday by Georges Simenon – 250817 Whatever is the French equivalent of a busman’s holiday, Maigret certainly had one when he and his wife took their annual vacation to the A…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 5d
A #feather in the cap led to the formation of the @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/02/a...
Another Feather In Your Cap
The practice of killing birds for their plumage was unsustainable and, for some, repulsive. Speaking in the House of Lords on May 19, 1908, Lord Avery opined that “it is evident that unless the sla…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 6d
My thoughts on The Case of the Sapphire Brooch, reissued by @deanstpress.bsky.social #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/t...
The Case Of The Sapphire Brooch
A review of The Case of the Sapphire Brooch by Christopher Bush – 250811 With The Case of the Sapphire Brooch, the fifty-fourth in Bush’s long-running Ludovic Travers series, reissued by Dean Stree…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 6d
The story behind #pralines
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/p...
Pralines
In Europe we associate a praline with a sweet consisting of a chocolate casing with a soft centre, often made from finely ground nuts. Known as Belgian chocolate, Belgian chocolate fondant or choco…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 6d
My thoughts on The Judas Window #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/t...
The Judas Window
A review of The Judas Window by Carter Dickson – 250814 Also known as The Crossbow Murder and first published in 1938, The Judas Window is widely regarded as being one of the most famous and highly…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 6d
My thoughts on The Venner Crime #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/t...
The Venner Crime
A review of The Venner Crime by John Rhode – 250815 The sixteenth book in the prolific John Rhode’s Dr Lancelot Priestley series, originally published in 1933, spins together an intriguing mystery …
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 12d
Whatever happened to #cropcircles? Here's a 17th century example, allegedly
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/25/t...
The Earliest Crop Circle
They were once forever in the news during the slow months of the summers in the 1980s and 1990s, but you rarely hear of crop circles these days. Perhaps so much of the British arable land in the ha…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 13d
The fashion for wearing a #feather in a #hat and what it did for the world's #bird population
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/a...
A Feather In Your Cap
Feathers have long been a feature of millinery design and for a big, bold, dramatic effect there was nothing better than to stick an ostrich feather or two in your titfer. As well as decorating hat…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 14d
There may be something in #alchemy some #scientists suggest #science
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/23/f...
Fool’s Gold
From the 4th century AD Zosimos of Panopolis onwards people have been fascinated with the concept of chrysopeia, turning everyday metals into gold. Known as alchemists they believed that base metal…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 15d
Not read them all yet. Enjoying the series and looking forward to seeing how her approach develops.
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 15d
My thoughts on No Wind of Blame #GeorgetteHeyer #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/22/n...
No Wind Of Blame
A review of No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer – 250809 The first in Heyer’s Inspector Hemingway series and originally published in 1939, No Wind of Blame mixes a murder mystery which like a Victo…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 24d
The difference between an #AmusementPark and a #ThemePark
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/14/a...
Amusement And Theme Parks
There are over five hundred amusement and theme parks in the UK with IBISWorld putting the number of businesses in the sector as 565 in 2005. Many parents will have taken their children to one or m…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 25d
My thoughts on The Mystery at Orchard House by Joan Coggin, reissued by #Galileobooks #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/t...
The Mystery At Orchard House
A review of The Mystery at Orchard House by Joan Coggin – 250801 Occasionally midway through a book I wonder quite where the story is leading to and this was the sense I got with Joan Coggin’…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 26d
Is #Everest the world's tallest #mountain? It depends on your criteria
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/11/t...
The Tallest Mountain
Courtesy of Nigel Molesworth, as any ful kno Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth. Located deep in the Mahālangūr Himāl subrange of the Himalayas it stands 29,031.69 feet above sea level, accor…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 27d
The curious role of #icecream in #WW2
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/i...
Ice Cream Wars
An army marches on its stomach, according to Napoleon Bonaparte, and much of the success of an army comes down to getting the logistics right, not just getting the right number of soldiers in the r…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 28d
The #truffle hunters - animal and human
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/t...
Truffle Hunting
While the Italians and French used trained pigs to hunt for truffles, the English preferred to use dogs, more docile, easier to train, and without the unfortunate habit of devouring their find. Wit…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · 29d
My thoughts on Where There Was Smoke by #BrianFlynn, reissued by @deanstpress.bsky.social #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/w...
Where There Was Smoke
A review of Where There Was Smoke by Brian Flynn – 250729 Originally published in 1951, Where There Was Smoke is the third of five Brian Flynn novels reissued by Dean Street Press in July 2025. The…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · Sep 6
Classic #CrimeFiction, Murder in the Moor by Thomas Kindon #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/05/m...
Murder In The Moor
A review of Murder in the Moor by Thomas Kindon – 250726 There is as much mystery about Thomas Kindon as there is in Murder in the Moor, his only published work. He entered the manuscript into Meth…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · Sep 5
The story of #patentleather and whether it was ever patented
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/04/p...
Patent Leather
I remember my first pair of patent leather shoes with their shiny black finish. I felt the bee’s knees, but it never dawned on me to wonder what differentiated it from on ordinary leather and wheth…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · Sep 4
My thoughts on Silence After Dinner by Clifford Witting #CrimeFiction #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/03/s...
Silence After Dinner
A review of Silence After Dinner by Clifford Witting – 250724 The reissue of another of Clifford witting’s novels is a moment to celebrate and when I learnt that Galileo Publishers of Cambrid…
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · Sep 3
The story of #truffles
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/a...
A Taste Of Truffles
Long regarded as the epitome of fine dining, the French gastronome, Jean Brillat-Savarin called it in 1825 “the jewel of the Kitchen” and Rossini dubbed it “the Mozart of mushrooms”. Byron kept on …
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Martin Fone @frimleyblogger.bsky.social · Sep 2
Classic #CrimeFiction The Man in the Brown Suit #AgathaChristie #BookReview #booksky
windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/t...
The Man In The Brown Suit
A review of The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie – 250721 An early Christie, the first in her Colonel Race series and originally published in 1924, The Man in the Brown Suit is more of a th…
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