Dr. Beeching's Axe

1963, when the decision was made to close 2,000 little rail stations and rip up 4,500 miles of line. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300598/How-Dr-Richard-Beechings-Axe-fell-small-railway-stations-old-England-50-years-ago.html

To Dominic Sandbrook

Sent a copy of To Save the Realm to Dominic Sandbrook. I've used two of his books, Never Had It So Good and White Heat, in writing TStR. The books are very comprehensive and fun-to-read histories of the 50s and 60s, respectively, in Britain. http://www.dominicsandbrook.com/

Heroes

David Bowie doing that great song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjBQKIOb-w

Fitzrovia, Goodge Street, London

I sent a copy of To Save the Realm to Fitzrovia, a pub on Goodge Street. Hope someone there reads it. (In my book, my protag, Brock Coole, meets a lively journalist in a pub on Goodge Street and finds out a bit more about the death of his aunt.) I once spent a wonderful sunny afternoon in a pub on Goodge Street that had large windows. Don't think it was the Fitzrovia, though. http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/fitzrovia-bloomsbury/c0695/

From the Western Morning News

A fascinating piece on hedge-laying, apparently a dying art. Hedges are described as mini-nature reserves,home to "600 plant species, 1,500 types of insects,60 species of birds and 20 different mammals." Like everything that is good Britain, hedgerows are in danger of going away. http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Traditional-country-craft-hedge-laying-enjoying/story-18502518-detail/story.html#axzz2ON0QIXDP

The Rose and Crown

I've begun to send copies of To Save the Realm to various places around the Isles that are in locales where my protagonist Brock Coole visits. Brock stays in an inn, the Bells, in my make-believe village of Nether Penketh. I've sent my book to an inn, the Rose and Crown, in Nether Stowey, on the edge of the Quantocks. The Rose and Crown looks like a great place to spend an evening or a week! http://www.roseandcrown-netherstowey.co.uk/

"New" Information on Stonehenge

From the Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2290601/Was-Stonehenge-ancient-burial-ground-Scientists-discover-bone-fragments-63-bodies-historic-monument.html

From the Bucks Free Press

A new owl rescue home. Got to love the Brits. http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/10273535.Owl_rescue_home_gets_the_green_light/?ref=ms

In Wales

Replacing conifer plantations with native oak and holly. And using draught horses to drag the timber. http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/i/30638/

From The Scotsman

A Swiss millionaire has bought the Scottish island of Sanda and closed it to public use. http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/millionaire-closes-sanda-island-to-the-public-1-2818179