The distance of the marathon has undergone some changes over the years. The now accepted distance of 42.195 km (26 miles, 385 yards) was not agreed upon until 1924. When the modern Olympics were revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and it was decided the marathon would be included, the distance from Marathon to Athens [...]
Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Marathon week – the distance (42.195 km)
Posted in History, Sport, tagged Dorando Pietri, London 1908, London 2012, Paula Radcliffe on 23/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Marathon week – origins
Posted in History, Running, tagged Cardiff Marathon, Edinburgh Marathon, London Marathon, Modern Olympics, Pheidippidees, Spiridon Louis on 22/05/2012 | 1 Comment »
This Sunday (27th May) I will be running the Edinburgh marathon. This will only be my second marathon, I ran my other one 30 years ago in 1982! It was the second ever Cardiff marathon. I did obtain a place in the 1983 London marathon, back in the days when it was first come, first [...]
The Partisan – Leonard Cohen
Posted in History, Music, tagged Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room, The Partisan on 17/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
I only have time for a quick post today as my students have a mid-term exam, so not much time for anything substantive. I posted this on my FaceBook account yesterday, but thought I would share it on my blog today. It is one of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs, “The Partisan”, from his album [...]
Ice Ice Baby
Posted in Astronomy, History, Science, Technology, tagged Cosmic Rays, Gamma Ray Bursters, Ice Cube, Ice Ice Baby, Neutrinos, Supernova, Vanilla Ice on 10/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics is the origin of high energy cosmic rays. These were first discovered using an electrometer at the top of the Eiffel Tower in 1909 by Theodor Wulf. He showed that the radiation measured at the top of the tower (then the World’s tallest building) was greater than at [...]
Red or Blue?
Posted in History, News, Sport, tagged Alex Ferguson, FA, Manchester City, Manchester United, Mario Baloteli, Premier League, Roberto Mancini, Wayne Rooney on 30/04/2012 | 5 Comments »
There is a joke that the unofficial greeting in the US state of New Mexico is “red or green?”, implying that each conversation opens with asking whether someone would prefer red or green chilli peppers. Is the unofficial greeting in the northwest England city of Manchester “red or blue?”, to determine the allegiance to one [...]
Los Cretinos (The Cretins)
Posted in History, News, Politics, World affairs, tagged Bill Clinton, Cuba, Fidel Castro, George W Bush, revolution, Ronald Reagan on 26/04/2012 | Leave a Comment »
As my last post mentioned, I was recently on holiday in Cuba. The first public building I visited, on my 2nd day in Havana, was the “Museo de la Revolucion”, which is in the grand colonial splendour of the former residence of Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban dictator removed from office by the 1959 Communist revolution [...]
A new “Golden Era”?
Posted in History, News, Rugby, Sport, Wales, Welsh history, tagged England, Grand Slam, JPR Williams, Rugby, Sam Warburton, Wales, Warren Gatland, Welsh Rugby on 23/03/2012 | 3 Comments »
On Saturday (17th of March), Wales won the 2012 6 Nations Grand Slam, beating France 16-9 in a tense match in Cardiff. Although it was not billed as such, it was sweet revenge for France beating Wales 8-7 in the semi finals of the recent 2011 World Cup in October. This is the 3rd Grand [...]
Wales win the 2012 Triple Crown at Twickenham
Posted in History, News, Rugby, Sport, TV, Wales, tagged 6 Nations, England, Grand Slam, Rugby, Triple Crown, Twickenham, Wales on 27/02/2012 | Leave a Comment »
On Saturday (25th of February) Wales went up to the home of English rugby, Twickenham, to play England in their annual 6 Nations fixture. Wales were in the unusual position of being favourites for the game which, given that Wales have only won there once (in 2008) since 1988, was not something we Welsh are [...]
Happy Chinese New Year (农历新年)
Posted in Astronomy, History, Nature, World affairs, tagged Calendar, Chinese New Year, Lunisolar, Moon, New Moon, New Year, Sun on 23/01/2012 | 2 Comments »
Today (23rd of January 2012) is Chinese New Year, so happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends and students. Today, over 1 billion Chinese will be celebrating the start of the year of the Dragon (龍). From what I heard yesterday on the radio, many Chinese couples await to have children in the [...]
