Sue Cook and the team answer listeners' historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all 'make' history.
Series 13
Programme 4
9 May 2006
Last game at Highbury
Nick Baker reported on the historical significance of the last football game at Arsenal's Highbury Stadium.
Making History consulted the architectural historian Simon Inglis, author of The Football Grounds of Great Britain (HarperCollinsWillow, 1987) and editor of the Played in Britain series (English Heritage) which has its own website, Played in Britain.
Making History also consulted Amy Lawrence, football writer for The Observer.
Listener Rebecca Bentley wanted more information about an ancestor called Clara Grant who was born on the Somerset/Wiltshire border. She later moved to London where she was a teacher and became heavily involved in a charitable organisation called the Fern Street Settlement.
Making History consulted Fern Street trustee the Reverend Michael Peet.
Useful links
The Fern Street Settlement
The Fern Street Settlement is 100 years old in 2007. If you would like to contact the trustees, write to:
Fern Street Settlement, Fern Street, London E3 3PS
Email: rfm@fernstreet.org
Bones for fertiliser
Making History listener John King asked about a reference in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys to bones being taken from European battlefields in the early part of the 19th century for use in the UK as fertiliser. Did this happen?
Making History consulted Chris Dawson of the International Fertiliser Society who told us that this is a true story and that bones are good for the soil because of the phosphates they contain.
Article by E.J.T. Collins in Recent Findings in Economic & Social History (1995) - 'Did Mid-Victorian Agriculture Fail?' This can be downloaded as a PDF (Collins 21a.pdf) from the Publications page of the Economic History Society website.
Fenland Salterns
Richard Daniel visited an area to the south-west of Boston in the Lincolnshire Fens to discover more about the numerous small hillocks in the landscape - spoil from the long-gone salt industry.
Making History consulted Rex Sly, author of From Punt to Plough, A History of the Fens (Sutton Publishing, 2003).
Children's newspapers
Is there a historical precedent for Piers Morgan's newly published First News?
Making History consulted Dr Kelly Boyd, author of Manliness and the Boys' Story Paper in Britain (Palgrave MacMillan, 2002 ).
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to: Making History BBC Radio 4 PO Box 3096 Brighton BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald. 