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You’ve Goat to be Kidding
Best known for their cantankerous personalities and trouser nibbling traits, it’s not particularly surprising that there haven’t been too many positively memorable goats throughout history. Putting aside the goat that hit the headlines for marrying a man in Sudan, another… Continue reading
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This pendant world
Is there life on other planets, and will we ever discover another world with a biodiversity as rich as that found on Earth? NASA’s Curiosity Rover, which last month sent back its first pictures from Mars, is another step in the attempt to answer… Continue reading
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Extreme traveller of the early C20th
John Fulton Barr as a young man A small collection of papers of John Fulton Barr (1868-1954) has just been catalogued and is now available for reader use. Barr qualified in medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1891. According… Continue reading
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HMS Beagle’s Naturalist
On the 27th December 1831, one of the most famous expeditions of the nineteenth century was launched, as it was on this day, 180 years ago, that the second voyage of HMS Beagle begun. As such, let’s mark this anniversary… Continue reading
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A life on (or under) the ocean wave – World Oceans Day
When we think of planet Earth seen from space, the chances are that we think of the colour green. Our planet occupies the comfortable middle ground between the searingly hot silver clouds of Venus and the cold red deserts of… Continue reading
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Wellcome to the South Pole
Last Sunday, BBC2 broadcast The Secrets of Scott’s Hut, a documentary which featured presenter Ben Fogle journeying to Antarctica, to observe the work of a team of conservators, attempting to preserve the hut of the explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott.… Continue reading
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Vital Mental Medicine
A BBC Radio 4 documentary which aired today, Vital Mental Medicine: Shackleton’s Banjo, offers an indirect insight into an aspect of Henry Wellcome’s life. The documentary tells the story of the instrument shown above: a banjo belonging to Leonard Hussey,… Continue reading
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Pole to Pole with the Wellcome Library
The latest issue of Wellcome News – the Wellcome Trust’s quarterly magazine rounding up its latest activities – contains an article based on material from the Wellcome Library, exploring the involvement of Henry Wellcome’s pharmaceutical company with the last Antarctic… Continue reading
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Travel Writing Sources Guide
Given the restrictions on air travel of late, it is perhaps timely to flag up a new guide to unpublished Travel Writing in the Wellcome Library’s collections. Arranged by geographic region, the guide gives an overview of relevant manuscript material… Continue reading
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Wellcome in Space
Over the last few weeks, there have been many commemorations in the media of the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the moon. We thought we would add to this by flagging up an item from… Continue reading