Stephen Green

Cup of tea?

[tomasz.golonko @TomaszGolonko]

Wow. Maciej Dobrodziej - twórca cyfrowy „ożywił” jedno z najsłynniejszych zdjęć Warszawy. Fotografie biegnącej w deszczu dziewczyny na ulicy Puławskiej zrobił Zbigniew Siemaszko w 1968 roku.

Ciekawostka: po latach udało się odnaleźć panią Grażynę, która jest bohaterką zdjęcia. Rozpoznała siebie widząc.. fotografię na Fb.

[Dr. M.F. Khan @Dr_TheHistories]

Around the year 907, a Viking force of Danes and Norwegians descended on the walled city of Chester in what is now northwest England. The city's Roman-built walls had stood for eight centuries, and the Vikings quickly realised that a frontal assault wasn't going to work. So they adapted. They drove wooden hurdles into the ground at the base of the walls, creating covered corridors that shielded their men from above, and began tunnelling underneath the foundations. The defenders hurled boulders down onto the hurdles. The Vikings propped them up with timber columns.

The Saxons, advised by the lord Æthelred and his formidable wife Lady Æthelflaed, boiled every barrel of ale and water they could find in the city and poured it through the gaps, scalding the men below until their skin came away. The Vikings responded by laying animal hides across the top of the hurdles to seal them. Every move had a counter-move, and the tunnels kept advancing.

What happened next was recorded in the 11th-century Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, one of the most vivid accounts of early medieval siege warfare that survives. The Saxons had run out of obvious options. Boiling liquid had failed. Rocks had failed. So the defenders of Chester gathered every beehive in the city, carried them to the walls, and scattered them directly onto the besiegers below. The effect was immediate. According to the Annals, the bees prevented the Viking soldiers from moving their feet or their hands because of the sheer number of stings. Warriors who had withstood scalding beer, crushing boulders, and months of siege warfare were brought to a complete standstill by a swarm of insects. The Vikings abandoned the tunnels and withdrew from Chester. The city held.

What makes this more than just a strange footnote is that it wasn't a desperate improvisation that vanished from history. It was the beginning of a documented military tradition. Medieval castle builders across England, Scotland, and Wales began constructing specific recesses into their interior walls called bee boles, designed to permanently house beehive colonies. In peacetime the bees produced honey and wax. In wartime they were a standing weapon. By the 14th century, military engineers had developed a windmill-like device capable of launching straw hives from rapidly rotating arms in rapid succession, the closest thing the medieval world had to an automatic weapon. The Romans had already been so enthusiastic about bee bombs that historians have noted a documented decline in hive numbers across the late Roman Empire from battlefield demand alone.

Lady Æthelflaed, who advised the defence of Chester alongside her dying husband, went on to become one of the most effective military commanders in early medieval England, personally directing the construction of fortified towns across Mercia and leading campaigns against the Vikings for years after Æthelred's death. She is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the Lady of the Mercians. The siege of Chester is one of dozens of engagements she helped win. History tends to remember the warriors who carried swords into battle. It is considerably less interested in the woman who figured out that, when every other option fails, you send in the bees.

#drthehistories

[Stephen Green @stegreen1972]

@UKBackintheDay2 Ok… tricky…
1. All Star - Smash Mouth
2. Sing it Back - Moloko
3. You Get What you give - New Radicals

[HLTCO @HLTCO]

Fantastic from Brighton, this. A massively important message delivered very well.

[Stephen Green @stegreen1972]

@foliosociety Magician by Raymond E Feist please!

[Kirsten Colquhoun (Col-hoon) @kirstcolquhoun]

🎉Hooray! 🎉

Transforming Your Tutor Time Curriculum is officially out today!

To celebrate, I’m giving away three free copies.

Simply like or share this post to enter, winners will be announced on Friday 18th July.

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

In a ceremony filled with pride, laughter, and tears, our 2025 graduation marked the end of a chapter and the beginning of many bright futures. As students head off to prestigious universities worldwide, we couldn’t be more proud.

See the highlights: https://t.co/s6V0OqjW4h

[Stephen Green @stegreen1972]

@LBLifecoach That’s awesome Linda!

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

Congratulations Class of 2024, we are bursting with pride! Go forward and continue making a difference, the future is yours.

[Wolfson History Prize @WolfsonHistory]

It's competition time! 🎉📚 We're giving away a copy of 'Resistance', the timely and powerful book by Halik Kochanski, winner of the 2023 #WolfsonHistoryPrize!

To enter, you must:
1) Follow us
2) Like and reshare this post

Deadline: Friday 10AM GMT. UK only.

📸@thelastword1962

[Anfield Express @AnfieIdExpress]

Klopp: “This is a very special club. I didn’t make them believe, I reminded them what happens when you believe.”

This man always seems to find the right words🥲❤️

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

Huge gratitude to Ben's Farmhouse for generously donating food to our hardworking team of campus support staff, who have been facilitating the clean-up effort at our school. Your kindness and generosity has kept the team going during these challenging times!

#JESScommunity

[Daniel ShenSmith (BlackBeltBarrister) @dshensmith]

Scotland spent 3 years considering the laws on hate crimes before the Bill was introduced in 2020.
4 more years, after being voted into law and police training to deal with complaints, it came into force.
It took @jk_rowling less than 24 hours to demonstrate why it is ludicrous.

Free speech and women’s rights must be protected
Re-post if you agree.
#freespeech

[UAE Embassy UK @UAEEmbassyUK]

Congratulations to @JESSDubai’s U14 Rugby Girls Team on becoming the first international winner of the Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s Championship in London 🇬🇧

A huge achievement, of which you should be proud 🇦🇪🏉

[The National Sport @NatSportUAE]

History was made at the @RPNS7s this week as @JESSDubai's U14 girls team became the first international winners of the prestigious tournament.

@PaulRadley spoke to the coach and players about their "huge" achievement.

https://t.co/54PrdBCbQz

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

We are so proud to put UAE Girls rugby on the map with this historic win at Rosslyn Sevens.

#JESSsports

https://t.co/rdVUiESGlr

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

Huge congrats to our U14 Rugby Girls Team on clinching the 2024 Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s Championship title!
We're bursting with pride, especially with JESS Dubai making history as the first ever international winner!
@rpns7s
#rpn7s #Champions #JESSDubai

[Howden Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens @RPNS7s]

Congratulations to @JESSDubai, the 2024 U14 Champions 🏆🥳

Our first ever international winners!

#rpn7s

[JESS Dubai 🇦🇪 @JESSDubai]

We are extremely proud to feature once again among the Top 10 Best Private Schools in the Middle East and the Top 100 in the World in the Spear's Schools Index for 2024. A wonderful accolade for our community.
Learn more: https://t.co/FXPS4DwOXK
@spearsmagazine #SpearsIndex