It’s often been observed that it’s impossible to be in two places at the same time.  That’s why it’s so important for suspects in a crime to be able to provide an alibi. But what if you could be in two places at once?  I more or less managed it for a few years when we lived on the boundary … Read More

18-23 Some Sadducees, the party that denies any possibility of resurrection, came up and asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to marry the widow and have children. Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless. The second married her. He died, … Read More

On 12th January 1882, the very first coal-fired power station started running at 57 Holborn Viaduct in London.  It only produced enough power for 1,000 street lamps, but it marked the beginning of 135 years of continuous coal-fired power generation in the UK.  By the 1920’s over a million men were working in the industry digging out millions of tonnes … Read More

Turn the Page will be taking a short break this week, but we’ll be back with a new story on Monday 24th April!

In March 2017 Panasonic introduced a new washing machine designed for the Indian market.  Consumers had complained that existing machines could not remove the stubborn stains left by curry.  So Panasonic spent two years researching the ingredients used to make curry, and then testing different combinations of water temperature and water flow to find the best way of removing them.  … Read More

13-14 They sent some Pharisees and followers of Herod to bait him, hoping to catch him saying something incriminating. They came up and said, “Teacher, we know you have integrity, that you are indifferent to public opinion, don’t pander to your students, and teach the way of God accurately. Tell us: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” … Read More

On the morning of 16th March 1912, Lawrence Oates walked out of his tent in the Antarctic and into temperatures of -400C.  He knew he was going to die and this act of self-sacrifice was an effort to save his companions.  Writing afterwards in his diary Captain Scott recorded, “We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but … Read More

In the summer of 1989 a popular uprising by students and workers led to tens of thousands gathering in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.  The mood was upbeat and hopes were high that the repressive regime, under which they were forced to live, might be overthrown, and a new era of freedom about to dawn.  But the vested interests and political might … Read More

Beginning in 2003 business owners and shop-keepers in the city of Bristol have been waking up to find apostrophes either inserted or removed from their signage.  It now turns out that this has been the work of a self-styled ‘Grammar Vigilante’ who goes out by night to correct the poor punctuation that grieves him so much.  Asked whether what he … Read More

12:1-2 Then Jesus started telling them stories. “A man planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, erected a watchtower, turned it over to the farmhands, and went off on a trip. At the time for harvest, he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect his profits. 3-5 “They grabbed him, beat him up, and sent him off empty-handed. … Read More