Category: Uncategorized

Do you have a favourite word?  There’s certainly plenty to choose from, at least 250,000 distinct words listed by The Oxford English Dictionary. We have assimilated words from many other languages throughout history so that modern English contains a very large vocabulary. Some people refer to English as a “borrowing” language. Historically, English originated from…

I’m not usually a football follower but I was both shocked and affected by the news that Glasgow Rangers has been forced  into liquidation. The reason  that I feel connected to this iconic football team is that my grandfather Robert Carmichael was the Physiotherapist and chief Scout for Rangers before and during the Second World War.  He played football for Clyde and then Sunderland  and when he ‘retired’…

Did you know that one person in six in the UK struggles to read and write? Poor skills compromise health, confidence, happiness and employability. These literacy difficulties will limit a person’s opportunities throughout their adult life. But this is not the whole story. So much pleasure too, can be derived from a rattling good tale…

Thanks to the BBC’s recent programmes on Stargazing hosted by professor Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain there has been an explosion of interest in Outer Space.  This used to be in the realms of Science Fiction but now it is, moving closer to reality.  Scientists used to pooh pooh the idea that there may be…