That was the Year that was!

Thanks to my mother's cousin Rosemary who has researched that side of the family history for this photo of my great great great grandfather Thomas Carlisle.


It's mind boggling to think that this unknown face staring back out of an old photo plays some part in my make up.

Thomas was born in 1812, the same year that English writers Charles Dickens and Robert Browning were born. In that year the Luddites were attacking wool mills in Yorkshire, the British PM Spencer Perceval was assassinated in the House of Commons and Britain was at war with the French and the USA.

Abroad, Louisiana became America's 18th State and Napoleon introduced the metric system and invaded Russia only to find Moscow burning. He obviously didn't realise how far the 2484.92 new fangled kilometres from Moscow back to Paris was!

Many decades later, the year of my birth makes me truly a member of the Rock'n'roll generation. The Fender Stratocaster was unveiled, Bill Haley recorded Rock around the Clock, Elvis was first heard on the radio and Marilyn Monroe married Joe diMaggio!

Others born this year include, Jermaine Jackson, John Travolta, James Belushi, Elvis Costello, David Lee Roth, Denzel Washington and, for fans of Strictly Come Dancing, Willie Thorne!

Does anyone know which year it was?