Posts by venue: Science

Rhythms of the Cosmos – A Guest Post by Dr Andrew Fletcher

The Great North Museum: Hancock has a small but perfectly formed planetarium on the first floor. The computer-controlled system allows us to fly through the Universe, in space and in time, choosing the best viewpoint from which to investigate all kinds… Read more

It’s Alive! Riding Turbinia, 1897

It’s a funny thing, working in a museum.  You get so used to the extraordinary things around you that they sometimes seem to fade into the background.  Then, suddenly, something happens to inspire you all over again.  I come to… Read more

Some Assembly Required

Every so often you come across a story so extraordinary that you can barely believe it really happened.  Such is the saga of the ss Baikal, which I stumbled upon whilst innocently cataloguing a box of old photographs… By 1895… Read more

Half Hung or Half Baked?

Amongst the many dark and mysterious secrets of Newcastle’s past, there is one that I have always found particularly fascinating; The Legend of ‘Half-Hung’ MacDonald. The short summary of the story is that Owen MacDonald was a soldier, executed on… Read more

Doctor Death

On Saturday 7th March, 1829, a little after 10 o’clock, an estimated 20,000 people were on the Town Moor in Newcastle awaiting a gruesome spectacle. They were there to see Jane Jamieson’s execution, sentenced to death for the murder of… Read more