Other Men's Flowers

No. 187 in Notable Hats , soon to be a major new TV series Having said all that there is to be said about Napoleon’s hat, it is now time t...

Two days ago I mentioned a remarkable guess made by Hal Draper in 1961 in the form of a fantasy about a problem that future generations of m...

The Microsoft Corporation has applied for a patent on a new idea which Martin Gardiner of Really Magazine looks at here . As he says, it is...

Get the full SOTU speech and the Democratic response on video HERE .

Last Sunday my eye was caught by an announcement about a TV programme in the series Songs of Praise . This would not normally have caused me...

The letters 'our' within a word generally make the sound 'aw' , 'or' , ' ow-er' , 'ow' or 'oor...

Reproducing a cartoon from a magazine in your blog is a fairly contemptible thing to do, so I must make it clear that it is only in order to...

When I last wrote a post mentioning The Da Vinci Code I had not read the book or seen the film. I still haven’t, so remain unqualified to ...

Many famous men have been distinguished by idiosyncrasies of appearance. Both Solomon and Louis Quatorze were known for the glory of their a...

I wouldn’t call it a fetish, perish the thought, or even an obsession, but I do find hats fascinating and often write about them, sometime...

Given my total lack of interest in the tedious activities which are called sport, it is surprising that I seem to have written, so far, arou...

These are words used only ‘for the nonce’, i.e. on one specific occasion or in one specific text or writer's works. The term was coined ...

Writing the other day about a Mongol helmet topped off in a singularly unpleasant manner, I was reminded that for a long time I have been t...

…just snooze under newspapers. This is a frequently observed phenomenon and is also a mnemonic which enables you to remember the order in wh...

A sergeant in the US Marines called Gunny (or Jarhead) John writes a lively blog and lists his interests as fishing, hunting, cars, trucks...

Another birthday for OMF, now with 525 posts containing 136,000 words, 230 pictures, 476 links and 834 comments. A Happy New Year to almost...

Many others have owned the Middle East in the last five thousand years. This fascinating animated map reminds you in 90 seconds who they we...

...but often not worth reading. The Guardian has “ a collective group blog, bringing together regular columnists from the Guardian and Obs...

...but you might feel better while you do it if you went HERE first (or HERE if you’re American).

I was quite right to think that I wouldn't be able to keep writing about Christmas for a week. Enough of all that, let's move on to...