Library Visit

Having about an hour to kill this morning, I dropped into my local library - a place I have long neglected for the past six months (though quite possibly more).

I managed to pick up a little light reading:

* Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S Wells
I knocked this one over today - and was much impressed. A concise narrative of times long considered "dark" and "barbaric". Nice and to the point and not a bit long-winded. Highly recommended.

* Bad Girls & Wicked Women by Jan Stradling
Nice retelling of some of the more notorious "bad girls" from history - Messalina, Belle Starr, Empress Cixi, but to name a few. About two-thirds through this one and will no doubt finish tonight. Highly enjoyable.

* Moriarty by John Gardner
I love Sherlock Holmes and his nemisi, Moriarty so looking forward to this one.

* Marie & Mary by Nigel Tranter
Novel about Marie de Guise and her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.

* The Templar by Paul Doherty
Novel of the Crusades by a masterful writer of medieval whodunnits.

* Mary Tudor: The Tragical History of the First Queen of England by David Loades.
Biography of "Bloody" Mary.

So, some more reading to add to my list whilst currently reading John Fox's marvellous biography on Jane Whorwood (spy to Charles I).

More WASPS Honoured

From the Seattle Times:

They were mavericks of their day, taking to the skies when the nation was at war and most women were at home caring for families. At a ceremony this spring, 11 Washington women will join the 200-some surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) in receiving Congressional Gold Medals for service during World War II.

Sixteen more medals will be given to local WASPs posthumously.

Congressional Gold Medals have been awarded nearly 150 times since the nation was born in 1776. The women join polio-vaccine inventor Dr. Jonas Salk and poet Robert Frost, as well as two other World War II groups honored since 2000: the Navajo Marine Corps Radio Operators, known as the "Code Talkers," who developed a code using their Native language to communicate military messages, and the Tuskegee Airmen.

Congress and President Obama approved the honor for the WASPs last year.

Ballina Jockey Club's Hall Of Fame

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Three inaugural inductees into Ballina Jockey Club's Hall Of Fame will be announced today at the Iris Nielsen Ladies Invitation meeting.

Ballina CEO Sarah Wills said the trio were all former female riders.

The Iris Nielsen, in honour of the late rider who died in a race fall at Lismore in March 1988, continues to grow in stature.

With prizemoney lifted from $27,000 to $50,000, the line-up of riders includes Clare Lindop, the first Australian female jockey to ride in the Melbourne Cup and winner of the Victoria Derby aboard Rebel Raider, New Zealand's Sam Pratt, last season's leading stakes earner in her homeland, and prolific winner Kathy O'Hara.

Bolivia: Women In Politics

From Momento 24:

The new Bolivian cabinet, in which half of the ministerial posts went to women, took office on Saturday in a showcase of the country’s efforts to achieve gender equality.

“My great dream has been fulfilled, half of my cabinet are women, the other half men,” said President Evo Morales, speaking at a ceremony at the Quemado presidential palace.

A day before, Morales, a leftist and Bolivia’s first indigenous president, was sworn in for a second term. He won more than 64-percent of the vote in December’s election.

The President swore in each one of the ministers, urging them to work to strengthen democracy and fight corruption. Female members of his cabinet include Labor Minister Carmen Trujillo; Justice Minister Nilda Copa; Transparency and Anti-Corruption Minister Nardy Suxo; and folk singer and activist Zulma Yugar as minister of culture.

The only precedent in Latin America for a similar split was under President Michelle Bachelet in Chile, who after her 2006 election divided her cabinet of 26 ministers equally among men and women.

See also: People's Daily Online

Lebanon: Women's First

From the Daily Star:

The Clemanceau branch of Bank of Beirut and other Arab Countries (BBAC) held a joyful reception on December 27 when Barabara Batlouni became the first mother to open a bank account for her underage sons, Jad and Samir Batlouni, without their father’s legal consent. Among those on hand to cheer Batlouni’s achievement for women’s rights were Wafa Abed, president of the Istitute of Progressive Women, BBAC vice president and legal adviser Abbas al-Halabi, as well as Sabrina Abdelkarim and Nadine Abou Hatab.

Betty Wilson

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Australian cricket is mourning the death of Betty Wilson, the country's greatest women's player, aged 88.

Wilson was a household name in post-war Australia and her remarkable on-field deeds matched those of her male contemporaries Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Lindsay Hassett.

In 11 Test matches spanning a decade she averaged 57.46 as a batter, with three centuries, and took 68 wickets with her offbreaks, at an average of 11.80.

Wilson, dubbed "the female Bradman", had an immediate impact in her international career, as she made 90 and took 10 wickets for the game in her debut, against New Zealand in 1948.

A decade later she became the first Test cricketer - male or female - to make a century and claim 10 wickets in the game, against England.

Eadgyth of Wessex

From BBC News:

Remains of one of the earliest members of the English royal family may have been unearthed in a German cathedral, a Bristol University research team says.

They believe a near-complete female skeleton, aged 30 to 40, found wrapped in silk in a lead coffin in Magdeburg Cathedral is that of Queen Eadgyth.

The granddaughter of Alfred the Great, she married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 929. She died 17 years later, at 36.

The team aims to prove her identity by tracing isotopes in her bones.

And from History Today:

The University of Bristol announced today, January 20th, the recent discovery of the remains of the Saxon Princess Eadgyth, possibly the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. They were excavated from beneath an elaborate 16th-century monument bearing her name in Magdeburg Cathedral as part of a wider research project into the cathedral.

Relics of Joan of Arc

From Discovery News:

The so-called "relics of Joan of Arc," overseen by the Archbishop of Tours in Chinon, France, do not contain the charred remains of the Catholic saint.

Rather, the artifacts consist of a mummified cat leg bone and human rib, both dating to the 6th-3rd century B.C., according to a new study.

The "relics," which have fooled onlookers for decades, did resemble burnt bones, in keeping with historical accounts of the death of Joan of Arc (ca. 1412-1431), who was convicted of heresy and executed by burning.

Medical examiners, pathologists, geneticists, biochemists, a radiologist, zoologist and archaeologist all participated in the extensive study, which was accepted for publication in the journal Forensic Science International.

The bottle containing the bones first surfaced at a pharmacy in 1867. Its label read: "Remains found under the pyre of Joan of Arc, maiden of Orleans."

Different techniques, including DNA analysis, several forms of microscopy, chemical analysis and carbon dating, were used to examine the bottle's contents.

A few years ago, Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist at Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, France, and his team first determined that the bottle contained an approximately 4-inch-long human rib covered with a black coating. It also housed part of a cat femur covered with the same coating, three fragments of "charcoal" and "a brownish textile scrap" about the same length as the rib.

From National Geographic 4th April 2007:

The charred bones that were long believed to be remains of St. Joan of Arc don't belong to the French heroine but are instead the remains of an Egyptian mummy, a new study has shown.

Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist at the Raymond Poincaré Hospital in Paris, France, obtained permission last year to study the relics from the church in Normandy where they are housed.

Temple of Queen Berenike

From The Indpendent:

The remains of a temple of Queen Berenike - wife of King Ptolemy III - have been discovered by archaeologists in Alexandria, Egypt.

Dr. Zahi Hawass said the remains discovered are 60 meters by 15 meters, and extend under Ismail Fahmy street. About 600 Ptolemaic statues - amongst which are beautiful depictions of the cat goddess Bastet - were also unearthed....

Early studies on site revealed that the temple’s foundation can be dated to the reign of Queen Berenike - the wife of King Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC) - making this the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to Bastet. It also indicates that her worship continued in Egypt after the decline of the ancient Egyptian era....