Albert Einstein once said: ‘If I had one hour to solve a problem and my life depended on finding a solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask. For once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” Our lives may not […]
Throughout 2020 debate raged about face masks. Some love them but many loathe them. Some experts said they were essential whilst others said they didn’t do any good at all. In any event, they were a new experience for many of us working outside the medical and research fields. Considering how long they’ve been in […]
There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics – so said Benjamin Disraeli. But then, he hadn’t heard about Google Analytics. Packed full of stats and overflowing with real-world information your first dip into Analytics can be a bit daunting. But there’s no need to wrap a hot towel around your head […]
Watch any professional tea taster, or wine taster at work and the amount of slurping and gurgling would put a toddler to shame. You can imagine the fearsome scolding from a parent as a toddler polishes off their juice with a lip-smacking relish sucking up as much air as they do liquid. These terrible table […]
In deepest rural Dorset there’s a rather large shed. Tucked up safely inside is one of the deadliest weapons of World War 2. The Tiger tank. Sure, the tank is interesting but how it was captured and brought from Tunisia to London is one of the war’s most epic tales. The Tiger was one of […]
“I never invent anything, because inventors go broke.” So said, Sir Frederick Henry Royce, he of Rolls Royce fame, to anyone who would listen. When we think of this most famous of marques, Rolls is the name which usually springs to mind. But it was Sir Henry Royce who was the engineering genius behind their […]
It’s an astonishing thought that the summit of Mount Everest is made of Limestone. Which means that around 450 million years ago it once formed part of the seafloor. With the summit now standing at 29,032 feet, that seafloor has moved an awful long way over those mega-anna (*) and continues to do so at […]
Is Professor Brian Cox thick? The professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester? Of course not! The guy’s a genius. But the interesting thing is that he only got a D in Maths at school. This is the guy who could split the atom while he’s […]
Honestly, who really cares about your logo? And I wonder if anyone asked the Royal British Legion before they splashed out close to £100,000 on their new logo and endured an alarming flurry of brickbats last week for their troubles. I bet they wished they’d never bothered. Sure, we all want to show it off […]
Lockdown may be wearing a bit thin but one its blessings has been a little more time to curl up and get lost in a good book. Tales of adventure, derring-do, travel, history – all there for us to lose ourselves in whatever magical moments of me-time we’re lucky enough to grab. One mighty tome […]
Last week we talked about the cost of being invisible in the marketplace. Whether you are using Google Ads, SEO, Leaflet Drops or whatever, getting your message out there doesn’t come on the cheap. Sure, if you’ve got a big budget and are prepared to fire money at the problem like it was going out […]
Dad’s Army ran for 9 years and 80 episodes and in all that time Captain Mainwaring’s wife never appeared on screen. As invisibility goes, that’s pretty good going. The writers deliberately played on the fact that Elizabeth Mainwaring was never seen, and it became an amusing sideline in a show brimming over with subtle interplays […]
In the rich tapestry of our royal rogues and rascals poor old Queen Anne seems to have been a bit of a dull old thing. But who could have guessed her obsession with candles would have such a profound influence on our retail landscape? For those living on a shoestring in the early 1700s, tallow […]
On a balmy summer’s afternoon in 1977, Voyager 2 sat quivering on its Cape Canaveral launchpad. Everyone at Mission Control on hyper-alert, the myriad systems all in contact with each other and all totally focused on the serene form waiting patiently on the launch pad for the command to go. At 14:29 precisely […]
If you enjoy the occasional slurp of red wine, you’ll probably know that a glass of Italian Amarone is a wonderful treat. The trouble is that it comes with a rather hefty price tag. Which, given the process of making it, is not surprising. Harvested by hand, the grapes are picked, sorted, and carefully inspected […]
Nuts and bolts can be a bit of a hard sell. As Chris and I soon found out whilst discussing some new copy for his brochure and website. We’d only just met so I was new to the challenge but it was clear that he’d been wrestling with the conundrum for a long, long time. […]
On the 18th of December, the dashing Count rocketed across the finishing line and into the record books. Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat had just set the first land speed record of 39.24mph and the date was December 1898. And his car? An electric-powered Jeantaud Duc, apparently. Who’d have guessed that EVs were all the rage […]
After a tiring 12-hour shift, PC John Byrne was looking forward to getting back to the station and clocking off. Just as he thought he could relax his phone buzzed and a message popped up on the screen. One he couldn’t ignore. As the adrenalin surged through his veins, on went the blue lights and […]
They say there’s nothing new under the sun and they’re probably right. Adverts for 2021 calendars are arriving thick and fast. Big ones, little ones, wide ones, and tall ones – all with one unbreakable rule which I’ll tell you about in a mo. But one caught my eye – waxing lyrical about its amazing […]
Whether you are a Formula 1 nut or not (I’m not, by the way) you’ve got to admire the way they use data. Because the pointy heads in Formula 1 certainly know how to use it and it’s a lesson which should resonate with anyone serious about the success of their website. The reason this story stands […]
For over a millennium the great Lighthouse of Alexandria shone out over the Nile Delta. Flames leaping skyward atop its 350-foot stone tower to guide ships into the bustling port of Alexandria. As one of the Seven Wonders of the World it is undoubtedly the most famous lighthouse in antiquity. The world over, lighthouses have […]
Every week I chat about something which catches my imagination. Something to help you promote your business more effectively and … help you steal a march on the competition. But the chances are that it’s not always about what’s on your mind right now. So, that got me thinking. They say that to get the […]
Boarding a flight to nowhere and landing right back where you started from isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. Most of us, if truth be told, prefer to land in a different place from where we took-off. And with airlines and their planes Covid-clamped that’s not quite as easy as it used to be. But who […]
It may be rarely talked about, but the Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous objects in the British Museum. It’s more than 2,000 years old but it holds a very valuable lesson to anyone sweating over fresh content for anything from a web page to a new brochure. Created in around 196 BC […]
Soon after my Monday posts have been broadcast the “out of office” replies come trickling in. They’re brief and business like and completely devoid of any personality, but they’ve been designed to do a job and they do it well. But last week one stood out like a beacon in a sea of grey. It […]
An email I received just after New Year grabbed my attention right away. I think it was from a guy called Pete, but I can’t be sure. We’d been thinking on and off about how to solve a dilemma and the email which had just pinged into my inbox suggested that he might have an […]
