Notes from the sketch book

On this day in 1866 English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist Beatrix Potter was born. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck amongst others. Potter was raised alone and schooled by governesses having been born into an upper-middle-class family. She loved her pets and vacationed in Scotland and the Lake District, where she developed a love of the outdoors and animals, which she carefully studied and painted. She was passionate about entomology, researched archaeological artefacts from London digs, and collected fossils. She painted...

With the new collection of 'Where I live' started with the lovely Durdle Door, we decided to hunt out some more iconic Dorset landscapes. Last week was a scorcher and made most of the good weather by visiting the beautiful beaches of Studland before heading off to this week's subject, the National Trust run Corfe Castle.  Over a thousand years ago, the foundation stone of Corfe Castle was laid. It has had its fair share of conflicts, mysteries, and intrigue since then. It has served as a family house, military outpost even a royal home. An Act of Parliament was...

A Meme is an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. Meme History is a sporadic ongoing collection, celebrating some famous memes.  Although some experts have traced the concept of a meme to hundreds of years ago, the majority believe that British evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins is responsible for its current meaning. In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, he defined a meme as a cultural object or notion that replicates, changes, and spreads from one person to another. ...

"I am THE LAW!" — Judge Dredd The titular figure of the Judge Dredd universe was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. Judge Dredd is a law enforcement and judicial officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One, which covers most of the east coast of North America. He is a "street judge", empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence and execute criminals. Dredd is the most feared, revered and well-known of all the Judges. The main character in the 2000AD anthology is Judge Dredd, who debuted in 1977's second issue. At that point it is 2099, Dredd has been...

"America is an irradiated wasteland. Within it lies a city. Outside the boundary walls, a desert. A cursed earth. Inside the walls, a cursed city, stretching from Boston to Washington D.C. An unbroken concrete landscape. 800 million people living in the ruin of the old world and the mega structures of the new one. Mega blocks. Mega highways. Mega City One. Convulsing. Choking. Breaking under its own weight. Citizens in fear of the street. The gun. The gang. Only one thing fighting for order in the chaos: the men and women of the Hall of Justice. Juries. Executioners. Judges." A...