THOSE in the maritime insurance business exactly a century ago might well have wished they had embarked on a different career - especially if they were underwriters.

12 March 2010 16:36

NEARLY two centuries after the birth at West Somerton of the celebrated Norfolk giant, Robert Hales, he has been making headlines again - as befitting a legend widely known on both sides of the Atlantic in his lifetime..

05 March 2010 09:32

FOR an ordinary sort of working chap, not involved in public life or controversy or fame, it would be hard to imagine that one day, more than a quarter of a century after your death, thousands of newspaper readers would become acquainted with you, not just once but twice..

25 February 2010 15:50

BY the time you read today's column, I hope the snow and ice have long gone, although its subject matter might well induce a shiver or two as it prompts memories of the start of 2010 when this area suffered Arctic conditions, albeit not as savage as other parts of Britain..

18 February 2010 17:31

FOR many a year before this nostalgia-orientated column was reborn in the Mercury in 1987, another feature had graced the pages of this newspaper and been revered by its readers: Around and About, written under the pen-name of Scout..

11 February 2010 16:50

FILMS about shipping in the days of sail routinely include a tense scene in which a lead weight on a line is thrown into the sea and hauled back in while master and crew anxiously await a call like, “By the mark, five fathoms!” as they pray that there is enough water depth to prevent running aground..