Ben Henderson History

Thank you!!

Life in English villages changed enormously in the 1950s.

In this charming clip, Robert Reid revisits Iddesleigh in Devon to see how things changed in the space of seven short years.

BBC Archive from February 1959.

#countryside #CountryLife #tradition

Hi Jillianne, I’d love to be added to the feed. I present a history programme on the BBC and post about history/art/ideas.

Thanks!

Great Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram)

Which is your favourite?

If you enjoyed this thread, please repost and follow for more of the world's architectural wonders. You may enjoy this thread celebrating 100 years of Art Deco bsky.app/profile/hend...

Great Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram)

Mecca, Saudi Arabia
16th century (although Islamic structures have been on the site since the 7th century)
Built By: Ottomans among others (original structures built by Rashidun Caliphate)
The largest mosque in the world, it houses the Kaaba.

The Clock Towers vs Big Ben

The Clock Towers

The Clock Towers

Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Built: 2012
You might think this is ugly, but I included it because the clock face on the tower utterly massive - 35 times larger than Big Ben in London.

Kandovan Village

Kandovan Village

Location: East Azerbaijan, Iran
Built: Likely 13th century
An amazing village where people still live in cave dwellings carved into the volcanic rocks. It's been continuously inhabited for centuries.

Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock

Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Built: 7th century
Built as an Islamic shrine to house the rock from which the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven. The rock is also sacred to Jews and Christians, as the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac.

Chand Baori Stepwell

Chand Baori Stepwell

Location: Abhaneri, India
Built: 8th or 9th century
Built By: King Chanda, Nikumbh dynasty
A stepwell built to collect water during Rajasthan’s dry season. It's one of the deepest and most visually striking stepwells in India, with 3,500 narrow steps.

Akshardham Temple

Akshardham Temple

Akshardham Temple

Location: New Delhi, India
Built: 2005
Built By: BAPS Hindu denomination
A Hindu temple and cultural complex.

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral

Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Built: 16th century
Built by Ivan the Terrible, the cathedral's design is said to symbolize the flames of a bonfire. Stylistically it has few precedents, it seems to be a fusion of Russian vernacular (wooden), Asian and Byzantine influences

Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood ceiling

Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood

Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Built: 1883–1907
Built By: Tsar Alexander III
This is European Russia but it's stunning so why not. The Russian Orthodox church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated - hence 'spilled blood'.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The most incredible non-western architecture (part 3) - a thread 🧵

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Built: 2007
Built By: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
The mosque can accommodate 40,000 worshippers. It also features one of the world’s largest handwoven carpets.

Happy birthday Sir David Attenborough, who's 99 today!

Here's a clip of him from 1955 presenting Zoo Quest on the BBC. Incredible that he's still dominating nature documentaries 70 years later.

#history #nature

The World War 2 Ghost Army's job was to put on a show for an audience who wanted to kill them.

They were a unit of 1k American artists, who created the illusion of being a force of 40k, using the power of theatre.

They saved tens of thousands of lives by drawing enemy fire.

#history #WorldWar2

Thank you!

Oh I see, I’m not taking a shot at Markle, I’m showing they’re both attacked using the same methods. Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough though.

Thanks a lot for sharing Dale! Haha very true, the parallels are uncanny

Faced with incredibly high stakes, she - a woman with few cards to play - was able to make the greatest men on earth dance to her tune. For that, she deserves her status as the most famous woman in history.

If you enjoyed this, please follow me for more & repost the first post in the thread 😃