Victoriana June is coming to a close so here is my last book recommendation and some more pointless trivia 
*Postage stamps, matches, refrigerators, lightbulbs, antiseptic, inflatable tyres, cars, buses, telephones, iron bridges, railways, cameras, bandstands and promenades are all Victorian inventions.
*After the death of Prince Albert (1861) Queen Victoria dressed in black and had fresh clothes and a wash-stand prepared for Albert every day.
*She also spoke of “the mad, wicked folly of women’s rights”. No comment.
*Only two British monarchs have reached their Diamond Jubilee. Victoria celebrated hers in 1897.
*Britain and China went to war… over Opium trafficking!
*A large part of the world still speaks English today because of Victoria’s empire.
*The Commonwealth is made up of countries which were once under British rule.
*The River Thames was so thick with sewage that paddle-steamers could hardly move. After 30 years of work a new improved sewage system was completed in 1875. It is still in use today.
*Victorian architecture favoured Medieval Gothic and Classical Roman or Greek styles.
*The first Victorian computer was called the “analytic engine”.
All facts borrowed from The Victorians by Robert Hull.
We are certainly grateful for the extra days off work, the street-parties, the televised pageantry and Wills and Kate 
