IF WE VISIT LOCH NIS IN INBHIR NIS, WE'LL MEET NESSIE

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma are travelling to Inbhir Nis, to visit Loch Nis, home of an old and legendary friend: Nessie.

Loch Ness, in Scottish Gaelic Loch Nis, is a large deep lake in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 kilometres southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 16 metres above sea level. It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness, ultimately leading to the North Sea via the Moray Firth. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.

At Drumnadrochit is the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition which examines the natural history and legend of Loch Ness.

Urquhart Castle is located on the western shore, 2 km east of Drumnadrochit and lighthouses are located at Lochend (Bona Lighthouse) and Fort Augustus.

Loch Ness is known as the home of the Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, a cryptid, reputedly a large unknown animal. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next. Popular interest and belief in the animal's existence has varied since it was first brought to the world's attention in 1933.

In Scottish folklore, the Loch Ness Monster or Nessie, is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, and is often described as being large in size, with a long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a few disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The creature commonly appears in Western media where it manifests in a variety of ways. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a phenomenon without biological basis, explaining sightings as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects.

The creature has been affectionately called Nessie, in Scottish Gaelic: Niseag, since the 1940s.

The word monster was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in an Inverness Courier report.

On 4 August 1933 the Courier published a report by Londoner George Spicer that several weeks earlier, while they were driving around the loch, he and his wife saw the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life trundling across the road toward the loch with an animal in its mouth. Letters began appearing in the Courier, often anonymously, claiming land or water sightings by the writer, their family or acquaintances or remembered stories. The accounts reached the media, which described a monster fish, sea serpent, or dragon and eventually settled on Loch Ness monster.

On 6 December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published in the Daily Express; the Secretary of State for Scotland soon ordered police to prevent any attacks on it. 

In 1934, interest was further piqued by the surgeon's photograph. 

That year, R. T. Gould published an account of the author's investigation and a record of reports predating 1933. Other authors have claimed sightings of the monster dating to the sixth century AD.

The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the sixth century AD. 

According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events described, Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he encountered local residents burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a water beast which mauled him and dragged him underwater. 

Although they tried to rescue him in a boat, he was dead. Columba sent a follower, Luigne moccu Min, to swim across the river. The beast approached him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and said: Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once. The creature stopped as if it had been "pulled back with ropes" and fled, and Columba's men and the Picts gave thanks for what they perceived as a miracle.

Believers in the monster point to this story, set in the River Ness rather than the loch itself, as evidence for the creature's existence as early as the sixth century. 

Sceptics question the narrative's reliability, noting that water-beast stories were extremely common in medieval hagiographies and Adomnán's tale probably recycles a common motif attached to a local landmark. According to sceptics, Adomnán's story may be independent of the modern Loch Ness Monster legend and became attached to it by believers seeking to bolster their claims.  

More information: Historic UK

Moonlight falls upon the dormant land
Where peaceful calm reclines
Upon the shimmering lake
Ripples form and then reveal
A dark silhouette rising out of water.

 

Sheri Fresonke Harper

CONNOR MACLEOD'S LIFE, WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER?

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma are visiting Connor MacLeod, an immortal Grandma's friend, who was born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. 

Highlander is a 1986 British fantasy action-adventure film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. 

The film chronicles the climax of an age-old war between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and present-day storylines.

Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. After reviving from a fatal wound and being banished from his village, MacLeod is found by swordsman Ramírez (Connery), who explains they and others were born immortal, invincible unless beheaded.

Immortals wage a secret war, fighting each other until the last few remaining will meet at the Gathering to fight for the Prize. In 1985, the Gathering is finally happening in New York City and MacLeod must make sure the Prize is not won by his oldest enemy, the murderous Kurgan (Brown).

Highlander enjoyed little success on its initial theatrical release, grossing over $12 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million, and received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it became a cult film and inspired film sequels and television spin-offs. 

It is also known for songs recorded by the rock band Queen, with Princes of the Universe also used for the title sequence in the television series. The tagline, There can be only one, has carried on into pop culture.

More information: Connor MacLeod, From The Scottish Highlanders

Director Russell Mulcahy filmed Highlander using music video techniques including fast cutting and pacy music.

In preparation, actor Christopher Lambert spent months working four hours each morning with a dialect coach and four hours in the afternoons sword training with Bob Anderson, who had been a Darth Vader stunt double in the Star Wars franchise.

The scene where the MacLeod clan sets off to battle is supposed to take place in the village of Glenfinnan, on the shore of Loch Shiel in the Lochaber area, but was actually filmed at Eilean Donan Castle, which is in the same general area but is really on the shore of Loch Duich, a sea loch near Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye.

The Highlander original orchestral score was composed by Michael Kamen. The British rock band Marillion turned down the chance to record the soundtrack because they were on a world tour, a missed opportunity which guitarist Steve Rothery later said he regretted. The band's Scottish lead singer, Fish, had also accepted a part in the film but pulled out because of the scheduling conflict.

David Bowie, Sting, and Duran Duran were considered to do the soundtrack for the film. The eventual soundtrack includes several songs by Queen, such as A Kind of Magic and Princes of the Universe (the latter also being used for the Highlander television series title sequence).

Brian May was inspired to write Who Wants to Live Forever after watching the love scenes between Connor and his wife Heather, and the song ultimately accompanied the film.

More information: In The End, There Can Be Only One

Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (born 29 March 1957), known professionally as Christopher Lambert, is a French-American actor, novelist, and producer.

Lambert was born March 29, 1957, in Great Neck, New York, the son of Yolande Agnès Henriette and Georges Lambert-Lamond, a French diplomat then at the United Nations. His father was a French Jew. Lambert was raised and educated in Geneva from infancy and moved to Paris in his teens.

He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous with the role of Tarzan in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes in 1984.

For his performance in the 1985 film Subway, Lambert received the César Award for Best Actor. His best-known role is Connor MacLeod in the 1986 cult adventure-fantasy film Highlander and the subsequent film franchise series of the same name.

Other films he is known for are I Love You (1986), The Sicilian (1987), Knight Moves (1992), Fortress (1992) and its sequel Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000), Mortal Kombat (1995), Druids (2001), Absolon (2003), White Material (2009), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), Kickboxer: Retaliation (2018), and for producing N'oublie pas que tu vas mourir (1995), the French comedy film Neuf Mois (1994) and its English-language remake Nine Months (1995).

More information: Empire

 

There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams, 

yet slips away from us
Who wants to live forever?

Queen

UILLEAM UALLAS & THE WAR OF SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have just arrived to Glasgow, where they have breakfast with some special guests: Sean Connery, Annie Lennox and Amy Macdonald.

This afternoon, the family is meeting Uilleam Uallas, an old Grandma's friend, a local hero, who has a very interesting story of bravery and honour to explain.

Sir William Wallace, in Scottish Gaelic Uilleam Uallas, is a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Uallas defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Uallas was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

 More information: BBC Scotland

Since his death, Uallas has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart.

Uilleam Uallas was a member of the lesser nobility, but little is definitely known of his family history or even his parentage. When Uallas was growing up, King Alexander III ruled Scotland. His reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability. On 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse.

The heir to the throne was Alexander's granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway. As she was still a child and in Norway, the Scottish lords set up a government of guardians. Margaret fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290. The lack of a clear heir led to a period known as the Great Cause, with several families laying claim to the throne.

With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was invited in by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate. Before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognize him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. In early November 1292, at a great feudal court held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed, judgment was given in favour of John Balliol having the strongest claim in law.

Edward proceeded to reverse the rulings of the Scottish Lords and even summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. John was a weak king, known as Toom Tabard or Empty Coat. John renounced his homage in March 1296 and by the end of the month Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the then-Scottish border town. In April, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian and by July, Edward had forced John to abdicate. Edward then instructed his officers to receive formal homage from some 1,800 Scottish nobles, many of the rest being prisoners of war at that time.

On 11 September 1297, an army jointly led by Uallas and Andrew Moray won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish army routed the English army. John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey's feudal army of 3,000 cavalry and 8,000 to 10,000 infantry met disaster as they crossed over to the north side of the river. 

In April 1298, Edward ordered a second invasion of Scotland. Two days prior to the battle 25,781 foot soldiers were paid. More than half of them would have been Welsh. There are no clear cut sources for the presence of cavalry, but it is safe to assume that Edward had roughly 1500 horse under his command. They plundered Lothian and regained some castles, but failed to bring Uilleam Uallas to combat; the Scots shadowed the English army, intending to avoid battle until shortages of supplies and money forced Edward to withdraw, at which point the Scots would harass his retreat. 

More information: History Cooperative

The English quartermasters' failure to prepare for the expedition left morale and food supplies low, and a resulting riot within Edward's own army had to be put down by his cavalry. In July, while planning a return to Edinburgh for supplies, Edward received intelligence that the Scots were encamped nearby at Falkirk, and he moved quickly to engage them in the pitched battle he had long hoped for.

By September 1298, Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland in favour of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king, and John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, King John Balliol's nephew.

Uallas evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Uallas over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. The site is commemorated by a small monument in the form of a Celtic cross. Letters of safe conduct from Haakon V of Norway, Philip IV of France, and John Balliol, along with other documents, were found in Wallace's possession and delivered to Edward by John de Segrave.

Uallaswas transported to London, lodged in the house of William de Leyrer, then taken to Westminster Hall, where he was tried for treason and for atrocities against civilians in war, sparing neither age nor sex, monk nor nun. He was crowned with a garland of oak to suggest he was the king of outlaws. He responded to the treason charge, I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.

More information: Scottish History

I'm Uilleam Uallas, 

and the rest of you will be spared. 
Go back to England and tell them... 
Scotland is free!

Uilleam Uallas

DOCTOR WHO & OUTLANDER, TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have been preparing for their next time travel. They have the help of Doctor Who and Claire Randall, as well as the powerful skills of Elsa Morgan, who masters all kinds of time mechanisms, including the TARDIS, and a new secret mechanism that allows time travel: José Luis Morgan's Bon Bon Bum.

The family wants to travel to the Highlands of Connor MacLeod and William Wallace, as well as see for themselves whether Nessie is really a reality or a legend. They have hired Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Scotland Yard to investigate the theft at the British Museum and clear them of all suspicion.

Before preparing for this new adventure, The Grandma has been talking about the Middle Age and the origin of some of the oldest police forces in Europe, and they have been studying a little English grammar with the Zero Conditional, the First Conditional and Since/For.

More info: Zero Conditional & First Conditional

More information: Since & For

More information: Test English

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, follows the adventures of the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being from a humanoid species known as Time Lords. 

The Doctor travels through space and time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which has an exterior that resembles a British police box. The Doctor encounters various civilisations, which he seeks to protect by outwitting foes and solving crises. The Doctor usually travels with a companion.

Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; the most recent being Ncuti Gatwa, who portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor from 2023 to 2025. The transition between actors is woven into the story via the plot device of regeneration. When a Time Lord is fatally injured or weakened by old age, their cells regenerate into a new body; while they retain their memories, their personality changes. The different portrayals function as distinct stages within a single, continuous narrative. Due to time travel, these different incarnations occasionally cross paths.

A British popular culture staple with a global cult following, the show has shaped generations of British television professionals. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians. The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the most successful science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales.

The series originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who. The series was relaunched in 2005, with production moving to BBC Wales in Cardiff.

Since 2023, the show has been co-produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios Productions in Cardiff. The Doctor Who franchise -or Whoniverse- spans a wide range of media, including television spin-offs, literature, audio dramas, and films.

As a global cultural phenomenon, it has become one of the most frequently referenced and parodied series in television history.

More information: Doctor Who

Download Make Your Own TARDIS

Fear me, I've killed hundreds of Time Lords.

Doctor Who

 

Outlander is a historical fantasy television series based on the book series of the same name by Diana Gabaldon. 

Developed by Ronald D. Moore, the show premiered on August 9, 2014, on Starz. It stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, an English former World War II military nurse in Scotland who, in 1945, finds herself transported back in time to 1743. There, she encounters and falls in love with a dashing Highland warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a tacksman of Clan Fraser of Lovat whom she later marries. Here, Claire becomes embroiled in the Jacobite rising.

The 16-episode first season of the television series is based on the first novel in the series, Outlander, and was released as two half-seasons, with the first part being aired from August to September 2014 and the second part from April to May 2015. The second season of 13 episodes, based on Dragonfly in Amber, aired from April to July 2016. The 13-episode third season, based on Voyager, aired from September to December 2017. The 13-episode fourth season, based on Drums of Autumn, aired from November 2018 to January 2019. The fifth season of 12 episodes, based on The Fiery Cross and the beginning of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, aired from February to May 2020. The sixth season of 8 episodes, based on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, aired from March to May 2022. The seventh season, which consists of 16 episodes, is based on the end of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, Written in My Own Heart's Blood and elements of Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, and was released as two half-seasons, with the first part aired from June to August 2023 and the second part from November 2024 to January 2025.

By February 2022, development had begun on a prequel series titled Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which will focus on Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp's parents. 

In January 2023, Outlander: Blood of My Blood was officially confirmed for a ten-episode first season, and Outlander was renewed for a ten-episode eighth and final season, premiered on March 6, 2026, based on Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone and parts of the upcoming tenth and final novel in the series.

More information: Sony Pictures

 That amount of time does not exist.

Claire Randall

THOMAS CROWN, FIND IN THE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND

London start with morning fog patches that will quickly clear, leading to a mostly sunny and warm day. Temperatures will be pleasant, with highs likely reaching into the high teens or low twenties Celsius.

The Morgans are getting ready to enjoy their second day of visiting the British Museum. It's not just any day because the family has a plan that is expected to be foolproof, and to carry it out they have the help of Thomas Crown, the famous American investor and great art lover. Thomas Crown, an old friend of The Grandma who is always in the windmills of her mind, is the owner of the work 'Le Fils de l'homme' by René Magritte, a work that he has altruistically lent for an exhibition sponsored by The Grandma where José Luis Morgan is giving a dissertation on the restoration of works of art.

The conference is beginning at the scheduled time, however, previously, Vero Morgan is offerring catering to all attendees who are enjoying the performances of Andrea and Jose, while Xènia Morgan controls the soundboard, so that Kehiny Morgan is performing a beautiful version of 'Sinnerman' by Nina Simone.

Cristina Morgan is offering hugs to anyone who wants to share a little affection while Sandra Morgan is evoking the Ancient Sybyl by reading the palm of anyone who wishes.

Valentina Morgan is providing entertainment for the little ones while Lidia Morgan is looking for future investors among the attendees until the most awaited moment arrives: Jordi Morgan mentally is controlling the security guards' dogs while Vanessa Morgan is making her fascinating entrance, hypnotizing everyone present in the room while Elsa Morgan is stopping time on the security cameras.

Finally, Joan Morgan is driving a large forged metal structure and with the help of everyone present in the Museum, they are carrying an enormous Egyptian sphinx to the exit.

And so, when Vanessa Morgan is finishing her spell and everyone is returning to reality, they are realizing that they have participated in a great experience of mind control, magic and time control, a diversion offered by The Morgans, who have returned the sphinx to its place of origin (or perhaps not), but something terrible has just happened at the other end of the Museum: the Sutton Hoo Helmet, the Saxon object of incalculable historical value, has just disappeared from its display case. What has happened? The Morgans are completely innocent because their performance has been fully recorded and they are located at all times, but... where is The Grandma?

Download British Museum Map

This is an elegant crime, done by an elegant person. 
It's not about the money.

Catherine Banning

THE BRITISH MUSEUM, CENTURIES OF ART AND CULTURE

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have decided to enjoy one of the most impressive museums in the world, the British Museum.

The family was very excited about this visit and they were all thinking about what souvenir they could take home from the Museum without having to go through the shop. The Grandma loves Rosetta Stone and the Sutton Hoo Helmet.

The British Museum is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture and it is considered one of the most important museums of the world thanks to its more than two hundred thirty million objects.

 

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The British Museum opened on a day like today in 1759 and The Grandma wants to commemorate this event talking about the Museum and its history.

The British Museum, in the Bloomsbury area of London, United Kingdom, is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection of some eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence, having been widely sourced during the era of the British Empire. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. It was the first public national museum in the world.

More information: British Musem

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane.

It first opened to the public in 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Its expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of expanding British colonisation and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881.

In 1973, the British Library Act 1972 detached the library department from the British Museum, but it continued to host the now separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as the museum until 1997. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and as with all national museums in the UK it charges no admission fee, except for loan exhibitions.

Its ownership of some of its most famous objects originating in other countries is disputed and remains the subject of international controversy, most notably in the case of the Parthenon Marbles.

Although today principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities, the British Museum was founded as a universal museum. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), a London-based doctor and scientist from Ulster.

During the course of his lifetime, and particularly after he married the widow of a wealthy Jamaican planter, Sloane gathered a large collection of curiosities and, not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for a sum of £20,000. At that time, Sloane's collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Sudan, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.

On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his Royal Assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum Act 1753 also added two other libraries to the Sloane collection, namely the Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian Library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf.

More information: British Museum-Youtube

The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum -national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything.

Sloane's collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element and meant that the British Museum now became both National Museum and library.

By the last years of the 19th century, The British Museum's collections had increased to the extent that its building was no longer large enough. In 1895 the trustees purchased the 69 houses surrounding the museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the west, north and east sides of the museum. The first stage was the construction of the northern wing beginning 1906.

All the while, the collections kept growing. Emil Torday collected in Central Africa, Aurel Stein in Central Asia, D.G. Hogarth, Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence excavated at Carchemish.

Around this time, the American collector and philanthropist J Pierpont Morgan donated a substantial number of objects to the museum, including William Greenwell's collection of prehistoric artefacts from across Europe which he had purchased for £10,000 in 1908. Morgan had also acquired a major part of Sir John Evans's coin collection, which was later sold to the museum by his son John Pierpont Morgan Junior in 1915.

In 1918, because of the threat of wartime bombing, some objects were evacuated via the London Post Office Railway to Holborn, the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and a country house near Malvern.

On the return of antiquities from wartime storage in 1919 some objects were found to have deteriorated. A conservation laboratory was set up in May 1920 and became a permanent department in 1931. It is today the oldest in continuous existence. In 1923, the British Museum welcomed over one million visitors.

Today the museum no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library.

More information: Smithsonian

The museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over 13 million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.

The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre.

This department covers all levels of education, from casual visitors, schools, degree level and beyond. The museum's various libraries hold in excess of 350,000 books, journals and pamphlets covering all areas of the museum's collection.

Also the general museum archives which date from its foundation in 1753 are overseen by this department; the individual departments have their own separate archives and libraries covering their various areas of responsibility, which can be consulted by the public on application.

The Anthropology Library is especially large, with 120,000 volumes. However, the Paul Hamlyn Library, which had become the central reference library of the British Museum and the only library there freely open to the general public, closed permanently in August 2011. The website and online database of the collection also provide increasing amounts of information.

It is a point of controversy whether museums should be allowed to possess artefacts taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism.

The Elgin Marbles, Benin Bronzes, Ethiopian Tabots and the Rosetta Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of these artefacts to their native countries of Greece, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt respectively. Parthenon Marbles claimed by Greece were also claimed by UNESCO among others for restitution. From 1801 to 1812, Elgin's agents took about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum.

In recent years, controversies pertaining to reparation of artefacts taken from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing during the Anglo-French invasion of China in 1860 have also begun to surface. Victor Hugo condemned the French and British for their plundering.

More information: The Culture Trip

The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others, have been asked since 2009 to open their archives for investigation by a team of Chinese investigators as a part of an international mission to document lost national treasures. However, there have been fears that the United Kingdom may be asked to return these treasures.

The British Museum has refused to return these artefacts, stating that the restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world.

The museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. Nevertheless, it has returned items such as the Tasmanian Ashes after a 20-year-long battle with Australia.

The British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artefacts under British law.

In 2016, the British Museum moved its bag searches to marquees in the front courtyard and beside the rear entrance. This has been criticised by heritage groups as out-of-character with the historic building. The British Museum clarified that the change was purely logistical to save space in the main museum entrance and did not reflect any escalation in threat.

More information: My Modern Met

 

It is a standing source of astonishment

and amusement to visitors that the British Museum

has so few British things in it: that it is a museum about

the world as seen from Britain rather than a history

focused on these islands.

Neil MacGregor

THE SCIENCE MUSEUM, WE WILL ROCK YOU (EVERYBODY)

Yesterday afternoon, The Morgans and The Grandma visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum as a prelude to a week of museums. 

Today, the family has visited the Science Museum, one of the most interesting of London, perhaps the most amazing after the British Museum.

Before the visit, the family has been practising some English grammar with The Simple Future and the Object Pronouns, and learning some vocabulary about The Weather. They also have been talking about Occitan poets and Gypsy community and their ways of transmitting information about the future through poetry and fortune telling.

Finally, The Grandma has explained the interesting history of La Torre del Rellotge, the old lighthouse of Barcelona, located in La Barceloneta, the fishermen neighbourhood, that has its own little story: it has the honour of being one of the geodesic points where the scientist Pierre François André Méchain took the measurements he used as the basis of the metric system.

More information: Future Simple

More information: Object Pronouns 

More information: The Weather

The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019.

Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Science Museum does not charge visitors for admission, although visitors are requested to make a donation if they are able. Temporary exhibitions may incur an admission fee.

It is one of the five museums in the Science Museum Group.

The museum was founded in 1857 under Bennet Woodcroft from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition as part of the South Kensington Museum, together with what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

It included a collection of machinery which became the Museum of Patents in 1858, and the Patent Office Museum in 1863. This collection contained many of the most famous exhibits of what is now the Science Museum.

In 1883, the contents of the Patent Office Museum were transferred to the South Kensington Museum. In 1885, the Science Collections were renamed the Science Museum and in 1893 a separate director was appointed. The Art Collections were renamed the Art Museum, which eventually became the Victoria and Albert Museum.

When Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the new building for the Art Museum, she stipulated that the museum be renamed after herself and her late husband. This was initially applied to the whole museum, but when that new building finally opened ten years later, the title was confined to the Art Collections and the Science Collections had to be divorced from it. 

On 26 June 1909 the Science Museum, as an independent entity, came into existence.

The Science Museum's present quarters, designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public in stages over the period 1919-28. This building was known as the East Block, construction of which began in 1913 and was temporarily halted by World War I. As the name suggests it was intended to be the first building of a much larger project, which was never realized. However, the museum buildings were expanded over the following years; a pioneering Children's Gallery with interactive exhibits opened in 1931, the Centre Block was completed in 1961-3, the infill of the East Block and the construction of the Lower & Upper Wellcome Galleries in 1980, and the construction of the Wellcome Wing in 2000 result in the museum now extending to Queen's Gate. 

The Science Museum consists of two buildings -the main building and the Wellcome Wing. Visitors enter the main building from Exhibition Road, while the Wellcome Wing is accessed by walking through the Energy Hall, Exploring Space and then the Making the Modern World galleries at ground floor level.

More information: Science Museum

A visit to a museum is a search for beauty,
truth, and meaning in our lives.
Go to museums as often as you can.

Maira Kalman