Blog - Chris Sefton-Hearn

The front page of The English Chronicle, 25 January 1838

Details: Published: 26 August 2023

I recently reshared a blog post about my 3x great-grandfather, James Whipp, as part of #52Ancestors. This was in response to the prompt "in the news" and I thought sharing the time when PC Whipp was involved in a case where a pheasant and a hare were thrown out of a brothel window:

Whipp, 86 D, deposed that on Saturday afternoon he saw a great crowd in Shepherd-street [now called Dering Street], Oxford-street, and on going to the spot, ascertained that the defendant had thrown from the first floor of a house of ill fame a hare and a pheasant, which were picked up, and quickly carried off.

Anyway, curiosity got me thinking about how many more articles I could find mentioning him.

Details: Published: 08 July 2023

ghosts

This is something that comes as a surprise to some of my friends - I believe in ghosts. I'm not a religious person; I don't believe in a god, heaven, hell, or anything like that, I'm a man of science, yet I believe that hauntings happen.

I have done from a young age and, as I've got older, that belief hasn't gone away.

The final panel from an Unshelved comic strip. Two characters are looking out of a window having seen a bird crash in to something. One says "Twitter's down", the other replies "Not the first time."

Details: Published: 01 July 2023

It's sad to see the direction Twitter has taken under its Elon Musk ownership.

I've had a Twitter account since November 2008, when it was about 2½ years old, was all about sharing your moment with short messages and just community building. I loved Twitter. Loved.

A graphic showing a Bitmoji of Chris and the text "It's ChrisQuiz time!"

Details: Published: 17 May 2023

In 2023 I became one of Hwb Narberth's pub quiz host team. At least once a month you'll find me behind the mic testing the knowledge of Narberth!

Read more: Hwb Narberth Quiz Nights

A montage image of other images from the article. A London bombing map is the background, with a photo of a hotel in the 1960s, and the space where the hotel used to be, taken in the late 2010s.

Details: Published: 25 March 2023

I recently posted about how finding a photo from about 30 years ago triggered a search of Google Street View trying to locate a hotel I stayed at a couple of times on school trips to the Isle of Wight. Well, after having success with that, I remembered another little mystery I had from my family tree.

A photograph taken from a hotel bedroom window. In the immediate foreground is the edge of a flat roof. Beyond that, the garden of a neighbouring house with For Sale signs. Next to that, a two-storey house, painted white, with a distinctive decorative line feature. On the other side of the road in the middle distance is a short, flat-roofed, two-storey building.

Details: Published: 12 March 2023

Whilst going through some childhood photographs, I came across some from a primary school trip to the Isle of Wight. Alongside a visit to the beach and Arreton Manor were a few taken in the hotel lounge, one of the bedrooms, and out of a bedroom window.