Will Freeborn’s Stonehenge

There's something odd about this view, until you see the figure in the air with his head down and you realise it's Jeremy Deller's blow up version. It's a nice sketch by Will Freeborn up in Glasgow, and testament to both his draughtmanship and the accuracy of the full scale model. Down here in Wiltshire, …

Who is the bird?

A few years ago we lost a pair of nesting thrushes to a neighbouring cat, and last year a pair of dunnocks left unhatched eggs in their nest. So I was delighted, when recently I was doing a bit of garden trimming, to see a song thrush nest with one new egg. And even more …

Bouncyhenge is here!

So here it is, Jeremy Deller’s bouncyhenge. Or balloonhenge, or wobblyhenge (thought I’d get in first with those three as a starter). The Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art has opened, and down on Glasgow Green is a full-scale inflatable replica of Stonehenge as it looks now (less the fallen stones, apparently for reasons of …

Good vibrations

Here's another acoustic study of Stonehenge that just arrived on my desktop. I haven't read the full study, but judging from the press release, which I've reproduced in full below, it's got more going for it than some of the others. Phrases I like: "The present day Stonehenge shows a few weak echoes and no …

Airman’s Cross 1912–2012

It's a funny coincidence that work will start at Airman's Corner on the new Stonehenge visitor centre, almost exactly 100 years after the crash the name commemorates, on July 5 1912. In a comment on my previous post, Tim Daw drew attention to a wonderful postcard in his collection, which I've reproduced above (are those …

The metaphorical first turf

I’m reproducing this short document in full because of its symbolism. It’s the metaphorical first turf, the public face of the start of work on the new Stonehenge visitor centre. As it says, planning permission is there for the buildings and road changes, and they’ve got the money. It’s really going to happen! So coming …

I was always late to Ikea

Paul Bahn has reminded me of this Ikea Stonehenge, which Retronaut put online a year ago, and it’s time I added it here. It was published in the QI H Annual, and created by the brilliant Justin Pollard, John Lloyd and Stevyn Colgan. What's missing, and would be really useful, is the delivery info.  

New British Archaeology

It'll be in the shops on Friday, but for those of you who haven’t yet become a member of the Council for British Archaeology or just subscribed, here’s a preview of some of my favourite bits. I had an overwhelming response from readers to last issue’s front cover exclusive – Mick Aston’s resignation from Time …

I’m a great fan of Stephen Fry, but…

he did say some silly things in his blog about the Parthenon last year, which just got picked up by the media after a restitution group published an open letter to David Cameron. Returning the British Museum marbles to Greece is a single, nationalistic issue, and linking that to the London 2012 Olympics diminishes them …

And look what happened in Avebury

So it's not just Stonehenge that people were writing about in the 1870s, but other linked stuff as well, such as Avebury and barrows – as The Englishman suggested. Here is the Ngram for those three words. As well as emphasising the peak in the 1870s, the Atkinson/Hawkins effect on Stonehenge in the 60s is …