Notices by Nicholas Whyte (nwhyte@wandering.shop)

Some sorting out has happened!

(Who’s on top? And Who’s not there?)

A bit over-written, but fascinating on the links between Messi and Yamal.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/17/gods-will-destiny-lionel-messi-lamine-yamal-that-photo-and-the-world-cup-final

Glorious bit of trivia from Eddie Johns on Threads:

Since Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, every single President has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover.

It would still have applied even if Kamala Harris had won. She was born the exact same day Hoover died, October 20, 1964. Unless she was born later in the day than Hoover drew his last breath.

Resurrecting this from several years ago:

Your Romance Novelist Name: first name of grandmother (either one), last name of the county (or equivalent) you live in. What kind of romances appear under that byline?

Mine is Margaret Brabant. I think she specialises in medieval settings.

Woke up just as the Makerfield declaration was coming through. More than solid result for Burnham, 9000 majority which is three times the Restore vote.

How long until he is Prime Minister?

Dinosaur-killing asteroid impact site stayed hot for millions of years

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529627-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-impact-site-stayed-hot-for-millions-of-years/

Today we’re announcing an update on plans for the future of Doctor Who.

As part of securing the next phase of the show for future generations, and in line with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year. Doctor Who remains an important part of the BBC and this tender underpins the BBC’s continued commitment to Doctor Who ensuring audiences will enjoy the show for years to come.

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/an-update-on-the-future-of-doctor-who

A metre-long scorpion, with 16 cm pincers, found in England and Wales.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2026/june/worlds-largest-scorpion-revealed-415-million-year-old-fossils.html

415 million years ago, admittedly.

How the COVID vaccine was brought to Wales, by @amCunningham

https://open.substack.com/pub/amcunningham72/p/the-team-was-the-infrastructure?selection=c2cc6f00-6cc9-412f-995d-4b7a32f9df95&r=4422q&utm_medium=ios

New relative.

I've read 67 out of 100 on the list. How many have you read?

https://www.theguardian.com/p/x4f9v5

Totally agree with putting Middlemarch top.

Over in the New Statesman, Jon Elledge asks "Why does Keir Starmer even want to be prime minister?" It's a good question.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/04/why-does-keir-starmer-even-want-to-be-prime-minister

Shakespeare’s London house has been precisely located.

https://www.the-tls.com/regular-features/commentary/a-man-of-property-essay-lucy-munro

Point to ponder from Cory Doctorow @pluralistic :

"Emailing a stranger a blob of unverified AI output is not a form of dialogue – it's an attempt to coerce a stranger into unpaid labor on your behalf. Strangers are not your "human in the loop" whose expensive time is on offer to painstakingly work through the plausible sentences a chatbot made for you for free."

https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/02/nonconsensual-slopping/

#ThursdayArt

This is the Tandragee Man (also known as the Tandragee Idol).

He was originally found in Armagh in 1830 (or in Tandragee in 1930).

He dates from 100 BC (or 1000 BC).

He is probably a man (but he might be a woman).

He is holding his arm (or he might be holding something that looks like an arm).

He sits in the Protestant cathedral in Armagh (or at least he was there in August 2016).

What is he (or she) telling us?

In the National Gallery in London yesterday, I was really taken with this 1899 portrait of seven-year-old Victoria Stanley by John Singer Sargent. Dressed for hunting, she is clearly ready to have fun but also won’t take any nonsense from anyone. I was delighted to find that Sir John Lavery also painted a portrait of her as an adult, which is in the collection of the London art dealers Colnaghi. The later portrait is not dated but must be from the 1920s.

Cambridge University returns legal ownership of 116 Benin artefacts to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/benin-artefacts-return

The story of my aunt and uncle, an Irish-Bengali activist couple who settled in London.

https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/amri-exhibition/nora-and-sultan-shariff/

Not expecting an answer.

Really looking forward to this exhibition about the great stucco artist Jan Christiaan Hansche at Park Abbey near Leuven where some of his greatest works survive. The exhibition will run from mid-February to the end of May.

https://www.abdijvanpark.be/en/expo-hansche-master-stucco