Film-star looks, artist’s model, champion cyclist, international rugby star…John Jackett had it all, and much more…
Author Archives: TheCornishHistorian
Book Review: Mine to Die, by Rob Donovan
Reading time: 5 minutes Mine to Die, by Rob Donovan Troubadour Publishing, 2024 218 pages, 27 images £9.99 Rob Donovan has given us a compelling and moving whistle-stop tour of Cornwall’s industrial history. It is not, I hasten to add, a comprehensive history; readers are here directed to A. K. Hamilton Jenkin, John Rowe, andContinue reading “Book Review: Mine to Die, by Rob Donovan”
The Piskie Trap Podcast: Beatrice Small and Ill-wishing
Listening time: one hour ‘The Piskie Trap’ is a podcast produced by Keith Wallis, a local folklorist from Tywardreath. In his broadcasts he discusses the ghostly legends of Jamaica Inn and Bodmin Gaol, witchcraft trials and mermaid legends. Keith was kind enough to invite me to talk on his latest show, specifically about fortune-tellers andContinue reading “The Piskie Trap Podcast: Beatrice Small and Ill-wishing”
Gallows Bell: The Murder of Joseph Burnett
The tragic story of a Lostwithiel Town Sergeant’s death at the hands of a British soldier…
The Great Cornish Rugby Split?
The true story of how two Camborne RFC players joined the Northern Union, nearly causing Camborne to quit the RFU in a bitter fallout…
The Grampound Potwallopers: Corruption in Georgian Cornwall
A major parliamentary scandal in Georgian Cornwall…
Who Killed ‘Judas’ Penrose?
How a Cornishman came to America, started a newspaper, and got involved in trade unions, politics, masonic lodges, racial tension, married women…and paid the ultimate price…
The Camborne Riots of 1873: Part Two
Concluding the violent story of the biggest anti-police riot in Cornish history…
The Camborne Riots of 1873: Part One
150 years ago, the people of Camborne took part in the biggest anti-police riot in Cornish history…
Camborne~Redruth: The Oldest Continual Rugby Fixture in the World? Part Two
Cornwall’s greatest sporting rivalry? The world’s oldest sporting rivalry? Continuing the warts-and-all account of a great Cornish rugby tradition, up to the present day…