Ron's Blog
Ron Lankshear's thoughts on books, films, anything
Friday, December 19, 2025
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Our WW2 Allotment and encounter with a Flying Bomb
In WW2 my parents had an allotment at Wormholt Park about 25 minutes walk from our flat at Emlyn Gardens. Mention of WW2 use on the Council web site
Wormholt Park: The First Hundred Years - H&F Libraries and Archives Blog
Just north across the railway was one of my future Schools. I sometimes walked this way to school.
St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Grammar School
It was up high flying north over my future school and vanished into the far distance.
Very nasty feeling seeing it. I do not know what damage it caused.
The allotment was great.
| V2 |
The first V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit. 'Vengeance Weapon 2') to hit London came down about 2 miles from our flat killing 63-year-old Mrs. Ada Harrison, three-year-old Rosemary Clarke, and Sapper Bernard Browning on leave from the Royal Engineers
A V-2 I know more about on my webpage.
November 1944 Bomb Damage in Wandsworth - Hazlehurst Road Garratt Lane
I am very pleased that my posting of a memory from Hilda eventually became a major event in that part of London as you will see on the page.
This is a Facit calculator. Type in numbers. To multiply turn the handle as many as wanted. You move along for big numbers. Fun but it was first real machine I had at work. This is 1960s. I was quite proficient.
Friday, October 13, 2023
My Tree Suffix field with DNA and other Labels
DNA and other Labels using the Suffix field
Suffix field is often quoted as for Dr or Jnr and such like
My usage. It helps in tree search and following lines through
DNA ancestors of my matches. Cousins then aunt or uncle and back to my grandparents
TLINK tree link. DNALink well a cousin who does not DNA match me has a DNA link to someone I have as a match
gfmf - g my grandparents. father mother father side which would lankshear skeggs skeggs
gmmm would be Eagle Robbins Russell
and so on of course. no G would be aunt/uncle/cousin
mfm Eagle Eagle King
nr not research which I use for spouse of anut/uncle/cousin
of course their children would be cousins but the spouse if no a blood relative
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Chilli con carne
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
500g British beef mince
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika (pimentón), hot or sweet, depending on how hot you like your chilli con carne
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
400g tin chopped tomatoes
250ml fresh beef stock
400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over a medium-high heat and add the onions. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes more until fragrant, then tip out into a bowl.
Turn up the heat to high, add the beef to the pan and season well, pressing it down with a wooden spoon and breaking it up so it browns all over. When it’s browned, tip out the juices from the pan and discard, then return the onions to the pan with the cumin, paprika and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until fragrant, then add the tomatoes with a pinch of sugar and the beef stock.
Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes until the beef has taken on the flavours of the spices and the sauce is reduced and thick. Add the kidney beans and cook for 5 minutes more, then taste, season and serve with your choice of accompaniments.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Easy Scones
1
cup pure cream
1
cup lemonade
3
cups self raising flour
pinch
of salt
flour,
for dusting
jam
and cream to serve
METHOD
Preheat
oven to 200°C or 180°C fan forced. Lightly flour a baking tray.
Place
all ingredients in a bowl. Mix lightly until combined. Scrape onto a floured
surface. Knead lightly and shape into a rectangle about 3 cm high. Cut out with
a 5cm scone cutter.
Lightly
dust with flour and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is browned.
Serve
with jam and cream. Jam first of course
Sunday, June 05, 2022
Salmon, Asparagus and Pea Frittata
Salmon, Asparagus and Pea Frittata | Shift Nutrition
Ingredients
- 3 eggs for one person
- 2 tbsp natural yoghurt
- Some Smoked salmon chopped
- Some Asparagus pieces
- Some frozen peas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200c
- Place eggs and yoghurt in a bowl and beat using a fork
- Stir through other ingredients.
- Spray a medium sized baking dish or oven proof frying pan with oil and pour in egg mixture.
- Bake for 15 minutes
Tuesday, January 04, 2022
Burmese Chicken Curry
Burmese Chicken Curry
1 chicken, 1 1/2 kg (3 Ib) .
1/2 cup (125 ml) oil
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 cup (250- ml) chicken
3 teaspoons salt stock
6 onions
1 1/2 tablespoons rice flour
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3 cups (750 ml) coconut milk.
5 cloves garlic, minced ;..
1 teaspoon crushed red chilli peppers
1. Rub the chicken with the turmeric and place in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, add the salt and simmer until the chicken is tender.
2. Remove chicken from the saucepan and set aside until cool enough to handle. (Reserve the chicken stock.) Remove the chicken meat from the bones.
3. Finely chop four of the onions and mix together with the ginger, garlic and chilli peppers. Mix with the chicken and allow to stand for 1/2 hour.
4. Slice the remaining two onions and saute in the oil for three minutes. 5. Add the chicken mixture and cook until brown.
6. Stir in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer.
7. Mix the rice flour with one cup of the coconut milk. Slowly add to the chicken, stirring constantly.
8. Pour In the remaining coconut milk and cook over a medium heat for 1/2
hour.
Serves 4-6.
Note: If coconut milk is not available, heat together 31/2 cups (875 ml) of water with 2 1/4 cups (565 ml) of desiccated coconut. Allow to stand for 15 minutes, then strain.
Drumsticks Stew in Pressure Cooker
Drumsticks Stew in Pressure Cooker
Wonderful Winter food
Potatoes
Celery
Carrots
Pea
Beans Tinned Kidney perhaps
Onion
Chicken stock with cornflour
Oregano 2 tspn
Curry powder 1 tspn
Bring to Pressure at least 15 mins and then 10 minutes on low heat
SATAY SAUCE
SATAY SAUCE
From my email 27/10/2006...
This is the one that Ginnie thinks she got from us and it sounds right
1 peeled onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder
2 teaspoon curry powder
2.5 cms peeled ginger (is that 2 tspoons?)
4 oz skinned peanuts finely chopped (I think I used to use crunchy peanut butter anyway)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt (phew seems a lot)
1/3 cup fruit chutney
1/2 to 1 Cup of water
simmer slowly to reduce amount
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Are Neanderthals Human? ETC ETC
2020 Sep, This really is shaking long help assumptions
Y chromosomes of Neandertals and Denisovans now sequenced | EurekAlert! Science News
2015 Dec
The Archaeology News Network: Study differentiates facial growth in Neanderthals and modern humans which to me is very strange analysis... Waffle about facial growth being sufficiently different
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/study-differentiates-facial-growth-in.html#.VmdB5xDpxGM
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook
And these examples come from one week in September 2012
Neanderthals and human lived side by side in Middle eastern caves and even interbred, research finds | Mail Online
Europeans did not inherit pale skins from Neanderthals - life - 26 September 2012 - New Scientist
NOVA | Are Neanderthals Human?
Neanderthals ... They're Just Like Us?
March 2013
Tiny monkey teeth suggest Flores hobbit was a dwarf - life - 06 March 2013 - New Scientist
The way we weren't: U of Minnesota biologist debunks myth that humans peaked in Paleolithic era
First early human fossil found in Africa makes debut - quite clearly it is really saying Yes we have worked it out and then but no we haven't
This one is fun The Neanderthals May Have Died Out Because of ... Bunnies? - Megan Garber - The Atlantic
And finally a fairly in depth discussion of DNA aspects -
Interbreeding With Neanderthals | DiscoverMagazine.com
good work the data is being collected and analysed
25 March more ....
Neanderthal brains focused on vision and movement leaving less room for social networking so they didn't do Facebook?
Human Fossil Reveals No Genetic Bone Disorder | Human Evolution | LiveScience so the original research on Turkana Boy was all wrong the bones were assembled badly - sounds like The Brontosaurus never existed: A tale from the Bone Wars | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News - in essence the wrong skull
German team sequences full Neanderthal genome for the first time and makes it available to scientists for FREE | Mail Online
Neanderthals: Facts About Our Extinct Human Relatives | LiveScience
There is some debate as to whether they were a distinct species of the Homo genus (Homo neanderthalensis) or a subspecies of Homo sapiens
2014
'Neanderthal' Remains Actually Medieval Human | LiveScience
Neanderthal speech - hyoid bone hypothesis - : Archaeology News from Past Horizons
Diabetes Risk May Come from Neanderthal Gene | LiveScience
And now N's weren't stupid
Study questions Neandertal inferiority to early modern humans
and
Modern humans left the home continent in at least two waves
2015 and still High Imagination at work
Dogs bred from wolves helped humans take over from Neanderthals in Europe | Daily Mail Online
Wolves hounded large animals like mammoths etc and then when animal exhausted the homo sapiens moved in for the kill.... This meant the Neanderthals missed out on the prey and so died out....
Questions: Evidence that only Sapiens domesticated dogs? and that Neanderthals didn't use dogs and couldn't find anything else to eat.
Thursday, March 05, 2020
St Piran's: Britain's oldest chapel to be re-excavated
The Archaeology News Network: Britain's oldest chapel to be re-excavated

And here are Mum and Dad a bit frozen well a tricky flash shot as very dark inside the protecting bunker ....
Above written in Jan 2014and now August 2015 an update on the site including colour photo above showing the altar where my parents stood in 1955
St Pirans Oratory lots of good pictures
The Archaeology News Network: Skeletons found at Cornish chapel dated to Dark Ages

