Bird’s eye view: Who’ll crack the enigma?
We all like a good mystery tale, and the London Fancy is the biggest mystery in the canary world. ... Read More
London Fancy
History, part 5: the Huguenot legend and the comfort of opinion
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort […]... Read More
History, part 4: the Last of France
Before anyone familiar with the Pre-Raphaelites (1) points it out, the illustration above has nothing to with France and was painted in a different era from the great Huguenot exodus, which is the subject of this post. Yet, when you try to understand what emigration meant to real people; their commitment, their emotions, this painting […]... Read More
The first 100 days
A nice round number and a surprise, because it is one hundred days since Fine Spangled Sort went ‘live’. According to the site statistics, I have written 25 articles that are read between 50 and 100 times a day on average, peaking at over 300 (of course, that could be one person visiting 300+ times). Not […]... Read More
Bird’s eye view: More thoughts on the London Fancy
Everyone seems to have their own thoughts on the London Fancy, and most of them have been aired in Cage and Aviary Birds several times over the last 100 years, but occasionally the magazine publishes an article that covers new ground and contributes to our knowledge. Andy Early’s article More thoughts on the London Fancy […]... Read More
The angel and the canary
It’s Christmas eve; we will soon be celebrating the nativity, but I am going to remind you of how it started: with the annunciation. In this triptych*, the archangel Gabriel appears before the virgin Mary to tell her of the forthcoming birth of a son. Notice anything unusual about the angel, and the rosette of angels in the […]... Read More
The Museum Tavern
Visiting London – fancy a drink? London has more bars than Handel’s Messiah, but if you are a bird keeper and fascinated by the legend of the London Fancy canary, there is one that is sure to hit the right note: the Museum Tavern on Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury.... Read More