Homework and dirty work

Junior gets a makeover

Webtastic is the Gateway to websites’ younger sibling (gender unknown). We’ve had a collection of links to useful homework websites for a long time, but recently a colleague has been beavering away, adding more links, banishing faded ones, and making the pages much (much) brighter – and Webtastic was born!
Ranging from "Art & design" to "Webguides and search engines", the categories are broadly similar to those on the Gateway. But if, for instance, we look at "History", we can see a motley collection of the usual schoolwork suspects – the Ancient Egyptians, The Tudors, and the Victorians.

The Romans are also included, of course – they are billed as BBC Romans, not because they are a bunch of actors kitted out in the Television Centre wardrobe, but because the link is to yet another subject about which the BBC coverage reigns supreme.

The aim of Webtastic is to cover more or less everything on the school curriculum – we’re constantly looking for gaps to fill – but there’s nothing to stop you using these links for college coursework, or just for the pleasure of getting all the dirt on Henry VIII and his spousicidal tendencies (don’t bother checking – I made that word up, then found out that it’s been done before, dash it).

Go directly to Webtastic


Criminal relations

After looking at "History" on Webtastic, I glanced through the same category on the Gateway itself. I was drawn, not for the first time, to a website called Proceedings of the Old Bailey, which is pretty self-explanatory. Various learned bodies have got together to digitise the reports, from 1674 to 1834, of cases before the most famous court in the land.

I’m sure the motives behind the project are serious and scholarly, but that’s no reason why we can’t have fun with it. The best way is to enter your own surname into the search box and see what trouble your forebears got into. There were just four entries for my name, involving two people; each was transported for nicking things (or "simple grand larceny" as it was more picturesquely called at the time).

Then I moved on to colleagues’ names. Well! What a bunch of crooks and ne’er-do-wells. It’s a silly game, of course – after all, they wouldn’t be here unless they were criminals or witnesses to crime. And they might be no relation whatsoever. Good fun, though.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "History". Proceedings of the Old Bailey is under "Local history".)

Picture Credit: ren/morguefile.com

From near to eternity

From the cradle . . .

Have you noticed that schools in Westminster have a disconcerting habit of changing their names? I’m sure they have the best possible motives – they’re probably not doing to just avoid their creditors or to put undesirable pupils off the scent. But it can be confusing.

With this in mind, we thought it might be helpful to put a direct link on to the Gateway. The Gateway’s Westminster Schools entry links to the Council’s summary page for this subject. From there you can find a list of, say, secondary schools, then an individual page for each school with a link to the school’s individual website (except one which does not work yet, for a new academy).

Usefully, there is a "find your nearest" feature, and links to Ofsted reports on schools. If you want to go into the minutiae of admissions policies and applications procedures, things get a bit more complicated. But the basics are simply (and well) presented on the opening page.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "Education & jobs". Westminster Schools is a Key Link. Ofsted reports are also listed under "Schools".)

. . . to the grave

After all that serious educational stuff, time for a bit of fun. How about a gambol through the gravestones? Not just any old gravestones – let’s find a celebrity grave using Find a Grave. As you would expect, you can search this website by name - rather sweetly, you can look for famous graves or just any old graves.

There are lots of other ways to search. "Claims to fame" include actors (4,131), actresses (only 2,360 – a bit controversial, eh?) and magicians (it says 26 in brackets, but I could only find 14 listed).

Find a Grave was started by a self-confessed nerd living in Salt Lake City. It relies on contributions from individuals, and most of the entries are American. But this is not some sort of sneering criticism. It’s well worth a try, whether you are looking for a particular grave or just celebrity-spotting. And it’s fun.

And if they haven’t got Auntie Nellie listed, the solution is in your hands – send her details in. And if she was a famous bareback rider, all the better.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "Biography". Find a Grave is, somewhat bizarrely, under "Specialist biographies".)

News from Turkmenistan (or Teddington)

Whether you prefer to see the newsstand version or the online edition, we can help you find your newspaper.

Hold the front page

I was glancing at the front page of today’s Telegraph just a minute ago. Not our own dear Daily Telegraph – the one I was looking at is published in Calcutta, and I reached its front page using the Newseum. I could have looked at any one of 578 other front pages from around the world.

Useful? After all, the Calcutta Telegraph has a website with all its top news stories and features, and so do most of the other newspapers featured on Newseum. But if you think that a trawl through the front pages gives you a flavour of what’s bugging people in India or Australia or Huntsville, Alabama, then the Newseum is for you.

There is going to be an actual, physical Newseum in Washington DC. You can watch a video of the building going up (don’t bother with any of the other videos on the site: they don’t work). Lots of new and exciting features are promised; we remain to be impressed by these if and when they happen. It’s the nearly 600 front pages that impress us right now.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "New & mags". Newseum is a Key Link.)


Local woman in house plant horror

Talking of online newspapers, the best bet for tracking them down is called, spookily, Online Newspapers. When I opened the front page, it was dominated by an advert for central heating boilers, with a very dull series of drop-down menus below it. Do not be put off: these will lead you to hundreds and hundreds of newspapers with websites. Look, for instance, under "United Kingdom" (left hand column, third box down) and find "England A to K". Click on that to make virtual visits to Andover, Birkenhead, Congleton and Dewsbury, through the medium of their local rags.

Of course, some newspapers are absolute awful, not worth wrapping chips in. And they don’t suddenly become journalistic swans just because they’re online. If you don’t believe me, just try looking at the [libel lawyers have removed the name - Ed]. So don’t blame me if you drown in a sea of "Weather fails to spoil church fete" stories.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "New & mags". Online Newspapers is a Key Link.)

Take a tip from June

This week, stretch your legs out and relax in the most helpful household anyone could wish for.

Welcome to June’s house

Hint and things is run by “a plump, old, grey wrinkly living in the south of England” (her words), called June Jackson. There’s a picture on the website showing June and her family, and it sets the tone for the whole edifice. June’s aim is to provide (I quote her again) “some of the information that used to be passed down from generation to generation… basic cooking, knitting, sewing, and gardening terms; advice on cutting costs etc. In fact the things you might ask your mum, dad, gran or grandad.”

The website’s contents are reached by way of a Cluedo-style ground plan of a house - baby toys and bullying in the nursery, bakeware and buying a turkey in the kitchen - but there is also a complete list in case you’re not sure where to find wedding venues (in the living room) or make-up tips (the bathroom).

Spot the wrinkles

I cannot begin to do justice to this site in a few brief paragraphs: it is a vast, sprawling collection of ideas, wrinkles (not just June’s!), opportunities and revelations. Sometimes there are links to shopping opportunities, but only (it seems) if June has decided that the product or service is worthwhile. She runs competitions, and cannily taps into other people’s competitions.

Take a peep through June’s front door - you’ll get a warm welcome, and come away with some useful (and a smattering of useless-but-fun) information.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select “Home & garden”. Hints and things is a Key Link)

Fat mag goes cyber

An ugly (or, at least, dull) duckling becomes a dazzling swan. We reflect on its new magnificence.

Watch, join in, eat, shop

Time Out used to be listed on the Gateway with a health warning along the lines of "don’t expect anything like the chubby magazine that rests between the Skinny Latte and the Blackberry on the coffee table of anyone who's in the flow of life in London." The website used to be just a few brief overseas destination guides and not much more. All that has changed.
Time Out still has the destination guides, but there are now 120 of them, all-singing, all-dancing, all anything a reasonable person might want to do in cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich. Unsurprisingly, the guides vary in depth in proportion to how "happening" the places are. Alghero, a nice enough place but not thrilling, gets very decent coverage of its permanent and passing delights. Barcelona receives the full interactive treatment – pick a date, pick an artform, pick a cuisine or just go shopping.
These guides may not replace the dog-eared book in your handbag or pocket, but they provide a first-rate preview of what to expect at the other end of that bargain-basement flight.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "Transport & tourism". Time Out is a Key Link.)

Where it’s at (and when)

Time Out London is a constituent part of the Time Out site detailed above, but if you live in London it goes to the heart of the matter. Basically, Time Out London is the listings mag in all its visually confusing, in your face, everything included glory.
However rude I might be about its appearance ("Why does everything have to be so loud?" he moans as he tugs his grey beard) the fact remains that for listings and reviews there never has been anything more all-embracing, and there probably never will.
I came across the London bit when I looked to see what was on at a Curzon cinema. For reviews of the films they are showing, Curzon link straight through to Time Out. Perhaps if the film is really slagged off, they find an alternative link, but I was grateful to be pushed into this wonderous world of events, eating and shopping opportunities to fill every minute of the day.
The New York and Chicago versions are also available, but that’s enough excitement for one Treasure Hunt.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "London". Time Out London is a Key Link.)