Tom 🇬🇧🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦🇵🇸

🧵On the site of an earlier church, the current Minster Church of St Gregory, Kirkdale is a late Anglo Saxon parish church from around 1060. Saxon stone crosses are built into the remaining original walls. Major modifications were completed in the 15th 19th and early 20th

A dazzling Roman glass phalera medal portraying the beloved imperial prince Germanicus and his three infant sons, one of whom was the notorious future emperor Caligula. Unearthed in Colchester (ancient Camulodunum), the military decoration very likely came to Britannia with the Roman invasion of 43 AD, adorning the armour of a senior officer. Specifically, the medal may have belonged to a soldier of Legio XX Valeria Victrix, one of the four primary legions that spearheaded the conquest of the island. The Twentieth was stationed at Camulodunum – in the first permanent legionary fortress built in Britain – until the year 49, when the base was converted into the island’s first civic colonia and populated by many veterans. Further, the legion had deep historical ties to Germanicus, having fought in his bloody wars across the Rhine in the aftermath of the Varus disaster. While Germanicus had been dead for around 25 years by the time this glass phalera arrived in Britain, and the murderous reign of his son Caligula had been and gone, his legacy was evidently still being celebrated among the soldiery decades later.

Sir Ian McKellen surprised a bunch of fans at a Lord of the Rings concert at Royal Albert Hall!

Gandalf and Gwaihir 🎨Ivan Cavini

Gandalf the Grey? No. This is Gandalf the White showing Saruman who really holds the power.

Liv Tyler became Arwen again. Two decades later

I’ve never been a gan of the Meridians or Voyagers for that matter, but 222601 in the new Lumo livery looks stunning - seen here powering through Cheddington with 5Z00 Stirling to London Euston 10-May-26

More Rodan screen time will cure me

GBRf’s 99004 at Corfe Castle… 😍

The Callanish IV Stone Circle (also known as Ceann Hulavig) on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The circle is part of the megalithic landscape surrounding the main Callanish Stones - two miles to the southeast of this site. 📸 My own. #StandingStoneSunday #Callanish

Heritage Shunters Trust gala on the 9th May 2026, first time I've visited them at Rowsley South but I did visit them in Sheffield in 1997. A mixture of class 01, 02, 04 & 06 for #ShunterSunday plus a class 37 for the reflection shot. @HSTRowsley

Chopper TONE! 🔊

DC Rail #Class60 60028 hauling 6D22 1340 Derby Chaddesden Sidings > Penmaenmawr Quarry through Tutbury & Hatton #NorthStaffordshireLine

Credit: Frank Ardrey collection #1930s #vintage #blackandwhitephotography #Steam #TRAIN #trains

Blast from the Past! 37408 ‘Loch Rannoch’ stands at the Glasgow Queen Street blocks following arrival with 1T12 0800 ex-Oban on January 31, 1987. The loco was withdrawn with collision damage in 2005 and scrapped three years later. 📷 Steve Nikols @TheGrowlerGroup

Eleven years before the previous photograph, North British Type 2 diesel-hydraulic 6334 arrives at Torrington with the 6C73 08.50 Barnstaple to Torrington and Meeth china clay empties. 27 August 1971. (📸 John Medley Photo)

Sauron by Jerry Vanderstelt

Sir Christopher Lee on the power of the voice of Saruman. Sir Christopher Lee often emphasized that Saruman’s true power lay not in spells, but in the hypnotic quality of his voice. In various interviews, he drew a direct chilling parallel to Adolf Hitler, noting how a single voice could mobilize a nation and lead people to their doom.Lee explained that Saruman possessed a new power of persuasion a vocal genius that could make the most irrational commands sound like pure logic. By using his operatic bass range and precise oratory, Lee aimed to recreate that historical dark magnetism, portraying Saruman’s voice as a weapon of psychological warfare designed to break the will of his enemies before a single sword was drawn.

99004 looks a picture heading the 1339 departure from Corfe Castle… #DieselGala

Pentre Ifan Neolithic Burial Chamber, near Newport in Pembrokeshire. The impressive capstone is some five metres in length. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #Pembrokeshire #Archaeology