THE BREEZER Newsletter

To clear up the maths, Arthur Priest had survived two crippling collisions and four sinkings in his short nine-year career at sea. In that time, he had been torpedoed, mined, shelled, rammed… and iced. Cats have nine lives, Priest had already used up six. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 22nd February 2026. Happy Sunday...

Entertainment ran to Church festivals, the occasional wedding and swapping stories about whose cow had died most dramatically. Meat was a luxury reserved for feast days. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 15th February 2026. Happy Sunday!Domrémy-la-Pucelle sits in the Vosges region of northeastern France—a village so small that...

At Portsmouth Dockyard, the last blocks were knocked away. The 18,000-ton vessel slid into the Solent, stirring up waves that would be felt around the world. Fisher had wiped the slate clean. The Empire’s naval dominance was suddenly under threat. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 8th February 2026. Happy Sunday!We know that...

When the young lovers attempted to elope, the enraged general gave chase. Tadeusz barely escaped with his dignity intact, fleeing back to France before the general could express his disapproval in more permanent terms. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 1st February 2026. Happy Sunday!A couple of years ago I chatted with Rebecca...

The absurdity reached its peak on Christmas Day 1870, when Voisin’s, one of Paris’s finest restaurants, served ‘stuffed donkey’s head, elephant consommé, roast camel, antelope terrine and bear chops in pepper sauce’. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 25 January 2026. Happy Sunday !I turn on the news with trepidation these days....

Worst of all for the Chinese, the British continued to trade in opium. This was the beginning of their ‘century of humiliation’. Of course, China had the last laugh. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 18th January 2026. Happy Sunday Reader!Having watched rather too much David Attenborough over the festive break and convincing...

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 21st December 2025. Happy Sunday Reader! If you were to imagine the life of one of literature’s most celebrated poets, you...

The identity of the woman in the painting has never surfaced. She’s wearing an exotic turban—pearl grey and golden yellow—with a jacket to match. Enigmatic. Intimate. That's the girl with a pearl earring. The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 14th December 2025. Happy Sunday Reader!For years I moved through the family home...

"I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen." The Breezer - A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me exploring historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. 7th December 2025. Happy Sunday Reader!You’ll have to excuse me, I have taken an impromptu trip to Belgium and Germany, hence the...