The life of Kirkpatrick MacMillan

A short review in 'Cycle' of The Life of Kirkpatrick Macmillan, David Hurdle

Bicycle Histories: They have a past, but do they have a future

An extended review of three recent publications and an exhibition

Signs of Fraudulence

An analysis if two styles of enamel sign forgeries. These forgeries are beginning to appear at auction and fool collectors into bidding as if they are originals. This article explains why they are not by a process of object analysis

A Red Card For The Red Flag - Responding to the so-called 'Red Flag Act'

A response to a discussion of the London-Brighton annual veteran car rally published in 'The Boneshaker' (The journal of the Veteran-Cycle Club). The term 'Red Flag Act' is one commonly, but wrongly used by the motor lobby of the 20th century to describe legislation restricting the speed at which motor cars could be legally driven prior to 1896

Give them an inch

No vehicle that travels faster than foot traffic should be considered benign on a public road, although the proponents of all have made their best efforts to convince people otherwise, usually with great success to create lasting paradigms. This paper is a brief history of the problematic of introducing new, fast vehicle types in the 19th and 20th centuries and the ways in which their users took ownership of the road at the expense of road users at large

Double-Take: Forgery and fraud in vitreous enamel

To many, forgery and fraud is something associated with fine art and antiquities, or fiscal instruments, but this paper looks at somewhere it flourishes and is ever-expanding, unchecked by any authorities, the world of vitreous enamel signs. Enamel signs have been collected since the 1960s, when their currency diminished and their use had very visibly contracted, particularly in advertising. As ‘collectors’ items’ their popularity has risen, fallen and, at present, is at a high again. Much of the original collector interest in them was based on a principle of ‘they don’t make them like that any more’. How wrong that was. This paper plots the rise of the fraudulent enamel. From reproduction to forgery. It looks at the cultural context enamel signs occupy, how it encouraged the rise of the fraud, the technologies employed, and the implications of thousands of forgeries entering the market. Historically interesting? Certainly. Amusing? Probably. Ethically acceptable…

Frank Hornby -An unwitting pioneer of small gauge toy trains - Raylo and Liliput Compared

An article for collectors and published through a specialist organisation, giving a close analysis of a very rare, but significant Meccano product. As with most of the work I do in this area, it mixes close observation of constructional and aesthetic detail, with larger questions regarding design process, production policy and market reception

Frank Hornby - an unwitting pioneer in small gauge toy trains - Raylo and Liliput compared

This began as an article for 'The Hornby Railway Collector' magazine (RADAR 3746). It was lightly revised and incorporated as the opening section in this book, which gives the history of the product range the toy discussed in my contribution inspired

Heavy metals in suburban gardens and the implications of land-use change following a major earthquake

Numerous studies have shown that urban soils can contain elevated concentrations of heavy metals (HMs). Christchurch, New Zealand, is a relatively young city (150 years old) with a population of 390,000. Most soils in Christchurch are sub-urban, with food production in residential gardens a popular activity. Earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 have resulted in the re-zoning of 630 ha of Christchurch, with suggestions that some of this land could be used for community gardens. We aimed to determine the HM concentrations in a selection of suburban gardens in Christchurch as well as in soils identified as being at risk of HM contamination due to hazardous former land uses or nearby activities. Heavy metal concentrations in suburban Christchurch garden soils were higher than normal background soil concentrations. Some 46% of the urban garden samples had Pb concentrations higher than the residential land use national standard of 210 mg kg⁻¹, with the most contaminated soil containing 2615 mg kg⁻¹ Pb. Concentrations of As and Zn exceeded the residential land use national standards (20 mg kg⁻¹ As and 400 mg kg⁻¹ Zn) in 20% of the soils. Older neighbourhoods had significantly higher soil HM concentrations than younger neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods developed pre-1950s had a mean Pb concentration of 282 mg kg⁻¹ in their garden soils. Soil HM concentrations should be key criteria when determining the future land use of former residential areas that have been demolished because of the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Redeveloping these areas as parklands or forests would result in less human HM exposure than agriculture or community gardens where food is produced and bare soil is exposed

Dietary patterns and markers for the metabolic syndrome in Australian adolescents

Background and Aims: Overweight and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as their clustering, or the metabolic syndrome, are increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents. We examined dietary patterns, CVD risk factors, and the clustering of these risk factors, in 1139 14 year olds living in Western Australia. Methods and Results: Usual dietary intake was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. Two dietary patterns, ‘Western’ and ‘Healthy’, were identified using factor analysis. Associations between these dietary patterns and BMI, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting levels of serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, HDL C, LDL C, triglycerides and insulin resistance were assessed using ANOVA. Cluster analysis identified a high risk group (the “high risk metabolic cluster’) with features akin to adult metabolic syndrome. Belonging to the high risk metabolic cluster was examined in relation to dietary patterns using logistic regression, adjusting for aerobic fitness and socio demographic factors. Higher ‘Western’ dietary pattern scores were associated with greater odds for the ‘high risk metabolic cluster’ (p for trend =0.02) and greater mean values for total cholesterol (p for trend=0.03), waist circumference (p for trend=0.03) and BMI (p for trend =0.02) in girls, but not boys. Scores for the ‘Healthy’ dietary pattern were not related to the ‘high risk metabolic cluster but were inversely associated with serum glucose in boys and girls (p for trend=0.01 and 0.04, respectively) and were positively associated with HDL C in boys (p for trend=0.02). Conclusions: Dietary patterns are associated with CVD risk factors and the clustering of these risk factors in adolescence