Posts Tagged: barbarians

  • Goth woman on some neo-gothic steps

    Roman revenge and gothic revival

    An introduction to the goths Being gothic seems to be a common thing. We have gothic and neo-gothic architecture; gothic fonts; gothic literature and even in my youth a Goth post-punk music sub-culture. I lived in London in the mid to late 1980s. I was persuaded to go out one Friday night, straight after work […]

  • The author, Tim Entwisle, is a beer barbarian. Seen here after after an evening drinking London Pride, in a pub in Sydney.

    Why do barbarians drink beer?

    Where did beer come from? The Ancient Greeks and Romans, who provided the starter words for many European languages, were wine drinkers. Beer was (as probably some would think now) a drink of the barbarian peoples (although the Egyptians and Persians did also enjoy a pint). It was first brewed in the European area by […]

  • Image of a berserker with sword and BERSERKER in large type behind

    Bear-shirted vikings go berserk

    Beserk was a great warrior from Norse mythology. He didn’t fight in armor but in his bera serkr, literally bear shirt or bearskin in Old Norse. He gave his name to the berserks, the wild frenzied shock troops of the marauding Vikings.

  • Rhubarb picture

    Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

    One of the delightfully English foods of my childhood was rhubarb crumble. Although, my mother served us all those English comfort foods—chocolate pudding, lemon pudding, rice pudding—rhubarb crumble always seemed the most out of place in rural Australia. As fond as I was of rhubarb, it always had a bit of a frumpiness about it. […]