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PROGRESS UPDATE

Visit a museum

A goal of Anne-Marie on their Do all the things! list with a status of Done.
I spent a couple of hours in the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was really interesting! In the 1600s, the world's graphite mining and production was controlled by the English crown as the graphite was used to create superior cannon balls for the English Navy, and as such, graphite became more valuable than gold. Graphite smuggling ended up coining the phrase "black market".
During the second world war, a man called Charles Fraser-Smith (who worked for MI5) invented a pencil that housed secret rolled up maps where the core would sit, and the tiniest compass in the world that was screwed in between the pencil and the eraser. They were meant for RAF pilots so they could escape behind enemy lines. This man inspired the character Q in the James Bond stories.
It wasn't a huge museum, but it was fascinating! Who knew there was so much to learn about pencils!!!
Posted 3 years ago
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