Category: History

A Trunk Call

Four years ago my cousin took me out on the Solent on his trimaran. He asked me again on Sunday.

The Riddle of the Sands

Lord Salisbury (in the latter half of the 19th century): “It is what a farmer would call very light land. We have given the Gallic cockerel an enormous amount of sand. Let him scratch it as he pleases”. Salisbury’s assessment of the value of North Africa to the British Empire proved spot on then. So why… Continue reading The Riddle of the Sands

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Fishing & Fighting

As you can see local residents, including me, continue to oppose the building of this tower, overlooking the Conservation Area in which we live. We are supported, indirectly, by a verse in St John’s Gospel.

Catch a Clipper

In 1961 you either had to have a vaccination certificate or quarantine for fourteen days if you arrived in the US from the UK. But you know that, because you read it here in 2017. It looks like next year that’s what will happen again; that’s if an effective vaccine is found. It’s a funny… Continue reading Catch a Clipper

Sir Oswald

This portrait of Field Marshal Lord Alexander is by Sir Oswald Birley. As I am more familiar with his grandson, Robin, who I remember starting out selling posh sandwiches to me in the City before taking on his father’s business, running clubs for people with money in abundance but sometimes insufficient in other more desirable… Continue reading Sir Oswald

Not Just A Name

10th August, 1941. Church in the morning. In the evening Bertie Fisher came over to discuss future CO of 17th Lancers, to replace one that had just been killed in an aeroplane accident. (War Diaries, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke)

Top Secret

I haven’t read Samuel Pepys, The Unequalled Self, by Claire Tomalin since it was published eighteen years ago. It is very good. You will be aware that Pepys wrote his diary for only a decade, the 1660s, and wrote in shorthand to keep the contents secret from prying eyes. He had a point.

Temple Bar

Wouldn’t it be grand if Temple Bar is where lawyers go for a slurp but they frequent El Vino instead. May I digress?

The Battle of Bouvines

The Battle of Bouvines is not one of those famous battles like Agincourt, Crécy, Blenheim, Waterloo, El Alamein. This is simply because, in spite of being in an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV, and having numerical superiority the English army was given a good beating by King Philip Augustus of France. As… Continue reading The Battle of Bouvines