Category: History

The Feildings

This portrait by van Dyck hangs in the National Gallery in London. It depicts William, 1st Earl of Denbigh (c 1587 – 1643). He had been to India in the early 1630s and is seen, looking florid,  in Indian dress with a servant helpfully pointing out a parrot for him to bag.

Colonel Jean

Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg died last month aged 98. His state funeral was held yesterday at the Cathedral Notre-Dame. Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present with members of the royal houses of Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Lichtenstein, Jordan, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Train-spotting in Ukraine

We returned to Kiev via Poltava after the election and again stayed at the Palazzo Poltava. I had a first floor room with a balcony and a view.

Introducing Bali

I met Bali yesterday morning and we clicked. His owner has a problem with her Achilles‘ tendon and cannot take him for walks. As she lives only a few doors away I stepped into the breach.

The Holodomor

The Holodomor was the famine of 1932/33 caused by Stalin’s reorganisation of agriculture in Ukraine and Russia. Something like five million Ukrainians died and the same number were born with defects or stillborn further depleting the population.

On the Battlefield

In Chisinau in February I averred that Englishmen, perhaps not women, prefer not to talk at breakfast. Rules are made to be broken. On Friday morning over scrambled eggs, ham and black coffee I found myself discussing the Battle of Poltava with a Spanish observer.

The Battle of Poltava

Yesterday evening about twenty of us took a train to Poltava. Not a place I’d heard of which exposes my ignorance. I hadn’t heard of Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa either; there is a connection.

A Tourist in Ternopil

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built 1749 – 1779 and, as you will see, exemplifies Ukrainean baroque.