Category: History

Alec and Dicky

An astonishing story was told over dinner a couple of evenings ago and you may find it interesting. Cast your mind back to Richard Nixon’s Presidency.

French Resistance

Yesterday there was mention of activities by the French Resistance in Tarn in WW II. This morning let’s flesh this out. This picture works up a bit of atmosphere depicting the Resistance scooping up parachutes dropped by the RAF. Rather improbably it seems to be a full moon which was a no-no for discrete drops. 

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Lest We Forget

Yesterday I took a look at the largest private aquarium in Europe; 18,500 gallons of water and more than 1,000 fish from the Great Barrier Reef swimming around feeling homesick. It is on the ground floor of the Heron Tower which, conveniently, is across the road from St Botolph without Bishopsgate. The photograph is not… Continue reading Lest We Forget

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A Memorial Cross

Is it a bit morbid harping on about graves and war memorials? I hope not. The first World War I memorial in London and perhaps the country was unveiled today, 4th August, a hundred years ago. The date was significant in 1916 because it was exactly two years since the outbreak of war. The memorial… Continue reading A Memorial Cross

The Sash

Yesterday’s post ended with an IRA marching song dating from the 1916 Easter Rising. For balance this morning I’d like to include an old melody that was adopted by Loyalists – The Sash.

The Abbey Theatre

The Act of Union in 1800, whereby the Irish Parliament in Dublin was dissolved and Ireland became part of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ireland), ruled from London naturally diminished Dublin as a city. Politicians went to live in London and property prices fell.

Another Local Hero

If you are not a Sapper you will need to extend your vocabulary this morning to understand my post. Just three rather technical words and you may know them already. I didn’t. Here they are quoted from Wiki. 

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Professor Lord Pinkrose

Professor Lord Pinkrose is a fictional character in Olivia Manning’s Fortunes of War.  Alan Bennett plays him to perfection in the 1987 BBC adaptation. He is portrayed by Manning as being self-important, self-centred, snobbish and rude. It’s interesting to discover that he is not entirely fictional.

The Schartz-Metterklume Method

It is inevitable when thinking about World War One and the Battle of the Somme (where my Bellew grandfather was seriously wounded) to be confronted by a roll call of the dead. Memorials to the fallen are ubiquitous and rightly so. 

Three in a Canoe

In museums I find that I’m often looking at the exhibits through a prism of my family history. There was no question of this today.