Category: History

French Revolution

If Marine Le Pen becomes the next French President and she implements her espoused policies, the effect on Europe will be as disasterous as the French Revolution. It seems an unlikely outcome but there have been a few of those recently. In 1792 our politicians were complacent and maybe we are all doing this in… Continue reading French Revolution

Dinner at The Dorchester

James (Jim) Lees-Milne has plenty to say in his diaries about people he meets in the course of his work for the National Trust – often not nice things. Others are charitable about him.

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Avenue

The Spectator, 17th November 1923, reports:

St Paul’s

At the end of March 2012, I went with my cousin to St Paul’s Cathedral for a service to mark the centenary of Scott’s doomed expedition to the South Pole.  My cousin is of an adventurous disposition and had been in Antarctica, qualifying him for two tickets to the service.

Lambeth Palace Library

My maternal grandfather read Theology at St John’s College, Durham and was ordained. He was appointed junior chaplain to the Bishop of Bombay in 1906. Much later he became vicar for West Malling in Kent. 

Perfidious

You read “perfidious” and append Albion. Yup, there’s been plenty of dirty work at the crossroads but the UK does not have a monopoly in this department.

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Nesselrode Pie

A theme of the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis letters is R H-D’s prodigious appetite for reading and eating. Not surprisingly, he is writing around 1960, the best meals are abroad.

The Long View

As Article 50 is triggered many of us take a long view. On BBC Radio 4 The Long View makes a comparison with the overtures made by Elizabeth I to Turkey, Asia and North Africa to open trade routes. You can hear it on iPlayer so it would be otiose to go on about that.

A Very Great Man

In his letter dated 13th November 1960, Rupert Hart-Davis challenges George Lyttelton: “here is a one-question exam-paper. Who wrote this and when?”

Galateo

Galateo has never been out of print, at least in Italy, since it was written in the 1550s. Its author, Giovanni Della Casa, was born near Florence in 1503.