Category: History

Remembrance Sunday

This is the interior of Les Invalides chapel in Paris. Funny to call it a chapel when it is such a monumental edifice. Louis XIV started building Les Invalides in 1670 as a retirement home and hospital for his old soldiers.

Lord Mayor’s Show

It rained yesterday morning in London. Derek, who came to clean the windows, got drenched. Last time he came we worried about Brexit and this time about Trump.

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Remembrance Day

I don’t have a Remembrance Day routine. Last year I went to the SOE memorial to Violette Szabo on the Thames (Alms for Oblivion). This year I went to Hammersmith post office to collect a parcel.

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Air Accidents

Last week Charles Woodruff mentioned Reginald Warneford’s grave in Brompton Cemetery. This week on a crisp, sunny morning I set off in search of it.

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Wexford Opera

Wexford weather can be a bit chancy but this weekend the sky is blue and the Irish Sea sparkling.  John Barry stands, sword in hand, looking out to sea, not the composer of music for James Bond films, but Wexford born John Barry who was a founder of the United States navy. Behind him the… Continue reading Wexford Opera

Zeppelin – Part Three

If you are up to speed on the Zeppelin story you can skip this bit. If you aren’t, my grandfather’s half-brother Courtenay Bellew, while serving in the Irish Guards as a 2nd Lt. in 1916, was sent to guard the wreckage of a Zeppelin that had been shot down in Essex. He stole two valves… Continue reading Zeppelin – Part Three

Zeppelin – Part Two

Yesterday we left two wrecked Zeppelins in Essex early on the morning of 24th September 1916. The Irish Guards were sent to secure the area around the burnt-out remains of L32 not far from Billericay. 

Zeppelin – Part One

On the night of 23/24 September 1916 four Zeppelins flew over England. Only one returned from this mission. One was shot down near Potters Bar (the crew all died) and two came down in Essex. The one pictured, L2, is not one of them. (It had already come down in flames as a result of… Continue reading Zeppelin – Part One

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Highgate Revisited

This is where I lived in August 1976. I had a job but nowhere to live. Fortunately a university friend was away on holiday and I borrowed his flat for my first month in London. I was reminded of this when I walked down Dartmouth Park Hill this week; a Brideshead Revisited moment.

A History Lesson about Brixsi (sic)

King Harold’s brother-in-law was a Saxon thane with a name that shows remarkable prescience: Brixsi. Today the UK has rejected the EU Conquest, in 1066 Brixsi rejected the Norman one and paid for the consequences. The analogy stops here but the history lesson continues.

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