20th Century
Bax of Delights
There have been quite a few occasions when one wished one was a fly on the wall to listen in on a conversation. The private discussion between Sir Arnold Bax, Master of the King’s Musick, [more…]
20th Century
20th Century
Soundies – The First Music Videos
I subscribe to a 1940s Society publication and in one of the issues a year or two ago was where I first saw mentioned something called ‘Soundies’ that came along in the early part of [more…]
20th Century
The Malayan Campaign 1941 – 1942. Part Two
Realisation of the Japanese Threat and the Landings On the declaration of war with Germany in September 1939, the Defence Committee, which co-ordinated Malaya’s defence became the War Committee. The group consisted of the Governor [more…]
20th Century
The Reimagined Past & Disneyfication of PIRA Terrorism
Bloody Friday was one of the worst atrocities of the Northern Ireland troubles but you will seldom hear it mentioned. It was the deliberate targeting of civilians by the Provisional IRA (PIRA), with approximately twenty [more…]
20th Century
The Malayan Campaign 1941 – 1942. Part One Singapore 1941
On 15th February 1942, a British and Commonwealth Army that had consisted of 140,000 troops, 253 aircraft, 250 armoured fighting vehicles and 864 artillery pieces, surrendered to the Japanese in Singapore. The Japanese force numbered [more…]
20th Century
Postcard from Hiroshima
This is a note about my visit to the Peace Memorial Museum at Hiroshima. Some of what follows is gruesome. I’ve long been interested in military history, and I’ve been fortunate to visit the site [more…]
20th Century
The P14 – the best rifle the British Army never had?
Introduction The humiliations suffered by the British Army at the hands of untrained Boer irregulars during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 caused a great deal of concern at the War Office where questions were soon [more…]
20th Century
Major Edward “Mick” Mannock – Flamerinoes
Back in France after his leave, on 12th July 1917 Mannock shot down a DFW twin-seat reconnaissance aircraft near Avion. He wrote in his diary: The bus crashed south of Avion. I hurried out at [more…]
19th Century
Kipling, Conan Doyle and the Civilian Rifle Movement
Introduction Public interest in competitive rifle shooting in the UK arose out of the Volunteer Movement that was inaugurated in 1859 with the object of producing a trained, armed militia to counter the then perceived [more…]