20th Century
Return To The Jernbanemysterium
A phrase lingers in the mind. In passing, Mr. DH — my colleague, a fellow Puffin to us all, and master of that mysterious gift known as the turn of phrase — once summed up [more…]
20th Century
20th Century
Lessons from Churchill
Many of you may well be familiar with this outstanding biography of Winston Spencer Churchill first published in 2018. Over 982 pages, and splendidly subtitled “Walking with Destiny”, the eminent historian Andrew Roberts manages to [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mystery: “Letters from a Feldgrau” Part Two
In Part 1, I recounted what Hans Coutandin had written to his girlfriend Eva Möller in his letters of early 1941 as he transitioned from being an “Arbeitsmann” in the “RAD-Abteilung 3/250” to be in [more…]
20th Century
The assassination of Robert Kennedy
One of the enduring mysteries is the assassination of Robert Kennedy. As we have just seen his son is now installed as the Health Czar in the Trump administration. With all the hate coming from [more…]
20th Century
Interesting Lives, Part Two
When Aga Khan III died, it was a difficult act to follow, especially since the title skipped a generation and found itself resting upon the shoulders of 19-year-old Prince Karim Al Husseini, who we know [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mystery: “Letters from a Feldgrau”, Part One
My previous series of articles (“Letters from Afrika”) was based on the “FeldPost” letters from Hans Walden, a driver in the Afrika Korps, to his pen-friend Hildegard Bronnold back in Germany. This new series of [more…]
20th Century
It’s Not 1939, It’s 1950
It’s 1939 all over again! Or is it? Perhaps it’s 1950. A date we can be certain of is 2014 when, as Kiev tipped towards the EU and NATO, Moscow-backed Russian separatists prised parts of [more…]
20th Century
20th Century
Interesting Lives
After happening upon some sad news at the breakfast table the other morning, I sighed, folded my newspaper and gazed wistfully out of the window across the frost-pinched meadows of my native Debatable Lands. Beyond [more…]