20th Century
The Spitfire, of course, Part 4
Musings on the development of the Miles M20 prototype Firstly, a reminder of where we started back in part one, I suggested in the first article in this series that the Spitfire was not an [more…]
History
19th Century
I never meant to write a novel
Today A Bear’s Diary is published as a hardback. It has been available as an ebook for a couple of months. It’s a shortish novel at 65,000 words, decorated with old engravings which give it [more…]
19th Century
The Battle of Salamanca
As any Puffin knows, I’m a card-carrying member of the ‘First Duke of Wellington Fan Club’. No, not because of his good looks, how very dare you! He’s dead, he is, more’s the pity – [more…]
Arts
A Glass Half Full
In a previous article, I asked whether you had ever gazed into your pint and wondered about the beginnings of beer and brewing. This time, I’ll ask you another question. It’s about the pint pot [more…]
20th Century
An early airman’s tragic adventure
Early 1930: It had been a depressing English winter – cold, dark and wet for weeks on end. In West Wickham, a young man who had left Australia five years earlier and settled here in [more…]
History
The Brown Bull Hotel
In the eighties I worked as a Home Office representative in Immigration Tribunal Appeals in London. We were a team of ordinary civil servants and were pitted against solicitors, barristers, silks, practitioners with an agenda. [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – July 1940
Now we reach the 80th anniversary of July 1940 in the Desert War. Slim pickings in Libya and Egypt this month, both sides were gearing up for battle but the Navies were kept on their [more…]
20th Century
From Guinea Pigs to CCAST
Part 1 – Joint Doctrine for Medical Support, The Operational Context “If any good can be said to come of war, then the Second War War must go on record as assisting and accelerating one [more…]
Arts
The Northern Ireland Housing Trust & Rathcoole estate (1945-1971)
Between the wars, a big public housing build in other parts of the United Kingdom was not replicated in Northern Ireland. Nor had there been grants for slum clearance. What public housing there was, had [more…]