19th Century
Not The Worst President
“History shall be kind to me for I shall write it” wrote Sir Winston Churchill at the end of the Second World War. He had previously written a six volume history of the First World [more…]
History
17th Century
The good ship Fredericus Quartus, Part Two
The good ship “Fru Alida” Even less well known than Denmark’s triangular trade is the history of Danes and Norwegians as victims of slavery. North African pirate raids were a problem that affected coastal communities [more…]
20th Century
The Death Railway, Part Five
David Lean’s 1957 film depicted the bridge as a significant timber structure located in the deep jungle, spanning a narrow river featuring rocks and rapids. This is of course a work of fiction and was [more…]
20th Century
In The Steps of The First Army, Part Five
“In the fifth of his articles John Alldridge writes of the holy city of Kairouan. It was here that the First Army and the Eighth Army, all the way from El Alamein, finally linked up.” [more…]
History
20th Century
Honourable Members
As everyone knows, the Cold War was won by minor public school boys with bad degrees from embarrassing new universities. Sat on the banks of the Danube they sketched Czech freight trains disguised as if [more…]
17th Century
The good ship Fredericus Quartus, Part One
Transatlantic slavery was ended in 1833 by Britain after a campaign by William Wilberforce. It is one of the key dates in British history, and Wilberforce is a name known to everyone. Britain may have [more…]
20th Century
The Death Railway, Part Four
Step forward to the present day; SWMBO and I have been visiting Thailand for many years and decided it was time to head out to the Death Railway as Grandad Humbug had been in Burma [more…]
21st Century
Puntland’s Refusal
We will not close Ethiopia’s consulate in Garowe, Puntland roars back In a tough-worded statement, Puntland maintained its desire to continue collaborating with Ethiopia on social-economic front. The Federal Government of Somalia’s military toothlessness is [more…]