20th Century
This Is My England – Part Five
If you want to see what a profound and lasting impression the war has left on the face of rural England you should make a point of travelling over that stretch of road that links [more…]
History
20th Century
A River Runs Through It
Le Train Bleu Last time we teased that we were arriving at a quayside in Ostend to connect with the Istanbul Express as if Graham Greene’s characters in Stamboul Train. My grandparents’ Ford Prefect was [more…]
20th Century
Keystone Cops And 12th July
Relief work had been halted overnight following the death of the Pakistanis. UN [read US] commanders tipped off aid agencies a “massive strike” would be carried out sometime in the next two days, imploring them [more…]
History
Elementary, my dear Watson – Hg Mercury
In previous articles, we’ve explored the development of the Periodic Table (a.k.a. the Periodic Table of the Elements), and examined the elements Hydrogen, and Carbon. In this, the fourth, I’m going to take a closer [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part Four
I was awakened that morning by the sudden furious ringing and clanging of bells — a sort of wild, insane music, as if some demented Dickensian sexton had been let loose in the belfry. To [more…]
20th Century
Ostend For Greeneland
According to those better able to describe such things than myself, decades ago the crossing to Ostend was one of drenched decks, the smell of steam and oil and of stale Bass from the bar. [more…]
15th Century
Crom’s Deep Dive: Richard III, Act 1 Scene 1
A small confession: my first introduction to this opening soliloquy was as a child on a Saturday afternoon from none other than Arnold Judas Rimmer in Red Dwarf. He and Lister are marooned and, to [more…]
20th Century
G6E1 – Those different ones like what I like
G6E1 – Those different ones like what I like. Welcome pop pickers to an ambitious series of articles covering 6 genres, each with 6 episodes. To give a bit of variation, the next episode of [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, 1950 – Part Three
I have had a particularly soft spot in my heart for Nottingham ever since an evening in June, 1940. There were about a thousand of us, dribs and drabs of a British Expeditionary Force, scooped [more…]