20th Century
Childhood Memories
At the end of August 1939 my maternal grandmother took the decision that her children would not be evacuated because of the war. My grandfather had little say in the matter and accepted that if [more…]
Biography
18th Century
Cuthbert Collingwood: The forgotten hero of Trafalgar
Collingwood was the other admiral at Trafalgar. He was the first into the fight, took charge of the whole fleet after Nelson’s death and brought every British ship through the storm that followed. He was [more…]
19th Century
Lord Armstrong: The Victorian Musk
A solicitor-turned-engineer who built the world’s first smart home, sold weapons to everyone, championed solar power, and became the richest man in Britain. Sound familiar? If you pitched Lord Armstrong’s life story to a Hollywood [more…]
Arts
The Surprising Life of Betty Meynard
Elisabeth “Betty” Maxwell (née Meynard) Elisabeth Jenny Jeanne Meynard was born on March 11, 1921, in Saint-Alban-de-Roche, France, to a Huguenot family. Her father, Paul Meynard, was a silk merchant and local mayor, while her [more…]
Biography
Review: Shaman of the Radical Right: The life and mind of Jonathan Bowden
Bowden was born in 1962 and died in March 2012 from a heart attack. I came across Jonathan Bowden’s work sometime in 2020. It was on YouTube and featured a small portly gentleman covering what [more…]
Biography
Book Review: My Life With Rock N’ Roll People by Mike Nicholls
Swiss Bob kindly sent me a copy of this book to review – so here you go. I had expected the book to be a series of articles that Nicholls had previously published in the [more…]
Biography
Shabana Mahmood. Avoid.
As only the third female Lord Chancellor since Eleanor of Provence in 1253, upon being elevated to the role 771 years later present Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, eulogised during her acceptance speech. “I must say [more…]
Biography
Pen Portrait: Sir Alex Younger, Former Head of MI6
A friend tells me that during their first interview, a candidate for the Intelligence Branch of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) is informed the job involves ‘getting the hang’ of people of interest. The hopeful [more…]
America
Richard Phillips Feynman
Recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico under J Robert Oppenheimer, Feynman was also tasked with co-ordinating research and development between Los Alamos and the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee. [more…]