20th Century
The Desert War – July 1941
We reach July 80 years ago, it was quiet on the ground in North Africa but the navies were as busy as ever. There was no news from East Africa and precious little from Greece [more…]
British Army
20th Century
The Desert War – June 1941
And so to June, the first anniversary of the Desert War and it was a hot month in more ways than one in Libya and Egypt. There is also a small report on East Africa [more…]
20th Century
Exocet – the missile that almost cost Britain the Falklands War
Exocet is the French word for a flying fish. It is also an anti-shipping missile that can be launched from submarines, surface ships, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. The Exocet designed and built by Aerospatiale [more…]
Biography
My Time in Parliament
Having left for an idyllic childhood in a Leicestershire village at the age of 18 months, I returned to London in 1968 when I was posted to the MoD’s Army Contracts HQ in Southwark as [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – May 1941
An even busier month than April, lots going on in North Africa, Crete and Abyssinia. The Germans and Italians continued to besiege Tobruk, German paratroops invaded Crete and yet more parts of Abyssinia fell to [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – April 1941
April was a very busy month 80 years ago, Libya, Greece, Iraq and East Africa were all full of action. On the 1st, just as Rommel began his attack, there was a coup d’état in [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – March 1941
Into March and while there is a bit of a lull in Libya, The Balkans start to figure large and Italian East Africa gets smaller and smaller. Let’s start with a look at Libya. The [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – February 1941
The second month in 1941 was not up to the joys of January for the Allies. The Germans started arriving in North Africa and the push into Libya did not go much further. There was [more…]
20th Century
The Shetland Bus
Hopefully no Puffins are standing in horizontal driving rain, on a lonely Shetland road waiting for this Bus. If they are, I have some bad news for them, this particular Bus was the name given [more…]