20th Century
Stalin won the war, Part One
Instead of diving further into the UK’s entanglement with the commies in the thirties, it’s time to take a look at what was going on over the pond. Much of the thirties antics over here [more…]
Japan
Literature
Zainichi, Part Two
Okubo is Tokyo’s main Koreatown and one of the very few large immigrant enclaves in the entire country. It’s a downtown area around two very busy railway stations, a little world to itself where people [more…]
Literature
Zainichi, Part One
Imagine an England where race matters. Where natives come first in hiring and housing. Where foreigners are barred from certain locales, by signs in the windows. Where people openly judge you by your skin colour [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
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…]
20th Century
The Death Railway, Part Three
Railway Construction Initially, the railway construction schedule allowed reasonable working conditions to be imposed on the POWs who, at that time, formed the majority of the skilled workforce. This combined with the fact that the [more…]
20th Century
The Death Railway, Part Two
The preparatory work was completed by early September 1942 and construction began both in Burma and Thailand on the 16th of that month. Many of the Japanese engineers had attended British universities before heading back [more…]
20th Century
The Death Railway
Most Puffins will have watched David Lean’s 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai which is based on a novel published five years previously by French author Pierre Boulle. Whilst both book and film [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary – Week One Hundred And Eighty-Three
Monday Good morning people and welcome to a new week. What a lovely sunny morning, I could feel the warmth of the sun on my fur as I headed down the garden. Mind you it [more…]