Archive for the ‘History’ Category
I join the start of the Russian Revolution – well, at least the exhibition
April 27th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
As a blogger, I was invited to this morning’s media preview at the British Library of the new exhibition “Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths” which opens to to the general public tomorrow and runs until 29 August. We were shown around the exhibition by the curators Katya Rogatchevshaia and Susan Reed. This fascinating exhibition tells […]
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Did you know about the mass rape of Italian women by Allied troops in the Second World War?
April 20th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been reading the novel “Where My Heart Used To Beat” by Sebastian Faulks. Part of the novel is set in southern Italy in the last years of World War Two and reference is made to an incident of which I had previously been totally unaware. Apparently it has been given the term ‘Marocchinate’. ‘Marocchinate’ […]
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A short history of the Easter egg
April 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In the midst of the ridiculous row over whether the National Trust’s “Great British Egg Hunt” has neglected the religious significance of Easter, in this article the “Guardian” newspaper offers a potted history of the Easter egg as follows: “Eggs at Easter are thought to have their origins in pagan rather Christian traditions. Now the consumption […]
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The Experiment: Georgia’s Forgotten Revolution 1918-1921
February 23rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Yesterday evening, I was at the Georgian Embassy in London to hear a fascinating talk by my good friend Eric Lee. The subject of the address was the content of a book which he has written and will be published by Zed Books in September 2017. He told us about a particular period in a […]
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Holocaust Memorial Day – and why we have to keep denying the deniers
January 27th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Here in the UK, it is Holocaust Memorial Day as we remember the six million Jews and other persecuted groups who died in the Nazi concentration camps and killing fields in Europe during the Second World War. Today also sees the release of the new film “Denial” about the 1996 court case in London when […]
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Who was Fidel Castro? – my review of what was essentially his memoir
November 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
When I heard of the death of Fidel Castro, I was reminded of when I read a 700 page book summarising a long series of interviews with the revolutionary leader. The book was called “My Life” and it was written by Ignacio Ramonet. You can read my review of the work here.
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The story of William Morgan, the “American comandante” who fought with Fidel Castro
November 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This morning, I heard the news of the death of Fidel Castro and the American friends with whom I am staying outside Washington DC told me about a feature of the Cuban war of independence and its aftermath that was totally new to me. I learned that there was an “American comandante” called William Morgan […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (5)
November 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Everyone knows that the American Civil War was a key period of US history that arguably still has resonances today and many Americans – including Mike – are fascinated by the personalities and engagements that made up that titantic struggle. Most non-Americans though would struggle to identify more than one of the civil war battles […]
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The 100th anniversary of the birth of Karel Kuttelwascher, the RAF’s greatest night intruder pilot
September 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of my wife’s father, a Czech pilot with the wartime RAF whose story I wrote in the book “Night Hawk” published by William Kimber in 1985 and to be reprinted by Fonthill Media in 2017. Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher, DFC and BarKarel Kuttelwascher – or Kut as […]
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The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (3): a review of the new film “Anthropoid”
September 11th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The 1942 killing of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague has now been the subject of five films. Earlier this week, I wrote about the 1975 work “Operation: Daybreak” [my review here]. This weekend, a new version of these dramatic events was released and I have now seen “Anthropoid” – the best cinematic version of […]
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