Archive for the ‘History’ Category
The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (2): a review of the film “Operation: Daybreak”
September 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, “Anthropoid” – a film about the 1942 assassination of the Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich – has been released and I intend to see it. But first I wanted to revisit an earlier (1975) film on the same subject: “Operation: Daybreak”. You can read my review here.
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The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (1): two book reviews
September 8th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This weekend sees the release in Britain of the film “Anthropoid” which tells the true story of the assassination of the Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942. I’ll certainly been going to see it. But first I want to revisit an earlier film on the same subject: it was called “Operation: Daybreak” and […]
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Remembering the Prague Uprising of 1945
September 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just returned from a visit – my 27th in almost three decades – to Prague. The occasion this time was a wedding of some dear young friends and but, on the last day, I took the opportunity to go on a two-hour walking tour with a World War Two theme. A major part of […]
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Do you know why my personal blog is called NightHawk?
August 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
It has nothing to do with my sleeping habits which fortunately are excellent. It is in fact a reference to a Second World War night intruder ace whom the media dubbed ‘the Czech Night Hawk’. He was Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher who was my wife’s father and I wrote a biography of him which was […]
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Remembering Martin Luther King
August 17th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, when I have few work meetings, I like to attend short courses at the City Literary Institute in central London. So I recently attended a course on Martin Luther King delivered by American lecturer Dale Mineshima-Lowe. We learned many things including: He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 15 January […]
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Was there really only one Renaissance?
August 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I recently read a book called “Age Of Discovery” written by Ian Goldin & Chris Kutarna. This impressive and inspiring work is sub-titled “”Navigating The Risks And Rewards Of Our New Renaissance”. The theme of the book is that, since around 1990, we have been living in a time which is in effect a New Renaissance […]
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Was Marx actually a Marxist?
July 5th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just watched a recording of the BBC 4 profile of Karl Marx, the first programme in a new short series of great thinkers presented by British historian Bettany Hughes. I’ve always recoiled from most of the ideas in Marxism and, when I read a biography of Marx, I rather recoiled from the man himself. […]
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The Arab Spring (4): where and why did it fail?
June 9th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Last weekend, I attended the first a number of short courses that I will be attending this summer at the City Literary Institute in central London. The title was “The Arab Spring” and the lecturer was Dr James Chiriyankandath of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London. Regimes fell in Tunisia, Libya, […]
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The Arab Spring (3): where did regimes change?
June 8th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At the weekend, I attended the first a number of short courses that I will be attending this summer at the City Literary Institute in central London. The title was “The Arab Spring” and the lecturer was Dr James Chiriyankandath of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London. Out of all the […]
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The Arab Spring (2): why did it happen?
June 7th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
At the weekend, I attended the first a number of short courses that I will be attending this summer at the City Literary Institute in central London. The title was “The Arab Spring” and the lecturer was Dr James Chiriyankandath of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London. Having discussed the naming of […]
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