Archive for the ‘History’ Category
What did King Henry V say to his troops before the Battle of Agincourt?
August 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
One version is contained in the famous speech in Shakespeare’s play: “This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, […]
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How long did the Hundred Years War last?
August 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This was the long-running war between the English and the French in the 14th & 15th centuries. As I learned on a course this week, actually the war lasted 116 years (1337-1453) – more information here. You see, most of what we think we know of history is very much an approximation of what actually […]
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Why do we study history?
August 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This is a question I asked myself again this week when I attended a one-day course at the City Lit college in central London on “Henry V And The Battle Of Agincourt”. One answer to the question is: to illuminate our understanding of the present because we are writing the first draft of history now. […]
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John F Kennedy – the ‘what if?’ American president
July 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Last summer, I was at the City Lit in London to attend a course on post-war American presidents. I wrote blog postings on each of the presidents we discussed: Lyndon B Johnson – my blog posting here Richard M Nixon – my blog posting here Gerald Ford – my blog posting here Jimmy Carter – […]
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The cost of ending slavery in the British Empire
July 23rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
BBC television has just broadcast two remarkable programme entitled “Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners”. The writer and presenter is David Olusoga, a half British, half Nigerian academic. The programmes explain how in 1834 slavery was officially abolished by the British parliament but the slave owners were handsomely compensated. The Slavery Compensation Commission paid out a total […]
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Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain – and remembering the particular tale of Karel Kuttelwascher
July 10th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today is the 75th anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of Britain. It is estimated that between 10 July and the end of October 1940, the RAF lost around 1,023 aircraft whilst the Luftwaffe lost 1,887. The ultimate failure of the Luftwaffe was one of the turning points of the Second World War and prevented Germany […]
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How Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier and how I told the story first to my 10 year old son and then to my four year old granddaughter
June 23rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
My father served in the Royal Air Force and I grew up with a lifelong interest in aviation. So one of my heroes was the American test pilot Chuck Yeager who became the first man to break the sound barrier in 1947. When my son Richard was ten in 1986, I read Yeager’s biography and, […]
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200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo
June 18th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the defeat of the Emperor Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington in the bloody Battle of Waterloo. I did a blog posting a couple of weeks ago in which I explained that we would be hearing more about this conflict and today the “Mirror newspaper has a short, but […]
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800th anniversary celebration of Magna Carta
June 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Something as quintessentially English as Magna Carta was celebrated today at a memorial put up by Americans in the field at Runnymede where the document was agreed and which I have visited. But what was Magna Carta? Why was it called that? And why is it still important today? The BBC answers these questions here.
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How homosexuality was made illegal in Britain and the consequences of such an iniquitous law
June 10th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
On 6 August 1885, late at night in a House of Commons debate on the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the Member of Parliament Henry Labouchere suddenly produced an amendment to the Bill before the House. This amendment criminalised homosexual acts. The only discussion was over the penalty to be imposed. Labouchere had proposed a maximum […]
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