Archive for the ‘History’ Category
How the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to the new Arab states
November 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Another weekend, another one-day course at London’s City Lit. This was was entitled “From Ottoman Empire To New Arab States” and delivered by Dr James Chiriyankandath. The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and long lasting empires in history. At its peak, it included what today are Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, […]
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American political institutions (2): how the constitution was written
November 20th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This autumn, I am doing a six week (five session) evening class at London’s City Lit on the subject of “American Political Institutions” and our lecturer is Malcolm Malcolmson. The second of our lectures looked at how the US Constitution had come about and why it distributes power as it does. Following the American War […]
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Word of the day: encomium
November 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The word means ‘a formal expression of high praise’. I came across the word this weekend when I attended a course on the Danish conquest of England and we were introduced to “The Encomium Of Queen Emma”.
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The Danish conquest of England in the 9th-11th centuries
November 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I have signed up for a number of short courses this autumn and next spring in an effort to keep my brain active and dementia at bay. I always learn new things and enjoy sharing some of my learnings on the web. So this weekend I was back at the City Lit in Central London […]
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The man they call Britain’s Oskar Schindler: Nicholas Winton
November 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Although I have never met him, I have a special respect for the British businessman Nicholas Winton who saved 669 Czechoslovak Jewish children from the Holocaust by organising their evacuation by train from Prague just before the outbreak of the Second World War. I supposed it’s partly because I’m British, partly because so many of […]
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Britain’s greatest pilot: the extraordinary story of Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown
November 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
One of my many interests is aviation which is why on my web site I have a section on aviation and a section on aviation films. I recently watched a rebroadcasting of a BBC 2 television documentary with the intriguing title “Britain’s Greatest Pilot”. Who, on earth (OK, in the skies), could this be? It […]
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Britain’s intervention in Afghanistan – the cold facts
October 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
As Britain’s combat role in Afghanistan comes to an end, some facts to ponder on concerning our involvement: Length of intervention: 13 years Maximum troop deployment: 10,000 Total number who served: 140,000 Number of British troops killed: 453 Number of British troops wounded: 2,188 Financial cost: £37 billion During this period: Number of US military […]
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Do you accept that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin in the killing of President John F Kennedy?
October 22nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The 1960s was my decade – I was aged 12-22, so it was the formative years for me and I remember it all: James Bond, the Beatles, the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam … I am currently watching the showing on British television of an American series called simply “The Sixties” and Episode 3 is devoted […]
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There is something special about spending time with an older person
October 20th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Today Vee and I took a dear friend out for lunch to celebrate her 85th birthday. Hana Ludikar has led a remarkable life, largely as a result of having a father who was a Czechoslovak politician who had to flee the Nazis in 1939 and the Communists in 1948. She showed us a fascinating film […]
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A review of the recent movie “The Monuments Men”
October 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This unusual World War Two film was directed, co-written and co-produced by George Clooney who also plays the lead character. It is not his best work, but certainly worth viewing. You can read my review here.
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