Archive for the ‘History’ Category
The cause of liberty has had many heroes – but you’ve probably never heard of Algernon Sidney
April 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been watching the four-part television series “New Worlds” on Channel Four. It has now concluded but it will soon be available on DVD – see here. It is set in Britain and America at the time of the restoration of the British monarchy with King Charles II on the throne. As always with historical […]
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“War. What is it good for?”
April 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
These were the opening words of a song from Edwin Starr in 1969. It is now the title of a new book by Professor Ian Morris. This week, I went to a meeting at the House of Commons, organised by the Henry Jackson Society and chaired by the Conservative MP Julian Lewis, where Morris set […]
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How much has changed in British politics over the last two centuries?
April 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading a book called “Perilous Question” – subtitled “The drama of the Great Reform Bill 1832” – by Antonia Fraser. She quotes a tale of the times: “A little girl asked her mother, ‘Mamma, are Tories born wicked, or do they grow wicked afterwards?’ To which her mother replied, ‘They are born […]
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Some of the many myths in our understanding of history
April 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Offa’s Dyke was not King Offa’s. Admiral Nelson did not wear an eye patch. Napoleon was not short. King Harold did not get an arrow in the eye at the Battle of Hastings. The Salem witches were not burned at the stake. Feminist protestors did not burn their bras. Cleopatra did not die of a […]
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Sometimes it’s a good idea to revisit an old film: “Under Fire”
April 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I’m a big movie fan and I’ve put hundreds of film reviews on my web site here. But I don’t see the same film more than once very often because there are so many other movies that I want to view. However, this weekend, I rented a film that I first saw in the cinema 30 years […]
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How old was Noah?
April 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I’m looking forward to seeing the film “Noah”. I enjoy special effects movies and I admire the actor Russell Crowe. But how old was Noah? According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Noah was 500 years ago when he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth which is am amazing feat of virility. Noah was it seems aged 600 at the time […]
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Who was the first Jew?
April 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Many of my closest friends are Jewish but I still have a lot to learn about the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. Recently I have been contemplating the origin of the Jews. Just who was the first Jew? Like so much to do with the Jewish story, the answer is not straightforward. According to […]
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Why did the Black Death spread so quickly?
March 30th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In the 14th century the Black Death ravaged Asia and Europe, killing up to 200 million in total, including around 60% of the population of London. It has long been assumed that the disease spread so quickly because of rats, but new evidence unearthed in London now suggests that it was an air-borne disease. So […]
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Sometimes it’s a good idea to revisit an old film: “Salvador”
March 29th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I’m a big movie fan and I’ve put hundreds of film reviews on my web site here. But I don’t see the same film more than once very often because there are so many other movies that I want to view. However, this weekend, I rented a film that I first saw in the cinema 27 […]
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How all life on Earth was almost wiped out – five times
March 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Thos weekend, I watched episode 2 of the fascinating new American television series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey”. This episode concentrated on evolution and referred to the five great extinctions when substantial proportions of life on the planet were made extinct. The best known one – the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction – wiped out the dinosaurs, but the […]
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