Archive for the ‘History’ Category
The history of Iran
September 27th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I are really looking forward to our holiday in Iran in a month or so’s time (nuclear crisis permitting). Before visiting a new country, I always read about its history and Iran – or Persia as it was known for a long time – has some 6,000 years of it. I’ve just finished […]
Posted in History | Comments (3)
Visit to Brickendonbury
September 13th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
This weekend, my wife and I – together with friends Ivan and Ros – visited a place called Brickendonbury which is a little bit north of London in Hertfordshire. The Brickendonbury estate, has a long and colourful history. Little is known about it until Saxon times (approx. 500 AD), when the hill site was claimed […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The first casuality of World War Two
September 1st, 2009 by Roger Darlington
The victim was a 43-year old unmarried Catholic farmer called Franz Honiok and he was murdered by the SS on 31 August 1939 at a radio station in Gliwice in what was then Germany. You can read the details in this fascinating article in the “Daily Telegraph”.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The start (and end) of World War Two
September 1st, 2009 by Roger Darlington
In two days time, events in Britain will mark the country’s declaration of war on German exactly 70 years ago. For the Poles, however, the war started on 1 September 1939 when the German battleship “Schleswig-Holstein” opened fire at point-blank range on the Polish fort at Westerplatte. Events to mark the occasion have been held […]
Posted in History | Comments (2)
The Battle of Châlons
August 27th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
This evening, I watched a really interesting television programme about the life of Attila, the notorious leader of the Huns. The programme included detail of the Battle of Châlons in 451 when Attila’s forces were defeated by a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I. For many historians, […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Northern Ireland 40 years ago
August 24th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Forty years ago, I set off to visit Northern Ireland for the first time. A week before, sectarian rioting had broken out in Belfast and Londonderry and troops moved into the cities. Like most people in the remainder of the UK, I was shocked by the events and could not understand how this could be […]
Posted in History | Comments (1)
The outbreak of war
August 22nd, 2009 by Roger Darlington
This week, the Imperial War Museum in London opened a fascinating new exhibition to mark the outbreak of World War Two on 3 September 1939 seventy years ago. The exhibition is called Outbreak 1939 and I visited it on the first day that it was open to the public. Of course, when you think the […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
KK’s 50th anniversary
August 17th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Karel Kuttelwascher, my wife’s father. He was a Czech pilot who fought with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and became an outstanding night intruder ace who won the Distinguished Flying Cross twice in 42 days. He was only 42 when he died […]
Posted in History | Comments (4)
The Czech Night Hawk
August 12th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Over three years ago, I did a posting about a British television programme on the life of a wartime night fighter pilot, a Czech called Karel Kuttelwascher. He was my wife’s father and we were both interviewed for the programme which has been broadcast several times since then. Karel Kuttelwascher died – of a heart […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The flu pandemic of 1918
August 8th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, BBC4 screened a very well-made and rather timely drama documentary on the efforts of Dr James Niven to combat the impact of the second wave of Spanish flu in Manchester in 1918. The programme was called “The Forgotten Fallen” and will be repeated. As a result of Niven’s efforts, only 2,000 of […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)