Archive for the ‘History’ Category
“Shrapnel And Whizzbangs”
November 9th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of a book written by my good friend Jeremy Mitchell who served with me on the Ofcom Consumer Panel. Jeremy was born in 1929 and his father George Oswald Mitchell (G.O.M.) was one of the few British soldiers to serve right through the First World War from its outbreak on 5 […]
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Czechs and Slovaks mark 70 years
October 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Seventy years ago today, Czechoslovakia – now the Czech Republic and Slovakia – declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Since my wife is half-Czech, I have a special interest in Czech history. That’s why I’ve read several books on Czech history – reviewed here – and Czech historical figures – reviewed here.
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First flight in Britain
October 16th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Today is the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight in this country – a distance of just 1,390 feet – which was actually made by an American and you can find some information here. Thanks to my father, who trained as a fighter pilot with the RAF, I have a lifelong enthusiasm for aviation […]
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Jews in wartime Slovakia
September 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
One of my closest friends – a Jewish man from Slovakia – is involved in a project describing the experience of another Jewish Slovak man discovering how his father died in the Second World War and the implications of this story for the present time. My friend’s translation agency translated the project from Slovak to […]
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“From War To Windrush”
September 18th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This week, I had a meeting at the postal regulator Postcomm in my cpacity as a member of the Council ofthe postal consumer watchdog Postwatch. I had some time to spare and, since Postcomm is located close to the Imperial War Museum, I called into the museum and viewed one of ts current temporary exhibitions. […]
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Anniversary of the US Constitution
September 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As we watch the blood sport that is the American presidential election, let us mark today the anniversary of the Constitution under which the election is being held. The United States Constitution was adopted on 17 September 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratified by conventions in each state in the […]
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The day we almost died
August 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
How did we get here? We could have come from another planet; or God could have created the world in six days; or humankind could be the product of a long, slow, almost accidental process of evolution. I subscribe firmly to the last explanation. But how smooth and linear was that evolutionary process? There’s an […]
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Prague Spring: revolution or reform?
June 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In the summer of 1968, I was 20 and becoming very interested in international politics. I followed with interest and excitement the attempts by the Czechoslovak Communists to reform their political structures and I was desperately saddened and angered by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact forces which brutally crushed these efforts at reform. I […]
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Men on the moon
June 13th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the moon and 12 American men walked on its surface, the first (and last) human beings to ever leave this planet and land on another celestial body. This incredible story is told in a remarkable documentary “In The Shadow Of The Moon” which was released last […]
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The Needham Question
June 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The Chinese began printing 600 years before Johannes Gutenberg introduced the technique in Germany. They built the first chain drive 700 years before the Europeans. And they made use of a magnetic compass at least a century before the first reference to it appeared elsewhere. So why, in the middle of the 15th century, did […]
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