Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Farewell to Fidel
March 2nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just finished reading a huge work which in effect is the autobiography of Fidel Castro who has just stepped down as president of Cuba after an incredible 49 years. You can read my review here.
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50 years since Munich disaster
February 6th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It is 50 years today since the Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to takeoff from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem airport. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the Busby Babes, along with a number of supporters […]
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Operation Able Archer
January 10th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve only just watched a recording I made of a weekend Channel Four programme about Operation Able Archer in 1983. It was the closest that we came to World War Three with the exception of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and I confess that I had never heard of it. Fundamentally the crisis came […]
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Did you know that there was a King Roger?
December 22nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
As you will see from my web site essay on naming practices around the world – which I mentioned in a posting earlier this week – I am fascinated by names. My father was English and my mother was Italian and they named their first child of three – me – Roger. I was always […]
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Anniversary of the Nanjing massacre
December 13th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the infamous rape of Nanjing in China by the armed forces of Japan. I visited Nanjing during a tour of China in 2000 [my account of time in the city here]. For the people of China, the incident is still a raw and and bitter issue. For many in […]
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Lincoln at Gettysburg
November 19th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
One of my favourite sayings is: “It’s isn’t over till it’s over – and then it isn’t over.” You think something is history and then somebody or something comes along to change your perception of things. The child who finds that her parent is actually not her parent at all because she was in fact […]
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The last Tommy
November 11th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Today is Remembrance Sunday. Harry Patch – now aged 109 – is the last surviving British soldier of the First World War. You can read his story here. Lest we forget …
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How did Guy Fawkes die?
November 5th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In Britain, this evening is celebrated as Bonfire Night – a commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot, the failed attempt by the Catholic Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators to blow up the Protestant Parliament in 1605. But how exactly did Fawkes die? After being found guilty, the conspirators were taken to Old Palace Yard in Westminster […]
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Ever heard of the Bleiburg massacre?
November 3rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
No, neither had I – until recently when I was on a business trip to Croatia and visited the Museum of Zagreb where the event was mentioned in a display. However, if you are Croatian, it will be a very familiar and sensitive matter. It shows how little we know of other nations’ history. You […]
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The curse of the black rose
October 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In 1889, the Konopiste Castle just outside Prague was obtained as his home by the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferndinand d’Este, the heir to the imperial throne. In 1907, he employed an English botanist to cross-breed roses at Konopiste in order to produce a black variety. It seems that he was warned that black roses bring […]
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