Archive for the ‘History’ Category
“Europe At War” (1)
June 5th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
One of the many subjects in which I am interested is history and I’ve just started reading the 500-page work “Europe At War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory” written by the British historian Norman Davies. This contains many fascinating facts, figures and insights. For instance, consider this table which sets out estimates of military war dead […]
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The Arab-Israeli conflict
May 4th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
How did it start and how will it finish? These are HUGE questions but, when I was on holiday in Israel recently, I read a very interesting book on the subject which I’ve now reviewed here.
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1900’s predictions for 2000
April 25th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The “Ladies Home Journal” of December 1900 contained a fascinating article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr entitled “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”. You can read it here. I particularly this: ‘Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse […]
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It is Yom HaShoah
April 15th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I returned yesterday from a week in Israel – my first visit. Yom HaShoah is a day of rememberance of the Holocaust which is marked on 15 April each year in Israel and among Jewish communities around the world. My American Jewish friend Art Shostak has written an article to mark the event and you […]
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25 years after the Falklands war
April 2nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I will always associate the Falklands war of 1982 with my marriage to Vee. We were married on 19 March and a couple of weeks later the Argentinians invaded the islands. We have just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and today is the 25th anniversary of the invasion. The invasion led to a 10-week conflict […]
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The clash of religion (1): how India was partitioned
March 14th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This year is the 60th anniversary of the partition of India in 1947 (the actual date is 14-15 August) and this week Channel Four television ran a one and half hour drama documentary on the momentous events of that period. It was good that the new post-war Labour Government immediately recognised the need to grant […]
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The seven wonders of the ancient world
March 10th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The “Guardian” newspaper’s web site has an interactive map showing the location and providing some details of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The only surviving great wonder is the Great Pyramid at Giza. I have visted this and you can read my account here.
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The remarkable story of Zdenka Fantlová
March 2nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Over the years, I have visited many Holocaust memorials and museums and I have even been to both a detention camp and a concentration camp but, until this week, I had never actually heard and met a Holocaust survivor. My wife (who is half Czech) and I went along to the Czech Embassy in London […]
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What were you doing when you were 15?
February 24th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
I was a sensitive and insecure teenager at school in Manchester studying for a major set of public examinations. But Lucie Chevalier – who has recently died aged 82 – was a member of the resistance in German-occupied Belgium. Lest we forget, you can read her amazing story here.
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Britain’s war debts
December 29th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
At the end of the Second World War, Britain was financially shattered. But help was at hand. The US loaned $4.33bn (£2.2bn) to Britain in 1945, while Canada loaned US$1.19 bn (£607m) in 1946, at a rate of 2% annual interest. How long do you think it took to repay those debts?
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