1940s

1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Archives, Periodicals, Tools and methods

British newspapers online update, January 2013

I’ve updated my list of online British newspaper archives. This time, the new titles are: Aberdeen Journal AJR Information Catholic Herald Connacht Sentinel Cork Examiner Jewish Chronicle Irish Press Irish Times Kilkenny People Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser Nenagh News Northants Evening Telegraph The Post/Sunday Post (Dundee) Sligo Champion Sowerby Bridge News Many of these […]

Uses of 'Mars' and 'canals' vs uses of 'Mars' only in peer-reviewed astronomical articles, 1861-1970
1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Before 1900, Periodicals, Plots and tables, Space, Tools and methods, Words

The canals of Mars, 1861-1970 — III

So, to wrap up this accidental series. To check whether professional astronomical journals displayed the same patterns in discussing ‘Mars’ and ‘canals’ as the more popular/amateur ones I again looked at the peak decade 1891-1900, this time selecting only the more serious, respected journals. However, because of the French problem I had to exclude L’Astronomie

Uses of 'Mars' and 'canals' in peer-reviewed astronomical articles
1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Before 1900, Periodicals, Plots and tables, Space, Tools and methods, Words

The canals of Mars, 1861-1970 — II

In my post about the lingering scientific interest in the Martian canals hypothesis after 1909, I said that there was a problem with journal coverage. What do I mean by this? Have a look: This is a repeat of the first plot in the previous post, showing the number of articles published in peer-reviewed astronomical

Uses of 'Mars' and 'canals' in peer-reviewed astronomical articles
1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Before 1900, Periodicals, Plots and tables, Space, Tools and methods, Words

The canals of Mars, 1861-1970 — I

In a recent, hmm, let’s call it a discussion resulting from an old post I wrote about the US Air Force’s one-time interesting in mapping Mars, I tried to assess how scientific interest in the Martian canals hypothesis lingered after the early 20th century, and said I would run up some figures to illustrate the

1940s, Links, Maps, Tools and methods

(Nearly) all the bombs

There’s been a huge amount of interest on Twitter and in the media about the new Bomb Sight website, developed by the University of Portsmouth with assistance from the National Archives and elsewhere, and deservedly so because it’s fairly excellent. In short it’s an interactive map of the London Blitz compiled from a number of

1940s, Archives, Australia, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Rumours

The (rumoured) secret Nazi airfields of Amazonia

Over at The Appendix, ‘a new journal of narrative & experimental history’ to which you can subscribe, Felipe Fernandes Cruz has reproduced some intriguing declassified US documents from the early 1940s concerning rumours of clandestine German airfields in Brazil. The reason for the US interest in any evidence of German activity in South America, apart

7 September 1940
1940s, Pictures

Not Millwall

An update on the whole Millwall thing. Well, a teaser, anyway. I’ve had an email from Chris Going letting me know how his research into the Luftwaffe’s photoreconnaissance flights over Britain on the first day of the Blitz, 7 September 1940. Can’t say too much, but he did authorise me to say that ‘interesting things

1940s, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Contemporary, Periodicals, Radio, Reprisals

Social war, now and then

[Cross-posted at Society for Military History Blog.] The current conflict in Gaza has attracted much media attention for the so-called Twitter war being fought between the IDF and Hamas, or, more precisely, between the @IDFSpokesperson and @AlqassamBrigade accounts and their respective followers. Insults are traded back and forth, photos and videos of rocket attacks and

1940s, Books, Periodicals, Pictures

Volcanic warfare — I

J. M. Spaight was a lawyer by training and a civil servant by profession, and as was such not generally prone to flights of fancy. His prewar books are scholarly and judicious compilations of various opinions and precedents regarding aerial warfare. But his wartime writing, such as The Sky’s the Limit (1940) and Bombing Vindicated

Bomber Command raid on Emden, 31 March 1941
1940s, Australia, Periodicals, Pictures, Words

The first blockbuster

One factlet I’ve enjoyed dropping on the heads of students is the origin of the word ‘blockbuster’. Now it is widely understood to mean a hugely successful movie (as well as a once-highly successful video rental chain — remember those?). It has even been claimed that this is the original sense of the word: supposedly,

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