Today, I was reading an account of the Cambridge Scientists’ Anti-War Group in Gary Werskey, The Visible College (London: Allen Lane, 1978). On p. 230 I came across the following passage: The Association of Scientific Workers strongly endorsed their work,48 as did J. B. S. Haldane. I turned to the endnotes to check the reference, […]
Today I’m thinking about my brother, who is serving in Iraq with the Australian Army. Stay safe and come home soon, bro!
I’ve just noticed this odd condition for the use of the Imperial War Museum’s collections website: Links to our website may only be included in other websites with our prior written permission. Source: http, followed by a colon, then two forward slashes, then www, a dot, iwmcollections, another dot, org, a third dot, uk, another
I’ve got an article in the current (November 2008) issue of Fortean Times (named, of course, after Charles Fort). It’s not at all airminded, it’s not really historical either — it has more to do with my shady astrophysicist past. It’s about the famous Betty and Barney Hill abduction incident in New Hampshire in 1961
One of the fun things about reading old books that nobody else has opened for decades is what you sometimes find inside them: annotations, bookmarks, letters, racist leaflets (OK, that one was not so fun). Above is a library call slip (i.e. the bit of paper you fill in to request that a book be
This will end in tears: Zeppelins to make tourist flights over London. (Via Airshipworld.) Image source: from the front cover of Louis Gastine, War in Space: or, an Air-craft War between France and Germany (London and Felling-on-Tyne: Walter Scott Publishing, 1913). (OK, it’s Paris, not London — so I cheated.) The oldest paperback I own,
[Cross-posted at Revise and Dissent.] The Honourable Kevin Rudd, MP, Prime Minister of Australia, apologises to the Stolen Generations, House of Representatives, Canberra, 13 February 2008: Therefore, for our nation, the course of action is clear, and therefore, for our people, the course of action is clear: that is, to deal now with what has
Weddings Parties Anything, “A Tale They Won’t Believe”: I have previously explained the relationship of this song to aviation history (well, it’s pretty slender, to be honest), here. Though the Weddoes split up a decade back, they’re embarking on a reunion tour around Australia, which is very exciting news — particularly since I’ll be seeing
I’ve recently come across what appears to be a new biography of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, 1st and 3rd Chief of the Air Staff, etc: Sylvia Andrew, Lord Trenchard’s Choice (Richmond: Mills and Boon, 2002). I say ‘appears to be’ because there are serious discrepancies with the
A recent post on the new science fiction blog io9 (which I’m enjoying, but is it really so hard to put in spoiler warnings?) claimed that the Vickers Velos was the ‘ugliest and most worthless plane in the world’. Sure, it’s not pretty, but I’ve seen plenty that were uglier — fuglier, even. But there
