Earlier this year, I mentioned that I had joined the editorial collective of Melbourne Historical Journal. Well, against all odds (or so it seemed at times!) we produced what I think is a pretty good issue. Lynette Russell graciously launched it this evening at the Re-orienting Whiteness conference, and it’s now available for purchase. (Or
In contrast to the King’s message to the RAF, Flight‘s reaction to the end of the war, in the same issue of 14 November 1918, seems rather grumpy. It’s true that the editorial section is rounded off, on p. 1274 (source), by a short section which expresses a certain amount of glee at the news
It’s 90 years to the day since the guns fell silent, and the bombs stopped falling. I don’t feel that I have anything particularly insightful to say, so here’s how Flight marked the occasion, by publishing the King’s message to the RAF on its front page, 14 November 1918, p. 1270 (source): THE KING’S MESSAGE
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
As The Times reports today (p. 12), the Berlin Commission of Ambassadors which is implementing the Munich agreement has finished demarcating the major zones to be transferred to Germany, and has adjourned until Monday. But there’s still much to do. For example, there’s still the question of what to about Sudeten Germans outside the transfer
After four days of debate, the House of Commons has voted on the government’s policy during the Sudeten crisis in general, and on the Munich agreement in particular (The Times, p. 14). The vote was won by 366 to 144, a majority of 222. The Times calls this ‘a conclusive vindication of the Prime Minister’,
The main headlines in today’s Daily Mail report (p. 11) on a battle raging in Palestine between ‘Arab terrorists’ and British aircraft and troops. Reinforcements are en route, and the High Commissioner has flown back to London for consultations. Hang on: this isn’t about Czechoslovakia at all! For the first time since (at least) 29
The Sudeten crisis, or rather its aftermath, still dominates the headlines. But the headlines themselves are getting smaller — these ones from the Daily Mail (p. 11) are only a couple of columns wide, where even a couple of days ago they were nearly the whole page across. The news today is serious enough: Inskip,
A few days ago, Chamberlain said Munich was ‘peace for our time’. Now he, in his speech in Parliament yesterday, he is saying that there can be no let-up in the pace of rearmament (Manchester Guardian, p. 11). In particular there is to be a ‘big increase’ in the RAF, especially for ‘the defence of
So, after all those weeks of mounting tension over the fate of the Sudetens, it’s finally being resolved: German troops have begun occupying the Sudetenland (Daily Mail, p. 13). Polish troops have also moved into Teschen, and the Czech government has agreed to let a mixed commission decide the fate of the territory claimed by
