Rome 2b
The last few hours of daylight of my last day in Rome were upon me. So, sadly, I couldn’t linger in the forum — there was still so much to see!
Pictures, Travel 2007
1930s, Books, Civil defence, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Periodicals
The intellectual life of the British air-raid shelter
In late March and early April 1938, the Manchester Guardian ran a competition inviting readers to send in ‘a List, with short reasons, of Six Books with which to Furnish a Gas-proof Room’1 — that is, a room designed to provide a temporary refuge in a gas attack. The article which discussed the entries began
Blogging, tweeting and podcasting
Is nothing sacred?
The 13th Military History Carnival is up at The Cannon’s Mouth. I was dismayed to read I, Clausewitz’s post explaining why female breastplates don’t need breast-bulges. I suppose next we’ll be told that chainmail bikinis would provide next to nothing in terms of protection in battle.
Blogging, tweeting and podcasting
Look — blogs!
I’ve been meaning to update my sidebar for a while now, as there are a lot of good blogs (both new and old) which I like and which are worth bringing to people’s attention. Some will already be known to readers of this site since they’re written by readers of this site! I’ve mostly kept
Pictures, Travel 2007
Rome 2a
After my first day in Rome, I collapsed onto my bed in my little hotel room, watched Italian TV, and got a good night’s sleep. Which was just as well, as I still had a lot to see on my last day …
1910s, Books, Contemporary, Other, Pictures
Mark my words
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,
1940s, Interviews, Periodicals, Radio
E. H. Carr on the failure of British airmindedness
E. H. Carr in conversation with Collin Brooks, BBC Home Service, 30 September 1940: After 1919 we were always worrying about keeping up our naval supremacy. And, of course, we were right. But what did we do about the Air Force? Hardly anything. We just let it dwindle away. We thought air power of so
1900s, Australia, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Television
Rewinding the Breaker
I was remiss in not mentioning the 12th Military History Carnival at Thoughts on Military History when it took place last month. My eye was drawn to ExecutedToday.com’s post about Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant and Peter Handcock, the Australian soldiers executed in 1902 for killing Boer prisoners-of-war. There’s still a debate about whether Kitchener issued an
1910s, Air defence, Books
Happy birthday, RAF
The Royal Air Force is 90 years old today. It was formed from the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 (yes, April Fool’s Day), as the result of an Act of Parliament. This was historic. The RAF may not have been the world’s first independent