1910s, 1920s, Aircraft, Contemporary

Across the Atlantic by Vimy

This happened a week ago, but it’s rather cool – a re-enactment of the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic by the British airmen Alcock and Brown in June 1919. They used a modified Vickers Vimy, a two-engined aircraft designed for bombing German cities. The Vimy was never used in this role, but a flight […]

1940s, Books, Contemporary

London can take it

But of course it shouldn’t have to. It was a pointless and tragic waste of human life. References to London’s stoicism during the Blitz are all over the place: former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Australian Labor Party foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd (“British bulldog spirit” was how he phrased it on the radio

1900s, Periodicals

It’s That Man Again

Leo Amery was a long-serving Conservative MP, minister, imperialist and close contemporary (though not, I think, a close friend) of Winston Churchill’s – they were at Harrow together, where at their first meeting the future staunch foe of Nazi oppression pushed the smaller boy into the school pool. For some reason, he seems to pop

Books

Books. Lots of books.

I’ve just put in a massive order at Abebooks (which links the catalogues of many secondhand booksellers from around the world). This is not something I will be able to afford to do often, but at the moment I am still working full-time so it is sort of affordable. One thing I’ve found out that

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