…d is, to me, all the more enjoyable for it. And as such, the film is probably partly responsible for the heated reaction last month to the claim that it was the Royal Navy which ‘saved’ Britain in 1940, not the RAF (Blog Them Out of the Stone Age had a good post on the matter). I don’t see why it has to be an either/or situation. The RAF was the first line of defence, the Navy was the second (and the Army, the third). Massively inferior as they we…
…ddle East. One position in African or Latin American history to bring in a bit more global perspective, at bit more South to balance out the North. Finally, one in classical history because it’s the foundation of Western civilisation and because it will help people to understand the context of various movies and miniseries they might encounter. It’s very hard to choose only 15! I would have liked to put in lots more Europe, more US and perhaps one…
…et State” is a quite extraordinary book. But then, I’m biased: I particularly like him as he recently called me “a silver-tongued bastard”. In public. How sweet. That may have to go on the back of my book on the 1970s. :) Chris Williams “still constantly being updated and republished” I’m not sure that even Arthur can manage that. Although I wouldn’t have put it past him claiming to be able to. “I’ll be putting out the fifth edition from beyond th…
…eir supplies during the Cold War). This is from the same room — it’s probably a bit hard to read, but these are tabulated statistics relating to the German flying bomb attacks on southern England between 16 June and 6 September 1944. So, for example, for 19 June, the day with the highest number of casualties, the table reads: 151 flying bombs launched, 128 crossed the coast, 51 over London; 46 destroyed by fighters, 6 by anti-aircraft; 305 fatalit…
…ief dangers of aerial bombardment in the next war: an attempt would certainly be made to paralyse the heart of the nation by attacking certain nerve centres in London, the destruction of which would impede or entirely destroy the means of communication by telephone, telegraph, rail, and road.1 Later, in 1916, he stumped across the country giving speeches criticising the government for its failure to expand aircraft production sufficiently, and to…
…ably move to the new building on Berkeley St when that’s finished). It’s a bit over 6 feet high. The bit of paper stuck to the door reads: MONIAC stands for: Monetary National Income Analogue Computer The MONIAC is a hydraulic model of the economy which was used originally in the teaching of economies. Today, econometric modelling is undertaken in modern Research Computer Laboratories. Visit the Commerce Research Laboratory on this floor to compar…
…nted to point out the accompanying photo: Is it just me, or could you equally plausibly caption that photo ‘WOULD YOU TRUST THIS MAN TO NEGOTIATE WITH HITLER ON YOUR BEHALF — AND YOUR FAMILY’S?’ Or even ‘ARE THESE THE EYES OF A SERIAL KILLER?’ Well, possibly that one is going too far. Finally, here’s Herbert Morrison, Labour MP and leader of the London County Council, speaking in London last night — evidently his audience were a bit glum over the…
…area convinced me I’m not cut out for the job! But I can recommend James Daly’s Daly History Blog for excellent commentary on such matters, especially where the RN is concerned. His post on the Harrier’s last flight is here. (And I for one did know the Air League was still around, as they kindly hosted me at their offices for a couple of days to look through their archives :) On the National Museum of the Royal Navy, I hadn’t heard of it either bu…
…unaimed’ volley fire in any late Nineteenth Century militia handbook, notably Wolselely. It is insensitive to technology, at least omitting rangefinders. But, be warned, it is pretty technically ballistic. So the reason that the Hanoverian war office is worried about it in the 1790s isn’t that it had the math at hand, but rather that rifle enthusiasts are getting on their case. If you really want to plunge into heated, technical and well-made argu…
…00 m.p.h. fighters, which showed that aerial tumbling could be performed only at comparatively low speeds. Anyone attempting to defy the laws of nature was whisked into temporary oblivion by “g” — a force of unbounded power unleashed by the slightest movements of the hands.2 But many bombers get through to London: A large percentage of the projectiles contained gas, for which London was barely ready, but it was chiefly the high-explosive bombs whi…
