All articles in Biography & Memoir
13th April, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Society & Culture
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
Abraham Lincoln qualifies as a historical ‘giant’ not because of the ways his image and the stories about him have drawn so many to him, but quite simply because he was at the centre of events that shaped the modern world. His election to the presidency of the United States in 18…
5th April, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Mildred: American WWI front-line witness
‘The Stars & Stripes are flying at my gate, and they are flying all over France. What is more they will be flying – if they are not already – over Westminster, for the first time in history.’ – Mildred Aldrich, April 8, 1917 So wrote an elated Mildred Aldrich when she could f…
15th March, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History
Captain Lawrence Oates: Antarctic tragedy
‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ Most people will know that these simple words, so famous and so often repeated over the past decades, were uttered by Captain Lawrence Oates who, according to legend, gallantly gave his life to help save his comrades in an Antarctic…
13th March, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Odette: World War Two’s darling spy?
Born in Amiens as Odette Marie Celine Brailly she assumed a variety of names during the course of her war service. Yet she was universally known to both the British and French public in the post-war years simply as Odette. At a time when it was rare for a woman to step out of the…
19th January, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History
The execution of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset
On 22 January 1552 Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, was beheaded at Tower Hill watched by a large crowd. Despite orders from the government for the citizens of London to remain in their homes that morning, a great multitude had gathered to watch the final moments of the ‘Good Du…
13th January, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Queen Elizabeth I: A brief history
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was born at Greenwich on 7 September 1533, a huge disappointment to her parents, who longed only for a boy. When her mother was executed three years later the little princess was banished from court as an unwanted bastard, but re…
16th December, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
10 things you didn’t know about Emily Brontë
For most households the week before Christmas is a joyous one filled with happiness and anticipation, but it was rather different for one household on the western edge of Yorkshire in December 1848. Emily Jane Brontë died from tuberculosis on 19 December of that year, leaving jus…
16th December, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Alison Plowden: Historian and biographer
Born on 18 December 1931 at Quetta, then in British India, Alison Plowden was a descendant of the great Elizabethan jurist Edmund Plowden and was also ‘Founder’s Kin’ of All Souls, Oxford through her ancestor Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury and co-founder of the college…
14th December, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Entertainment
Why is Albert Finney special?
Ask any actor or director of a certain age who was the most influential actor in British cinema and theatre post-1960 and one name will immediately spring to mind. ALBIE! More than any other British actor Albert Finney was responsible for the so-called New Wave, giving free rein…
14th December, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, History
Roald Amundsen: The first to reach the South Pole
On 14 December 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (who had already led the first expedition to traverse the North West Passage, and would go on to lead the first successful attempt to cross the Arctic by air) and his team became the first human beings to reach the South…
10th November, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, History, Society & Culture
Alan Turing’s ‘On Computable Numbers’
Alan Turing is best known for helping to crack the Nazi’s Enigma cipher machine at Bletchley Park during World War II. Turing’s work helped the Allies to shorten the conflict by at least two years. However, Turing was more than an incredible codebreaker. He was a brilliant mathem…
29th September, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, Entertainment, Women in History
How Carole Lombard’s career was almost over before it began
In 1926, budding actress Carole Lombard was still a teenager, trying to work her way through the Hollywood minefield. She had already been employed by Fox, and hoped it would lead to big things. However, she soon learned that in order to become a star, she would have to do more t…