All articles in Society & Culture
19th April, 2018 in Military, Society & Culture
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 1943
Seventy-five years ago on Thursday 19 April 1943, in a stand that would become the largest single act of Jewish resistance against the German army during World War II, starving Jews trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto mounted a rebellion against the Nazis. Although ultimately…
16th April, 2018 in Entertainment, Society & Culture
Americans in Rome after World War II
By the end of the Second World War, Rome may have been brought to its knees, but in its recovery it became a Mecca for wealthy Americans, attracted by the cheap costs of living, the lively nightlife and the flourishing movie industry. While Rome’s citizens still struggled with fi…
5th April, 2018 in History, Society & Culture
Peace symbols through history
Over the centuries many different cultures, religions, political movements and individuals have developed peace symbols to communicate peace, harmony and reconciliation. Here we look at the origins of a few of them. The olive branch The use of the olive branch as a symbol of…
4th April, 2018 in Society & Culture
Martin Luther King Jr’s dream 60 years on
In 1963 an impressive civil rights march took place in Washington DC, led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr, founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a non-violent movement against segregation, racism and discrimination. King was an advocate of peaceful protest, saying…
16th March, 2018 in History, Society & Culture
The solution to the ‘Two St Patricks’ theory
In 1942 an academic paper rocked the world of the researchers of Saint Patrick. The academic who wrote the paper announced that there were two Patricks. Since then his proposal has generally become known as the ‘Two Patricks Theory.’ The man who caused this intellectual earthquak…
15th March, 2018 in History, Society & Culture
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918
A little over a century ago the world was in the grip of a devastating influenza pandemic which killed millions worldwide. It was the most vicious flu virus on record; not only one of the greatest medical catastrophes of the 20th century, but one of the deadliest natural disaster…
13th March, 2018 in History, Society & Culture
The Clifford’s Tower massacre
On 16 March 1190 one of the worst cases of anti-Semitic violence in Britain took place in York, and yet so few of us know of the massacre at Clifford’s Tower. It was during the 12th century that the representation of Jews in European art across the continent began to change; for…
27th February, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture
The golden days of Kennedy’s special relationship with Britain
It’s one thing for the Anglo-American ‘Special Relationship’ to seemingly be in danger of drifting into the area of unprincipled and short-sighted platitudes which encompasses so much of our modern political thinking. That has happened before. What’s surely new today is the quite…
26th January, 2018 in History, Maritime, Society & Culture
Transportation to Australia
Transportation overseas as the punishment for many criminal offences, next in severity to the death sentence, was first introduced into English law by the Elizabethan Act of 1597 ‘For the punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars – to be banished out of this Realm and a…
19th January, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, Society & Culture
Fighting fascists: Battling Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts
Founded in early 1946, the 43 Group was an anti-facist group, membership of which, at first, was almost entirely made up of tough, Anglo-Jewish former servicemen. In a five-year covert campaign these men set about disrupting the public meetings of the resurgent fascist movement a…
12th January, 2018 in Local & Family History, Society & Culture, Women in History
How militant were women’s suffrage campaigners in Gloucestershire?
February 6 1918 was a landmark date for all those who had fought for women’s parliamentary votes. On that day, an Act of Parliament gave most women over the age of 30 the right to vote. A huge milestone but, given that all men over 21 were enfranchised at the same time, not as hu…
14th December, 2017 in History, Society & Culture
Lost Countries: A treasure trove of history from an old stamp album
A few years ago Stuart wrote a book titled All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded and the Few We Never Got Round To, exploring how Britons have fought in almost every nation on earth. A few years ago Chris wrote First Class, a quirky look at British history through its stamps. We w…