Monday, July 25, 2016

Libertie of the kirk

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James Melville, a teacher and protestant activist, was born all of 460 years ago today. He was the son of a Scottish minister, and nephew to...
Monday, July 18, 2016

The battle for Okinawa

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Today marks the 130the anniversary of the birth of Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., who led American soldiers and marines in the Battle of Okinaw...
Saturday, June 25, 2016

Bachmann’s diary fragment

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‘ My mind’s still in a whirl. Jack Hamesh was here. [. . .]  We talked until evening and he kissed my hand before he left. No one’s ever kis...

A five star general

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Henry (Hap) Arnold, the only American ever to achieve the five star rank of general in two separate branches of the US military, was born 13...
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Not a lot for me to do today

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Constable, part of the Little Brown group, has just published the diary of a young woman - Sarah Stamford - who was working as a BBC secreta...
Saturday, May 21, 2016

Jerzyk’s tragic story

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‘In town there was a poster confirming the shooting of ten people. If by the 4th of the month the bandits aren’t handed in they will shoot t...
Monday, May 2, 2016

Breaking superstitious pictures

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‘We brake down 28 superstitious Pictures; and took up 11 popish Inscriptions in Brass; and gave order for digging up the Steps, and taking o...
Thursday, April 21, 2016

From real to fantastical

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Today marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë. Although she was the most prolific of three sisters, all writers, she is remem...
Monday, April 11, 2016

Gouty old gentlemen

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‘The hippos were delightful. They seemed so aristocratic, like gouty old gentlemen, puffing and blowing and yawning, as though everything bo...
Sunday, April 10, 2016

Waugh’s appalling diaries

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Evelyn Waugh, author of such famous novels as Brideshead Revisited , Scoop , and Decline and Fall , died 50 years ago today. He was a commit...