Enrichment – somewhere to go – The British Library’s Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens exhibition

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Mr Kydd
If you click here you will get to information from the British Library about their current Elizabeth and Mary – Royal Cousins, Rival Queens exhibition.
Mary, Queen of Scots by François Clouet, c 1558, and Elizabeth I, attributed to George Gower, c 1567

Click here for Phillipa Gregory’s review of the exhibition. In it she states “the exhibition is steered by its content, and many of the documents perpetuate the traditional contrasting of the two queens. It was in the interests of both sides to imply that the women were opposites: the Protestant, astute, controlled self-proclaimed virgin Elizabeth, and the Roman Catholic, spontaneous, emotional, fertile Mary. Although both queens struggled with religious controversy, advisers, lovers, would-be husbands, hangers-on, spies and plotters, it is Elizabeth’s papers that predominate. Her personal letters and speeches to parliament emphasise her statecraft; Mary’s courage on the battlefield and her daring escapes can only be represented by maps and sketches. As ever, it is the victor who writes the history“.

It fits beautifully with our OCR Y107 later Tudors course. It is well worth a visit.

Mr Kydd

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History Society – something to discuss. Should we still be tracking down Holocaust war criminals seventy six years after the Second World War ended?

Posted on October 7, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get to a BBC article exploring the trial of a 100-year-old SS guard – Josef S – who is accused of complicity in the shooting Soviet prisoners of war and the murder of others with Zyklon B gas.

This link argues that ‘Justice has no expiration date’ – read both. Do you agree? Something for us to discuss in History Society.

Mr Kydd

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Enrichment – somewhere to go. The British Museum – Nero exhibition (until 23rd October)

Posted on September 3, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get a link for the excellent Nero exhibition at the British Museum. It is on until 23rd October. I have been, and it is excellent. Now that we can start to get back to normal, you may like to consider going. This is what the intellectual independence that I am always banging on about looks like. Below is the curator’s video, and a written summary.

Mr Kydd.

Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.

The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca’s rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.

Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.

Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?

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Enrichment – something to listen to. Radio 4 – a user’s guide to disinformation.

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get to historians such as Robert Service and Richard Evans discuss how there is nothing new about fake news. It is excellent enrichment, and I recommend it to you.

Mr Kydd.

Programme description.

Phil Tinline mines the archives to trace the story of ‘disinformation’ – navigating the slippery history of such incidents as the Zinoviev Letter, the Reichstag Fire, the Moscow Trials, the allegations that the US used germ warfare in the Korean War, British operations in Northern Ireland and the CIA’s attempt at a pornographic movie.

He tracks the origins of disinformation to struggles between Tsarists and revolutionaries in pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia – a period which produced the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was championed by the Nazis. It was a milieu that shaped the Bolsheviks’ ruthless approach to information and disinformation – a mindset they carried with them from the underground to the Kremlin.

Amid the rise of totalitarianism, leading thinkers on left and right alike were worrying about the ‘End of Truth’ over 70 years before today’s furores. Anxiety about truth and its enemies seems to flare up at times when orthodoxies are falling apart – political uncertainty is rife and people become unusually open to the comforting certainty of extreme ideas.

So – if ‘fake news’ is not as new as advertised, might we have something to learn from this history? Phil uses this long history of deliberate attacks on truth to identify tricks and techniques that are still in use today, drawing on the expertise of Lawrence Bittman, the ex-deputy chief of the Czechoslovak disinformation department.

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Enrichment – something to read. Black London: History, Art & Culture in over 120 places

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get to a review of Black London by Avril Nanton. The book contains maps, photographs and a timeline of black history. It also includes a potted history of the HMT Empire Windrush.

Have a look, and see what you think.

Mr Kydd.

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Enrichment – something to listen to. The significance of the death of Elizabeth I in 1603

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will Melvin Bragg’s Radio 4 “In Our Time” programme on the significance of the death of Elizabeth I. It is well worth a listen.

“Melvyn Bragg and guests John Guy, Clare Jackson and Helen Hackett discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth I and its immediate impact, as a foreign monarch became King in the face of plots and plague.By the spring of 1603, Elizabeth had been Queen for 44 years, and it was clear that she would leave no heir. Many feared that her death would spark insurrection, led perhaps by Puritans, perhaps by Catholics, possibly with the support of Spain. As it became clear that she was dying, Elizabeth’s chief minister, Sir Robert Cecil, put into action his covert strategy to secure the succession of King James the Sixth of Scotland“.

Keep smiling – almost the summer…

Mr Kydd

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Obituary – Lee Evans, record-setting US sprinter and 1968 Olympic activist, dies aged 74

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get to The Guardian obituary for Lee Evans –

Evans became the first man to crack 44 seconds in the 400m, winning the gold medal at the Mexico City Games in 43.86. His victory came shortly after his teammates, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, were sent home from the Olympics for raising their fists on the medals stand. In later interviews, Evans said an official warned him not do anything similar. He took a different approach, wearing a black beret to show support for the Black Panther Party and other civil rights organizations.

Like Smith and Carlos, Evans was a college star on the San Jose State ‘Speed City’ teams. He was also a high-profile member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which called attention to racial inequality and oppression and spearheaded the protests at the 1968 games. “His legacy of contributions to sports and the struggle for social justice is indelible and enduring,” tweeted Harry Edwards, the architect of the movement.

Mr Kydd

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History in the News – Hidden inscriptions discovered in Anne Boleyn’s execution prayer books

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here you will get to an article in today’s Independent. It explains how secret inscriptions hidden in Anne Boleyn’s prayer book have been discovered by a student. The concealed names, uncovered using ultraviolet light, reveal that the illustrated book was handed down between women loyal to the Queen to preserve her memory.

Have a look for yourself, and see what you think.

Mr Kydd.

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Something excellent (but very late) for International Women’s Day.

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Mr Kydd

Clare Balding investigates whether Emily Davidson meant to kill herself at the Derby in 1913. En route she explores the brutal realities of how the suffragettes were treated, and asks if we should consider them terrorists.

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Obituary – Jonathan Steinberg. Historian whose work Bismarck: A Life is considered the best study of its subject in the English language.

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Mr Kydd

If you click here, you will get to The Guardian’s obituary for Jonathan Steinberg. He famously wrote Bismarck – a life. The obituary suggests that Bismarck – a life is “brilliantly readable – nearly 500 pages go by in a flash – the book brought a new perspective to bear on the much-studied “Iron Chancellor”. Indeed it is, and I would strongly recommend it. I have a copy I can lend to anyone who is interested.

The obituary also repeats Steinberg’s description of his writing method. This is insightful to us, in his own words he wrote, “the trick is to let those on whom the power was exercised, friend and foe, German and foreign, young and old, anybody who experienced the power of Bismarck’s personality close up and recorded the impact, tell the story.” The result is a vivid, kaleidoscopic portrait, full of memorable aperçus and quotations, all conveying a convincing and rounded picture of the great statesman”.

In short, it is a model of how to research and write excellent history.

Mr Kydd.

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