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
Posted inEnrichment, The Later Tudors|Comments Off on Enrichment – something to listen to. The significance of the death of Elizabeth I in 1603
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
Posted inEnrichment, Obituaries, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Obituary – Lee Evans, record-setting US sprinter and 1968 Olympic activist, dies aged 74
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.
Posted inEnrichment, The Later Tudors, Uncategorized|Comments Off on History in the News – Hidden inscriptions discovered in Anne Boleyn’s execution prayer books
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.
Posted inEnrichment, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Something excellent (but very late) for International Women’s Day.
If you click here, you will get to The Guardian’s obituary for Jonathan Steinberg. He famously wroteBismarck – 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.
Posted inBook Reviews, Enrichment, Obituaries, Uncategorized|Taggedobituaries|Comments Off on Obituary – Jonathan Steinberg. Historian whose work Bismarck: A Life is considered the best study of its subject in the English language.
If you click here you will get to an article in The Guardian by Jo Glanville. It comments on reports a that the authors of a study on the fate of Polish Jews under Nazism have been told to apologise to a woman for defaming her uncle.
“In Night Without End, a forensic two-volume history that totals nearly 1,700 pages, professors Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski focus on the fate of Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland after the Nazis began liquidating the ghettoes in 1942. The book includes a brief passage based on the testimony of a survivor, Estera Siemiatycka, who accused Edward Malinowski, a village elder in Malinowo, north-east Poland, of collaborating with the Nazis and denouncing a group of Jews in hiding.
Malinowski’s niece, 81-year-old Filomena Leszczyńska, sued the historians. The Polish League Against Defamation financed the case, claiming in a lengthy statement that the historians had damaged “the reputation not only of Edward Malinowski, but also other Poles, or even Poland” and accused them of “careless use of historical sources”. The League is a handmaiden to Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party’s political agenda to burnish the country’s wartime image. With the mission “to initiate and support actions aimed at correcting false information on Poland’s history”, the League has pursued cases against those accused of defaming Poland, including international media outlets.
Copies of the Polish edition of Night Without End on sale at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Photograph: Czarek Sokołowski/AP
The Law and Justice Party’s crusade to promote Poland’s heroism under Nazi occupation and end what it calls “the pedagogy of shame” attracted an international outcry three years ago, when it passed legislation outlawing discussion of Polish responsibility in the Holocaust.”
Something to discuss in History Society.
Why is history being re-written here?
Does this happened in Britain?
Are we better at noticing this in other countries? If so why?
Mr Kydd.
Posted inEnrichment, history in the news, Uncategorized|Comments Off on History in the News – ‘A gift for Holocaust deniers’: how Polish libel ruling will hit historians. Something to discuss in History Society…
To mark Holocaust Memorial Day I have put some links to the experience of the remarkable Eva Kor (1934 – 2019). The links below speak for themselves, however I would just make the point that sometimes, when deals with a topic a huge as the Holocaust, it is easier to understand what happened by looking a the life of one person. Her forgiveness should be an inspiration to us all.
In normal times I would be advising those of you thinking of history / Oxbridge applications to start visiting places like the British Museum, and reading something completely beyond your A level topics. Only the latter is on the cards for the foreseeable future, so you might like to click here. This is Tony Barber’s recommendations from 2020. If you don’t know where to start, may I suggest Afinogenov’s Spies and Scholars.
Review below…
“Superb…At once a history of science, of empire, and of espionage, the book traces the rise of the Russian empire as a putative rival to Qing dynasty China in the Far East. Afinogenov has chosen a genuinely compelling cast of characters to populate this story of imperial intrigue…A vividly written, entertaining, and skilfully researched history…”
Mr Kydd.
Posted inBook Reviews|Comments Off on Oxbridge preparation – reading something different – Best books of 2020: History
If you click here you will get to a sharp article in Sunday’s Observer by David Olusoga. I have included an extract below. Have a read and see what you think…
“In both the US and the UK, these new history wars have the warped logic of a witch trial. Their aim is to convince people that they are being oppressed by the irrefutable facts of their own national histories. Shared histories, such as US slavery or the British empire, are presented as alien narratives, introduced by outsiders in order to pollute the pure waters of “Our History”.
Like men with a guilty conscience, those promoting these history wars accuse others of the crime they are committing, because it is not historians but politicians who are fomenting divisions. This is why Jenrick’s statue wars article was loaded with trigger words – “mobs”, “woke” and “militants”.
The defenders of “Our History” and the promoters of “patriotic education” understand that their vision of the past is simplistic, reductive and ahistorical. Their aim, in both the UK and the US, is to pander to notions of exceptionalism that have for so long prevented us from confronting difficult facts and painful truths about what our nations have done and been and how those histories continue to shape our modern societies.”
I would be very interested to know what you think about this view.
Mr Kydd.
Posted inEnrichment, historians, History Society|Comments Off on History Society – something to discuss – Cultural warriors attacking ‘woke’ history care little for truth. It’s all political theatre David Olusoga
If you click here you will get to a BBC article where US historians debate Donald Trump’s legacy. This is a useful article for us. By contrasting different historians back-to-back it makes the point very clearly that you conclusions often depend on your starting point. It is also noteworthy what they emphasise and what they downplay.
Have a read, and we can discuss this. Above all- which do you agree with more – and why?
