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Did the USA seriously intend to invade Canada in 1930 and take the land?
The nightmare. Canadians watching in surprise as they were invaded from the southAmericans have a history of underestimating Canadians. The animosity goes back to the War of 1812, when troops from the...
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The medieval Hanseatic League. Brexiteers take note!
Hanseatic trade routesBing (above map)Medieval social structure had 3 classes: noble, priest and peasant, a system that allowed the nobility to tax as they wanted. The nobility and the church held so...
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Nobel prizes for Watson, Crick, Wilkins and who? Oh.. Rosalind Franklin.
I do not understand DNA at all, so I have totally depended on Profiles in Science. But I do understand the sexist treatment of clever female intellectuals. British Rosalind Franklin (1920-58) was not...
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Apollo Art Awards 2020: winner of the Exhibition of the Year
The Annunciation, Jan van Eyck, c1425. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DCApollo is proud to announce the winners of its annual awards. Dating back to 1992, the Apollo Awards celebrate major...
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A beachy town in Russia - Berdyansk
The coast, beach and portMy grandfather and his many siblings, nieces and nephews lived in two adjoining Russian cities on the Sea of Azov, Berdyansk and Mariupol. I had published all the family...
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Roman Vishniac's art photography exhibition of Berlin and eastern Europe
A Berlin street, 1933 See swastika flag over the door on leftRoman Vishniac Rediscovered was the first UK retrospective of this photographer. Curated by U.S photography scholar Maya Benton, and...
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Open green areas in London's East End? - Carlton Square
Carlton SquareMy paternal gran lived in London’s East End, and although the two adults, 10 children and one uncle lived in a two bedroom flat in Whitechapel, she said she had a great life. However...
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Jeannette Rankin: women's rights & peace advocate; first woman in U.S. Congress
Jeannette Rankin, speaking at the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Apr 1917. Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana, the daughter of progressive parents,...
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Irkutsk: Russian city full of churches, Jewish culture, science and literature
Znamensky MonasteryJust north of the Mongolian border, Irkutsk was the cross roads of old trade routes, between the Angara and Irkut Rivers. The town was founded around a wooden fort in 1661 and later...
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Sigmund Freud's precious antiquities at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
I have examined Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) topics before. But the Freud of the Rings Exhibition in 2018-9 in Jerusalem was something new. Curator Morag Wilhelm of the Israel Museum was cataloguing...
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Gertrude Bell and archaeology in Iraq, World War I and world conferences
Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was the granddaughter of a British baronet and the daughter of an influential iron-and-steel dynasty. She was only 3 when her mother died, but she was lucky having an...
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Mukachevo - is it Austrian? Czech? Hungarian? Ukrainian?
City SquareThere were 3 main cities in the Trans Carpathian region. The Trans-Carpathian town of Uzhorod is now located in Western Ukraine. This beautiful city was the central hub for the regional...
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History of the Red Cross - British anniversary exhibition (1870-2020)
Red Cross medical dispatcher, 1914Red Cross Museum and ArchivesIn 1859, businessman Henry Dunant from Switzerland was travelling in northern Italy when he witnessed the aftermath of a bloody battle...
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Trump’s executive order re classical architecture in D.C - oh really??
President Donald TrumpUnited States Capitol (above) and J. Edgar Hoover Building (below) GettyEarly Draft, Executive Order, Feb 2020Trump people were writing the Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic...
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The Metropolitan Police and the first railway murder in Britain
By the early C19th, London had become the world’s largest city. To deal with concerns re preventing crime, Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel introduced the Metropolitan Police Act to Parliament 1829....
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Isaac Singer's clever sewing machine - the U.S's first multinational company
Portrait of Singer by Edward Harrison May, 1869Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-75) was the youngest child born in NY to German migrants. The parents divorced & abandoned the 8 children when Isaac was...
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The Amelia Earhart tragedy - accident, Japanese threat or spying for the U.S?
Charles Lindburgh and Amelia EarhartAmelia Earhart (1897-1937) was a Kansan who learned to love flying while attending a Toronto air-show in WWI. She enjoyed flying lessons and set a women’s altitude...
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Coco Chanel's Riviera - glamour, decadence and survival, 1930-44
Duke of Westminster and Coco Chanel, 1924I have been very interested in Coco Chanel’s unlikely path in this world, from neglected orphan to world famous designer. Now Anne De Courcy’s newest book...
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Sacco & Vanzetti, executed in the USA for their anarchist politics in 1927?
The two men shackled together,The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair: America on Trial, 2009by Moshik Temkin.Nicola Sacco (1891–1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888–1927) arrived from Italy in 1908 and settled...
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Who was responsible for the tragic Wall St New York bombing of 1920?
Wall St, immediately after the explosionWall St in New York was a global financial centre. In 1920 the stock market thrived and smart business lunches called. At noon on 16th Sept 1920 an ordinary man...
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