Dean Swift

The Thirteen Colonies (or should it be fourteen?)

If you are a crow, living in the United States of America, and on a whim you decided to fly directly north to the northernmost part, from the southernmost part of the most southerly of the original Thirteen Colonies on the eastern seaboard, you would cover 750 kilometres or 500 miles. Though I am not a crow, I have done the journey in a Chevolet Impala (not mine) at a time when the President of the USA found it convenient, safer and cheaper for Americans to drive no faster than 55 m.p.h., even on the finest roads in the world. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-13T10:45:14+00:00 June 13th, 2012|English History, English Language, Today, US History, World History|2 Comments

The English Monarchs

Modern historians do not ascribe as much importance to the kings and queens of Britain as they used, say in the time of G.M. Trevelyan. Nevertheless, these tiresome but oil-annointed ladies and gentlemen (some were neither) do pop up frequently in examinations. Thus it is is better to know at least when they reigned. Their nicknames or achievements, failures etc. are noted.

Thanks to Mr Ben Schott, a scholar, I can confirm that in the Danish Line there were six kings, all men; in the Norman Line twelve, all men; in the Lancastrian Plantagenet line there were three, while in the Yorkist Lancastrian Line there were three too. The House of Tudor (Oooer!) there were six, but the last three were women. The first Queen of England, though only for 9 days, was poor little Jane Grey. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-11T11:24:20+00:00 June 11th, 2012|English History, Today, World History|0 Comments

History of the Commonwealth of Nations

Mistakes made by leaders of powerful countries have been legion throughout history. Enormous losses in the human and animal races have been the result. It is arguable that had George V of England and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany not disliked each other, and had had more control over the ambitions of their respective political leaders, there would not have been a First World War. Again, if Blair, Aznar and Barroso had exhibited more guts on that island in the Azores, they might have persuaded George Bush Jun. to stop telling himself and them what he (and they) knew to be a lie – that Saddam was storing massively dangerous secret weapons in Iraq – and better methods than medieval ones could have been used to depose a dictator. And 100,000 Iraquies would not have died, nor nearly 4000 young servicemen and women from the USA. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-09T10:31:18+00:00 June 9th, 2012|African History, Asian History, English History, German History, History of New Zealand, History of the Low Countries, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

Great sauces: Hollandaise

Here is a marvellous sauce for purists in this matter. It goes with salmon, asparagus, almost any vegetable, entrées and most fish dishes.

Now one may ask why I say ‘for purists in this matter’? The reason is that purists state rather firmly that the only true Hollandaise Sauce consists of nothing but unsalted butter, egg yolks and lemon juice. My problem with this is that I find Hollandaise made this way is rather insipid. I reckon Hollandaise should start with a preliminary reduction of some good white wine, as one does in the making of Béarnaise (q.v.). The flavour is so much better. Forget about the lemon, as it disintegrates the sauce too easily, and you will end up shooting yourself because you have used up twenty fresh eggs and still got no Hollandaise. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-07T17:19:01+00:00 June 7th, 2012|Dutch History, French History, History of haute cuisine|0 Comments

Roman law, Roman religion & Romance Languages

The Romans believed in law, and tried to live by it, frequently failing when political necessities seemed more important, or integral to the purpose. Roman Law developed (in Rome) for around one hundred years before the birth of Christ, and continued after his death to circa. 220 AD.

Nevertheless, more centuries were needed before the Emperor Justinian (justly named: 482-565) codified it in his Corpus Juris Civilis which we translate as ‘Body of Civil Law’. Then, a long time after lawless Germanic bands had destroyed Rome itself and the remnants of its Empire (q.v.) Roman law emerged again in the 11^th century as a popular subject for study in Italian universities. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-06T09:33:23+00:00 June 6th, 2012|French History, Greek History, History of Rome, Italian History, Today, World History|0 Comments

A teacher’s definition of Socialism

Everyone who bothered about such things was delighted that a new young teacher, female, distinguished at the university, liberal in outlook, and an active member of the local Socialist Party would start the new term at the State school as a member of the teaching staff.

She was perfectly able (and qualified) to teach a number of subjects. The Head Teacher gave her a notoriously difficult class, 5b, to launch her into the mine-strewn fields of elementary school teaching. The subject was History. After subduing the customary row that greeted a new teacher, by the simple method of talking in a gradually decreasing tone to the pupils until they stopped gassing altogether – so that they could hear her voice – she asked for questions. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-04T06:41:08+00:00 June 4th, 2012|English Language, Humour, Philosophy, Today, World History|2 Comments

The origin of legends

‘Legend has it . . .’ and most of Man’s legends are thousands of years old. The Dragon, for instance, has been around for centuries, in art and tales told by men. Dragons do not exist, that we know for certain, and yet the fable of St. George and his Dragon gave us a patron saint of England who was not actually English, and the dragons appearing in heraldry for more than a thousand years. Did the idea of dragons, as huge lizards with wings and breathing fire come from Neanderthal (and imaginative) man finding fossils of the pterodactyl – which certainly existed – but hundred of millions of years ago. Perhaps the legendary Monster of Loch Ness is a subaqueous dragon. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-03T16:47:15+00:00 June 3rd, 2012|English History, English Language, History of the Cinema, Humour, Philosophy, Today, World History|0 Comments

The Roman Legion

In the same way as the British Army is divided into divisions (usually 3 in an army), battalions (any number), companies (4 in a battalion) and platoons (4 in a company), each with a commander of certain rank (general, colonel, major and lieutenant respectively), the Roman Army was divided too. The most important section was the legion, which itself derived from the citizen militia staying in permanent preparation for war in defence of the state.

During the 2^nd Punic War (q.v.) it was the strategist Scipio who was responsible for re-organising the battle array, thus improving the army’s tactics and strength. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-02T18:05:04+00:00 June 2nd, 2012|History of Rome, Italian History|0 Comments

Great Sauces: Bolognese

Take chicken or calves’ liver or some raw minced beefsteak, one large onion, olive oil, one level tablespoon of white flour, one third of a litre of recently made stock, a bouquet garni consisting of your favourite herbs, one teaspoon of tomato purée (or if you prefer raw tomato pulp with no skin), two large cloves of garlic (you don’t like garlic? Oh dear, what shall we do? Stop cooking? Live at the North Pole? No: FORGET the Mediterranean diet), and one table spoon of dry sherry. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-01T11:25:43+00:00 June 1st, 2012|History of haute cuisine, Italian History, Today|0 Comments

The EU? Nothing but a big bully

In Greece the 1967 coup d’état drove King Constantine of the Hellenes and his family first to Rome, and then the comparatively Arcadian peace of London, where his British royal cousins took him in. He was all right, but Greece was not. A regiment of crypto-socialist colonels threw out the Greek monarchy. It became known as ‘The Regime of the Colonels’. The fragile monarchy itself was abolished in 1973.

A civilian republic was set up in 1974. In the 1981 general election Andreas Papandreu was the first real socialist to become Prime Minister, and he was in office until 1989, which gave plenty of time and licence to politicians, bankers and other members of the ruling classes to establish themselves in the seats of power and privilege they craved. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-30T10:02:29+00:00 May 30th, 2012|Greek History, Today, US History|0 Comments

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