Dean Swift

Three Roman Emperors: Hadrian, Tiberius & Julian

A rather imaginative impression of Tiberius / biography.com

Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born just seventy-six years after the birth of Christ, his birthplace Spain, or what was then the Iberian Peninsula. Member of a patrician family, he was actually the ward of the Emperor Trajan. As Emperor he was a cultivated admirer of Greek civilization and tradition, which helped him unify and consolidate Rome’s enormous Empire. As a poet and writer he was prolific and talented, and his study of the science of architecture produced theories and practices which have endured. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-28T13:26:29+00:00 May 28th, 2012|Greek History, History of Rome, Italian History, US History|0 Comments

History of the Cinema: the first ‘Casino Royale’

David Niven and a catapult / flixist.com

During the 1960s, determined producers Charlie Feldman and Jerry Bresler set out on a saga that left even Hollywood astonished. They wanted to film the first of the Ian Fleming Bond books, Casino Royale, but they were contractually unable to use the actual story. Therefore they decided to make a spoof Bond film years before Roger Moore actually starred in a whole series of them. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-28T07:15:27+00:00 May 28th, 2012|History of the Cinema, Today, US History|0 Comments

Great Sauces: Béarnaise

This sauce goes marvellously well with any good cut of red meat, such as fillet, sirloin, entrecôte, rump and T-bone. But it is also superb with rich kinds of grilled (not boiled) fish, such as turbot or salmon. Some people like it with shell-fish. I don’t. It is similar to Hollandaise, but considerably thicker and sharper in taste. Here is how you make it: (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-27T16:24:32+00:00 May 27th, 2012|French History, History of haute cuisine, Spanish History, Today|0 Comments

Julius Caesar & the Caesars

Julius / ancienthistory.about.com

Gaius Julius Caesar was a successful general and apparently reluctant dictator. He was born into a patrician family around 100 BC and became Pontifex Maximus (a species of high priest) as part of a deal he had fixed up with Pompey (q.v.) and Crassus (the multi-millionaire general). It might have been the Mafia and ‘Chicago BC’.

They called this the ‘First Triumvirate’. As consul Gaius Julius obtained the provinces of Illyricum, Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. Never anything else but a fine general, he conquered Gaul (modern Germany and France), crossed the Rhine, inspired constant loyalty in his troops, and even made to expeditions to heathen, dangerous, unpredictable Britain. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-25T13:34:36+00:00 May 25th, 2012|History of Rome, History of the Cinema|0 Comments

The Roman Civil Wars

These internal conflicts that tortured the last century of the Roman Republic lasted from 88 BC to 28 AD and led directly (some would say inevitably) to the institution of of unchallengable authority in one man, or if not in one, in a Triuvirate.

Political life in Rome had been unstable from the period of Sulla’s dictatorship, and the Catiline Conspiracy (64, 63 BC). Then two really important names emerged: Julius Caesar and Pompey (q.v.). At first these two difficult, overpoweringly ambitious men had formed an alliance. Then Caesar defeated the armies of Pompey on the battlefields of Spain in 49, at Ilerda. One year later he smashed Pompey himself at Pharsalus, going on to win further victories in Asia and Africa. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-24T11:01:35+00:00 May 24th, 2012|History of Rome|0 Comments

History of the Cinema: ‘The Wild Geese’

A scene with a crossbow from The Wild Geese / gamand fishmag.gov.uk

In 1978 ‘the last gentleman producer’ Euan Lloyd made one of the funniest films on record. It was not meant to be funny. The theme was well-tried; a group of retired ex-mercenaries (convicts, special servicemen, cops, gangsters etc.) are rounded up by the star and persuaded to stage one more robbery (war, racetrack heist, bank hold-up etc.). The Dirty Dozen, The Sting, The Wild Bunch are good examples of this style of film.

The Wild Geese was special because Mr Lloyd had gathered to his bosom a group of popular ancients of British Cinema. They were supposed to be old buddies from some kind of SAS-type special force. The problem is that the word ‘old’ is too appropriate. The audience in the cinema in which I had chosen to watch this masterpiece howled with laughter as the methusalehs donned military uniform plus ill-fitting berets and started with a training session in the countryside that would have killed the lot of them in one morning. Starting with the stars, here is the casting list: (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-22T10:17:18+00:00 May 22nd, 2012|History of the Cinema, Humour, Today, US History, World History|1 Comment

Romanticism

From the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century there was an almost radical revolt against simple reasoning, the sciences, all authority and most traditions, against order and discipline, which overcame (and to a certain extent subdued) Western civilisation. This was the sweeping movement of Romanticism.

It meant social, political and moral reform, yes, but manifested itself above all in the arts; one could claim that the two major extremes of art are Classicism and Romanticism. Subsequent movements are generally regarded as being associated with one or the other. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-20T16:05:07+00:00 May 20th, 2012|Czech History, English History, English Language, French History, German History, Philosophy, Russian history, Spanish History, Today, World History|1 Comment

Sicily & the ‘Sicilian Vespers’

Sicily is the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea, in the southernmost part of Italy, opposite ‘the toe of the boot’. The island is separated from the Calabrian mainland by the Strait of Messina, which is only two miles wide. Most of the island is mountainous, with permanently snow-capped volcanic Etna dominating everything.

Wide plains are found in the south, though the region is still hilly in parts. Here vineyards, olive and almond trees are in abundance, though agriculture is difficult due to extremes of heat, damp and cold. To the north are the volcanic islands of Ustica and the Liparis, as well as Stromboli, the most continuously active volcano in Europe. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-19T10:45:36+00:00 May 19th, 2012|Italian History, Spanish History, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

The History and making of great Sauces: Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, however you like to spell it, is at least two hundred and fifty years old. It is said to have been invented by The Duc de Richelieu’s cook in 1736, while the good duke was busy besieging the English at Port Mahon on the island of Minorca – and I cannot for the life of me see why not. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-18T20:32:06+00:00 May 18th, 2012|French History, Spanish History, Today|0 Comments

The Queen of Spain, and Gibraltar

Word has it that Sophia, Queen of Spain and sister to the exiled King of Greece, has been advised not to go to London to join the British royal family in celebrating Elizabeth II’s sixty years on the throne of Great Britain. The reasons given are political. The essential word has nine letters – Gibraltar.

Here we see a badly mixed cocktail; three parts of royal connection (and very old friendship), plus one part of squabble do not gel into an acceptable and creamy mix. Queen Sophia is Greek, descended from the Danish royal family as well as Queen Victoria. The King of Spain’s grandmother was English. When a group of radically-inclined colonels threw their crowned King Constantine out of his own palace and confiscated his possessions (not very many, but Mother Frederika had left something) the young man and his family went immediately to London, where they have been domiciled to all intents and purposes every since. Doña Sophia is and always has been very close to her exiled brother. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-17T08:11:24+00:00 May 17th, 2012|English History, Spanish History, Today, World History|2 Comments

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