The History of Social Security
William Beveridge wrote the Report that started Secoial Security in Britain / en.wikipedia.org Otto von Bismarck first thought of it. . . What is it? A system of financial maintenance organised by a [...]
Pompey the Great
Pompey / general-history.com Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was that rare combination – a general and a politician. Good sense, courage and sense of planning are not always to be found in those who choose [...]
The Roman Empire (updated)
Octavian, later Caesar Augustus, first Emperor / blog.iese.edu This phrase signifies the period when the Roman state and those overseas provinces it had formed were under the rule of an emperor. The first [...]
The Weimar Republic
The immediate predecessor of Hitler’s ‘1000-year Reich’ lasted from 1919 to 1933. It was formed in Germany after the end of the First World War, but still had to face the revenge of France and [...]
Figures in a Revolution: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
Louis (1754 – 1793) was the last (Capet) King of France. He reigned, not well but to the best of his limited capabilities, from 1774 – 92. He joins the list of European monarchs judicially [...]
The sexiest cars in history
250 GTO / bornrich.com What makes a motorcar ‘sexy’? The design of course, possibly its top speed, its comfort, sometimes the luxury of leather seats. It is the car itself which is sexy, [...]
Native American tribes
Warriors in the film Dances with Wolves / landercasper.com The original inhabitants of North America migrated from Asia around 30,000 years ago. Famine, constant wars and disease counted for many Indian settlers, and [...]
Seven years in Tibet
For seven long years the PSOE has occupied the position of government in Spain. The elections of the rapidly approaching November 20 will, in the view of the analysts, present the Spanish people with an [...]
A Chronology of Shakespeare’s Plays
While there has always been loud debate about ‘the author of William Shakespeare’s plays’ – the concept is foolish – there is always a doubt in academe not just about possible or mooted authorship, but [...]
The Wrath of don Arturo
/telegraph.co.uk Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Cartagena 1951) is a writer in the Hemingway mould whose books I wouldn’t and couldn’t miss for the world. His idea of the perfect holiday is to sail his own [...]
Father and (illegitimate) son
Carlos V / es.wikipedia.org Charles V (Carlos Quinto) was King of Spain (1516 – 1556) and Holy Roman Emperor (qv. 1519 – 1556). He was the son of Philip I (el Hermoso) and Joanna [...]
English language eccentricities
‘Nouns of assemblage’ as the earnest Mr Ben Schott has it, are words that indicate an ‘assembly’ of objects, animalspersons etc. They are also called ‘collective nouns’. Here are some examples from Schott, and a [...]
Twentieth-century Georges
George V / silverinvestor.com In a previous post, we examined four Hanoverian Georges, one of whom (the III) lost the American colonies for Britain, thus engendering the United States of immortal memory. Here [...]
The Hanoverian Georges
George I / fanpop.com The first George (1660 – 1727) was a German-speaking Elector (royal rank) of Hanover. How did a German come to be invited to be King of England? Not only [...]
Father and sons: three from Carthage; Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal & Hasdrubal
Historians are not sure of the date of birth of Hamilcar Barca, general from Carthage, and father of Hannibal and Hasdrubal. We know that he commanded the Carthaginian armies in the ultimate part of the [...]
Father and Son: Two tsars of Russia
Paul I of Russia Paul was born in 1754, as son and successor to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Almost from birth he was seen by courtiers as mentally unstable (the modern, [...]
New York, New York
Views over Central Park, Manhattan, New York / worldbeautifulplaces.blogspot.com This extraordinary town has been, and still is, called a number of different things. For some it was Albany, while for others it was [...]
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