Tag: History

In which I talk fuzzily about Ryszard Kapuściński

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The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuściński

The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuściński

I’m having a moment of interested consideration about the new biography of Ryszard Kapuściński which claims that much of his reporting was heavily fictionalised and about some of the outrage about this.  As outrage goes, it’s fairly mild and seems mostly confined to those working in journalism (for example in Jon Snow’s latest blog post)  – but then Kapuściński is hardly a household name in the UK, and I’d be prepared to bet that the majority of people here who have read his work have come to it as travel literature, where the line between ‘truth’ and ‘atmosphere’ is more easily, and perhaps more legitimately, blurred than in journalistic reportage.    I came to him through his collection of essays/reportage, The Shadow of the Sun, which I thought sounded interesting based on a review I read and which I then bought with some Christmas money and enjoyed immensely.  It’s been a while since I read it, but I’m still inclined to think that it’s one of the best collections of writing about Africa that I’ve read – not necessarily factually, but in terms of painting a picture and capturing an atmosphere.  Read more...

: Arts,Media,Musings,Travel
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Tears for the Past

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tears for the pastWater from melting snow drips down one of the stelae in the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

I think the fact that I don’t really understand the Holocaust Memorial’s artistic/architectural nature and yet was still affected by it speaks to how well done the memorial is.  I don’t get how or why a field of concrete stelae is supposed to or can memorialise the Holocaust – but it *does*.    You walk between the rows of these blocks, which are of various heights – in the middle you are completely dwarfed by them – taking turns as and when you want to turn to find your own way through the field.  If it is a metaphor for history, then it’s almost scarily effective – each turn has its own impact on the trail you leave behind you, and can cause you to end up emerging somewhere else around the edge of the field – and with no distinguishing features on the blocks there is very little to aid you in picking out a very specific path as you go through or reaching a specific destination.  You could walk through in a straight line and miss a lot.  You could very deliberately count your way through, taking certain rows, and still miss a lot.  You could aim for an exit point and wander as vaguely as you liked towards that goal. Or you could wander at will, and end up anywhere, or get completely lost.  It’s dislocating and chilling – especially in the snow.  Read more...

: Musings,Photography,Travel
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Solomon Browne

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A friend of mine reminded me that it is the anniversary of the Penlee lifeboat disaster today. On 19 December 1981 the Union Star developed an engine fault off the Wolf Rock, the fuel supply became contaminated by sea water and the weather continued to worsen, driving the ship onto the rocks near Penlee Point. The Penlee Lifeboat the Solomon Browne was launched, manned by eight volunteers, and attempted to rescue the eight passengers and crew of tthe Union Star. The weather was so bad that the Royal Navy Sea King helicopter was unable to airlift the crew from the ship, but the Solomon Browne made repeated attempts to pull alongside.

The Solomon Browne’s last message was: “We’ve got four men off, hang on, we have got four at the moment. There’s two left on board…”, at which point the radio went dead and her lights disappeared. Lifeboats from Sennen Cove and St Marys on the Isles of Scilly attempted a search and rescue for survivors, but none were found.

The crew of Solomon Browne were: William Trevelyan Richards (Coxswain), James Madron (2nd Coxswain.), Nigel Brockman, John Blewett, Kevin Smith, Barrie Torrie, Charles Greenhaugh and Gary Wallis. Nigel Brockman’s son, Neil, still serves on the Penlee lifeboat. He volunteered for the 1981 ‘shout’ but was sent back by Richards who did not want two members of the same family out in such conditions. Tonight, as every year, the world famous Christmas illuminations of Mousehole will be turned off at 8pm for an hour as an act of remembrance.  Read more...

: Arts,Musings
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Parliamentary Democracy

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I was trying to frame some thoughts about the recently emerged situation with the Speaker of the House of Commons and the police raid. And then I realised, I don’t really have any coherent thoughts about this. I know so very little about the emergence of British Parliamentary Democracy, and what I do know is all in bits and pieces. I know I’m interested in it, but I don’t really know anything about it.
So now I know I’m pretty horrified at the teaching of history and civics in British schools – and indeed at university. The survey courses I took before specialising at honours completely skipped the English Civil War, skimmed over the Restoration, featured a bit part by the Glorious Revolution before mostly ignoring the arrival of the Hannoverian monarchs in favour of dealing with the international wars of the eighteenth century. And nineteenth century history was mostly social history – but yet not really featuring the Reform Laws at all.
However, that doesn’t really help me improve my knowledge. So if someone could recommend me a good book or two on the subject for starters I’d be grateful.  Read more...

: News,Politics
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the better things in life

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I was just listening to last week’s Start the Week, from the Cheltenham Literary Festival. We shall leave aside that nice Robert Fox, who, according to google, writes for the Guardian, and his thoughts about Herodotus and Thucydides being “dashed good reporters”, and the eyewitness nature of Pericles Funeral Oration, because it leads to irateness where there need be none. For the programme featured Simon Schama, the celebrity historian most dear to my heart because he does his own research, writes a dream and does incredibly good analysis-through-narrative, and because his book on the French Revolution is A-Mazing, talking to Andrew Marr, BBC reporter/presenter who would have all my devotion even if I hadn’t seen the clips of him doing the Timewarp in pink fishnet tights and leather shorts for Children in Need, about American history and politics. My brain went to its happy place of nerdiness.

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: History,Media
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