Tag Archive for 'History'

Bletchley Park Archive

Published on June 5, 2010 in History and War. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

According to the BBC Bletchley Park has decided to publish the entire paper archives of top secret wartime document decoded at the famous World War II era code breaking station. Hewlett-Packard have donated scanners to the museum to allow volunteers to scan the thousands of paper sheets stored in their archives and place them on the web.

I was quite surprised to learn that Bletchly Park was now a museum as I had assumed it returned to civilian ownership after the war. I’ll have to add it to my list of places I’d like to visit one day.

Ghosts of the Abyss

Published on April 15, 2010 in History. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Today marks the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. I was about to write a long post detailing the sinking, but I suffered a flash of déjà vu and realised that I had already written a long post about it this time last year. As I’ve no wish to rehash the story in any way I’ll simply suggest that you all get your hands on a copy of Robert Ballard’s Titanic. Dr. Ballard’s book is packed with amazing photography as well as an excellent analysis of the wreck, her history and her ultimate fate.While you’re at it you could do worse than get a copy of his books on the wrecks of RMS Lusitania and the German battleship Bismark.

I also suggest that you take a look at Ghosts of the Abyss a film made by James Cameron, who has a real passion for the subject, that charts an expedition to the wreck, that he part funded, with the intention of recording it for posterity before time and sea scavengers erase her remains from history.

Tartan Day

Published on April 6, 2010 in History and Scotland. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Today is the anniversary of an important event in Scotland’s history. It’s 690 years since the Declaration of Arbroath was submitted to Pope John the XXII as a universal declaration of Scotland’s national sovereignty and independence from the feudal overlordship of the King of England. The stirring nationalist rhetoric and the sentiment it invokes have even been claimed as an inspiration for the American Declaration of Independence.

You’ve also no doubt noticed, if you’re in Scotland at least, that this solemn occasion has passed without a single solitary event to mark it. Meanwhile however in Canada and the United States hundreds of thousands of members of the Scottish Diaspora are holding parades, parties and official functions to celebrate their Scottish ancestry and cultural heritage. Visit Scotland, the tourist organ of the Scottish Government, has shamelessly tried to hijack these distinctly American events by using them for free advertising, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The image many Americans, and even Canadians, have of Scotland are often far removed from reality.

Not that they have much choice in the matter. Those without direct Scottish relatives can only go by the way Scotland is often portrayed in the media. The image of a kilted, red haired and often drunken Scotsman is a universal stereotype known, and dare I say loved, across the world but it’s not really Scotland is it? It’s not the Scotland that I see in the street when I’m going about, it’s not the Scotland I read about in the news and it’s not the Scotland that I’ve read about in history. These people have so much enthusiasm, and so much pride in their Scottish ancestry.

It makes me embarrassed to be a Scot when I see them on the news holding parades with pipe bands in honour of their heritage. I start to wonder, as I watch, why is it that they can look on a culture such as ours, which many of them are ten or twenty generations removed from, with more pride than your average Scot? Where are the parades down Princes Street,the banners in George Square or the twenty-one gun salute from Edinburgh Castle’s battlements?

There’s nothing, not a single event to mark the Declaration’s place in our history.  I find myself confounded by the people of  Scotland. People who would rather turn out every year to parade in the memory of a Dutchman who, leading an army made up predominantly of Irish Protestants, Dutchmen, Huguenots and Englishmen, managed to kick a catholic Frenchman with his army of Irish Catholics and Frenchmen out of Ireland.

So fuck tartan day, and fuck your shortbread eating, whisky drinking, haggis herding, kilt wearing, tight-fisted, red haired, drunken, foul mouthed, aggressive, see-you-jimmy-hat wearing, sheep shagging and all those other stereotypical good for nothing ideas you’ve all got stuck in your head. I say unto thee. Get on a plane, come over here and show the miserable residents of this miserable little country, and especially the talking shop in Edinburgh, what it means to be proud of your history, your folk and your country.

Papering The Cracks

Published on December 21, 2009 in Crime and History. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

I see that the Polish police have already managed to recover the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz last week. According to reports in the news the infamous sign has been cut into three pieces, most probably to make it easier to smuggle out of Poland, and five people have been arrested. Much as I predicted, before I went off on a rant about the ills of society, the sign was not taken by neo-Nazis or holocaust deniers. Instead it looks most likely that the sign was stolen to order, but who on earth would want the sign in the first place? I can hardly see some nouveau-rich fool standing proudly with the sign hanging over his mantelpiece on Christmas morning can you?

Another Crack in the Wall

Published on December 18, 2009 in Whiiiit!?. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’ve been saying for a long time now that history is losing its importance in the modern world. People have no need to learn about, or respect the actions of people that don’t appear on reality TV shows.

A case in point is the announcement today by the Polish authorities that someone has deliberately stolen the infamous sign Arbeit Macht Frei that has hung over the main gate of Auschwitz Death Camp since it was built by the Nazis.

In my opinion this is nothing but a blatant disregard for what is a powerful memorial to remind the world of the systematic, industrial scale evil of the Nazi regime. I can’t conceive of any good reason why anyone would want to take the sign, but I suppose holocaust deniers are too obvious a target.

This may be a high profile incident, but it seems to be part of a worrying trend. It’s only a few weeks since a student narrowly avoided a jail sentence for urinating on a war memorial. It seems like the memory of the estimated sixty million people who died in World War II is already fading away. Young people, especially those under twenty at the moment, seem to have little understanding of historically important events. Now I know, and freely admit that I have a degree in history and am therefore probably quite biased about the whole thing, but even those without my historical leanings have to admit that there’s an ongoing dumbing down of society.

I think it has a lot to do with the mentality of current generations, and by that I mean anyone not of my generation. Many of them, from the earliest age, seem unable to look beyond themselves, and most seem highly ignorant of anything that doesn’t include an opportunity for text voting.

I know of course that many of today’s kids are good people. They know a bit about history, and they’re as outraged as I am by the fading values of western society, but they’re quietly hiding out there waiting for things to get better, and all the time the lunatics are gradually taking over the asylum.

Get it sorted kids, and stop waiting for us adults to sort them out.

Tom Weir

Published on December 13, 2009 in History, Scotland and TeeVee. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Lately I’ve had an idea about a TV show, but this time it’s not one of my usual ideas where I bang on about screen writing, character and plot development. It’s actually an idea that I had a while ago when I was working late night in a call centre, but it’s been rattling around on my mental backburner since then.

The root of the idea came while I was watching reruns o f Weir’s Way late at night on STV. It really captures the landscape of Scotland and the Scottish people in the early seventies when it was filmed. It also is highly educational, and it’s readily apparent the affection, and knowledge that Tom has for his subjects. I think I learned as much about the history of Scotland from watching Weir’s Way as I did doing my degree.

I think it would be a good idea to follow in Tom’s footsteps, and see the places that he saw and tell stories like he told. A simple and straightforward show where one man and a bobble hat tell the story of Scotland and its people.

I know that Neil Oliver has already done a very successful series that covers similar ground, but for all of his enthusiasm I think he lacks some of the pathos that Tom injected into every show. Not that I could do any better, I’d probably do worse in fact, but it’s an idea.

More than anything else though I think that we need more television series devoted to the history and people of Scotland. Maybe, just maybe, recent generations might rediscover some pride in their nation that goes beyond the twee Braveheart bullshit that we trot out for the American tourists.

East Indyanaman

Published on November 29, 2009 in Gaming and History. 0 Comments Tags: , .

El Kat, who is well versed in my love of management type computer games, history and anything with pirates in it, bought me a copy of the game East India Company. At first glance it looks to be similar to Empire: Total War both in general appearance and the historic period that serves as the backdrop to the game. These similarities are only skin deep however. Empire: Total War is an empire building game where the creation of a powerful, functional world empire serves mainly to feed the war machine for the real-time strategy battles that make up the meat of the game.

East India Company on the other hand is more of a mercantile simulator. The player is cast in the role of the Governor Director of an East India Company belonging to one of the major powers of eighteenth century Europe.  The year is 1600 which coincides with the foundation of the English East India Company in the real world.

The East India Companies were a powerful force in the early modern historical period, and none more so that the English one. It was basically a law unto itself in India and China. It raised armies, minted coins and conducted itself more or less like a separate and very powerful nation on the Indian subcontinent. The goal of the game is for the player’s company to reach such dizzying heights between the years 1600 and 1750. The player is free to use whatever means they deem appropriate to deal with the competition from the other seven European companies. They can declare war and take their ships, ports and goods by force, form alliances or even force their enemies into bankruptcy through shady business practices and monopolies on goods. Ports can be conquered to block their use to enemies, and shipping lanes can be blockaded to harass the enemy and provide a steam of illicit income from stolen goods.

Things have been going slow so far, but it’s only 1610 so far, and I’m up to my eyes in debt because I didn’t read the manual before I charged right in. Still it looks like a involving and interesting game.

F**k You Baldrick

Published on November 17, 2009 in Celebrity, History, People Be Fools, Ranting, Teh Madness, WTF!? and Whiiiit!?. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Once again I find myself sitting here with an incredulous look on my face and shaking my head in disdainful wonder at the so called “Great British Public”.

The BBC news has an article today that details a list of fifty unsung British heroes that the National Lottery has assembled as part of its 15th anniversary celebrations. You can see the full list here, but I’ll try to limit myself to a short rant on the contents of the top ten:

1: Michael Faraday, physicist

2: JM Barrie, author

3: Edward Jenner, smallpox vaccine pioneer

4: John Peel, broadcaster

5: Alan Turing, mathematician

6: Baldrick, Blackadder character

7: Midge Ure, singer

8: Percy Shaw, cat’s eyes inventor

9: Tim Berners-Lee, worldwide web inventor

10: Fred Scott, BBC cameraman

Admittedly some of the people in the top ten are underappreciated for their contributions to science, arts and society in general. Others though I would say are very well known, and some, well some shouldn’t even be on a list of people who are supposedly “heroes”.

Apologies to people of a nervous disposition, but I have to get something out of my system before I continue.

BALDRICK is a fictional character you FUCKING CRETINS!

Sorry about that.

The rest of the list is a strange mixture. As I’ve said I agree that many of the people mentioned on the list are deeply underappreciated by the public. The news was recently filled with the demand that the British Government apologise for basically hounding Alan Turing to suicide after the Second World War. His contribution to the fledgling art of computing and cryptanalysis during the war cannot be overstated and I believe he rightly belongs near the top of the list.

Midge Ure however is a world famous musician and responsible for a good chunk of the organisation of Band Aid, and the Band Aid Trust charity. I don’t see why was he chosen over the heads of other worthies such as Sting, Fish or even, dare I say it, Bob Geldof who was the more visible partner in Band Aid. I suppose at least Midge managed to do more than spend his life riding along on a one hit wonder band and thumping tables at charity gigs.

Another odd entry is Fred Scott the BBC cameraman at number ten. He’s the award winning cameraman who was filming when John Simpson and his Iraqi translator Kamaran Abdurrazaq Muhamed were caught in a friendly fire incident during the Iraq war. Kamaran was unfortunately killed when a US warplane bombed the convoy of Kurdish vehicles they were travelling in. Simpson was left deaf in one ear as a result. It was an important moment in the media coverage of warfare. I wouldn’t go as far as to rank Fred as high as 10 on this list, but I wouldn’t do him the dishonour of ranking him lower than FUCKING BALDRICK.

The more I read this list the more I begin to wonder if the people who voted for it were even aware of whom many of these people were. To me it reads like a list of people that young, trendy eighteen to twenty-four year olds have vaguely heard about from various sources and they picked them out of the hat. The inclusion of people like Stephen Merchant who co-wrote The Office seems like it was thrown in by some insane fan and the inclusion of the FICTIONAL CHARACTER of Jeeves the butler from the Jeeves and Wooster short stories strains credibility. Why not replace Jeeves with P.G Wodehouse himself? He’s not exactly well known now as he was when he started publishing stories.

I’m going to lie down in a dark room before I decide to go all Dr. Evil and try to put end to this farce we call society once and for all.

Remember Remember

Published on November 6, 2009 in Crime, Glasgow, Law, Musings and People Be Fools. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

The sun is finally up and it’s now officially the 6th of November 2009.  All the pensioners, animals and those of a nervous disposition can safely emerge from their bunkers into the cold light of day and be thankful that the annual barrage of fireworks that marks Guy Fawkes Night is more or less over for another year.

I’ve written a bit before about Guy Fawkes Night, or as we called it when I was young Bonfire Night, but I thought I’d wax lyrical about it again after reading the news this morning.

Firstly let me be completely clear here: I love fireworks. I love the huge organised displays that they have at events, and I love the little intimate local ones when they’re done properly. I say this in full knowledge that Scotland Gas Networks have a huge excavation on the road outside exposing a major gas main to the sky, and to raining fireworks…

What I don’t agree with, and can’t understand is why, with all the mounting cases of animal cruelty, violence and horrific injury, we still allow fireworks to be sold over the counter to almost anyone. Sure there’s laws in place regulating their sale to people over 18, and I’m sure that every corner shop and fly by night fireworks store owner rigorously follows that rule, but if they do why are so many youths mentioned as being the perpetrators in the firework stories in the news this morning.

So far this I’ve read about:

A firework shooting in an open window of the high flats in Whiteinch and the occupant then had to be treated for smoke insulation. Seemingly a kid fired the rocket from ground level outside. I’m inclined to believe this was a freak event, but you never know.

A group of firemen trying to put out a fire in a house in Bridge of Weir being attacked by a gang of weans launching fireworks.

At the weekend a badly injured cat was found in Crosshill, near Maybole, with wounds consistent with a firework having being strapped to her back and set off. The innocent animal had to be put down after having suffered for perhaps as much as a week after being hurt.

Last year we had a couple of classics up in North Lanarkshire:

A dog dying of a heart attack after being struck by a firework when a gang of youths attacked a kennel in Bellshill with a dozen fireworks over a three hour period.

A ten month old girl being burned on the neck after a pair of youths threw a lit firework into her pram as she sat outside a shop in New Stevenson. Thankfully she was only slightly injured as her clothes had taken the brunt of it.

These are only the stories that made the front page of papers. I’m sure that there were a hundred more incidents that went unreported, or unacknowledged by victims too scared to report the youths that terrorised them.

I understand that as a kid the desire to throw fireworks at other people is strong, but in days gone by it were mainly small firecrackers that people threw around. Sure they were still small explosive devices, but they weren’t very powerful at all. They could cause some bruises and maybe a small burn, but they weren’t going to blow anyone’s face off. Not that throwing fireworks at anyone should be encouraged, but in the distance past where it wasn’t particularly frowned upon the fireworks were nowhere near as powerful as the ones available today.

If find it ironic and amusing that at any other time of the year if a bunch of teenage junkies, or even a fairly respectable looking businessman, went into a shop looking to buy a dozen rockets packed with gunpowder the cop from monopoly would appear out of nowhere and sort them right out.

I think it might be a lark to threaten to charge the neds under the anti-terrorism laws that the government are so proud of. After all one of the definitions of terrorism is.

After typing that last paragraph I had a look into the definition of terrorism and it seems that legally, in the UK at least, terrorism is more closely defined. According to the 2006 Terrorism Act a terrorist under UK law is defined as a group or persons who meet the following criteria:

(b) The use or threat is designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public.

(c) The use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause.

Maybe a few hours of water boarding and a kicking from some double hard bastards from the SAS would make them think twice about the fireworks next year.

I enjoy fireworks and bonfires as much as the next man, but for the love of god I think we desperately need to do something to get them out of the hands of neds. Be that better education on the dangers, tighter regulation on their sale and use or even to go as far as to ban this archaic and deeply English celebration altogether I leave that up to the nation to decide.