The Creations

After my ancestor, Patrick Bellew, was created Baron Bellew in the Peerage of Ireland in 1848 only three more Irish Peerages were handed out. That doesn’t sound quite right, but you know what I mean; namely Lord Fermoy (1865), Lord Rathdonnell and the Duke of Abercorn (both 1868).

Eton Fives

My Jameson grandmother hoped that I would become a sportsman like her brother, Tommy Jameson. She gave me a Squash racquet and Fives gloves but, until I discovered Backgammon, competitive sports were not my forte – probably because I was always the loser.

A Columbarium

A columbarium is an old-fashioned name for a dovecote with nesting holes but it has gained another meaning in ecclesiastical architecture. You will have seen columbaria on San Michele in Venice and in many Catholic cemeteries in Spain and Italy where space is limited. They are those chests of drawers where bodies are interred, not… Continue reading A Columbarium

Between the Wars

You may recall that Alan Brooke was frustrated by Alexander’s lack of strategic vision in the North African and Italian campaigns in the Second World War (Trials and Tribulations). Was he being unfair?

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Categorised as History

The List

While in many spheres electronic communication is convenient and saves paper, sometimes the old fashioned way works better. I like receiving newspapers and magazines, Wooster Sauce and The List in hard copy.

Bloomsbury Stud

So much has been written by and about the Bloomsbury Group, yet Stephen Tomlin has been almost air-brushed out.

Gimcrack

Last month I alluded to two new “Bonking Biogs” and human nature being what it is, read the shorter of the two first: Gimcrack, A Rake’s Progress by Tony Scotland.

Who Won the War?

Who won the war? There is a strong argument that without massive American production of ships, ‘planes, guns and munitions (materiel), Germany would have won the war; even Stalin thought so.

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Categorised as History