Blog
I know I’m a bit late coming to this one, but its been bothering me a bit recently. It seems the authorities have seen fit to commission a 50 metre statue of a white horse (as shown here) to adorn the Kent countryside and the south-eastern approaches to London. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7880889.stm Now, I am a big fan […]
“Haunted City – Nuremberg and the Nazi Past” by Neil Gregor The Third Reich hangs over Nuremberg like a bad smell. Not only did the city play host to the annual Nazi Party rallies of the 1930s, and the post-war trials of senior Nazis, it was also chosen as the venue for the publication of […]
“Hitler’s Private Library“by Timothy Ryback of books and men … I was most interested by this publication. So much so that I actively (and vainly) tried to secure a review for it (I usually let the lit eds suggest titles to me)… It is a curious subject, and it is one which is based on […]
“And all the roads jam up with creditBut there’s nothing you can doIt’s all just bits of paperFlying away from you…This ain’t no upwardly mobile freewayOh no, this is the road to hell” Chris Rea called it right – way back in 1989. Now we are told that the recession will hit the UK harder […]
“Valkyrie”, Tom Cruise, History vs Entertainment… Well, the drama surrounding the film has finally come to an end. We can stop speculating, the media can stop their petty sniping, and the talking heads can stop their carping – the film is out and we can all go and see it and make our own minds […]
“Defiance” – “Our revenge is to live“ I had the honour of attending the European Premiere of “Defiance” last night in London’s Leicester Square. Daniel Craig’s new film casts him as a fugitive Jew in 1941-42 in the forests of Byelorussia – the eldest of the famed Bielski brothers. Alongside Tuvia Bielski (Craig), are the […]
I notice that the release date of “Valkyrie” has been postponed again. It will now air in the UK on 30 January 2009 – ironically the very date that Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 (but that’s probably deliberate). Its a little frustrating that the film has been shunted around the schedules so […]
“The Reich’s Last Gamble” by George Forty, Cassell & Co., The German Ardennes campaign of December 1944 – the famed “Battle of the Bulge” – still exerts a powerful fascination on military historians. It was of profound significance in both military and strategic terms. As Germany’s final major offensive of World War Two, it was […]
I was in Portsmouth, yesterday, with the family, and spent a fascinating day at the historic dockyard, looking at HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. Whilst on the deck of the Victory – standing on the very spot where Nelson caught his fatal musket ball – I was just telling my son (8) […]
I have removed this article for the time being as it now appears in my latest E-book “The Wolf’s Lair: Inside Hitler’s Germany” – apologies for the inconvenience… You can find “The Wolf’s Lair” here: “The Wolf’s Lair: Inside Hitler’s Germany” RM
Curious this story… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/2185507/Adolf-Hitler-told-bad-jokes-about-Nazi-friends.html I am not sure what to think of it. Would it be newsworthy if it transpired that Churchill or Roosevelt told jokes about members of their entourage? I think not. One would almost expect it of them – after all they are remembered as rounded human beings… There, I think, is […]
Wars rarely end cleanly and World War Two was certainly no exception. Though the guns fell silent, animosities remained and suffering continued. In the aftermath, refugees and wounded had to be cared for and basic services restored, all against a background of political uncertainty and economic devastation. This difficult period – what one might call […]