Spoilt for Choice
I’m spoilt for choice today. The “on this day” website lists several historical events of interest. The trial of Mata Hari began in 1917. Hiram Bingham discovered Manchu Picchu in 1911. The long hated window tax was abolished in the UK in 1851, and in 1824 a...
Taxation without Representation
James Otis published his views on taxation without representation on 23rd July 1764. Those three words succinctly summarised the many and varied grievances of the American colonists. Otis had expressed his views as a lawyer in the case of Paxton vs. Gray, before the...
World War Two
I shall write about World War Two today. I can’t find anything that happened on this day to connect with Sir Anthony Standen. However, on this day in 1944 my father was experiencing stormy weather and heavy fighting for Caen in Normandy. Caen is on the right of Dad’s...
Research, Power, and Propaganda
I will get to propaganda, but first a progress update. I’ve carried out a lot of research, but I feel I should actually be writing book 5 of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have read biographies of Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu and Marie de Medici. The term...
The Babington Plot
Mary Queen of Scots sent a coded reply, on this day in 1586, to a letter she had received from Anthony Babington a week earlier. In her reply she ordered Babington and his co-conspirators to assassinate her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Unfortunately for her, Francis...
Martin Luther
Martin Luther debated with Johann Eck at Pleissenburg Castle in Leipzig on this day in 1519. During the debate Luther denied the divine right of the pope. Luther challenged the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, particularly its sale of indulgences. He...
Language of Espionage
Yesterday I posted about John Le Carré. Today I turned the final page of A Legacy of Spies. What a wonderful book it is, I doff my cap to the master. I also mentioned the author’s pro-European, anti-Brexit views. He expresses his pro Europe belief through George...
A Legacy of Spies
I am reading A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré. Viking published it in 2017 and then Penguin published it in 2018. This book is gripping. I’m only putting it down to write my blog, it’s been a few days since my last post. It is written in the first person, with Peter...
Sea Beggars and the the Gorkum Martyrs
On this day in 1572 Admiral William de la Marck ordered the execution of nineteen Catholic priests in the Dutch town of Brielle. Prince William of Orange had issued an order that priests were not to be molested, but de la Marck ignored this instruction. They became...
Spoilt for Choice
I’m spoilt for choice today. The “on this day” website lists several historical events of interest. The trial of Mata Hari began in 1917. Hiram Bingham discovered Manchu Picchu in 1911. The long hated window tax was abolished in the UK in 1851, and in 1824 a...
Taxation without Representation
James Otis published his views on taxation without representation on 23rd July 1764. Those three words succinctly summarised the many and varied grievances of the American colonists. Otis had expressed his views as a lawyer in the case of Paxton vs. Gray, before the...
World War Two
I shall write about World War Two today. I can’t find anything that happened on this day to connect with Sir Anthony Standen. However, on this day in 1944 my father was experiencing stormy weather and heavy fighting for Caen in Normandy. Caen is on the right of Dad’s...
Research, Power, and Propaganda
I will get to propaganda, but first a progress update. I’ve carried out a lot of research, but I feel I should actually be writing book 5 of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have read biographies of Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu and Marie de Medici. The term...
The Babington Plot
Mary Queen of Scots sent a coded reply, on this day in 1586, to a letter she had received from Anthony Babington a week earlier. In her reply she ordered Babington and his co-conspirators to assassinate her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Unfortunately for her, Francis...
Martin Luther
Martin Luther debated with Johann Eck at Pleissenburg Castle in Leipzig on this day in 1519. During the debate Luther denied the divine right of the pope. Luther challenged the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, particularly its sale of indulgences. He...
Language of Espionage
Yesterday I posted about John Le Carré. Today I turned the final page of A Legacy of Spies. What a wonderful book it is, I doff my cap to the master. I also mentioned the author’s pro-European, anti-Brexit views. He expresses his pro Europe belief through George...
A Legacy of Spies
I am reading A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré. Viking published it in 2017 and then Penguin published it in 2018. This book is gripping. I’m only putting it down to write my blog, it’s been a few days since my last post. It is written in the first person, with Peter...
Sea Beggars and the the Gorkum Martyrs
On this day in 1572 Admiral William de la Marck ordered the execution of nineteen Catholic priests in the Dutch town of Brielle. Prince William of Orange had issued an order that priests were not to be molested, but de la Marck ignored this instruction. They became...