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Flint, J. Cecil Rhodes.  Little, Brown & Co, 1974. I found this biography of Rhodes in Oxfam and, being quite short, I thought it worth a read. Published in 1974 the book is the work of an American historian and gives every appearance of being a disinterested account of Rhodes, about whom I know next to nothing. Apart from some of the sections about Rhodes setting up some of his companies, the biography is an interesting and illuminating work. Rhodes founded companies with bi

Some thoughts on Neville Chamberlain after reading Feiling’s The Life of Neville Chamberlain (Macmiilan 1946).   Neville Chamberlain will always be associated with (even defined by) his disastrous negotiations with Hitler at Munich in 1938. But a broader view of his life suggests that, but for Munich, Chamberlain would be remembered as a talented, conscientious and successful politician. The first thing to note about Chamberlain is that he did not become a Member of Parliamen

I discovered Jenkins' Dilke at a second-hand book stall when on holiday. Whilst I must have seen the name here and there I never appreciated how important Dilke was and how near he came to being Leader of the Liberal Party, and even Prime Minister. The Jenkin's biography falls into three parts (as did Dilke's life). In the first part (1843-1885) Dilke showed early promise as an outstanding undergraduate and, at the presumptive age of 26, after a world tour, he published `Grea

Admiral Franz von Hipper (1864-1932). Jutland Hero Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper stood on the bridge of Seydlitz , puffing vigorously on his cigar. He had been born for this day. His Scouting Force had first made contact with Vice Admiral David Beatty’s battlecruisers at about 2.20 pm that afternoon. It was now 4.40 pm and behind him lay the most exhilarating hours of his life. True to his duty, he had, for two hours, engaged Beatty’s ships in a running battle, first south to

John Colville's poignant glimpse of bombers preparing for take-off Colville spent most of WW2 working for Churchill in Downing Street. With great reluctance, Churchill allowed him to briefly enlist in the RAF as a pilot. His diary for November 1943 includes this moving comment on the sadness of war as he watched Lancasters and Halifaxes preparing for that night's raid on Berlin: 'I stood outside a hangar and watched one three-ton lorry after another debouch a hundred or more

This article was my contribution to a 'Greatest Hero Debate' at the Martime Museum. Richard Been Stannard, VC. Nature of courage Courage comes in two forms. First there is the instinctive courage as when a someone dives into a foaming river to save a child. And then there is the considered, deliberate, drawn-out courage of a determined act. Richard Been Stannard won his Victoria Cross for five days and five nights of persistent, deliberate and calculated courage at Namsos dur

This article first appeared in Fighting Times A warship sinking at the Dardanelles 1915. Inaccurate accounts I have for many years been...

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881-1959) Halifax ‘Fulness of Days’ These memoirs lived down to my expectations....

This biography of Lady Victoria Sackville (Vita Sackville's mother) is well worth reading. She said that her life was like a novel - it...

(First published in ‘F ighting Times’ ) Winston Churchill in 1911. It can be dangerous letting loose a biographer on a man like Winston...

This article first appeared on the History Press website. Churchill with Admiral of the Fleet John Fisher outside the Admiralty in 1915....

Few decisive battles have been so indecisive in their early stages. Fewer still have turned on a bare five minutes. Even fewer battles...

When Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher announced his resignation as First Sea Lord in November 1909 the Navy lost its greatest ever...

This article first appeared in Soldiers of the Queen (Winter 2021) For a period of around 40 years, from 1871 to 1914, British booklovers...

I found this in Oxfam. I see from the end of the book that Jenny Lee wrote it after people had claimed that there was something wrong with her relationship with Nye Bevan because she had not written about Nye after his death. The first third of the book is Jenny Lee on her life before she became involved with Nye, during which, as a working class girl, she had risen to be MP for North Lanark (1929-31) after studying at Edinburgh University. She quotes a lot of letters that sh

Harold Laski 1892-1950 This book is a most interesting biographical memoir of Harold Laski. The author, Kingsley Martin, knew Laski well...

This article first appeared in Soldiers of the Queen in 2021. The determination to scare For a period of around forty years from 1871 to...

Newnhame College, Cambridge. This is a book, published for the centenary of the founding of Newnham College, comprises items written by...

(Blog piece for History Today . Jan 2013.) In December 1941 most Americans refused to believe that the Japanese would mount a surprise...

For many of us the Battle of Midway is just one more Hollywood spectacular in, to paraphrase Neville Chamberlain, a far-away sea of which...