Category Archives: Our History

Lamenting the Past

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I read a newspaper article earlier this week describing the “shame” and “dark past” of certain English cities (primarily Bristol and Liverpool) for their role in the slave trade and describing how their success and wealth was built on the back of that odious trade.

I don’t doubt for a minute that every decent minded person in the country feels nothing but revulsion at what happened two hundred years ago and beyond but it seems to me that we British do have an almost unique tendency to self-flagellate.

The fact of the matter is that Great Britain, the USA, the French, Spanish, Portuguese and every other nation boasting an empire participated in the slave trade and yes, of course, it is something to be ashamed of.

However, it would be nice if those critics of our country’s history would present a more balanced argument and celebrate the fact that Great Britain, through the efforts of Englishmen such as Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce, became, in 1807, the first western nation to abolish the slave trade and then in 1833 to abolish slavery completely. Can credit not be given for the fact that Great Britain then devoted much time and effort in ensuring that nations like the USA, France and Portugal eventually followed suit?

Whatever is said about our past, the sad fact remains that slavery is alive and well and is still openly practiced in many parts of the world. Would it not be more useful if the country’s detractors, instead of lamenting the past, devoted their efforts in trying to ensure that this affront to human dignity is removed from our planet once and for all?

Normandy Beaches

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Today is June 6th, the anniversary of the D-Day landings when the Allies (principally the British, Americans and Canadians) began the invasion of Normandy which, under a year later, would lead to ultimate victory in Europe and free large parts of the continent from over 5 years of German tyranny.

The price of victory was not cheap, as any visitor to the military cemeteries of Normandy will testify, though but for the meticulous planning of the operation (Operation Overlord) it could have been a lot worse.

This year’s anniversary has a special poignancy since it is exactly 70 years to the day that thousands of young soldiers began their voyage into the unknown by leaving the shores of southern England and crossing the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy.

A sizeable group of survivors, all of them now old men in their late 80s and beyond, are meeting today on those same beaches to commemorate the landings and to remember their fallen comrades.  We too will remember their sacrifice with respect and gratitude – and thank our lucky stars that we have been fortunate enough to escape anything like the horrors they suffered on our behalf.

Communication Breakdown

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Joseph Priestley, the 18th century historian, theologian and philosopher (among other things!), once said “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate”.

Nearly three hundred years on, we live in an age where at the press of a smartphone button we can communicate with virtually anybody anywhere in the world. We can send a text to the other side of the planet in seconds and via social media can, in an instant, post a video greeting to friends and family wherever they may be.

It could be argued that with all these means of communication we are actually communicating more rather than less but Priestley’s comment is deeper and more significant than that. We may well be able to communicate in an instant at the touch of an electronic button but this is an age where fewer and fewer people correspond face to face. People begin relationships online and often end them the same way. A job can be lost by email and marriage can be ended by text.

Is that communication? Well yes, of course it is but is that what we human beings, the most sociable and communicative animals on the planet, really want?

Priestley was right then and he’s right now. This is an age where more is less.

 

Break up?

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Last week the Council for Europe announced that Cornwall was being granted special “Minority Status” meaning that the region, for the last 1000 years a county of England, will now have a similar standing to Wales and Scotland.

Most people probably shrugged their shoulders and wondered briefly whether the change of status would really make that much of a difference, a response initially shared by me. Like many people, I like Cornwall and have a warm feeling towards the place with its ancient folklore, its beautiful scenery and delicious pasties! I have similar feelings about many other parts of England and have always felt that our regional differences are part of what makes us what we are.

I’m sure that people in Yorkshire, Kent and Cumbria, for example, feel that their counties are equally special and unique and they are. But should they strive for “Minority Status” and seek separate representation leaving the land as it was prior to King Alfred the Great and the creation of England in the 9th and 10th Centuries?

The more I thought about it the more I remembered something I read years ago by the author Vernon Coleman who warned that one of the primary aims of the European Union is to abolish the idea of nationhood and encourage, in its place, the creation of many smaller regions. These regions will offer less of a problem than nations and, because of their size, will become dependent upon the European government in Brussels. Coleman warned, nearly ten years ago, that ultimately Scotland and Wales would go their own way and that England would cease to exist and be broken into separate regions.

Of course, many people have dismissed Coleman as being a crank or a scaremonger and maybe he is. But when I think about Cornwall’s new status and the fact that later this year Scotland (as Coleman predicted) is going to vote on whether or not to remain a part of the United Kingdom I can’t help but feel a little uneasy.

English Understatement

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We English are often said to possess a certain reserve and to be, on occasion, somewhat aloof. However, the other side of the coin is a rather unique gift for understatement, stoicism and an admirable coolness under pressure, commonly referred to as the “stiff upper lip”. Indeed, the British Government’s motivational slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On”, issued in poster form in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II has proved such a commercial success that, 75 years later, millions of T shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia bearing the slogan continue to be sold all over the world.

There are a number of historical examples of English stoicism such as Francis Drake’s insistence on completing his game of bowls before sailing from Plymouth to confront the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588. Or Wellington’s cool reaction as a cannon ball struck his aide, Lord Uxbridge, at Waterloo in 1815. “By God, sir, I’ve lost my leg”, exclaimed Uxbridge. “By God sir” replied Wellington, before calmly returning his gaze to the battle, “So you have!”.

For me though the piece de resistance (to use a foreign phrase!) and an excellent example of our sang-froid (another one!) is the way that Richmond Golf Club kept its collective head during the dark days of the Blitz in 1940. Rather than close the course down (and thus give a moral victory to the Nazis!) the Club’s committee decided to stay open and published some temporary rules for its members, as follows –

  1. Players are asked to collect Bomb and Shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to the mowing machines.
  2. In competitions, during gunfire, or while bombs are falling, players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play.
  3. The positions of known delayed-action bombs are marked by red flags placed at reasonably, but not guaranteed safe distance therefrom.
  4. Shrapnel/and/or bomb splinters on the Fairways, or in Bunkers within a club’s length of a ball may be moved without penalty, and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally.
  5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty.
  6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole without penalty.
  7. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place. Penalty, one stroke.

The one stroke penalty in Rule 7 seems a little harsh but really, is there any wonder that Hitler lost the war?!

A Notable Anniversary

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Today is the anniversary of the first speech made by a woman in Britain’s House of Commons, back in 1920. The woman was Nancy Astor, an American by birth, who became an MP in 1919 just one year after women were first granted the right to vote following the end of the First World War. Even then the right only applied to women over the age of 30 and it wasn’t until 1928 that women received the same voting rights as men.

Astor, who had become Lady Astor through marriage, was a formidable, energetic  and sharp-witted woman who more than held her own in the company of men (she was a noted sparring partner of Winston Churchill) and remained a Member of Parliament until her retirement in 1945. Among her most famous witticisms were – “I married beneath me. All women do!” and “One reason why I don’t drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.”

I wonder what  she would make of the world today, which in spite of the two terrible world wars experienced in her lifetime, still shows no sign of settling down to lasting peace. Perhaps the world would be a safer place if it had more female leaders; men don’t seem to be doing that good a job of it, do they?

As Lady Astor herself said “Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women.”

His Country’s Saviour

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Tomorrow is the birthday of the man who in 1999 was voted the greatest Englishman of the millennium. He was born on the 30th November, 1874 and died on the 24th January, 1965. In his 90 years he achieved more than most ordinary men or women would achieve in several lifetimes. He was a soldier, a journalist, a Nobel Prize winning writer, a historian, a painter and the greatest politician and statesman of his age.

Winston Churchill was a true colossus and though not without his faults (is any human being flawless?) he was a politician with qualities that today’s political pygmies can only dream of. If his political career was chequered prior to 1940 his achievements thereafter were nothing short of remarkable. His grim resolve and defiance became the embodiment of British resistance to Nazi tyranny and ultimately proved invaluable to the allied victory in the Second World War.

Still, it’s easy for me or any other Englishman to speak in such terms of one of our own and there is admittedly a danger that we may overstate the case and not always be as objective as we should. I will leave the final word, therefore, to a foreigner, the American political commentator and philosopher, Thomas Sowell who said of Churchill –

“It is enough of a claim to historical greatness for a man to have saved his own country. Winston Churchill may have saved civilisation”.

Memories

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Quite naturally, November 22nd is the date that most people associate with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Today, that date is even more poignant since it is now 50 years since America’s charismatic and youngest ever President  had his life snatched away by the marksman’s bullet.

However, there are happier things to remember today, particularly, if you happen to be English, for this is the 10th anniversary of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup Final. The day when England defeated Australia in their own backyard.

There will, of course, be sober and respectful thoughts today but when the evening comes my glass will be raised to the stars in honour of that moment on a dark Saturday night in Sydney when Jonny Wilkinson’s right boot broke the hearts of one nation and sent the other into raptures of ecstasy! Memories don’t get much better than that!

Taking Care of Our Own

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I was listening to a Bruce Springsteen song the other day called “We take care of our own”. The lyrics that caught my attention were “Wherever this flag is flown, we take care of our own”. Now this song is not, as you may imagine, a call to arms and a glorification of war; in fact, far from it. Nevertheless, it did get me thinking about the different attitudes in the UK and the USA to veterans of our respective armed forces.

Today, is Armistice Day, a celebration of the peace declared on November 11th, 1918 when the First World War finally came to an end. In the USA it is called Veteran’s Day, a national holiday – and there is the first great difference. Can you imagine the whinging from the PC brigade if we dared to “glorify war” by making Armistice Day a national holiday?

I have just returned from the USA and witnessed, as I do every time I go there, how Americans honour and respect those men and women who fought for and sometimes died for their country. Veterans are given discounts in stores, priority boarding on commercial aircraft, concessions in restaurants and a whole host of other benefits. I even saw a sign by a highway proclaiming “The University of South Florida Honours our Veterans”. Can you imagine something like that happening in our country?

Every year, it seems that the wearing of the Royal British Legion’s  red poppy, that symbol of  ultimate sacrifice, creates more and more controversy. Why should this be when the proceeds of sale of those poppies help provide financial and other assistance for British veterans and their families?

Some public figures tell us that we shouldn’t feel obliged to wear a poppy and actually, for once, they are right. We shouldn’t feel obliged. No, we should feel honoured and proud to wear our poppies but not through any misguided or naïve notions of nationalism or even patriotism but from a simple gratitude for the sacrifices made on our behalf. Springsteen speaks for all of us, we should indeed take care of our own.

Happy All Saints Day!

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It’s strange and quite sad at the same time how we British (along with the rest of the Western world) copy and imitate so much of what comes out of America. Now, that is not said out of any disrespect to the USA, a country that I much admire, like immensely and visit regularly.

It is a wonderful country and its achievements in the 237 years of its existence are nothing short of phenomenal.

What bothers me, however,  is why we British, who have a history, heritage and a set of traditions at least ten times as old feel the need to copy America so blindly. Why, for example, do we have to celebrate Halloween, that great example of American consumerism, in the manner of Americans when All Hallows Eve (the correct name for Halloween) is such an ancient festival in our country’s history?

Today (November 1st) is All Saints Day and tomorrow is All Souls Day, all part of the same festival. These are days of British tradition and history but I doubt many people know this and I doubt if they are taught by our schools.

I appreciate that I probably sound like a grumpy old curmudgeon who, Canute-like, is trying to hold back the tide and prevent the inevitable – and I realise, of course, that this particular tide can never be stopped. More’s the pity.