Kamikaze suicide missions explained
What led young men with their whole future ahead of them to board a plane…
Kamikaze suicide missions explained
What led young men with their whole future ahead of them to board a plane and crash it into an enemy ship with total certainty of death? In the closing stages of the Second World War, Kamikaze pilots chose suicide in the service of the Japanese emperor. Let’s try to understand why this happened. By…
Shogun – the truth behind the fiction
Shogun has been a hugely popular streamed series on FX and Hulu telling the story of an English navigator stranded in early 17th century Japan – caught up in violent conflicts between rival warlords – but eventually finding a way to become part of that strange society. But is it truth or fiction when it…
Mystery of Japan’s Hidden Christians
It’s easy to imagine that Japan is home to just two religions: Buddhism and Shinto. But for 500 years, there has been a thriving Christian community although for centuries, it had to pray in secret, avoiding the gaze of the authorities. So-called “hidden Christians” worshipped Christ and the saints, blending Roman Catholicism with indigenous rituals….
Why was Frankenstein published anonymously?
Frankenstein is one of the greatest horror stories of all time. But the author of the original novel, Mary Shelley, published the book anonymously. Because in the early 19th century, the idea of a woman penning such a monstrous tome was unthinkable. Plus Mary already had reputational issues! In the review below of Frankenstein that…
Why do trees get vandalised so often?
What is it about trees that make them targets for attack? For many years, some of our fellow humans can’t see a tree without wanting to chop it down. In 2023, the iconic Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England was vandalised using a chainsaw. The two men involved in this mindless act were…
Skyscraper fires – the real Towering Infernos
I’m sitting here on a lazy afternoon re-watching the 1974 classic disaster movie The Towering Inferno for the umpteenth time. A star studded cast, including Faye Dunaway, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Fred Astaire, struggle to escape from the mother of all skyscraper fires. But how many towering infernos have there been in reality? As…
Titanic sinking – unusual facts about the 1912 disaster
On 15 April, 1912, the biggest ever ocean liner, the Titanic, set sail from Southampton, bound for New York with 2,240 passengers and crew. In the mid-Atlantic, it struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,500 lives. This still ranks as one of the worst maritime tragedies in history. But let’s look at…
MPs vote for a British Republic in 1936
It’s the year 1936. A king who is about to be crowned abdicates. Officially it’s because he’s having a steamy affair with an American divorcee that scandalises the British establishment. Unofficially it’s widely known in elite circles that this American and the new king have Nazi sympathies. When he does relinquish the throne, British fascists…
“Hermaphrodite”: Intersex and non-binary in the 18th century
In today’s toxic political climate, intersex and non-binary people have been weaponised in a cynical so-called “culture war” over gender. Non-binary is dismissed as a new-fangled concept dreamed up in university ivory towers. But browse through 18th century newspapers and court records, and stories about “hermaphrodites” leap off the pages. Complex sexual identities are as…
History of Measles Outbreaks in London: Lessons for Parents!
London has seen an outbreak of measles in schools impacting children who have not been fully immunised. This is astonishing given that the measles vaccination has been with us since 1963, consigning to history the epidemics that used to sweept the city every other year, resulting in over half a million cases. Small children were…
