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Category Archives: Uncategorized
‘Why hasn’t prohibition reformed the Turks?’
By the time I was born, New Zealand Truth was a scurrilous gossip newspaper with little to recommend it to anyone with an interest in serious news. This wasn’t always the case, though. Back in the 1920s it was a … Continue reading
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The Killer Watch
If you are the fan of a sports team, in some moment of reflection you have probably realized that your bias has led you to be overly generous in your interpretations of the rules of the game and of fair … Continue reading
The Worst Museum in the UK?
Take an original historic site, with a great story behind it from the most popular era of British history, sink a whole lot of money into it, and you have a recipe for a great museum, right? In fact, Bletchley … Continue reading
Arthur Conan Doyle Part II: From the Grave?
Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930. Immediately, his blessed relief from the mortal coil was welcomed with the undignified spectacle of every half-way ambitious spiritualist medium in the world claiming to have heard from the man who, in his final … Continue reading
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Tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, spiritualism, Violet May Cottrell
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Arthur Conan Doyle Part I: An Eminently Victorian Gentleman among the Living
The recent BBC television adaptation/modernization of the Sherlock Holmes stories, ‘Sherlock’, is quite good. But even as I watched it, something didn’t seem right. I finally realized that what made me uncomfortable was something about the identification between the characters … Continue reading
A.E. Manning, the Bodgies and Abnormal Psychology
Image: nzhistory.net.nz In the late 1950s, a problem was gripping the youth of New Zealand. Like Australia, Britain and the US, youth seemed to be out of control. The symptoms were sex (‘immoral behavior’), alcohol, tobacco. the causes were less … Continue reading
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Tagged A.E. Manning, juvenile delinquency, New Zealand history
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A Pedophile goes to the Palace: Jimmy Savile
British deejay and television host Jimmy Savile was a popular and enduring public figure. He has made the news twice recently: in 2011 he died, prompting friendly and generous obituaries for his colorful personality and extensive charitable work, especially with … Continue reading
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Tagged charity, honours system, Jimmy Savile, Order of the British Empire
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John A. Lee: Politician, Memoirist and Assassin?
In one of his many political memoires, John A. Lee quoted with great relish the 1960s British parody of the socialist anthem ‘The Red Flag’. Known as the ‘Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party’, it went: The people’s flag … Continue reading
Memories of Guadalcanal
By January 1943, the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal were desperate. A nasty, poisonous, back-and-forth jungle battle that began in August of the previous year was nearing an end. The Second Marine Division’s advance, backed by hard-fought air and naval superiority … Continue reading