via AbeBooks by Richard Davies
April 1940. Britain’s darkest hour as the country braced for invasion by German forces. Prime Minister Winston Churchill took the extraordinary step of printing and distributing 14 million leaflets, titled Beating the Invader, featuring instructions on what to do when German troops reached British soil.
The key messages were quintessential Churchill – “Stand firm” and “Carry On.”
The leaflet contains more 1,300 words printed on the front and rear. It begins with an introduction from Churchill. Dunkirk would be evacuated in June, meaning Germany controlled mainland Europe and Britain was next in line for invasion. The leaflets were distributed across the country but most were thrown away when the invasion failed to materialize. Surviving copies are now highly collectible as an important example of government mass communication during World War II. They are also appealing to collectors of Churchill memorabilia.
The leaflet speaks to a wide audience, providing guidance to citizens living along England’s south coast where the invasion was expected to occur and to people in other areas. The War Office appeared to have two goals – provide instructions to people who could be caught up in the fighting and ensure people living elsewhere did not panic. The messaging is practical but the leaflet also contains an element of stiff upper lip public relations with reassuring text that describes how the British forces will counter-attack.
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Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England
via About History by Alcibiades
The Glorious Revolution is the name of the revolution occurring in 1688 in England, which resulted in the overthrow of King James II. The Dutch corps under, the command of William of Orange, took part in the coup, and he became the new King of England under the name of William III sharing the throne with his wife Maria II, the daughter of James II. The coup was widely supported among the most diverse sectors of English society.
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Why tumbleweeds tumble
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Recently, Carla posted about tumbleweeds invading Victorville, California leading to numerous 911 calls. Why do tumbleweeds tumble though? To make more tumbleweeds of course.
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A Short Analysis of John Clare’s ‘The Secret’
via Interesting Literature
This little poem by John Clare (1793-1864) is not his most famous, but it’s worth sharing here because it so perfectly puts into words the power of untold love. ‘I loved thee, though I told thee not’: undoubtedly we could all tell a similar story, especially during those powerful years when we’re in the grip of first love.
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via the Guardian by Alison Flood
‘Changing the model of what knowledge is’ … detail from portrait of Hernando Colón. Photograph: Biblioteca Colombina (Seville)
For 30 years, Hernando Colón, the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus, travelled the world with a quest, albeit one very different to that of his coloniser father: to build the biggest library the world had ever seen. Between 1509 and his death in 1539, Colón travelled all over Europe – in 1530 alone he visited Rome, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Turin, Milan, Venice, Padua, Innsbruck, Augsburg, Constance, Basle, Fribourg, Cologne, Maastricht, Antwerp, Paris, Poitiers and Burgos – buying books everywhere he went and eventually amassing the greatest private library in Europe.
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via OUP blog by Rory Cormac
Shredder_mechanically_device by Stux. CC0 via Pixabay
Spy fiction has been a popular genre for over 100 years. Tales of Bond and Bourne continue to fascinate audiences worldwide. Sometimes, however, the realities of the shadowy world of espionage can be just as engrossing.There is just one problem: finding out what actually happened.
This is especially the case when writing about deniable interference in the affairs of others: intelligence officers know it as “covert action.” Covert action involves using spies to influence events in other countries. Highly controversial, it is perhaps the most sensitive—and secretive—of all government activity.
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via About History by Alcibiades
The battle of Mycale is one battle of the Greco-Persian Wars, which occurred in 479 BC, near the Cape of Mycale. In the battle of Mycale, the Persian army suffered a crushing defeat. Under the leadership of the Spartan King Leotychides, and the Athenian Xanthippus, almost the entire Persian army was destroyed. Ionian cities, which had been under Persian rule, allied with the Hellenes.
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via Boing Boing by Seamus Bellamy
For women, getting dressed in 14th-century Europe was apparently a full-time job.
So. Many. Layers.
That someone – probably some dude that never had to wear the stuff – thought it was a good idea to complicate things by making it so that you couldn't get dressed without assistance from a family member or servant? Ugh.
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via the Big Think blog by Philip Perry
Forked lightning over Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: Getty Images.
Ever noticed that shapes in nature tend to repeat themselves? Leafless tree branches, for instance, resemble the branching nerve endings inside the human body, which also resemble forked lightning strikes, subways maps, and even the tributaries of a river basin. Scientists have noticed these similarities too, and one has identified the properties that come along with it.
Everything flows from the fluids inside our bodies to the electricity that feeds our homes. But it’s more than that. Information in computers and cultural norms flow too, as do artistic movements and breakthrough developments. Everything has flow and the greater our knowledge about it, the better we can manage our life and the world around us.
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via Interesting Literature
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) wrote ‘Easter 1916’ in the summer of 1916, shortly after the Easter Rising in Dublin and when the events were still fresh in the memory. Yeats’s feelings towards the rising – more details about which can be read here – since he deplored violence (in most cases) as a way of achieving Irish independence from the British. In ‘Easter 1916’, Yeats refers to a number of key figures in the struggle for Irish independence, although without naming them, so the poem requires a bit of analysis and context.
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