Comments for Historical articles and illustrations

Comment on The search for Speed by Nigel Macknight

Nigel Macknight — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:26:14 +0000

The “Quicksilver” water-speed project is still moving steadily forwards, I’m pleased to say.

Writing for “Look & Learn” was really the starting-block for my professional career. It was in February 1977, aged 21, that I left the normal world behind and entered the precarious realm of writing for a living. As a freelance: no salary, no holiday pay, no security – but the wonderful feeling of being able to steer one’s own course. Lots of good memories. Adrian Vincent and Jack Parker – the editors I answered to. Visits to King’s Reach Tower. Researching and writing across a broad range of subjects. All this provided an excellent grounding for the years of authorship and editorship which lay ahead.

Best wishes to all “Look & Learn” fans!

Nigel

Comment on The Duke of Monmouth wanted to be King James III by Andrew Douglas-Scott

Andrew Douglas-Scott — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:49:10 +0000

This is of course the ofiicial version hardly the worst planned and excecuted invasion in history. his fellow revoloutionary the Earl of argyll landed in Scotland at about the same time and was arrested and excecuted within 36 hours. Monmouth held out for about month with his untrained army. He met and defeated both the malitia and royal army in a series of skirmishes. the Battle of Sedgemoor was a perfectly well planned battle. The Royal Army was badly set out, and it was the best chance he’d ever have. It was a gamble thet didn’t pay off. A night attack was best as it would give his untrained volunteers the best chance of surprising the Royal Camp. His caverly took slightly longer to find a forge in a canal/river than seperated the two armies than was ideal. The alarm was raised and the royal army had time to form up. James Scott has ahad a very rough deal in history. If people actually check the history it is much less clear cut than the above would have you believe. For instance the movement he headed had the following policies, peers could have their titles removed by parliament, the king should be elected, parliamentary terms should be limited in time to 4 or 5 years. Also Monmouth only declard himself king when he was advised to do so by his supporters to try to gain suport towards the end of the rebellion, he was always very reluctant to do this as surviving letter show as he was to launch the invasion in the first place. His letters show he considered it to be an act of honour so as not to leave the scotish to go it alone. He would rather have lived out his life in exile in Sweden with his mistress. He was a complex man with a complex history and relation to both king Charles and James

Comment on From ancient opaque glass to finest cut Stuart crystal by Stephenph

Stephenph — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:11:48 +0000

It was George Ravenscroft 1632-1683 who discovered lead crystal not Frederick!
he had a brother called Francis but no Fredericks are known!

Comment on 12 12 12, or 12 December 2012 by williams wsk

williams wsk — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:25:33 +0000

So. Lovely

Comment on Captain Cook’s great life ended with his brutal murder on Hawaii by MHans

MHans — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 23:18:20 +0000

There is nothing sad about the death of Captain Cook. He knowingly allowed his crew to spread deadly diseases to the natives of the Hawaiian islands that decimated the population down to 10% of it’s original size. His “discovery” of the islands is false especially since the islands were already populated by nearly 1 million Hawaiians with their own fully functioning society, religion and customs. His entire crew should have encountered the same fate. When the remaining crew members returned to England, the ridiculous practices and religious structure of the Calvinist decided they needed to interfere with the Hawaiians and abolished their way of life and we are very lucky that any form of it remains today. Even though I am not Hawaiian by blood, I feel nothing but resentment towards him and am sure that he and his crew are to blame for the initial phases leading to the overthrow of Hawaii’s kingdom and later, the annexation to the United States.

Comment on John Absolon: Artist by JoeHvezda

JoeHvezda — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:46:06 +0000

Thank you for posting this! I am a 5th generation descendent of John Absolon and while I knew a lot of information, some is new to me or this article confirms things I suspected or had heard.

Comment on Henry Shrapnel’s Lethal Shell by Pipj69

Pipj69 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:40:05 +0000

Yes not the best way to be remembered – causing so much pain to humanity… however he did help save British lives and win many wars including Waterloo! However he never recived full recognition from the British Government and was never compensated for investing all his own money to fund development of the invention. He also went on to invent further ballistic weapons but again never recieved recompense by the Britsish Government and died virtually pennyless and unknown. Not even a statue or memorial exists to honour him other than a plaque on the side of a pub – the former site of his workshop. No columb for him to stand on overlooking London! There’s gratitude for you… happens to be an ancestor of mine on my fathers – mother’s side, so were still proud of him anyway

Comment on Nana Sahib and the Cawnpore massacre which shocked the Empire by Tom Williams

Tom Williams — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:48:21 +0000

The picture looks more like Lucknow than Cawnpore. At Cawnpore there were no brick walls to shelter behind – just a low mud parapet. The defence was deliberately made in the centre of a plain where no native buildings overlooked the defenders. (I think that at Lucknow possible vantage points were demolished before the siege, but I can’t swear to that.)

Comment on Nana Sahib and the Cawnpore massacre which shocked the Empire by Tom Williams

Tom Williams — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:06:13 +0000

There’s a bit more detail on the massacre and its aftermath on my blog: http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/it-was-155-years-ago-today.html and http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-aftermath-of-cawnpore.html.

Comment on Operation Overlord was the best kept secret of the Second World War by Paul Cheall

Paul Cheall — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:10:10 +0000

Anyone interested in D-Day might like to read my Dad, Bill Cheall’s first hand account at the link below. This harrowing extract is taken from his memoirs. Dad fought throughout the whole war and was in the first wave of troops to land on Gold Beach on D-Day – those lads were so incredibly brave. Read how Rufty Hill was killed coming off the landing craft. Explore the site to see various photos and personal stories.
Regards
Paul

http://www.fightingthrough.co.uk/#/d-day-planning-1/4551405616