I’m on a two-day culturefest and I’m back at the British Museum for Hadrian – the next in the empire series. Can’t say it was as good as the Terracotta Warriors. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Hadrian was a pretty interesting guy but the exhibition is largely full of statues of the Hirsute one.… Read More
Tag: history
The 1997 edition of Jan Morris’ well-loved, and re-issued Hong Kong book was updated just before the handover of the former British colony to the Chinese government. The new section attempts to deal with the emotions of the residents of this anomalous state on the eve of their migration to another government. The 2000 edition… Read More
Do not start reading this book while flying. I’d just launched into Chapter 3 when my flight was called. Chapter 3 is where van der Post stops explaining why he feels he has one foot in Africa and one in Europe, and starts describing his appalling series of flights from London to Nairobi. Not for… Read More
I’m not a nautical person; and I had worries early on in this book that it would be too technical, and too boring for me. I was very wrong. Severin’s attempt to prove that Irish monk Brendan could have crossed the Atlantic in the 6th Century in what amounts to little more than a leather… Read More