July 2018

  • Mein Kampf—The Sequel

    (Originally posted July 19, 2018) This may surprise some of you, but I have actually read Mein Kampf. Well, at least part of it. I gave up halfway through because it was boring. I recognized it for what it was: the ramblings of a delusional failed artist. Mein Kampf was published on July 18, 1925,

    Read more →

  • Mack the Knife is one of my favourite Jazz songs,  I love the Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong versions equally. It just doesn’t get cooler than that song, sung by these two performers, although Sammy Davis Jr, also did a pretty cool rendition. Even though I have admired this song for decades. it is only

    Read more →

  • Do you sleep at night?

    Do you sleep at night, knowing what you did to me? Does your conscience bother you? Do you have a soul? And if you do how could you do what you did? Do you have children of your own? Or do you have nieces or nephews? Would you kill them? We both know you wouldn’t

    Read more →

  • A destructive beauty.

    On July 16,1945,at 5:29 a.m the world witnessed a beautiful yet devastating event. When I say world I really mean only a select few. What they witnessed was the first ever nuclear test, designated the ‘Trinity Test’ it was part of the Manhattan Project. The bomb that was detonated was ‘the gadget’. Although we all

    Read more →

  • I came across the above picture a few years ago and the information I got with it is that the children in the picture were orphans, staying with the nuns in Castle Hoensbroek, in Limburg .the south east of the Netherlands However all the children had been placed under guardianship. They originally came from a

    Read more →

  • When we think of the first TV screening of Batman we automatically think of the 1966 TV series when Adam West took on the role as the caped crusader. However it was the actor Lewis Wilson who first portrayed the Batman on the TV screens. This day 75 years ago, July 16 1943, the Batman

    Read more →

  • Although tempted to join the debate on the current call to boycott goods from Israel, I am not going to join. I rather stick to what I know best, history. . On April 1, 1933, the Nazis in Germany began with the boycott of Jewish businesses. They claimed it was a retaliation to the calls of

    Read more →

  • Legend has it if it rains on the 15th of July it will rain for 40 days continuously. Because July 15 is St Swithin’s day. St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain Full forty days, it will remain St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair For forty days, t’will rain no more St Swithin was

    Read more →

  • The Ravensbrück Rabbits

    The Ravensbrück Rabbits was the name given to 74 Polish women, who were subjected to medical experiments in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Of the 74 women, 5 died as a result of the experiments and 6 other victims whose wounds did not heal were executed. The other survived with permanent damage. Rather then go through

    Read more →

  • On July 13 1985, one of the biggest ever music concerts took place. Live Aid. The aim of the concerts was to raise  funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. The concerts are often referred to as a dual-venue benefit concert, which is actually not true. Yes the main concerts took place in London and

    Read more →