History

Had a wash house in the tenements were I was born.
They had baths in them as well.
A lot of the terrace houses didn't have a bathroom, outside toilet ect, some had no hot water.
Some of them looked down on us , but at least we had a inside toilet and bath and hot water.
The older kids used to get us up on the roof to rob the lead around the windows, we were only about 4 yrs old and got paid in sweets for are venture into crime.
They knew the cops couldn't do anything to you accept tell you off and get your parents to give you a hiding.
 
chrismpw said:
This year it's 1100 years since England had its first king of all England- Athelstan. There are a series of events and talks in Malmsbury, near me, (his hood) this month to mark the fact.

For those that don't know, England was a short lived country made up largely of what we'd now call Scandinavians and Germans, that was quickly beaten and conquered by the Normans in 1066 and is still living under the feudal remnants of that Norman aristocracy even though they haven't realised and still proudly think they're actually England.

Makes you proud to be English doesn't it?
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stipe said:
Regional/historical rivalry within a single country is pretty normal, we (Croatia) got only 4 million people but rivalry/hate between continental and Adriatic parts is thing to behold.

Or take Italy for example, what Northern Italians think of the Southerners is borderline racism, or Naples, amount of hate that city take, they are almost seen as "sub-humans" by Northerners (as awful as that sounds).
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Just checked my calendar. It's 2024. I'm a good bloke. Don't hate anyone. But whatever floats your boat.
 
PITA said:
Just checked my calendar. It's 2024. I'm a good bloke. Don't hate anyone. But whatever floats your boat.
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Well I guess if it's 2024 and we can't lament on what happened in the past, I guess the same applies to everything else that happened in the past - slavery, racism, the holocaust, patriarchy, repression of women etc.

We'll hear nothing more of any of them then.
 
chrismpw said:
Well I guess if it's 2024 and we can't lament on what happened in the past, I guess the same applies to everything else that happened in the past - slavery, racism, the holocaust, patriarchy, repression of women etc.

We'll hear nothing more of any of them then.
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Am I ok to continue to ridicule 70's and 80's fashion please? It's as if everyone was a vampire and thus had no reflection in a mirror.
 

I've just been reading a little bit about Bogot De Clare, as you do, appointed the Dean of Stafford at the age of 11 in 1259. A little bit of nepotism of course as he was related to the Plantagenets. Moving swiftly on, he acquired many (20 or more) positions within the Church, rector, clerk, priest (although never actually ordained) which all were satisfyingly remunerated to the tune of £2,200 per year. This works out to the staggering amount of £2,120,204.56 today.
Even with this wealth he was a nasty piece of work :

"Now, weighing these things a little, we lament more bitterly that, passing through some of your churches, or rather possessed in your name, we found you there (according to the report of several persons not at all suspicious) acting in them, for the most part, not in the office of a rector, but as a ravisher (raptor); because reaping the fleshly goods of the poor, you do not minister to them even a small amount of aid."

Coming to the point of this scribble, if you ever want an example of being damned with faint praise, it is this :

He died suddenly in October 1294 ("before the Feast of All Saints"), his passing noticed by several chroniclers, always unfavourably. The Worcester annalist commented that "God only knows if his life was worthy of praise, but no-one thought it worthy of imitation."

Have a pleasant day, and lay off the ravishing.
 
I read today about a remarkable man called Captain Edward Fogarty Fegen. He was the captain of HMS Jarvis Bay during WWII, which was a converted liner.

These were called armed merchant vessels, and they possessed only a few relatively small calibre and outdated guns. He was captaining on a convoy.

Here, Fegen and the convoy faced the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, which had the power to decimate the entire convoy, south of Reykjavík.

Facing hopeless odds and certain destruction, Fegen bravely ordered the Jarvis Bay to charge at full steam towards the Scheer firing all her guns.

He had ordered the convoy to scatter, with his selfless actions having one task - to bide the convoy precious time to escape. Fegen was seriously wounded...

... but he kept fighting with his surviving crew until she went to her deep, cold grave. This is the inscription for his posthumous but much-deserved Victoria Cross.

For valour in challenging hopeless odds and giving his life to save the many ships it was his duty to protect. On the 5th of November, 1940, in heavy seas, Captain Fegen, in His Majesty's Armed Merchant Cruiser Jervis Bay, was escorting thirty-eight Merchantmen. Sighting a powerful German warship he at once drew clear of the Convoy, made straight for the Enemy, and brought his ship between the Raider and her prey, so that they might scatter and escape. Crippled, in flames, unable to reply, for nearly an hour the Jervis Bay held the German's fire. So she went down: but of the Merchantmen all but four or five were saved
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1721332935859.png
 

PhilM said:
I read today about a remarkable man called Captain Edward Fogarty Fegen. He was the captain of HMS Jarvis Bay during WWII, which was a converted liner.

These were called armed merchant vessels, and they possessed only a few relatively small calibre and outdated guns. He was captaining on a convoy.

Here, Fegen and the convoy faced the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, which had the power to decimate the entire convoy, south of Reykjavík.

Facing hopeless odds and certain destruction, Fegen bravely ordered the Jarvis Bay to charge at full steam towards the Scheer firing all her guns.

He had ordered the convoy to scatter, with his selfless actions having one task - to bide the convoy precious time to escape. Fegen was seriously wounded...

... but he kept fighting with his surviving crew until she went to her deep, cold grave. This is the inscription for his posthumous but much-deserved Victoria Cross.




View attachment 265133
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This and many other remarkable people, along with their medals and stories of courage and bravery, did I have the pleasure of learning about today at the NWM London.
 
Lapeno77 said:


Killing Nazis has always been tricky
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It's true that the bomb was moved and put behind the leg of a heavy, oak table, which helped saved Hitler... but, the biggest factor was the change of location.

It was a very warm and humid day in the Polish forest, so instead of the usual heavily-reinforced concrete structure, the meeting moved to an outbuilding.

It was this which ultimately saved Hitler because the explosion dissipated out of the structure through the windows, whereas if it had been inside... well.

Table leg or no table leg, the explosion would have killed most, if not all, those inside. I've visited the Bendlerblock (part of OKW and OKH) where he was executed.

If you read more into von Stauffenberg, you see that he was a fierce patriot and his actions were more about saving Germany than being anti-Nazi.
 
PhilM said:
It's true that the bomb was moved and put behind the leg of a heavy, oak table, which helped saved Hitler... but, the biggest factor was the change of location.

It was a very warm and humid day in the Polish forest, so instead of the usual heavily-reinforced concrete structure, the meeting moved to an outbuilding.

It was this which ultimately saved Hitler because the explosion dissipated out of the structure through the windows, whereas if it had been inside... well.

Table leg or no table leg, the explosion would have killed most, if not all, those inside. I've visited the Bendlerblock (part of OKW and OKH) where he was executed.

If you read more into von Stauffenberg, you see that he was a fierce patriot and his actions were more about saving Germany than being anti-Nazi.
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There way always conflict between old Prussian military/aristocratic elite and Nazis, they always kinda looked down on them (as that famous Voltaire quote goes "Where some states have an army, the Prussian army has a state"). But as long war was ongoing successfully majority of them remained quiet and obedient.

Only when tides turned real unsatisfaction started among them. But yes, they knew that Soviets were out for bloody revenge and only hope they seen was unrealistic idea of separate peace with Western allies and never actual surrender.
 

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