RogerBW's Blog

The Laundrymen, Jeffrey Robinson 23 April 2022

1995 non-fiction, an informal look at money-laundering.

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Some of the Royal Armouries 07 October 2021 - 4 comments

Since I was in Leeds, I went to the Royal Armouries Museum.

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Backroom Boys, Francis Spufford 23 August 2021 - 4 comments

2003 non-fiction, a study of six British post-war technological projects.

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Why no anti-submarine Osprey? 07 November 2020

When the V-22 Osprey was still in development, one of the major roles it was expected to fill was that of submarine hunting. But this never happened, to the point that it's now largely been forgotten that it was ever contemplated. Why?

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Shady Characters, Keith Houston 05 October 2020

2013 non-fiction; Houston looks into the history and evolution of a variety of punctuation marks.

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L.E.L., Lucasta Miller 24 June 2020

2019 non-fiction, examining the life and work of Letitia Landon.

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The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes 22 June 2020

2008 non-fiction, an informal history of English science in the age of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and Humphry Davy.

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Brooklands 13 January 2020 - 5 comments

I went to what's left of Brooklands, near Weybridge.

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Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus, Fiona MacCarthy 08 December 2019

2019 non-fiction, examining the life and work of Gropius.

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Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, Clare Hunter 29 November 2019

2019 non-fiction. A history of sewing and embroidery, trying to recover the stories of the people who did it.

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Erebus: The Story of a Ship, Michael Palin 10 October 2019 - 2 comments

2018 non-fiction. HMS Erebus had already travelled to the Ross Ice Shelf; in 1845, she was sent to search for the Northwest Passage, and never came back.

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Lying for Money, Dan Davies 02 May 2019 - 2 comments

2018 non-fiction, an informal look at the history, particularly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, of fraud.

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National Army Museum 29 December 2018 - 10 comments

On a slightly crisp December day, I went to the National Army Museum in Chelsea.

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Computers at the V&A 07 November 2018

The Victoria and Albert Museum was having two computer-related exhibitions. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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West Wycombe Caves 03 May 2018 - 1 comment

The West Wycombe Caves are quite local to me, just on the other side of High Wycombe, and a guest felt like seeing them. They have some historical interest.

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Jack the Ripper unmasked 17 February 2018 - 1 comment

For over a century, people have speculated about the identity of "Jack the Ripper", the unknown killer who butchered at least five women in Whitechaper during the latter half of 1888.

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Museum of London 07 January 2018 - 1 comment

I went to the Museum of London to see a particular exhibition, and stayed to see the rest of it.

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Geffrye Museum 31 December 2017 - 1 comment

The Geffrye Museum in Hoxton is about to close down for an extended refurbishment, so I went along to it. As usual, the rooms were decorated for a period Christmas.

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War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges 29 November 2017

2002 non-fiction: an experienced foreign reporter gives his views on the fundamental psychological brokenness of war.

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The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson 20 November 2017

2003 non-fiction; the story of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and of Herman Mudgett or H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.

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The Battle for History, John Keegan 12 November 2017

This short book is a survey of histories of the Second World War.

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The Rules of the Game, Andrew Gordon 08 November 2017 - 1 comment

For over a hundred years, the Royal Navy had been expecting to win the next Trafalgar. On 31 May 1916 off the Danish coast they got their chance, and it didn't go as well as might have been hoped.

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The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage 16 October 2017 - 2 comments

1998 non-fiction, an informal history of the age of the telegraph.

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Midland Air Museum 14 October 2017 - 7 comments

The Midland Air Museum is round the back of Coventry airport, next door to the now-deceased Electric Railway Museum, and I visited it on the same day. It has a strong focus on Armstrong Whitworth and related companies, which had a factory here. All photos are cc-by-sa as usual.

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Electric Railway Museum final open day 10 October 2017

The Electric Railway Museum is losing its site, and its last open day was last Sunday (8 October 2017). All photos are cc-by-sa as usual.

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Finnish Submarine Vesikko 01 September 2017

On Suomenlinna, a complex of islands in the bay of Helsinki, lies the submarine Vesikko. With photographs (all taken on the Lumix GF1): cc-by-sa on everything.

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Military Museum of Finland 24 August 2017

On Suomenlinna, a complex of islands in the bay of Helsinki, lies the Military Museum of Finland. With photographs (all taken on the Lumix GF1): cc-by-sa on everything.

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Finnish Air Force Museum 19 August 2017 - 3 comments

Near the Jyväskylä airport at Tikkakoski is the Suomen Ilmavoimamuseo, the museum of the Finnish Air Force. With photographs (all taken on the Lumix GF1): cc-by-sa on everything.

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Farnborough Air Sciences Trust 03 March 2017 - 2 comments

On a slightly warm February day, to Farnborough to visit the museum on the former site of the Royal Aeronautical Establishment at Farnborough. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester 20 April 2016 - 5 comments

Also over Easter, I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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IWM North 30 March 2016 - 3 comments

As I was in Manchester over Easter, I visited the IWM North, the only one of the five IWM sites I hadn't been to. It was a bit of a disappointment. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Wallace Collection 2015 29 February 2016

Shortly after Christmas I went to the Wallace Collection for the first time. I could spend days there. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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More from the Science Museum 21 January 2016 - 2 comments

More from the Science Museum last Boxing Day Bank Holiday. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Cosmonauts at the Science Museum 29 December 2015 - 4 comments

Since yesterday was the Boxing Day Bank Holiday, I went to the Science Museum for their Cosmonauts exhibition. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything. (I'd been told photography was prohibited, but there were no signs and nobody tried to stop me. I didn't use flash, which may have helped.)

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Ithacus and SUSTAIN 09 December 2015 - 5 comments

Ithacus was a 1966 study by Douglas, producers of the DC- series transport aircraft and the Thor IRBM, for a sub-orbital troop transport.

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Falling Upwards, Richard Holmes 29 November 2015 - 1 comment

2013 non-fiction, an informal history of the rise and fall (sorry) of the man-carrying balloon.

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The Box, Marc Levinson 17 November 2015 - 4 comments

2008 non-fiction, an informal history of the shipping container. Until the Second World War, almost all non-bulk freight was breakbulk, loaded one piece at a time into a ship's hold. Fifty years later, pretty much everything long-distance was going in containers. How did the change come about?

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de Havilland Museum 25 October 2015 - 2 comments

To the de Havilland museum, on the last weekend before it closed for the winter. Many images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Clapham South Deep Shelter 19 October 2015 - 2 comments

On Sunday I visited the Clapham South deep-level shelter. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Alands Maritime Museum and Pommern 12 July 2015

Strictly speaking, the Ålands Sjöfartsmuseum. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Windscale 1957, Lorna Arnold 29 May 2015

1995 non-fiction. In October 1957, the core of Windscale's Pile 1 caught fire, burned for three days, and spread radioactive contamination across what was then Cumberland. This is the official history of the incident and its aftermath.

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Firepower, 2 May 2015 03 May 2015 - 14 comments

To Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum. I hadn't been for eight years, and things had changed a bit. Many photos follow; cc-by-sa on everything.

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A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman 05 March 2015 - 2 comments

1978, popular history. Tuchman recounts the history of France and some nearby countries in the latter part of the Fourteenth Century, with particular focus on the nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy.

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National Maritime Museum, 30 December 2014 01 January 2015 - 6 comments

On a chilly December day, I drove to Greenwich (do not do this, by the way; if you don't have twenty-odd quid in coins or a disposable credit card, just park in Lewisham, it's less hassle) and visited the National Maritime Museum. (Many photos follow; cc-by-sa on everything.)

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Didcot Railway Centre 26 October 2014 - 1 comment

Yesterday I visited the Didcot Railway Centre for the first time in really quite a few years; probably at least thirty. Lots of images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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Lockheed D-21 22 October 2014

The D-21 was a supersonic reconnaissance drone used briefly in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Swedish Air Force Museum 29 July 2014 - 3 comments

Earlier this month I visited the Swedish Air Force Museum near Linköping, on the site where Carl Cederström (Sweden's first aviator, like so many early flyers a member of the landed gentry with an interest in machinery and little to do) established the first Swedish flying school. Lots of images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

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The Unfortunate History of Aircraft-Carrying Submarines 19 July 2014 - 5 comments

Aircraft-carrying submarines seem, superficially, like a really good idea. Unfortunately in practice they haven't really worked.

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The Origins of Homœopathy 11 July 2014

Homœopathy has some very strange ideas. But where did it actually come from?

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Convair F2Y Sea Dart 04 July 2014 - 3 comments

The Sea Dart (try not to associate that in your mind with Lawn Dart) was to be a supersonic flying-boat fighter.

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HMAS Melbourne 20 June 2014 - 3 comments

HMAS Melbourne was the Royal Australian Navy's last aircraft carrier (to date).

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Saunders-Roe Princess 12 June 2014 - 4 comments

The Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess was the largest all-metal flying-boat ever built. Only three were made, and none was ever sold.

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The Gunpowder Plot 09 June 2014 - 2 comments

Guy Fawkes is often described as "the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions". But what did he really aspire to do?

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Northrop YF-23 24 May 2014 - 2 comments

The YF-23 was a prototype that competed against the Lockheed YF-22 to become the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter in the 1990s; the Lockheed plane won.

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Yakovlev Yak-38 11 May 2014 - 9 comments

The Yak-38 (NATO reporting name "Forger") was the Soviet carrier-borne fixed-wing aircraft of the Cold War.

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Lockheed XV-4 Hummingbird 03 May 2014 - 2 comments

The XV-4 was a prototype V/STOL aircraft built for the US Army.

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Northrop Flying Wings 27 April 2014

The YB-35 and YB-49 were flying-wing bomber prototypes built during and in the wake of the Second World War.

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Martin P6M SeaMaster 21 April 2014 - 2 comments

The SeaMaster was to be a flying-boat strategic bomber for the U.S. Navy.

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North American XB-70 Valkyrie 15 April 2014 - 2 comments

Yeah, I pretty much have to do this one, don't I? The Valkyrie was to be a Mach 3 high-altitude nuclear bomber.

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North American A-5 Vigilante 07 April 2014

The Vigilante was a carrier-borne supersonic bomber.

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BAC TSR-2 03 April 2014 - 8 comments

The TSR-2 was to be a highly capable low-and-fast bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. It was famously cancelled in 1965.

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McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II 31 March 2014

Not the ancestor of what would become the SR-71, this A-12 was to be the US Navy's very own stealth bomber.

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Tailsitters 28 March 2014 - 2 comments

One of the desiderata of an air defence system is to put defending fighters close to the high-value targets. That way they don't get decoyed away by diversionary attacks, giving the enemy bombers a clear run, because they're dedicated to protecting a specific target; nor do they need massive endurance (adding to weight), if they don't need to make long-distance flights.

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Vought F7U Cutlass 22 March 2014

The Cutlass was a high-subsonic carrier-borne fighter, flying off Essex and Midway-class carriers.

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Piasecki PA-97 Helistat 19 March 2014

The Helistat was a hybrid airship/helicopter combination, designed for heavy vertical lift.

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Fateful Choices, Ian Kershaw 15 March 2014

Kershaw examines ten choices made during the years 1940-1941 that, in his opinion, substantially affected the course of the Second World War.

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American Parasite Fighters 14 March 2014 - 2 comments

One of the great scars on the American military-aviation psyche was the unescorted bomber. As the men who'd been on the front lines during the Second World War became the leaders of the Air Force, they tried to do something about it.

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Convair B-58 Hustler 11 March 2014 - 6 comments

The Hustler was not just the first aircraft to be named after a pornographic magazine (this is a lie, it first flew nearly twenty years before that was thought of), it was the world's first operational supersonic bomber.

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Convair B-36 Peacemaker 08 March 2014 - 2 comments

The Peacemaker was the world's first intercontinental bomber, and the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built.

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Short Mayo Composite 01 March 2014 - 3 comments

The Short Mayo Composite was a solution to the range problem of fixed-wing aircraft.

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Caproni Ca.60 14 February 2014 - 1 comment

The Caproni Ca.60, called the Noviplano or Capronissimo, was a prototype flying-boat airliner. Built in 1921,

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