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Mixed race
We were half-castes in the U.K. until 2001 (2001!), when the census officially deemed us “mixed.” In US, census allowed choice of only one race until 2000! Change only really began in the wake of Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court case that officially legalized interracial marriage. The Loving decision overturned a trial judge’s opinion, written in 1958, that “Almighty…
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Hannah Arendt
Grew up ignorant of her Jewishness until she heard anti-semiticism on the street in Berlin. Studied philosophy, loved the ancient Greeks. Had an affair with Heidegger, starting from when she was his student, but he was more existential (and later a Nazi supporter) whereas she became politically active as the Nazis gained power. She also…
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The Gin Craze
18th century, as London was exploding with population and wealth (some good harvests). Alcohol was already consumed regularly by all ages (incl children), social classes and by both men and women. William of Orange comes to power and passes a law that essentially allows unregulated production, as a way of undermining market for French wine…
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The Ruislip Russian Spies I never heard of
At 45 Cranley Drive, Ruislip, in 1961, 2 Russian spies were arrested. According to their friends and neighbours, they were Peter and Helen Kroger, from New Zealand. And their passports were genuine. But their fingerprints revealed them to be Morris and Leontina Cohen, from the US originally, communists from poor Polish Jewish families. Morris had…
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Lister
In 1865, Joseph Lister (originally from Essex) applied a piece of lint dipped in carbolic acid solution onto the compound leg fracture of an eleven-year-old boy at Glasgow Infirmary – after six weeks, the boy’s bones had fused back together, without suppuration. He subsequently published his results in The Lancet. His inspiration had been Pasteur’s work on germs. …
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Origins of totalitarianism
Hannah Arendt “origins of totalitarianism” – panic and confusion after Great War. The collapse of imperialism as a benign ideal. Awareness of power of advertising to influence people. Democracy and liberalism became weakened. People were not to be trusted with autonomy. Hence powers given to Hindenburg before Hitler ever came to power. Fascism then set…
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Germ theory
Girolamo Fracastoro – from Verona, theorized that epidemics were caused by invisible “seeds”, spread by fomites (Latin for tinder), not themselves dangerous but able to enhance transfer of disease. Cf Miasma theory (bad air – like “Malaria”). Took another 100 years before Van Leeuwenhoek found microorganisms under his microscope, scepticism continued even through the 19th…
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Chivalry
Need to justify military power in context of Christianity! So Just War eg Pope Urban calling for crusade to recover Jerusalem. Expected to show same qualities of self discipline, sacrifice as other pious people, but other things crept in eg largesse, courtesy and eventually courtly love. Anglo-saxon warfare usually involved killing your enemies, in France…
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Enigma
Jerry Roberts (Latymer school)and other cryptographers at bletchley park, decoded Enigma but also Tunny, used to pass messages from German high command. Used Colossus, first large electronic computer. Contributed to D-day (confirmed that Hitler thought attack would be at Pas de Calais) and Battle of Kursk (warned Russians ahead of attack, possibly turning point of WW2).
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Irenaeus
2nd century Bishop of Lyon, then in Gaul. At that time, a multitude of different Christianities, with Gnosticism an important force. In his work, “Against Heresies”, he emphasized the unbroken chain from the apostles through the bishops, eg the Roman church, and the 4 Gospels as being the core scripture of Christianity, in addition to…