The Times News blog asks: “Do you remember what you were doing when you heard that Nelson Mandela had been freed?”
Nelson Mandela want free on 11 February 1990. At that point, I was four (just four days away frm being five). So no, I don’t remember what I was doing, though I can imagine it involved brightly coloured blocks, poster paints, and large-print books with lots of pictures.

The most important document in history, the document that first gave anyone but the King any rights and guaranteed liberties, has been granted World Heritage status by the UN and admitted to the “Memory of the World” register.
It is about time. It really should be more recognised for what it is – the foundation of modern democracy, the document without which we would not have the right to live our lives.
Of course, Tim Worstall has a point when he says:

When they start putting things in museums you know that the …

Sometimes Welsh and Scottish nationalists seem to put just a little too much importance on their narrow sectarian interests. This is a prime example:

In a letter dated December 3, 1941, the Welsh Parliamentary Party wrote to the Prime Minister to demand a meeting to discuss a petition on the Welsh language.
Four days later – the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbour – Mr Churchill wrote in response: “Much as I should like to meet the deputation of the Welsh Parliamentary Party, I regret that, owing to the many tasks which fall …

Why does past political convictions mean that a politician should resign their post? Surely what someone has believed in the past means little in the present day? Political beliefs change over time. Mine certainly have in the three years since I started blogging.
Yes, a political journey from the IRA to the Conservative and Unionist Party is quite some trek. But obviously one that Maria Gatland has made. In the 1970s, she was involved in IRA gun-running, but in 1972 left the movement, and in 2008 she was a cabinet minister …

Even 593 years after their defeat, the French still haven’t got over it:

The French are using the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt to accuse England’s men of acting like ‘war criminals’…
Academics will suggest that the extent of the feat of arms was massively exaggerated, with claims that the English were hugely outnumbered a lie.
More controversially still, they will say that the foreign invaders used numerous underhand tactics against an honourable enemy. (The Telegraph)

Here, these French historians have committed the cardinal sin of historical study – casting back modern perceptions …

Teaching about slavery is to become a compulsory subject in secondary school history classes.

Schoolchildren will learn about the roles of William Wilberforce, the MP who campaigned for the abolition of slavery, and Olaudah Equiano, a former slave who drew attention to the horrors of the trade after buying his freedom and writing an autobiography.
They will also be taught about the origins of the empire, with one unit looking at rise and fall of the Mughals in India and the arrival of the British. Another is titled “How was it that, …

Iain Dale is chairing a discussion on “how we view history in this country, how it is taught in schools and how to engage people with the subject” so I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on the subject.
History is very important. It defines who we are and how we view the world. We should celebrate our history, from as far back as we can determine with any accuracy, right up to modern times.
British history is our history. The history of our nation. What made us who we …

No-one can apologise for something that someone else did. I can’t apologise for something you did, and you can’t apologise for something I’ve done. And neither of us can apologise for something someone else did. Any apology we did make wouldn’t mean anything since we didn’t do it and so have nothing to be sorry for.
This is an obvious fact, right?
So why do politicians persist in apologising for things that happened before they were in power, grown up, or in some cases even born? How can Kevin Rudd apologise for …

Soldiers who served during the First World War frequently wrote letters home, and it is through these documents that we can understand the true situation which they were in. The letters of one soldier, Private Harry Lamin, are being published as a blog, exactly 90 years after they were written, and are published entirely faithfully to the original, including spelling and grammar, and are also put in context by some historical explanations.
All in all, a very interesting blog and a very good idea to do, reproducing a snapshot of the …

Hell yes! We should celebrate British history. Not all of it is as great, pretty, and morally righteous as we may wish, be we should showcase it anyway. History is essential to the modern world. It made us what and who we are. Through history we learn lessons, and understand the reasons behind the way the world works.
British history is our history. The history of our nation. What made us who we are. We should have a museum of British history to remind us – and the world – of …