Author Archives: secondbysecond

This week in the War, 6–12 January 1941: Lord Baden-Powell

Posted on January 12, 2013 by secondbysecond

Youth hostelling taught me the ins and outs of making beds, cooking a modest meal (eggs and bacon!), and how to use a map to find one’s way around the countryside. Scouting was similar but broader: camping in tents during … Continue reading →

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In the news: Monopoly

Posted on January 10, 2013 by secondbysecond

Everyone who has played Monopoly has their preferred player token. Ever since I can remember, mine has been the car—not the flashy gold one shown in the above deluxe version of the game, but the little red cardboard car of … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 30 Dec 1940–5 Jan 1941: Death of Henri Bergson

Posted on January 1, 2013 by secondbysecond

No food, no fuel, no freedom—and precious little to laugh about in the Nazi Paris of 1941. Santa was dead—maybe the Boches had shot him!—and the lump of coal in the stocking of anyone more naughty than nice would have … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 23–29 December 1940: Christmas 1940

Posted on December 25, 2012 by secondbysecond

No two men were as different as King George VI of England and Rudolf Hess. They had nothing at all in common, —except that both were largely of German descent (George through George I of Hanover and through Queen Victoria’s … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 16–22 December 1940: Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted on December 20, 2012 by secondbysecond

          Read any book on creative writing or, better still, spend time and money on a course. It’s Dallas to doughnuts your prof will thumb through a dog-eared copy of The Great Gatsby to illustrate a point: … Continue reading →

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In the news: The pigeon who tried to save England

Posted on December 17, 2012 by secondbysecond

Garry McCafferty’s whimsically titled They had no Choice—Racing Pigeons at War (Tempus Publishing: Charleston, SC, and Stroud,Gloucester, UK, 2002) rekindled interest in the homing pigeons of World War II. Interested rekindled once again—veritably caught fire—when news sources throughout Britain (see The … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 16–22 December 1940: The Garden Hose

Posted on December 16, 2012 by secondbysecond

At a press conference on 17 December 1940, President Roosevelt attempted to lead American opinion away from strict neutrality with the idea of lending ones garden hose to a neighbour whose house is on fire. It was a first step … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 9–15 December 1940: “I purred like six cats.”

Posted on December 12, 2012 by secondbysecond

“I purred like six cats,” Churchill writes in his autobiographical The Second World War. He was describing his reaction to General Wavell’s plans for a North African offensive. Archibald Wavell was C-in-C for the Middle East and then some—from Iraq … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 9–15 December 1940: Laval dismissed

Posted on December 9, 2012 by secondbysecond

On 13 December 1940, Pétain fired vice-président du Conseil Pierre Laval from the number 2 spot in Vichy France. (They are pictured to the left). It served the scruffy 80-a-day chain-smoking anti-Semitic Laval right for blowing smoke in the Maréchal’s face once … Continue reading →

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Vignette: Pearl Harbour Day

Posted on December 7, 2012 by secondbysecond

“A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY.” Today, Friday 7 December 2012, is Pearl Harbour Day—time to remember those who died exactly seventy-one years ago, and to remember the dramatic event which brought the USA into World War II. “A … Continue reading →

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