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Articles by Henry Elkins

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About Henry Elkins

A keen researcher of family ancestors, Henry will be reporting on the centenary of World War One. More Posts

What goes around comes around

This week, battened down in my metaphorical trench dug-out, enduring the snowstorm of incoming centenary WW1 articles, news stories, television and radio programmes, I was reminded that the conflict – at various times described as ‘The Great War’ and ‘the war to end all wars’ – was also [...]

March 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

An interesting taxi ride

My piece today reflects upon a totally unexpected – and therefore shocking – national news story that occurred yesterday morning, albeit coming to my personal attention only at about 10.40am. Unusually, I had spent my breakfast-time listening to neither the radio nor television because [...]

March 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

The crisis in Ukraine

Somewhat to my own credit and surprise, I can still recall sitting in class, waiting for our English teacher to arrive, at my prep school in the autumn of 1962 just as the US/Russian Cuban missile crisis was reaching its height. He was a popular chap, not least because – then aged somewhere [...]

March 3, 2014 // 0 Comments

Television is not as easy as you might think

The worlds of academia and television are wary bedfellows, especially when it comes to the subject of history. Both are full of individuals with strong, not to say strident, opinions and ‘dog eat dog’ competitive attitudes. They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I know a modest [...]

February 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

Stand to, chaps!

The opening salvos in the major campaign to mark – we mustn’t say ‘celebrate’ – the centenary of WW1 are about to begin. Yesterday I had business to attend to in central London. After I had returned home, I relaxed by reading another passage of Max Hastings’ Catastrophe – [...]

January 25, 2014 // 0 Comments

WW1 casualties may be under-estimated

It is generally estimated – I have taken my figures from that unique organ of record the Wikipedia website – that the total number of deaths caused by the First World War exceeds 15 million. Of this number, some 9 million were military personnel, and over 2 million of the non-combatant [...]

January 21, 2014 // 1 Comment

Oh What A Lovely War

The first LP I ever bought was the stage recording of the musical Oh What A Lovely War, a Joan Littlewood production of the early sixties. As a little boy, brought up at time when much of the map of the world was coloured pink to reflect The British Empire, I initially thought it was a [...]

January 5, 2014 // 0 Comments

Ensuring we will remember them …

Tomorrow heralds the beginning of the year in which the world will be commemorating the First World War – originally called ‘The Great War’ – which began for Britain on 4th August 1914. Already the publication-rate of WW1 books, television documentaries and dramas has begun [...]

December 31, 2013 // 0 Comments

An aspect of hobby researching

It serves anyone with a hobby interest well to remember two things, i.e. that: Firstly – it wise to keep your feet on the ground and remain humble. No matter how much you read or research, there are bound to be hundreds of others, of similar tastes and interests, who have been at it longer [...]

December 22, 2013 // 0 Comments

Seeking an elusive straw in the wind

Yesterday, pursuant to a WW1 project I am researching, I set off shortly before 0600 hours in deep fog to visit one of the great Midland public schools. Not being familiar with said establishment, I maintained a steady 70mph and relied entirely upon my car’s sat-nav system. This took me up the M1 [...]

December 12, 2013 // 0 Comments

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