Tumgik
#British Army 1950s
zvaigzdelasas · 6 months
Text
1997
The Canadian government, with British complicity, admitted more than 2,000 members of a notorious Ukrainian Waffen-SS division in 1950, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has charged. In a related case, the CBS news program "60 Minutes" reported that about 1,000 SS men and Nazi collaborators, mainly from the Baltic states, moved to Canada about the same time. And the German public broadcasting network reported that 50,000 war criminals receive "victim pensions" from the German government. German sources say 1,882 are Canadian residents. Almost all the suspected war criminals and collaborators have lived openly under their own names in Canada for 47 years.[...]
Littman, who has been researching Nazis in Canada since 1980, said the 14th Volunteer Waffen-SS Grenadier Division, aka the Galicia Division, largely comprised Ukrainians who served with Nazi police battalions and death squads. The surviving 9,000 division members surrendered to the British at war's end, and were taken to England. In 1950, Britain appealed to Commonwealth countries to admit them. Canada agreed to take 2,000, after being assured that their backgrounds had been checked and that they were cleared of complicity in war crimes. But according to recently released British documents and interviews with officials who conducted the investigations, they were not screened, partly because none of the interrogators spoke their language, Littman said.[...]
The 2,000 settled in major Canadian cities. About half are still alive. One way of getting into postwar Canada "was by showing the SS tattoo," Canadian historian Irving Abella told "60 Minutes" interviewer Mike Wallace. "This proved that you were an anti-Communist."[...]
the German TV program "Panorama" reported last week that 50,000 war criminals and members of army units who participated in atrocities were receiving monthly bonus pensions, ranging from hundreds to thousands. The so-called "victim pensions" are added to the pensions of those who suffered World War II-linked disabilities, or to their dependents. Although a 1950 German law excludes war criminals living abroad from getting such pensions, the law is apparently not enforced in Canada or the United States. Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, has charged that some 3,300 Germans living in the United States receive the pensions.
294 notes · View notes
workingclasshistory · 11 months
Photo
Tumblr media
On this day, 24 April 1932 the Kinder Scout trespass took place in the Peak District, UK, when hundreds of young workers walked on private land. Most of England's beautiful countryside was (and still is) owned by wealthy landowners, who forbade public access to the land. This caused great anger, especially for urban working class young people who enjoyed rambling in the countryside. So a plan was hatched to assemble a group so large that gamekeepers would be unable to prevent them walking to the Kinder Scout peak. Leaflets were distributed around Manchester reading things like: "If you’ve not been rambling before, start now, you don’t know what you’ve missed. Come with us for the best day out that you have ever had", and calling on workers to assemble on April 24. A key organiser of the event was Benny Rothman, the child of Romanian Jewish immigrants, who was active in the communist-linked British Workers' Sports Federation. 300-400 people assembled, and a whistle was blown, signalling the group to try to run past the army of gamekeepers who were armed with sticks. After scuffling with gamekeepers, the ramblers successfully passed them and climbed the peak singing socialist anthems like The Red Flag. After the walk, six young workers were arrested, including Rothman. The defendants, who were mostly Jewish and working class, argued that urban workers should have the right to enjoy "fresh air" and "a little sunshine". But the jury of mostly aristocrats and military officers disagreed. The ramblers were convicted and imprisoned for upwards of six months. The harsh sentences spurred further support for the right to roam. And in the early 1950s, the Peak District, including Kinder Scout, became Britain's first National Park. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/7888/Kinder-Scout-trespass https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=614047630768456&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
464 notes · View notes
pregnantseinfeld · 2 months
Text
"The winning of constitutional independence in any given African territory has to be correlated with winning of independence everywhere else on the continent and in Asia, so as to determine to what extent the so-called peaceful handover of power was really peaceful and was due to the goodness of the colonizers, and to what extent it was an option forced on them by examples of violence in particular colonies and by the threat of violence implicit in any nationalist movement which had shaped the people into a single resolute force. It is, for example, palpably obvious that the French learned from defeats in Vietnam that they should quit the whole of Indochina 'peacefully', rather than perish at other Dien Bien-Phus. The French repeated their high-handed actions in Africa and found that the national war of liberation threatened to reduce the French 100-franc note to a piece of worthless paper, and had already bequeathed the National Assembly in Paris with a succession of jack-in-the-box premiers. There was clearly a connection with the unsuccessful French wars of repression in Algeria and the haste with which they tried to establish acceptable African governments in West Africa.
As for the British, Malaya haunted them in Asia and the example of Kenya gave them diarrhoea in Africa. True, they did suppress the Mau Mau land and freedom army, but at what cost! Imperialism is not imperialism if it costs more to suppress the exploited than the imperialists receive in surplus. The British knew that it was wise to proceed with African independence rather than court more Mau Mau. Even in far-off British Guiana, the popular movement of the 1950s could exert some leverage on the British by threatening them with Mau Mau.
India is often given as the classic example of non-violent transfer of power from the imperial power to the indigenous nationalist forces. But it should be remembered that India had a powerful current of mutinous soldiers and other political traditions opposed to the non-violence of Gandhi. The British retreated as much from the threat of millions of Indians lying peacefully on the roads and railways as from the possibility that they might get up and strike back, given the example of those nationalists who were attacking British life and property before and during the Second World War."
Walter Rodney, The British Colonialist School of African Historiography and the Question of African Independence
30 notes · View notes
homomenhommes · 1 month
Text
THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY
based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 19
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1902 – F.O. (Francis Otto) Matthiessen was an educator, scholar and literary critic influential in the fields of American literature and American studies. (d.1950) The exchange of letters between him and his lover Russell Cheney are among the most revealing gay male documents of the 1920s.
Born in Pasadena, California, after his parents' divorce in 1915, Matthiessen lived on his grandfather's farm in Illinois, later attended boarding school in Tarrytown, New York. Toward the end of World War I, joined the Canadian Air Force. He entered Yale in 1919, where he was a member of Skull and Bones society, and graduated in 1923 with many honors, and then became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, receiving a B. Litt. in 1925.
Matthiessen's best-known book, American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman (1941), discusses the flowering of literary culture in the middle of the American 19th century, with Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
While sailing for Oxford, he met the painter Russell Cheney; they would be lovers until Cheney's death in 1945. Cheney, though closeted in many ways, was a profoundly positive influence on Matthiessen, encouraging his interest in gay and lesbian literary figures like Walt Whitman and Sarah Orne Jewett.
The couple shared a cottage in Kittery, Maine for decades. In planning to spend his life with Cheney, Matthiessen went as far as asking his cohort in the Yale secret society Skull and Bones to approve of their partnership. With Cheney having encouraged Matthiessen's interest in Whitman, it has been argued that American Renaissance was "the ultimate expression of Matthiessen's love for Cheney and a secret celebration of the gay artist."
Matthiessen, as a gay man in the 1930s and 1940s, chose to remain in the closet throughout his professional career, if not in his personal life - although traces of homoerotic concern are apparent in his writings. In 2009, a statement from Harvard University said that Matthiessen "stands out as an unusual example of a gay man who lived his sexuality as an 'open secret' in the mid-20th century."
After Cheney's death in 1945, Matthiessen was increasingly distraught; he committed suicide by jumping from a window in 1950. Because Matthiessen's politics were left-wing, socialist, though not dogmatically Marxist, inquiries by House Un-American Activities Committee into his politics may also have been a factor in his suicide: writing in 1958, Eric Jacobsen referred to Matthiessen's death as "hastened by forces whose activities earned for themselves the sobriquet un-American which they sought so assiduously to fasten on others".
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1921 – Dudley Cave was a British former soldier and pioneering gay rights activist (d.1999). He joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1941, aged 20, and was posted to the Far East. He was captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell in 1942 and was marched north to work on the Thai-Burma railway, 10 miles beyond the bridge on the River Kwai. He caught malaria and was imprisoned in Changi Prison in Singapore because he was unproductive. This may have saved his life. Three quarters of his company perished.
When back in Britain he had a job as manager of the Majestic Cinema, Wembley, but in 1954 he was sacked when it was discovered that he was gay. Also in 1954 he met Bernard Williams, an RAF veteran and school teacher, and they became lovers and co-campaigners for 40 years until Bernard Williams died in 1994.
In 1971 Dudley Cave joined the Unitarian Church and helped in securing the ordination of lesbians and gay men. He also conducted same-sex weddings.
In 1974 he was on the launch committee of the London Gay Switchboard, and he was still answering the telephone right up to his death 25 years later.
He and his partner, Bernard Williams, founded the Lesbian and Gay Bereavement Project in 1980, and they ran its telephone helpline for many years. After a battle with the Charity Commissioners this became the first organisation with 'gay' in its title to be given charitable status.
In the 1980s he worked on reconciliation with the Japanese and travelled a number of times to Japan to speak on the subject.
In November, 1998 he was OutRage!'s keynote speaker at its Queer Remembrance Day vigil at the Cenotaph where he layed a pink triangle wreath honouring gay people who died fighting Nazism and in the concentration camps.
Dudley Cave dedicated most of his life to challenging and fighting prejudice and seeking justice and equality for gay people especially in the areas of military recognition and issues of bereavement for gay people of all ages; he did so with great eloquence, dignity and integrity.
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1925 – J. J. Belanger (d.1993) was member and officer in the Mattachine Society in the 1950s and 1960s, a volunteer in numerous causes in the 1970s and 1980s, and a collector of LGBT history, especially of AIDS-related materials of the mid-to-late 1980s.
The famous photo booth photo of J.J. Belanger above was rediscovered in 2014 and spread quickly through popular media such as The Advocate, TIME, Queerty, and blogs. It shows Robert Block and J. J. Belanger (right) in a photo booth photo in Hastings Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1953. It was taken at a time in Canadian history when the two men could have been arrested for kissing.
Joseph John Bertrund Belanger was born February 19, 1925, in Edmonton, Canada. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942 to 1944 where he was awarded a Defense Medal, Canadian Voluntary Service Medal, and War Medal for his World War II service. He worked odd jobs in Vancouver and Calgary until 1954 when he joined the United States Air Force. He served for five years, earning the Aviation Badge, Good Conduct Medal, Outstanding Airman of the 26th Air Refueling Squadron, numerous other commendations, and a promotion.
Belanger became a member of the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s, but resigned in 1953 after an incident with police threatened to bring negative publicity to the organization. However, Belanger maintained contact with Hal Call and in 1958 became the Mattachine Society's Director of Public Relations. In 1959 he was voted out of the post, but still remained a member of the society.
From the 1950s Belanger lived in either San Francisco and Los Angeles, although the particulars of his life are documented only sporadically. He was the Los Angeles coordinator of the Eulenspiegel Society in the 1970s. In the 1980s he was politically involved with the San Francisco chapter of the Stonewall Gay Democratic Club, where he ran and lost a bid for treasurer in 1988. Also in the 1980s he volunteered for Project Inform and was a member of the Quarantine Fighter’s Group. Belanger was also a devoted collector of LGBT history, especially of AIDS-related materials of the mid-to-late 1980s.
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
Curtis in drag
1947 – John Holder Jr, better known as Jackie Curtis, was a famous transgendered film star, poet and playwright. (d.1985)
Curtis was born in New York City, and later died there of a drug overdose. He spent part of his life living and performing as a man (sometimes adopting a James Dean persona) and sometimes as a woman.
While living and performing in drag, she would typically wear lipstick, glitter around the eyes and in her frizzed-out red hair, and a dress, frequently ripped and torn, as were her stockings. This unique style, a combination of trash and glamour which Curtis pioneered in the late 1960s when frequenting such high profile nightclubs as Max's Kansas City, has prompted assertions that Jackie inspired the Glam Rock persona of the 1970s.
'Jackie Curtis is not a drag queen. Jackie is an artist. A pioneer without a frontier,' Andy Warhol said of his associate. Primarily a stage actor, Curtis debuted at the age of 17 in Tom Eyen's play Miss Neferititi Regrets. Curtis began to write his own plays immediately after this experience, often featuring famous transsexuals, such as his friend Candy Darling and, later, Holly Woodlawn, both of whom appeared in his productions which enjoyed successful runs Off-Off-Broadway and were well-reviewed in New York. Curtis's work is representative of the Theatre of the Ridiculous.
As writer and lead actress some of her plays include: Glamour, Glory and Gold; Amerika Cleopatra which featured Harvey Fierstein; Femme Fatale; and Heaven Grand In Amber Orbit with Holly Woodlawn, produced by John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous in 1970.
These plays caught the attention of Andy Warhol and his director Paul Morrissey, who cast Jackie and Candy in Flesh (1968) and, with the addition of Holly Woodlawn, in Women in Revolt (1971); a hilarious spoof of the women's liberation movement in which all the female leads are played by transsexuals and transvestites.
Apart from acting, Curtis also showed talent in poetry and singing. Jackie Curtis made two more movies during the 1980s. Drug addiction, however, had taken control of Curtis's life, eventually leading to his death.
Tumblr media
In 2004, a film based on Curtis's life, Superstar in a Housedress, brought Jackie Curtis back to the limelight, exposing some little known facts about the performer to the public. Curtis's influence on a number of people, friends and associates such as Holly Woodlawn, Joe Dallesandro and Penny Arcade, and observers such as David Bowie, is noted in the film.
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1952 – California artist Lari Pittman creates visually beautiful and exciting paintings that depict the anxiety attendant on being a gay male in America. They confront the perils and dangers that threaten homosexuality even as they resolutely affirm homosexual love.
Lari Pittman was born in Glendale, California. Pittman spent much of his childhood in the Colombian cities of Cali and Tumace, where his father worked in the lumber industry. An effeminate child, he loved playing with his mother's jewelry. His desire to decorate with baubles received parental support and has deeply influenced his subsequent art.
After studying painting at University of California, Los Angeles from 1970 to 1973, Pittman transferred to the California Institute of Arts. Pittman held his first solo exhibition in 1982 to mixed reactions. His early works, full of obscure references, are purposely made to be difficult for the viewer to decipher.
In 1985, Pittman changed his style as the result of suffering a near fatal attack. One night, he discovered a burglar in his home. When he attempted to scare off the man, he was shot in the stomach. The injury resulted in a colostomy and a long period of recovery. After this harrowing, near death experience, Pittman decided to stop being evasive about his homosexuality and about the thematics of his work. He has since sought to erase the distinction between the private and the public as a means of gay activism.
Pittman's post-1985 imagery is much more open and readable than his earlier imagery. In This Wholesomeness, Beloved and Despised, Continues Regardless (1990), for example, he creates a complex narrative through the use of accessible images. At the center of this canvas is a gay couple making love. However, the decorative elements in the painting are both celebratory and ominous, ranging from an inscribed "69" (a motif he uses in several works) to a noose and a menacing figure wielding a knife. Thus, the work's narrative structure celebrates gay relationships, but also acknowledges the homophobic conditions in which they are experienced. The painting makes an affecting statement about the persistence and perseverance of gay love even in the face of hatred and persecution.
Tumblr media
"In This Wholesomeness …
Pittman's paintings consider American identity and history, often incorporating motifs from folk art and popular culture, as in An American Place (1986). Such motifs give his work a cartoon-like quality, with every space packed with imagery and action.
Tumblr media
An American Place
The emphasis that Pittman places on queerness has led some critics to describe him as the prince of queer agit-prop art. He has been attacked for being too political because he has dared to address the difficulties of life as a gay man in paintings that grab attention. Indeed, Pittman may be justly regarded as our foremost painter of gay pride.
He lives in Los Angles with his longtime companion, fellow artist Roy Dowell, with whom he sometimes collaborates.
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1987 – Jeffery Self is an American actor, writer, and comedian.
Self is a native of Georgia, who grew up in the South. After attending middle school, Self persuaded his parents to let him be homeschooled to avoid dealing in high school with the fact that he was gay.
Self has appeared in many television shows as a recurring, featured or guest actor. He and Cole Escola starred in the sketch comedy series Jeffery & Cole Casserole, which aired on Logo TV for two seasons. He has also appeared in Desperate Housewives, 90210, Hot In Cleveland, Torchwood, Shameless, Difficult People, and as Liz Lemon's cousin Randy Lemon on NBC's 30 Rock. He is the author of two humor books: Fifty Shades Of Gay and Straight People: A Spotters Guide, as well as the young adult novels A Very Very Bad Thing and Drag Teen. He co-wrote, produced, and starred in the indie horror/comedy cult hit You're Killing Me. He was the host of the MTV series, Scream: After Dark, a talk show devoted to deleted scenes and interviews with the cast of the popular MTV horror series Scream. He currently plays Marc Doober on Search Party on TBS.
Self is openly gay. He dated Patrick McDonald of Fire Island for three years and publicly blogged about their breakup. On January 8, 2017, Self and his boyfriend, Augustus Prew, announced their engagement via Instagram. They were married on January 13, 2018 in Culver City, California.
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
1993 – The Crying Game, a film written and directed by Neil Jordan, portrays the relationship between a transsexual woman and an IRA fighter in London. In 1999, the British Film Institute named it the 26th greatest British film of all time.
Tumblr media
2007 – In New Jersey the first same-sex couple, Daniel Gross and Steven Goldstein, held a civil union ceremony when hundreds of Gay couples were granted the same legal rights, if not the title, as married couples as New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
24 notes · View notes
ohsalome · 1 year
Text
Raids on about 30 museums around the country have been led by Russian curators in what experts regard as a systematic effort to seize Ukraine’s cultural treasures. Many of these treasures, an important part of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, made easy pickings for invading Russian troops. On top of murder, rape and robbery, they have pillaged national antiquities and artworks in the biggest case of cultural plundering since the Second World War.
“The orders are coming from someone pretty high up in the Kremlin,” said Sir Antony Beevor, the historian and author of Russia: Revolution and Civil War. “Vladimir Putin’s propaganda is that Ukraine as a country doesn’t exist, it’s part of Russia — so they can grab anything they want.” Robert Service, another British historian, described the looting as being “Russian state-sponsored” and added: “This is different from soldiers stealing things.”
Today’s Russian looting is “very reminiscent of the Red Army in 1945”, said Beevor. More than 2.5 million items were sent back to Moscow. Some were returned to communist East Germany in a gesture of goodwill in the 1950s but the remainder, including Gutenberg Bibles and gold from the excavation of Troy, has remained in Moscow, despite German pleas for its return.
Yet experts have little optimism about the prospects of Ukraine recovering its stolen artworks or archaeological treasures. “Losses, I’m afraid, are irreplaceable,” said Symonenko. “The Russians have not yet returned what they stole from European museums in 1945.”
235 notes · View notes
blackswaneuroparedux · 10 months
Photo
Tumblr media
I never admitted to anybody during my entire military service that I had been an actor. I was terrified that I would be put in charge of Ensa [Entertainments' National Service Association]. Not even my closest friends knew I was an actor. I told them I was reading English at St Andrews University.
- Richard Todd
In his heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Richard Todd was Britain’s leading matinee idol. If you love old movies, you’ll have seen Todd in one of his starring roles in “The Virgin Queen” opposite Bette Davis, “Stage Struck” with Marlene Dietrich, or “The Dam Busters” for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was the tough little Scotsman in the wartime weepie “The Hasty Heart” and had audiences madly hunting for hankies.
Those were the days when Todd streaked across North American film screens as virtually every romantic hero from Rob Roy to Robin Hood. Ian Fleming chose him to play James Bond in “Dr. No” in 1962, but a schedule clash meant Sean Connery stepped into the role.
Little less known is the fact that he was also among the first British soldiers and the first Irishman to land in Normandy on D Day. More specifically, he participated in Operation Tonga during the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
So it must have been surreal for Richard Todd the hearthrob actor to find himself playing Major John Howard in the epic movie ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) based on Cornelius Ryan’s book. Not least because he served with Howard and took part in the fighting at Pegasus Bridge that Major John Howard was tasked to secure on D Day.
Tumblr media
Richard Todd was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1919. His father was a medic in the British Army and, as his posting required, the early years of his life were spent in India. The family settled in Devon upon their return to England, and Richard was educated at Shrewsbury Public School, in Shropshire. The theatre was his first love, and he furthered his dramatic skills at the Italia Conti school, thereafter moving to Scotland where he helped to form the Dundee Repertory Theatre. When War was declared, Todd went to St. Andrew's University on the following day to volunteer. He was not a member of the University, but he not only convinced the selection unit that he was, but also added that he had been reading English there for six months, and that he had obtained a Cert A in his school cadet corps; a key point to being accepted as an officer. Despite success in passing off this invented career, Todd was to be disappointed by a lack of interest in him thereafter.
Tumblr media
Becoming increasingly desperate to get into the War before it ended, he sent numerous letters to the War Office to press his case, which, in June 1940, was finally noticed.
Accepted by the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Todd went to Sandhurst to receive his officer training. He had a very lucky escape here when he was in a corridor on the second floor of a building when it was hit by a bomb, and he was blown into the garden outside by the blast. He got to his feet in the darkness and did not feel particularly affected by it, but an examination by torchlight revealed that his whole body was covered in blood from numerous small wounds.
A spell his hospital delayed his passing out from Sandhurst until early 1941. Celebrating in London, he narrowly avoided death again when he found his usual haunt, the Cafe de Paris, was too crowded to admit him and so he went elsewhere; it was hit by a bomb that same night and 84 people were killed.
Tumblr media
His Battalion, the 2nd/4th Battalion The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was posted to XII Corps in defence of Kent, where a German invasion if it came would almost certainly land. Todd was given command of the infantry in the Dymchurch Redoubt, a fort of the Napoleonic era mounting two six-inch guns.
In the event of an invasion, this would certainly have been a primary target for the enemy, and those manning it were told that, with the main defensive line far to their rear, they would be left to fight to the end. General Montgomery commanded XII Corps at this time, and his characteristic emphasis on training and preparedness led to the formation of the first Battle Schools. Richard Todd attended one of these, and the experience allowed him to run his own School when, in December 1941, he was sent to Iceland with the 1st/4th King's Own Light Infantry to be trained in arctic and mountain warfare. Returning to England in September 1942, he eventually ended up in the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division. He was among troops of the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion who, at 00:40 hours on 6 June 1944, landed behind the Normandy beaches in a cornfield, perilously close to tracer fire.
Todd scrambled into a wood and with 150 other paratroopers reached Pegasus and Ranville bridges, vital crossings to allow Allied forces to break out from the beachheads into Normandy. They had been seized by a glider force from the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry under the command of Major John Howard, who needed reinforcements to fend off ferocious German attacks.
In his memoirs, Caught in the Act, Todd would write of the carnage, “There was no cessation in the Germans' probing with patrols and counter-attacks, some led by tanks, and the regimental aid post was overrun in the early hours. The wounded being tended there were all killed where they lay. There was sporadic enemy mortar and artillery fire we could do nothing about. One shell landed in a hedge near me, killing a couple of our men.”
Todd would go on and see action at the Battle of the Bulge and push into the Rhine into Germany. After VE day, his division returned to the UK for a few weeks, then was sent on counter-insurgency operations in Palestine. During this posting he was seriously injured when his Jeep overturned, breaking both shoulders and receiving a concussion. He returned to the UK to be demobilised in 1946. 
Tumblr media
In 1962, Todd was given the part of Major John Howard in the film adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's book about the D-Day landings, ‘The Longest Day’ (1962). Due to the nature of cinema, it was impossible for the film to give a thorough reflection of the role of the 6th Airborne Division during the Invasion, and as such their activities were solely represented by a reconstruction of the capture of Bénouville Bridge by Howard's coup-de-main force. Although briefly mentioned, the role of the 7th Battalion in the defence of the western bridgehead was largely ignored, and so it appeared as if the defence of the bridge rested only on Howard's men.
Tumblr media
Naturally, the omission of their fierce defence of Bénouville caused some resentment amongst veterans, not least because one of their own was championing this re-working of history. Todd, however, regarded ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) as a film rather than a documentary, and his part in it was simply that of an actor doing as he was told.
Richard Todd would never have guessed, that in 17 years since he was on Pegasus Bridge as a paratrooper that he would standing there again as an actor portraying Major John Howard who was given the order: 'Hold,… until relieved'. It had to be Richard Todd’s 'twilight-zone' moment.
The ‘relieve’ for Howard had to come from Lord Lovat and his troops, who had landed on SWORD Beach, and were legging it towards Pegasus Bridge.
Tumblr media
Before the shooting of the scenes were started at Pegasus Bridge, the film producer of The Longest Day, Darryl F. Zanuck, had the real life Lord Lovat and Major John Howard brought over to meet the men who were going to portray them (Peter Lawford portrayed Lord Lovat). The men had not seen each other since 6 June 1944.
Photo (above). From L-R: Peter Lawford, Lord Lovat, Richard Todd, Major John Howard.
109 notes · View notes
radiofreederry · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Happy birthday, Gerry Adams! (October 6, 1948)
Leader of Sinn Fein from 1983 to 2018, Gerry Adams was born into an Irish republican family in Belfast. His grandfather had fought in the Irish War of Independence as a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and Adams became involved in republican activism from a young age, beginning in the 1960s. Primarily involved in the political struggle for Irish unity, Adams also maintained close links with the Irish Republican Army, the movement's armed wing. Adams was interned without trial several times by the occupying British government, and played a negotiating role in the 1981 hunger strike at the Maze prison. In 1983 Adams became the leader of Sinn Fein and was the first member of Sinn Fein elected to the House of Commons since the 1950s, although he did not take his seat in keeping with the party's abstentionist policy. Adams played an instrumental role in the crafting of the Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended the Irish republican movement's armed struggle against British occupation in favor of pursuing a political resolution, and Adams has remained a vocal supporter of Irish unification in the years since.
"For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms."
256 notes · View notes
carryonthroughtheages · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
Hello friends and history lovers!
Another year of Carry On Through The Ages is over and done! I am so happy with success this year has had. Every year, I am blown away by how amazing this little community is. We are a small event, but we are so supportive and loving of each other.
It has been an absolute joy to watch the Discord server so active every single day, with people talking about their research and their projects. Watching as they gained support and encouragement from other history nerds. It was everything I could have hoped for when I first started this fest four years ago. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who participated, whether it was as a creator, or support, or researcher. You all helped to make COTTA 2023 a continued success.
Under the page break, you will find individual links to the fics and art that were created this year for COTTA. They are INCREDIBLE, and I highly encourage you all to read them.
Here is the link to the AO3 Collection: Carry On Through The Ages 2023!
Until next year, love you all!
BazzyBelle 🧡
Monday
Blood, Salt & Hummingbirds (T) - @hushed-chorus : AO3 // tumblr
Simon is lucky to survive when his ship is wrecked, even if it left him stranded on a desert island. But he's not the only one who escaped. The ship's mysterious cargo, the creature in the box, also made it to shore. What hope does Simon have when a vampire is lurking in the island's wooded interior? But the monster is not what it seems, and if they are to survive, they need to work together. And maybe they can do more than survive. Maybe they can thrive.
Fifty Names For A Cat (T) - @hushed-chorus : AO3 // tumblr
Simon and Baz are settling into their new life, getting Pitch Manor in working order and preparing to move to their cottage on the moor. Meanwhile, a certain cat is adjusting to his new life.
Tuesday
The Trails We Blaze (M) - @j-nipper-95 : AO3 // tumblr
Simon and Baz have been through a lot together. Growing up as criminals on London's streets; surviving the Great War; dealing with a lot of repressed feelings. But after their latest con goes wrong, they're left with nothing but an ancient map, a signet ring of unknown provenance or value, and promises of a city that doesn't even exist. Thrust into a world of adventure with danger at every turn, they're forced to decide how far they're willing to go for a myth, a fortune, and a chance at love.
The Snow Fox (E) - @aristocratic-otter : AO3 // tumblr
Simon "Snow" Salisbury is the most wanted patriot in the American Revolution. Wanted by the British army, who want to see him hanged. Wanted by the Tories, who'd shoot him on sight, given the chance. And wanted by Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch.
Wednesday
Lavender Hearts (M) - @aroace-genderfluid-sheep : AO3 // tumblr
America, 1950s. Queer people are fired left and right, friends lose their jobs daily--and sometimes, their lives. Simon and Baz are caught in the middle of it all with a homophobic father and an unconventional (in more than one way) relationship, terrified out of their minds but unwilling to give up the fight. They'll fight for years if they have to. They'll fight for decades. But even the strongest wills can be broken with the hardest of blows.
An 1800s daguerreotype photograph art piece created by the amazing @samalander01 : tumblr
Thursday
Shoulder To Shoulder, Hand To Hand (M) - @wellbelesbian : AO3 // tumblr
Britain, 1984. Across the country, miners go on strike against pit closures. With the government, police and media set against them and no end in sight, they and their families begin to feel the strain. In London, Simon Snow recognises a familiar struggle, and decides to do something, while closeted Baz Pitch just wants to get out of the house and be among his community for a day. What starts as a few collection buckets at a pride march soon becomes an organisation, and a bond is forged between the lesbians and gay men of London and a village of miners and their families in South Wales. But Simon has a past he's trying to outrun, and Baz is trying to live a double life. Both boys have secrets and shame, but if they want to make it through together, they'll have to find their pride.
A beautiful Galatea/Pygmalion-inspired water colour piece by the wonderful @ic3-que3n : tumblr
Friday
Safe Harbour (M) - @snowbaz-parentis : AO3 // tumblr
It all started on an island... It's 1956, and Baz Pitch is existentially lost in New York City. After graduating from Columbia, he's working for a wedding photographer with no taste as he avoids his inevitable fall attendance at Yale Law School, his father's alma mater. All Baz wants to do is be a fashion photographer, and when an opportunity to assist a famous photographer out on Fire Island falls in his lap, it just may be the key to helping unlock him from the closet of his family's expectations. It's 1956, and Simon Snow is wondering if there's more to life than this or if this is as good as it gets. He's been working in construction with his foster father, David Cadwallader, practically ever since he was taken in at age 13, but there's something beyond the water that's calling for him. When Davy offers Simon a chance to manage his family's rental properties for the summer in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, Simon jumps at the chance to finally take charge of something. What Baz and Simon didn't expect: the sense of freedom that comes from being able to absolutely surrender to the truest version of yourself, and the choices you have to make when it happens.
Costly Colours - A Precious Bane AU (M) - twigs_in_my_hair : AO3
In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars Baz is being groomed by his aunt to be a physician. Tired of the farming life, Fiona would like to set up shop in town with her sister’s herbal remedies and her nephew settled down with his mentor’s lovely daughter and a fine degree hung on the wall. But first the family must toil and scrimp and save to raise the funds. And what if this is not the future Baz longs for? And what if the townsfolk won’t let go of their superstitions and petty grudges towards this family marked by tragedy? Does the handsome young weaver have all the answers?
49 notes · View notes
ukrfeminism · 2 years
Text
A whistleblower has said orgies in the army are fairly common as she warned the recent incident at Merlville Baracks points to a wider culture of misogyny in the armed forces which views women as “lesser beings”.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent , the woman, who previously worked in recruitment for the British Army, said the institution often felt like a throwback to the 1950s.
It comes after a group of paratroopers were put under military police investigation after footage surfaced of them having an orgy with a civilian woman at Merville Barracks - a military base in Colchester.
Video clips, seen by The Independent, show a woman having sex with troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade while others watched. Some of the soldiers can be seen laughing.
In other clip, a man asks “have you had a go yet?”, while another troop salutes while having sex. The video, which includes some half-naked and fully naked soldiers, shows sexual acts occurring in both communal places and private rooms, but it is not immediately clear when it happened.
Talking to The Independent from a military estate where she lives with her husband who is in the army, the woman said an ex-soldier, who she hadn’t heard from in months, had sent her 11 unsolicited highly graphic videos of the incident at Merlville.
She found the footage “extremely distressing and disturbing” and said it gave her nightmares, explaining that even if the encounter was consensual, the fact the soldiers can be heard “laughing” and mocking the woman was “degrading”.
“It is misogynistic,” she added. “It is an embarrassment to the army. It shows a serious lack of professionalism and decent human behaviour in general.”
Her comments come as General Sir Patrick Sanders, the army’s new head, announced hundreds of paratroops were barred from a Nato deployment to the Balkans following the incident, because he was unwilling to “risk the mission or the reputation of the British army” by sending the troops abroad. 
But the whistleblower said stories of group sex similar to what occurred at Merlville, were commonpace in the army, claiming some soldiers would say such incidents were “normal”, insisting “it is just boys being boys”.
She added: “I find raising children in this environment very scary. Among many men in the army, there is the assumption women are joining the army for sex, or at least they must expect that to happen if they do join.
“I’ve seen a lot of slut-shaming. In general it is assumed that females in the military must be sleeping with multiple members of the Battalion.”
She described the armed forces as having a “very sexually charged culture” plagued with the commonly held view that women are “objects for the pleasure of men”.
The whistleblower said: “In my experience, the sexual culture is really rife when soldiers are young and living in the block. Sometimes women are snuck in inside the boot of people’s cars. The drinking culture is something else.
“You hear stories of single soldiers living on the block drinking every weekend, fights consistently happening, and property being damaged. When soldiers get married then it can move into swinging.”
Discussing her own negative experiences of working in military recruitment, she said she stepped down after facing sexual harassment, sexism and gender-based discrimination.
She said it felt “hyprocritical” being asked to encourage women to join the army given her own experiences.
The whistleblower added: “I’m not surprised women face sexual harassment and assault in the army given it starts in the recruitment process.
“The people who are doing the recruitment process are biased. They have judgements about women being in the army, they don’t believe they can do it. They refer to women in derogatory ways. They think the standards for women aren’t as high. They talk about the fact women have their periods.”
She claimed most of the male soldiers she encountered did not believe women should be in the army. The whisteblower said she was aware of around half a dozen women submitting complaints about sexual harssment, sexism and gender-based discrimination at one recruitment centre in particular
The whistleblower said she had met five women who say they were raped while serving in the military. She said women in senior roles were often referred to as having got their position “by sleeping their way there”, and explained when she made “an effort” with her appearance she was subjected to degrading sexual comments.
“Although the army has made all roles open to women, the army itself is not open to women,” she concluded. “You have to be willing to act like a man to be accepted. This means put up with discrimination, sexism, sexual harassment, and misogynistic jokes and banter about rape.”
She said the army fostered a culture where soldiers are expected to keep their wives or partners in line and tell them what to do. While her husband loves his job, he also thinks army attitudes towards women - both military and civilian - are outdated, the whistleblower said.
She added: “He will tell me before we go to a function, if higher ranking men are doing a speech, I must not go to the toilet, otherwise he could be given extra duties - which means getting crap jobs to do.
“When my husband helps with parenting, he is commonly told this should be my job and he is mocked and fellow soldiers question my motherhood skills.”
Issues within the army are easily concealed due to it being an insular environment, the whistleblower added, noting the armed forces take on many young men and women who are escaping difficult backgrounds.
She added: “It can be make or break. That environment can save them. But it is also very easy to teach an unacceptable culture rather than nurture them into decent human beings. 
“If you are brought up in an environment where abuse was normal, and then you join the army and nobody is saying: ‘No that is not okay’, or are actually actively allowing bad behaviour or not taking it seriously, it is very damaging to the soldiers.”
The woman’s comments come after senior figures previously told The Independent progress on tackling sexism and sexual harassment in the armed forces has been too slow and women in the military often face a sexist culture of “laddish behaviour”. Meanwhile, MPs have rasied concern that convictions rates for rape and sexual assault cases remain “shamefully low” in the military.
A troubling report released last year found sexual harassment, bullying and physical assault of women is prevalent in the armed forces.
Researchers, who polled 750 women veterans, discovered almost a quarter reported having experienced sexual harassment, while almost a quarter said they had been subjected to emotional bullying. The report, published in BMJ Military Health, found five per cent were sexually assaulted and three per cent physically assaulted.
Women make up around 11 per cent of the armed forces in the UK, according to Ministry of Defence data.
The army did not want to comment on the whisleblower’s allegations.
But in response to the Merlville incident, General Sanders said: “The recent conduct of some members of the battalion has fallen short of that which we all expect of our army”.
A spokesperson for the army added: “The army expects the highest standards of behaviour from all their personnel. Anyone not maintaining these standards will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken against them. The army is clear that all forms of unacceptable behaviour, including those of a sexual nature, have no place in an inclusive and respectful armed forces.”
303 notes · View notes
actualmermaid · 8 months
Text
Newest sticker design for the sticker shop (!!!) that I am trying to open next month, and newest Faithful Heretic Icon: Doctor-Saint James Barry, Holy Unmercenary Physician and Patron of Queer and Trans Healthcare
Tumblr media
Iconography:
"Holy Unmercenary": this is a special title used (mostly in Orthodox Christianity) for healthcare practitioners who treat the poor for free. As part of his work as an army surgeon, Dr. Barry was in charge of public health and sanitation near imperial outposts. He consistently advocated for the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population, even when it brought him into conflict with his peers.
Halo: Dr. Barry's halo is painted in Trans Pride colors. He was assigned female at birth, but began living a man's life in his late teens with the support of his family and open-minded family friends. He was known as a man for the rest of his life, until his body was examined (against his express wishes) after his death. His headstone commemorates him with his chosen name and military rank.
Medical kit: Something like this would have been Dr. Barry's toolkit and his constant companion on his travels. In a very real way, he was "married to the job." It is marked with his name and a simple cross. Little is known about his personal religious devotion (if he even had one), but he would have been familiar with Anglican rites and ethics. Many modern Anglicans still keep their faith private, and prefer to let their actions speak for themselves.
Dueling pistol: I wasn't sure whether to include this, since firearms are not common in iconography. I decided to include it for a couple of reasons. 1) Dr. Barry was a known duelist. Dueling with flintlock pistols was the height of masculine performance for gentlemen in his culture. Dueling pistols weren't very accurate and deaths weren't very common, but using them in a highly ritualized duel was a demonstration of manly discipline, skill, and honor. 2) Dr. Barry was willing to fight for what he thought was right, and he was constantly fighting. By laying his pistol between the viewer and his medical kit, he demonstrates that comprehensive queer and trans healthcare must be defended with force, if necessary. 3) It's worth reminding ourselves that Anglicanism, as the imperial religion of Britain, originally spread around the world at the end of a musket.
"Respect trans folk or I shall identify as a f--king problem": this is a "poshed up" version of a slogan on a banner carried by pro-trans-healthcare protestors in my city recently. I think it started as an internet post, but I can't remember where I first saw it.
Hagiography:
By most accounts, Dr. Barry was a brash, aggressive, and unpleasant person, especially when someone had challenged him. He kept his personal life very private. Nevertheless, he was highly respected as a professional and was said by his female patients to have a reassuring and respectful bedside manner. He even performed something that arguably counts as a miracle: the first verified C-section, by a Western doctor, in which the mother and child both survived.
A "saint" is a holy person, not necessarily a "nice" or "polished" person. In his role as a British army surgeon and public health officer, Dr. Barry would have seen and worked in some of the most miserable and depraved conditions you can imagine. Medical treatments were risky, painful, and often experimental. His environment shaped his character, but did not erase the gentle, compassionate spirit he demonstrated with his patients.
After Dr. Barry's death, the British government was embarrassed by the fact that he was a trans man, and they sealed his service record for the next 100 years. It was rediscovered by scholars in the 1950s, and more recently by the general public of people interested in queer history.
43 notes · View notes
uwmspeccoll · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Shakespeare Weekend!
This weekend we explore Shakespeare’s romantic drama, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, the twenty-eighth volume of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. It is widely acknowledged that Shakespeare was likely not the sole author of Pericles, Prince of Tyre and while it was published in quarto in 1609 by stationer Henry Gosson with Shakespeare’s name on the title page, it was not included in his works until the Third Folio of 1663. Most scholars believe that Pericles, Prince of Tyre was written in 1607 or early 1608 and co-authored by pamphleteer George Wilkins.  
This edition of Pericles, Prince of Tyre was illustrated with wood-engravings by Polish artist Stanislas Ostoja-Chrostowski (1900-1947). Chrostowski studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, received a bronze medal in the 1936 Summer Olympics Art Competition for commercial graphic art painting, and was active in the intelligence department of the World War II Polish resistance movement Home Army. He was regarded as the leading wood-engraver of his nation and was known for illustrating several Polish classics and numerous children’s books. The LEC writes of Chrostowski’s work that “whole textures are created by his tools, and the resulting prints seem to have more color than just the color of black ink.” Indeed, his precise and vivid engravings storm off the page to match the dramatic tenor of the play.  
The volume was printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish. Each of the LEC volumes of Shakespeare’s works are illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 
Tumblr media
View more Limited Edition Club posts. 
View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 
View more posts with wood engravings!
-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 
26 notes · View notes
emiliasilverova · 9 months
Text
Day 2 of Fest... time to unleash one very big post 👀
You've seen the title on the link above, today I bring you an Alec playlist. But me being me, there's a tiny bit more to it than just being a selection of music I love (it absolutely is, though, don't get me wrong). This is a narrative playlist—in other words, each song represents a moment in Alec's life, in chronological order, and based on my interpretation of (and expansions on) the GoldenEye canon. Oh and... although I didn't put that much thought into this aspect of the playlist, it happens to be mostly British songs, some Russian ones and a few others. Pretty fitting, I would say.
See you below the cut for the full story behind each song :D
Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall pt. 1
Our story starts with Alec being a little orphan in 1950s-60s Britain. Therefore, my choice went to a song about a very similar little orphan—Pink, the protagonist of The Wall. Although circumstances are different, the song tells the same story for both kids: they're lonely and deeply resenting of their father's (or parents') absence... which will be the root of all the ills in their lives.
David Bowie, Life on Mars?
There was a joke between @prismatic-bell and I once. Since Bowie and Alec are so similar in terms of appearance, Bowie must have been Alec's first crush (and therefore, bi awakening). Therefore, there has to be some Bowie in here—and this song in particular is perfect to describe Alec growing up, looking at the depressing Cold War world from his young eyes.
David Sylvian, Forbidden Colours
Speaking of bi awakenings, well this is it. At this stage of the story, young Alec has realised ‘[his] love wears forbidden colours’. And just like in the song, he'll ‘[try] to show unquestioning faith in everything’, from public school to the army. Another brick in his wall, as somebody else would sing.
John Barry, Theme from the Persuaders
The only instrumental in this playlist, but perhaps the name of the composer alone tipped you off on why I chose it. By now Alec is a Royal Marine, and he meets a certain Navy commander—a fellow named James Bond, you might have heard of him. So why the Persuaders and not a classic Bond theme? Easy, just watch the opening of said Persuaders. The parallel editing between the lives of Roger Moore's and Tony Curtis's characters... I dream we could have that for Brosnan!Bond and Alec.
Pet Shop Boys, This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave
So Alec is an MI6 agent now (probably under James's influence). The point here is, he actually loves his job—being in the shadows, not having to be around handsome men in uniform all the time anymore... He's found his place, and he can look back on his younger years as a bad time that is finally over (or is it?) Fun fact by the way, this song could have been the Living Daylights' theme song. It didn't go too far into that process, but still I highly recommend this edit of TLD's credits with the song over it.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Relax
‘Not having to be around handsome men in uniform all the time anymore’... yeah. Well, there is still is one ridiculously handsome man Alec is around all the time—James. Cue more bi panic, growing jealousy, and, of course, sharing everything absolutely everything. Doesn't help that Relax, an extremely gay song (enough to be banned by the BBC when it came out...), is the hot thing on the radio back in those days...
Tears for Fears, Shout
Alec has just earned his 00 status, and he has many scores to settle with life... so he's going to shout, and life is going to hear him. Case in point, his bullets.
a-ha, The Living Daylights
A continuation of the previous song. This is Alec and James living the high life as 00 agents, full of broken gadgets, expensive food and clothing, private jokes and other code phrases. An excuse for me to shoehorn my favourite Bond song in the playlist? Absolutely. a-ha's synth version of it, too—as much as I love Barry's version (the one used in the movie), I have to say this one is vastly superior.
Public Image Ltd, The Order of Death
Oh no. Alec has been too curious and got his hands on his MI6 file. Now he knows everything. The Lienz Cossacks and their betrayal by the British; his parents' survivor guilt; the fact his name shouldn't be Trevelyan but his parents' Russian name (Trailin, in my headcanon); the fact MI6 knew his origins and still got him to work for them (if it didn't have a say in how he was brought up...) He wanted to know, now he's got his answer. Whether he likes it or not.
Secret Service, Flash in the Night
Alec is depressed. He doesn't really know yet what to make of everything he learned in his MI6 file. He looks at James but he knows he can't tell him anything. James is part of the system that betrayed his parents, then betrayed him in turn. James can't possibly understand how it feels like. Yet again, Alec is alone. The scar once healed forever dissolves in the rain, as the song has it.
Кино, Спокойная ночь (Kino, Spokoynaya noch'—Calm Night)
Not too long later, a still depressed Alec is wandering in Soviet streets during a mission. Moscow or Leningrad, who knows (one day I'll have to choose, because I really want to write a one shot based on this song). Ideas are coming to him, but they aren't really clear. The only sure thing in all this is that he's starting to feel a lot more Russian than British... hence the inclusion of the first (and not last) Soviet rock song in the playlist.
C.C. Catch, ‘Cause You Are Young
Probably the same night, Alec stumbles on an underground nightclub blaring Western songs. After all, it is the mid-1980s, and Gorbachyov's USSR slowly starts to allow such music within its borders (censorship is still there, though, as proved by the blurb on the Soviet edition of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second album not mentioning a single thing about Relax. Western music, okay, but gay? How about nyet) Anyway, my point: Alec hears this obscure German pop song, and suddenly everything starts to fall into place in his mind. A wake-up call, if you will. What he needs now is to catch his freedom from MI6, whatever the cost.
Depeche Mode, Personal Jesus
Janus is born. Alec's Personal Jesus, the persona that will give him his freedom from—and revenge on—Britain. The inspiration behind this choice of song comes from Brigada, the most famous Russian TV show of all time. Basically, the story of a group of friends in the late 1980s who go on to become a powerful mafia group in the 1990s. In the first episode, the protagonist decides to commit his first crime over Personal Jesus... and commits said crime in an underground nightclub that blares ‘Cause You Are Young. Small world, I know.
Peter Gabriel, We Do What We're Told
Alec is preparing his plans to fake his death and truly become Janus, but in the meantime he has to pretend everything's fine. So he does what he's told... like in his childhood, like in the army. He absolutely hates it, but he knows his patience will pay off.
Propaganda, p:Machinery
One word: Arkhangelsk. The planning phase is over, the day has come for Alec to make his move and disappear from the face of the Earth. Except that, as we all know, not everything goes according to plan... Fun fact, I just learned that this song was greatly influenced by David Sylvian, of Forbidden Colours fame. The world doesn't get any bigger, does it?
Pink Floyd, Hey You
In a Soviet hospital, Alec recovers from his Arkhangelsk wounds... and falls deeper into depression. But with Janus on board, depression takes on a much more threatening face. Alec is despaired, but he also wants to kill. That should distract him from despair.
Nautilus Pompilius, Воздух (Vozdukh—Air)
As the USSR slowly dies, a new organisation comes to be—the Janus Syndicate. It's only the early days, and it probably doesn't really ressemble what we see of it in GoldenEye. But it comes at a time Soviets themselves are growing disenchanted from their world. as everything crumbles down, even law enforcement doesn't see any point in catching criminals anymore (as told by the lyrics). Exactly the kind of fertile ground the Syndicate needs to grow.
The Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil
There's a newcomer in Alec's life—a certain Xenia Onatopp. Is she a cis or trans woman, I'll let you choose. What she definitely is, at least, is someone who wants absolute freedom, even if it means harming others (a cause Alec can relate to). That, and the kind of untamed energy that would greatly benefit from being given a direction. For instance... working for Janus? Unless it is dominating Janus in the bedroom... my Alec is bi for a reason, after all.
Depeche Mode, Never Let Me Down Again
Do you know Scarface, and more specifically the Push It to the Limit segment? Well picture that, but with Alec as Tony Montana, Xenia as Manny Ribera, the freshly renamed St Petersburg instead of sunny Miami... and Depeche Mode instead of Giorgio Moroder's music (with the caveat that Alec clearly didn't get married back in those days, because there's only one person he'd marry: James). These are the heydays of the Russian mafia, when some people who previously knew nothing of capitalism became dizziyingly rich overnight... and fought each other to death for more power. The days of the Gulf War, also—when the Janus Syndicate sold stolen Red Army weapons to Iraq. Pop quiz, do you know what the mafia bosses who survived those turbulent times are called today? Oligarchs. Kinda sheds a new light on Alec, I won't lie.
Tina Turner, GoldenEye
I had to include it. There's no two ways about it, this is the ultimate, canon Alec (Bondalec, even) song. Just look at the lyrics, and tell me this isn't Alec spitting all his jealousy on James. Xenia would be just as menacing, yes, but nowhere near as salty. So where are we in our story for me to include this song? Well, just at the beginning of GoldenEye proper: Xenia has met James in Monte Carlo, and tells Alec as they prepare to steal the Tiger (yes, Xenia's accomplice in that scene is Alec. Fight me). Cue a very sour laugh from Alec, who cannot believe fate has put James on his path again. Not that it really matters to him at this point though—all he's focused on is his upcoming revenge on Britain, and if James has to be a bystander, then so be it.
Midge Ure, The Man Who Sold the World
James wanted to be set up with Janus... well, he's got what he asked for. Janus, in person, at the statue park. Alec, alive and with a murderous intent. Again a song with a connection to Bowie, as you might have noticed... but unsurpringly I prefer the very 1980s, synth-heavy version by Midge Ure. Bowie, hmmmm... a hint towards renewed bi panic on Alec's part? You'll know soon enough.
Nautilus Pompilius, Нежный вампир (Nezhniy vampir—Tender Vampire)
A little interlude before we enter the endgame. The tender vampire here is Janus, of course—dragging Alec's better self into the abyss, being so jealous of James he starts circling around Natalya like a hungry shark. The absolute creep we see in the train scene, in short. For the record, I know this song from Brat, another very famous Russian movie about the 1990s mafia (I'll probably run a watchalong for it later during this Fest, so stay tuned 👀).
Propaganda, The Murder of Love
Train scene, act 2: the Mexican standoff. Alec and James face each other again, but James still doesn't really have the upper hand. So Alec (well, Janus) spits more poison at him, this time a lot more personal and hurtful. And yes, the bi panic is firmly there, as smug as Alec tries to look. He knows he can't kill James, but he also knows he can't let James talk to him. Alec can't be diverted from his revenge on life itself, because that would be acknowledging that all the time and effort he put into that goal was a waste. Therefore, he prefers to gloat at James... in other words, to be the victim who's become the judge, and to make James plead for mercy.
Pet Shop Boys, I’m Not Scared
Well, this particular one originally wasn't in the playlist. But the moment I first heard it, I knew I had to include it. This has to be James's answer to all of Alec's venom in GoldenEye and The Murder of Love. James has always loved Alec, and doesn't understand how Alec could have grown so scorned and spiteful. Are Janus and Alec really the same person? Will he have to kill Alec? If he does, will James ever be able to forgive himself? If only he and Alec could talk heart to heart... as @3nigm4art commented about this song, Alec would cry if he heard James singing it to him. Perhaps he could even be reasoned... So what I envision here is the beach scene, with James looking at the sea asking himself all those questions—and Alec, somewhere in his lair, being unable to take James out of his mind.
Leonard Cohen, First We Take Manhattan
We are now in the Janus control center in Cuba. Xenia is dead by now, but Alec probably hasn't really processed that yet. After all, he has other things on his mind: his scheme coming so close to completion... and James right in front of him, watching and commenting what he sees. Alec likes this, in a way—what better witness to him becoming a literal god than James? He's not jealous anymore at his point, because in his mind, he's won. He's done the impossible: destroying Britain, and beating James. But there's an issue here... being so drunk with his triumph, he forgot that James won't let himself be just a passive bystander. Which surely won't come back to bite him in the arse, will it?
Pet Shop Boys, It's a Sin
As everything explodes around him (literally), Alec loses it. James has stolen the triumph he deserved to get. Therefore, James will die. By Alec's hand. Ensues the fight on the antenna. Alec probably knows he won't survive it, but he doesn't care anymore. All his rage, all his jealousy, all his frustration are what fuels him at this point—with glimpses from his past flashing before his eyes, as the song suggests. He has wasted nine years of his life, and the rest of it in fact. His whole life has been nothing but sin, from his origins and attraction to James to becoming a spy then a mafia leader. So if there's no turning back... at least he'll go out with a bang. And hopefully take James with him.
Кино, Легенда (Kino, Legenda—Legend)
The story ends here. Alec falls to his death after James lets him go, and James has to live with the memory of Alec haunting him. But is it what really happens? If anything, this song is here to be an open ending. It is an elegy, yes, but it could be Alec singing it. Since death is worth living, but love is worth waiting, maybe he survived and has to piece himself back together at James's side. Or maybe it's James who fell. You decide, but at least there's one thing we can all be sure about. Credits might roll, but Alec's legend never ends.
(Thank you so much for reading, and listening ♥️ I put a lot more energy into this post than I thought I would 😅)
31 notes · View notes
workingclasshistory · 10 months
Photo
Tumblr media
On this day, 4 June 1950, the 43 Group of militant anti-fascist Jewish ex-servicemen and women voted to disband itself at an extraordinary general meeting in London, England. The group had been formed four years prior by Jewish people who had fought in the British Army against the Nazis in World War II, who had seen the horrors of the concentration camps, and who returned home to see fascists organising openly on UK streets. They resolved to continue their fight against fascism, racism and antisemitism by any means necessary. The group included people like decorated war hero Gerry Flamberg (pictured, left, outside court on trial for attempted murder of a fascist) , apprentice hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, gay former officer Harry Bidney and women like Doris Kaye, who infiltrated fascist groups, and Julie Sloggan, who was one of its most ardent street fighters. They disrupted and broke up fascist meetings, usually after breaking through the fascists' police guard, and harassed fascist aristocrat Oswald Mosley and his followers in towns and cities up and down the country. Eventually Mosley went into exile, and fascist organising dwindled to such a level that the 43 Group dissolved itself. Although veterans of the group would throw themselves back into the movement when Mosley attempted a comeback in the 1960s. Learn more about the group in our podcast episodes 35-37: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e35-37-the-43-group/ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=637872025052683&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
232 notes · View notes
scotianostra · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
On November 30th 1996 thousands lined The Royal Mile in Edinburgh to see the Stone of Destiny, stolen from Scone by King Edward I of England in 1296, returned to Scotland and installed  in the Castle.
At first, the Stone of Destiny appears to be little more than a simple stone, but no other stone could carry so much history and tradition than this one. Despite its simplicity, it has quite a colourful and surprising history.
The Stone of Destiny goes by many names, sometimes called the Stone of Scone, The Coronation Stone , An Lia Fàil or Jacob’s Pillow. It is a simple block of red sandstone that measures  about 26 inches by 17 inches.
Both Scottish, English and British monarchs have been crowned on this stone since the ninth century.
Legend dates back to biblical times; the stone is said to have been the pillow Jacob used, where he dreamed of Jacob’s Ladder. It was seen as a sacred object and first went to Ireland and then to Scotland.
No one can pinpoint exactly where the stone came from, with origin stories mentioning biblical stories or the stone being quarried in Scotland. However, geologists proved that the stone was quarried somewhere around Scone, the historical site of the Scottish Kingdom. There is a theory that the Augustine Monks, learning that an English Army was on it’s way to Perth and fashioned a replica from a block of stone quarried nearby, the real stone was either hidden in the River Tay or Dunsinane Hill, my subject of last weeks post,  Nigel Tranter himself believed the object Edward took to London was "a lump of Scone sandstone".
As I mentioned in a previous post today, the last Scottish King to receive his coronation on the stone is John Balliol, who is said to have lost the stone to Edward I “Hammer of the Scots” when he invaded Scotland in 1296 The stone was taken as spoils of war where Edward fitted it to his chair in order to try and secure his role as Lord Paramount of Scotland.
In 1328 England promised to return the stone to Scotland. However, angry English crowds stopped it from actually leaving Westminster Abbey. It remained in England for another six centuries.
The stone was liberated by four nationalist students in 1950, during the theft, they broke the stone into two pieces. Despite this, they managed to bring it back into Scotland when they passed both halves to a senior Glasgow politician; the stone was then repaired by a stonemason. 
The government ordered a search for the stone, and the search was unsuccessful. The custodians left the stone in Arbroath Abbey in April 1951. When it was discovered, it was returned to Westminster.
In 1996, the government returned the stone to Scotland. A handover ceremony took place in November 1996 between the Home Office and the Scottish Office. It arrived at Edinburgh Castle to a crowd of around 10,000 people. To this day it sits alongside the crown jewels of Scotland when not used in coronations.
Doubt surrounds the stone all throughout its history, and it is said there are many points in which the stone could have been swapped or lost.
Another belief is that the stonemason who repaired the stone after its damage made several copies and the one returned was, in fact one of his forgeries. The big thing, in my opinion that lets this theory down is would a typical Glesga stonemason take the trouble top venture north to Perth to find a lump of stone? 
The true history of the stone and whether or not the one in Edinburgh Castle is the correct stone will never fully be known. I myself tend to believe the story, that the Monks hid the original stone.
The Stone will soon be taken down to Westminster Abbey once more and placed on Edward’s Coronation Chair before being returned to Edinburgh, it will then be moved, eventually to the new  Perth City Hall museum, the museum is due to open some time in 2024. The last pic is an artists impression of how it could look. 
70 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
Conqueror heavy tank serving with the British Army Of the Rhine, 1950s
12 notes · View notes
lyledebeast · 11 months
Text
Why Ohio? Queerness and Privacy in The Patriot
Since I learned last week that Roland Emmerich is gay, I’ve been revisiting a lot of my thoughts on queerness in The Patriot.  It is a deeply bigoted text; as Emmerich’s 2015 racist, transphobic account of the Stonewall riots goes to show, queer people are not immune to making bigoted art.  But some things that I questioned the intentionality of seem a bit more intentional now.  My going assumption before I learned this was that Colonel Tavington’s queerness is part of what makes him a villain.  Since the entirety of the film’s claim that Benjamin Martin is a good man and not just another brutal thug like Tavington rests on his family, it made sense that Tavington existing outside the scope of heteronormative domesticity went hand in hand with his brutal behavior.  Now, I wonder if maybe Tavington’s sexuality can be seen to inform his ruthlessness in a more thoughtful way.
Obviously, this is not a main focal point of the film.  On the surface, Tavington commits these fearsome acts because he believes they are necessary to subjugate the civilian population and assure a British victory in the war.  Victory is important to him personally because it carries with it the promise of land, to which wealth and power--”esteem,” as Cornwallis and Tavingon have it--were very much tied in the 18th Century. However, another privilege such esteem carried with it was privacy, and for a queer man in a culture where consensual sex acts between men were punishable by death, privacy was key. Tavington has lost his access to all of these through his father’s irresponsibility. In his present life, he has little privacy. He is surrounded by men in the prime of their lives, but also by the constant threat of violence, and not only from enemy combatants. The British Army was notoriously liberal with punishments, administering public floggings for infractions deemed far more minor than sodomy.  Considering the complete lack of support Tavington appears to have from his fellow officers, one has to question how much security being a colonel actually affords him. Tavington lives within this matrix of desire, fear, and punitive violence in addition to his financial insecurity.  Perhaps he is the most ruthless officer under Cornwallis’s command because he is the officer who faces the direst threats.
None of this, apart from Tavington’s motivation of regaining his status, is addressed in the script, but that does not mean it is irrelevant. to the film. The  director and actors’ choices are just as important to the final product as the writers.’ There are visual cues that both clue the audience in to Tavington’s sexuality and offer insights about how it impacts his behavior.  Not only is the film’s director gay, but Jason Isaacs had already played a couple of gay characters at this point in his career, most notably Louis Ironson in the 1993-1994 run of Angels in America at the National Theatre, and in Sweet November, released shortly after The Patriot, he plays a drag queen. There are noticeable similarities between Tavington and Michael Ryan, the young gangster Isaacs plays in the 1995 television series Dangerous Lady. Michael is violent and ruthless, but at the same time vulnerable on the topic of his sexuality.  That for most of the time in which the series is set, the 1950s to the 1980s, homosexual acts between consenting adults over 21 were legal makes little difference in his Irish Catholic community. While Tavington’s sexuality is less narratively important than these other characters,’ it adds nuance to the rare shows of vulnerability in Isaacs’ performance.
Two brief scenes in particular allude to Tavington’s queerness and the necessity for privacy it creates.  One opens on him thoughtfully examining a blossom.  “This is beautiful country,” he observes quietly. “Everything grows.”  This is the most relaxed we ever see him. The camera shifts to his subordinate, Captain Wilkins, who is anything but relaxed, looking around worriedly as though he fears someone may be watching when a piercing scream comes from a militia prisoner being tortured in the house nearby. When Tavington walks in the direction of the sound, Wilkins behind him, he camera shifts to a wide angle, revealing that they have been standing in a large cornfield, some stalks even higher than the men’s heads.  The realization that they have been hiding from the rest of the regiment together gives us insights into both Tavington’s relaxation and Wilkins’ anxiety. Between the two of them, Tavington seems to have had more experience with such encounters.  
Wilkins’ presence is a significate departure from Robert Rodat’s original 1999 script, which includes a scene of Tavington lounging on a hillside inspecting a flower as his dragoons bring him a militia prisoner to torture, but he is alone.  The filmed scene reveals a discrepancy between Tavington’s words and his actions.  When they first meet, he contemptuously refers to Wilkins as “another Colonial” and asks him, “How can I trust a man who would betray his neighbors?”  Enough to commit “crimes against nature” in nature with him, apparently.  Not only does Tavington trust Wilkins, but he trusts his surroundings more than he probably should.  This scene follows the burning of Charlotte Selton’s plantation, and the militia appeared seemingly from nowhere to rescue her and the children.  The cornfield by this house, which probably also belongs to a Patriot family, is large enough to hide more than just two horny dragoon officers.
Tavington’s comfort in this scene becomes even more ironic when we consider how deeply uncomfortable he appears as he gets his wound treated.    The tent is completely empty apart from Tavington and the orderly, which is odd in itself.  Even if there has not been a recent battle, there would be other soldiers being treated for illnesses and injuries in the infirmary.  Receiving treatment in private is not enough to calm Tavington’s worries.  He is watching the tent’s other entrance when General Cornwallis comes in and turns quickly, startled, when he hears him speak.  That he is still wearing his shirt, awkwardly holding it up as the orderly ties his bandages, speaks to his wariness as well. The wound is on Tavington’s side.  When a slash on Gabriel’s chest is treated earlier in the film, taking his shirt off is the first step.  The only reason for Tavington to still be wearing his is that he wants to expose as little skin as possible.  Anyone walking by either entrance can look in and, possibly, get the wrong idea. Tavington is not only hiding to avoid seeming weak but also to avoid seeming guilty.  In what should be the safest place in the colony for a British officer, he is as anxious as we ever see him.
That he is more relaxed with a Colonials in a cornfield than in a British tent secure enough for Cornwallis himself to visit tells us more than just how dangerous Army life was for a man like him.  It exposes the need for privacy at the core of his motivations.  When Cornwallis gives him the opportunity to choose land for himself, he asks not for the “beautiful country” on the banks of the Santee but for Ohio.  On the surface, the intent here seems to be showing Tavington’s greed, but size is likely not the only attraction it holds for him. Ohio was not a colony at this point in history; it was still mostly populated by indigenous people. The absence of civilization by British standards could be a deterrent for many gentlemen, but for Tavington it represents an exciting possibility.  Ohio exists on the margins of British society, just like him, and where there is little British cultural infiltration, the British legal system has little enforcement. In Ohio, Tavington could not only have land and power, but he could also enjoy a level of freedom hitherto unknown: the ultimate privacy.
This underlying vulenrability does not make Tavington less of a villain, but it certainly makes him something more than an American straight WASP dad’s boogeyman. Although the scenes I discuss here are absent from the film’s theatrical release, they did not simply wind up on the cutting room floor.  The extended cut adds them back to the film, and they are included as deleted scenes on the original DVD release.  They are important to the film because Tavington is an important character, and these scenes capture Emmerich and Isaacs’ efforts to present a nuanced 18th century man who, like the protagonist, has motives and anxieties beyond his stated ones.  Isaacs says of Tavington in this interview “he was a scenery-chewing, awful person, but I believed him.”  Played by a different actor, Tavington might have been nothing more than a cruel, bitchy theatre queen, fun to watch, but entirely lacking in substance. Rodat wrote a Disney villain, but Emmerich and Isaacs delivered a character whose behavior is supported by human and historically feasible reasons.
25 notes · View notes