Starmer’s Sunday Surprise

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I wonder how long it took to get those signs printed.

International affairs continue to move at a dizzying pace. Far from being able to write comprehensive essays about events, it’s as much as I can do to keep up with the photographs being uploaded.

Shortly after meeting President Trump individually, Starmer, Macron, Zelenskyy and many other heads of government met at Lancaster House for an emergency summit on the Russia-Ukraine war. This was sometimes described in the press as a European leaders meeting, but that was not strictly true as it also included Justin Trudeau, a North American.

Back in D.C., Ambassador Mandelson has already caused a minor diplomatic row by airing a view on the Trump-Zelenskyy negotiations which contradicted British government policy.

The Downing Street Flickr account uploaded many photographs of Starmer’s bilateral meeting with Trump as well as of the conference he hosted. The White House also released photographs of the former and the European Commission of the latter. This presented a challenge for me when organising the files on Wikimedia Commons. For the scenes at the White House I decided to use “Trump-Starmer bilateral” for the American photographs and “Starmer-Trump bilateral” for the British ones. For the summit I put (UK pic) and (EC pic) in brackets. Further complicating matters is that London, Brussells and D.C. all sit in different time zones so that the meta-data on different cameras are inconsistent.

Following the meeting, Zelenskyy flew to the Sandringham estate for a meeting with His Majesty. Today Trudeau did the same. The choice of Sandringham for this part was confusing for three reasons:

  1. Sandringham is a privately-owned property, yet clearly matters of state were being conducted.
  2. The King’s main London residence at Clarence House is only a minute’s walk from where the summit took place, whereas the journey to Sandringham is over a hundred miles.
  3. Sandringham is normally only used by the royal family from Christmas to early February, not into March.

Sadly, no government photographs of the royal meetings were taken, only commercial ones. Although this could be considered a private rather than an official visit (and certainly not a state one) I was a little disappointed that the Ukrainian president was not appointed an honorary GCB.

The presence of the Prime Minister of Canada at an otherwise-European conference may seem a little strange, but of course Canada is a nation directly adjacent at the opposite end of the main adversary, as well as bordering the United States. Among the proximate causes of this summit is that the latter, long considered the keystone of any global military policy, may now me as much an antagonist as Russia is.

Given the great affection in which Canada is held by the British public, as well as the long-standing cultural and constitutional links between the United Kingdom and its former dominion, many viewers expressed disappointment that Starmer, whether in his meeting with Trump or at the subsequent summit, did not explicitly push back against Trump’s threats of both economic and actual warfare against Canada, which they interpreted as indifference to attack on a senior Commonwealth partner. That our shared monarch did not comment on the matter either was also of grave concern.

The King, of course, can only make an official statement on such a politically-charged issue on the formal advice of his Canadian government. It is yet to be confirmed if any such advice was given at today’s meeting. I can only hope that when such a statement is made, it comes with the correct coat of arms to hammer the point home!

Then again, it is also worth remembering that we are only a week from Commonwealth Day, and with it the annual Commonwealth Message. As the position of Head of the Commonwealth is one which has no formal powers even in reserve, it is one from which His Majesty can speak without ministerial advice. While a dedicated diatribe in such an instance would be inappropriate, a coded reference or two would not go amiss.

A Look at Some Letterheads

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In the past five days President Trump has in rapid succession hosted bilateral meetings at the White House with Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I have not watched any of these events in full in order to write a proper political analysis – frankly, the small snippets I did see were already enough to leave me rocking in a corner – so am instead simply focusing on some aspects of government heraldry.

During a meeting in the oval office, Starmer gave Trump a letter from Charles III inviting him on a second state visit to the United Kingdom. The letter was marked “Private and Confidential”, yet presenting it in this way meant nearly all the words were caught on camera. I have copied out the text below (keeping the line breaks and punctuation the same) with equals signs representing the words that got obscured:

Dear Donald,

I just wanted to write and thank you for receiving====
in Washington so soon after your Inauguration. Given the====
breadth of challenges across the world, I can only think that====
of our two countries has a vital role to play in promoting and====
the values which matter so much to us all.

I remember with great fondness your visits to the United Kingdom
during your previous Presidency, and recall our nascent plan for you to
visit Dumfries House, in Scotland, as the global pandemic began and all
bets – and flights! – were off… I can only say that it would be a great
pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you might at
some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near
neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative
might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral, if you are calling in at Menie.
There us much on both Estates which I think you might find interesting
and enjoy – particularly as my Foundation at Dumfries House provides
hospitality skills-training for young people who often end up as staff in
your own establishments!

Quite apart from this presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide
range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to
plan a historic second State Visit to the United Kingdom. As you will
====, this is unprecedented by a U.S. President. That is why I would find
it helpful for us to be able to discuss, together, a range of options for

location and programme content. In so doing, working together, I know
we will further enhance the special relationship between our two countries,
of which we are both so proud.

Yours Most Sincerely

Charles R

The letter is described as emanating from Buckingham Palace, and is topped by the familiar red outline of the British royal arms, still the old version with St Edward’s Crown.

On a related note, Starmer recently announced that, owing to the escalation of international military tensions, his government would be redirecting funds from international aid to defence. Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Development, resigned from the government in protest. The Prime Minister’s response to her resignation is published on Gov.UK as a PDF. His letterhead is the lesser version of the arms, again still using St Edward’s Crown.

One place (or rather a great many places) where the Tudor crown can now be seen in use is in the arms of Queen Camilla, as used by companies to which her royal warrant was granted late last year. The first example I’ve actually seen (through other heraldists pointing it out online, rather than in person) is Heaven Skincare, which proudly displays the warrant in the navigation bar of its website. Deborah Mitchell, the owner, Tweeted a photograph of the coat of arms on her branded packaging earlier today.

I’ve Been Promoted

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One of a great many images which I’ve recently requested be renamed

On Wikimedia Commons, unlike on the English (and some other) Wikipedias, moving a page from one title to another is not something any registered user can do. To rename an image file requires higher-than-standard access levels, which currently are held by under two thousand accounts.

Applying for these rights – or nominating someone else – turned out to be pretty simple. Another user, Shaan Sengupta, nominated me on the basis of how many requests I’d recently made for the renaming of British government Flickr photographs. This nomination was approved almost immediately. I was also – though this had not been requested – granted Autopatrol rights.

This present comes slightly late for my eleventh anniversary as an editor, but is welcome nonetheless.

Flying Heraldry in Scotland

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After ten months of inactivity, the Lyon Court’s YouTube channel has at last released another video – this is a recording of a virtual lecture by George Way of Plean, the Rothesay herald, on the topic of Scottish heraldic flags.

UPDATE (28th March)

The Court has uploaded another lecture – A Knight’s Tale by Sir Geoff Palmer, documenting his life up to his appointment to the Order of the Thistle. It has little to do with heraldry, but is interesting nonetheless.

UPDATE (12th June)

In sad news, Sir Geoff has died. In happier news, yet another lecture – Heraldic Hearts by Gillian Black.

More Upcoming State Visits

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A week ago it was announced that Their Majesties would undertake state visits Italy and the Vatican in April this year, though not many details are yet available. Last night it was reported by The Daily Mirror that next year would see a royal tour of Canada and a state visit to the United States, though naturally at this stage even less is known about these and the article itself is mainly waffle.

Interestingly these visits will be to the two republics where Britain is represented by peers – the Lord Llewellyn of Steep (Conservative) in Rome and the newly-appointed Lord Mandelson (Labour) in Washington.

Any discussion of royal travel this year and last (and likely next as well) has to take account of the monarch’s ongoing cancer treatment, around which long-haul journeys have to be carefully timed. In at least one instance, the health factor may be double-sided as Pope Francis was today hospitalised with bronchitis. The state visit to Italy will be hosted by Sergio Mattarella, President for a decade as of this month. The state visit to the United States will likely be hosted by President Trump, whose affection for the royal family is widely-viewed as an important tool for diplomatic leverage. It is not clear who will host the Canadian tour, as Canada could well be changing Prime Minister more than once between now and next year.

The Italian visit is the only one for which anything substantive has already taken place, as His Majesty preceded the trip with an Italian-themed dinner party at Highgrove. I would be interested to see if Princess Beatrice’s husband Count Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who is of Italian descent, has any involvement.

The North American tour next year is purely in the speculative stages at this point, but that may be an advantage in that it gives more time for preparation. That Canada and the United States will be visited back-to-back could prove very interesting in the euphemistic sense given the currently-volatile state of relations between these two countries.

Unless something else is arranged in between, Canada would be the second Commonwealth Realm other than Britain that Charles III has visited since his accession (a planned trip to New Zealand last year having been abandoned). The last time the reigning monarch visited Canada was in 2010, and the last time Charles & Camilla personally visited (as Duke & Duchess of Cornwall) was in 2022.

Elizabeth II made six visits to the United States during her reign – in 1957, 1959, 1976, 1983, 1991 and 2007. On the latter four occasions she was representing Britain, but in 1959 she went in her capacity as Queen of Canada, with 1957 being a dual mandate. Notably she never represented any of her other realms abroad in this manner.

The 1976 visit is the most obvious precedent as it came just after the Bicentenary of the Declaration of Independence and was consciously planned as part of the commemorations. Next year will be the Semiquincentenary, and a royal visit will likely have similar intentions (albeit this time some weeks ahead of the actual anniversary date).

The Dark Lord Rises

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A longstanding frustration of British heraldists and constitutionalists is the misuse of the word “Lord” in conjunction with a person’s given name. “Lord” can, of course, have many different meanings depending on context. In particular, its placement before or after a person’s first name.

When “Lord” is placed before a person’s first name and surname (i.e. the place where a knight would put “Sir”) it indicates said person to be the younger son of a marquess, duke or occasionally prince – e.g. Lord Nicholas Windsor, son of the Duke of Kent; Lord Ivar Mountbatten, son of the Marquess of Milford Haven. When placed directly before the surname (or territorial title) omitting the first name, it indicates that the person is a baron, viscount, earl or marquess (most usually the former) in his own right – e.g. Lord Winston, Lord Stansgate, Lord Attlee and Lord Lothian.

Sometimes, where it is necessary to preserve the first name, the word Lord can be written between the two – most famously in the case of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is also possible for the same person to occupy both states – the two-time Victorian prime minister John Russell was the younger son of the 6th Duke of Bedford and was later created an earl in his own right with the earldom using his surname as the title, thus going from “Lord John Russell” as a commoner to “John, Lord Russell” as a peer. If the use of commas between parts of a person’s name is not practical, especially in long lists of names where it may cause confusion, then one can sometimes get away with using brackets for this purpose instead e.g. Lord (Andrew) Lansley.

I bring this up due to the recent appointment of Peter, Lord Mandelson to be His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America. His page on Gov.UK and the titles of a series of recent Flickr photographs both incorrectly call him “Lord Peter Mandelson”, thus greatly elevating the prestige of his parentage.

(Just to confuse you, Mandelson actually does have noble heritage on his mother’s side, but only from another life baron – Lord Morrison of Lambeth – whose own origins were distinctly proletarian.)

Once these photographs had been transferred to Wikimedia Commons, I made sure to change the names and captions to something more suitable.

Thankfully the Court Circular for 3rd February does better, stating that

The Lord Mandelson was received in audience by The King and kissed hands upon his appointment as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America.

On the day of his arrival, the British Embassy in Washington D.C. Tweeted a video of him giving a fluffy speech about his new role, accompanied with a sickeningly-dreamy montage and backing tune. Interestingly, the Tweet and the speech simply call him “Peter Mandelson” without mentioning his peerage at all. Since there did not appear to be a text copy anywhere, I have typed out his speech based on the subtitles. I have copied the punctuation exactly as it appeared there, despite this not always matching the way Mandelson actually spoke the words. Actually, given the syntactical incoherence of some of the sentences, I suspect he spoke in free-form and the written version came later. I have numbered the lines for ease of analysis.

  1. Hello, I’m Peter Mandelson, and I’m proud to serve as His Majesty’s British Ambassador to the United States of America.
  2. It’s great to be up and running in the US, a country in which I have spent so much of my adult life and admire so much.
  3. I’m speaking to you from the Ambassador’s Residence, a building that symbolises decades of friendship, hosting countless presidents, prime ministers, politicians, royalty, and many ordinary American citizens.
  4. I’m crystal clear: the UK has no closer ally than America.
  5. And no one does more than our two countries together in intelligence sharing and defence.
  6. With our jet fighters, our naval missions, and army special forces operating together in the world.
  7. Our deep economic and cultural ties are unrivalled.
  8. Looking ahead, President Trump’s administration is shaping up to be one of the most consequential periods in modern America.
  9. I feel energised by the opportunities opening up to work more closely together in tackling threats to our security, and collaborating together in exploiting new technologies to boost jobs and higher living standards.
  10. I was born in London to a middle-class family.
  11. My father was from Jewish parents whose own father helped found a local synagogue.
  12. My loving mother was always there for my older brother and me, and my father worked hard to send us both to university.
  13. At Oxford University, my passion for learning and to drive change was ignited.
  14. I’ve served as a legislator, elected first to the House of Commons, and more recently, in Parliament’s upper house.
  15. I’ve also helped found and grow a successful international business, promoting market access and investment around the world.
  16. I’m ready to bring my policy knowledge, entrepeneurial spirit, and experience at the highest levels of government to this role.
  17. As Northern Ireland Secretary, I was responsible for implementing the Good Friday Agreement, which finally brought peace to that troubled part of the United Kingdom.
  18. Today, the UK Government’s number one priority is economic growth.
  19. More than 1 million Britons work for US companies, and a million Americans work for UK firms.
  20. The UK and US already have $1.5 trillion invested in each other, and I’m confident we can go even further and faster together.
  21. I’m hugely grateful for the warm welcome since our arrival, Reinaldo, with whom I have lived happily for 28 years and I are so happy to be here making our home in the great United States of America.
  22. We look forward to exploring this magnificent country, from coast to coast, from state to state, and meeting many new friends along the way.

The montage includes a close-up shot of the pediment on the southern facade of the residence, as well as a clip of Mandelson speaking behind a podium (location unknown, but presumably within the embassy itself). Both the pediment and the podium feature the British royal arms, the former (built in 1928) using the Tudor crown and the latter (made at some point in Elizabeth II’s reign) using St Edward’s crown.

Lines 10-14 are most in need of analysis: His reference to “a middle-class family” overlooks that his grandfather, though not yet ennobled, was already a Companion of Honour and had been an MP for decades with several cabinet posts under his belt. Line 11 should really be split up to read something like “My father was from Jewish parents. His own father helped found a local synagogue.” as the single-clause formation he actually used implies his paternal grandparents were siblings! Line 13 is a little confusing – if he didn’t already have a passion for learning then how did he get into Oxford in the first place?

The inconsistency in line 14 is especially frustrating – he refers to Parliament’s lower house by name but its upper house merely by that description, despite the montage including a clip of his introduction ceremony. The verb “elected” obviously only applies to the former. The sentence would work better as “I’ve served as a legislator, first elected to Parliament’s lower house, then appointed to the upper house.” instead.

The assertion made in line 4 could also be a little disappointing to some of Britain’s European and Commonwealth allies – especially, given recent events, the ones in Canada.

UPDATE (11th September)

Whoops, that didn’t last long, did it?

Quite the Collection

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In addition to my two library cards and my many online sources I have during the past few years – commencing mainly in 2022 – accumulated a rather large collection of used books from a handful of charity shops I have frequented, mainly in Hull but also in some other East Yorkshire towns. Over the weekend I set about cataloguing the lot, though this list excludes those which I have given away as gifts to friends or family members. The small minority which I am currently reading or have already finished are shown in bold.

FICTION (arranged by author)

Dr. Gregory’s books have proven particularly easy to find at sub-£ prices.

  • Austen, Jane: The Complete Novels
  • Blyton, Enid: The Secret Seven (books 4-6)
    • Go Ahead
    • On The Trail
    • Good Work
  • Boyne, John: The Boy in Striped Pyjamas
  • Brooks, Max: World War Z
  • Chaucer, Geoffrey & Spearing, Anthony Colin: The Knight’s Tale
  • Dickens, Charles: Little Dorrit
  • Durrell, Lawrence: Sebastian
  • Gerber, Michael: Barry Trotter
    • and the Shameless Parody
    • and the Unnecessary Sequel
  • Gregory, Philippa
    • The Boleyn Inheritance
    • The Constant Princess
    • The Favoured Child
    • The Lady of the Rivers
    • The Other Boleyn Girl
    • The Other Queen
    • The Red Queen
    • The Taming of The Queen
    • The White Princess
    • The White Queen
    • Three Sisters, Three Queens
  • Keyes, Daniel: Flowers for Algernon
  • Lawrence, David Herbert
    • Lady Chatterley’s Lover
    • Women in Love
    • Sons and Lovers
  • Mallinson, Allan: A Call to Arms
  • Mantel, Dame Hilary: Bringing Up the Bodies
  • Mitchell, Margaret: Gone With The Wind
  • Naylor, Doug: Red Dwarf, Last Human
  • Orwell, George: The Complete Novels
  • Penman, Sharon: The Sunne in Splendour
  • Sachor, Louis: Holes
  • Sansom, Christopher John: Sovereign
  • Shakespeare, William: The Complete Works
  • Thackeray, William Makepeace: Vanity Fair
  • Tolkien, Christopher: The History of Middle-earth (volumes 1-7)**
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
    • The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2
    • The Lays of Beleriand
    • The Shaping of Middle-earth
    • The Lost Road and Other Writings
    • The Return of the Shadow
    • The Treason of Isengard
  • Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel: Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo
  • Towles, Amor: A Gentleman in Moscow
  • Townsend, Sue: Adrian Mole, The Prostate Years
  • Tsiolkas, Christos: Dead Europe

NON-FICTION (arranged by topic)

ANCIENT WORLD

  • Beard, Dame Mary
    • How Do We Look? The Eye of Faith
    • Pompeii, The Life of a Roman Town
  • Graves, Robert: The Greek Myths, Vol. 1 & 2
  • Peddie, John: The Roman War Machine
  • Potter, Timothy William: Roman Italy
  • Taggart, Caroline: A Classical Education
  • Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
  • Wells, Colin: The Roman Empire

ART & ARCHITECTURE

  • Cruickshank, Dan: Adventures in Architecture
  • Devonshire, Deborah, Duchess of: The House, Chatsworth
  • National Trust:
    • Beningbrough Hall*
    • Treasures of
  • Spalding, Frances: British Art Since 1900
  • Style, Colin & O-Ian: House Histories for Beginners
  • Suh, H. Anna: Leonardo’s Notebook
  • Taylor, Richard: How to Read a Church

BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS (arranged by protagonist)

  • Cameron of Chipping Norton, David, Baron: Cameron at 10 (Sir Anthony Seldon & Peter Snowdon)
  • Churchill, Sir Winston
    • The Churchills, In Love & War (Mary Sybilla Lovell)
    • Winston & Clementine, The Triumphs & Tragedies of the Churchills (Richard Hough)
  • Clark, Alan: Into Politics (himself)
  • Cook, James: Captain James Cook (Richard Hough)
  • Devonshire, Georgiana, Duchess of (Amanda Foreman)
  • Fowlds, Derek: A Part Worth Playing (himself)
  • Hodkinson, Mark: No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy (himself)
  • Holbein, Hans: The King’s Painter, The Life & Times of (Moyle, Franny)
  • Hudson, Kerry: Lowborn (himself)
  • Ishikawa, Tetsuya: How I Caused The Credit Crunch (himself)
  • Kaufman, Sir Gerald: How to be a Minister (himself)
  • Kay, Adam: Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas (himself)
  • Macron, Emmanuel: The French Exception (Alan Plowright)
  • Mitford, Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford (Charlotte Mosley)
  • Mowlam, Mo: The Biography (Julia Langdon)
  • Newcastle, William, 1st Duke of: Portrait of a Cavalier (Geoffrey Trease)
  • Palin, Sir Michael: Full Circle (himself)
  • Pilkington, Karl: The World of Karl Pilkington (Ricky Gervais)
  • Riverdale, Robert “Skips”, Baron: A Life, A Sail, A Changing Sea (himself)
  • Smith, Matt: The Biography (Emily Herbert)
  • West, Timothy: Our Great Canal Journeys (himself)
  • Whitelaw, William, Viscount: The Whitelaw Memoirs (himself)

CONTEMPORARY POLITICS

  • Abell, Stig: How Britain Really Works
  • Brooks, Richard: The Great Tax Robbery
  • Cohen, Nick: Waiting for the Etonians
  • Harding, Luke: Shadow State, Murder, Mayhem & Russia’s Remaking of the West
  • Luce, Edward: In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India
  • Minton, Anna: Ground Control
  • Runciman of Doxford, David, 4th Viscount: How Democracy Ends
  • Willetts, David, Baron: A University Education
  • Wilson, Andrew: The Ukraine Crisis, What It Means For The West

HISTORY (other)

  • Belchem, John: A New History of the Isle of Man, Vol. 5 The Modern Period 1830-1999
  • Briggs, Asa, Baron: A Social History of England
  • Browne, Harry: The Rule of British Trade Unions 1825-1914
  • Churchill, Sir Winston: A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. I
  • Crosby, Alan: Preston Gould, England’s Greatest Carnival
  • Thomas, Gordon: Inside British Intelligence
  • Hibbert, Christopher: A Social History of the English 1066-1945
  • Jones, Terry: Who Murdered Chaucer?
  • Laidler, Keith: The Head of God, The Lost Treasure of the Templars
  • Morfitt, Paul & Wells, Malcolm: Hull Corporation Buses*
  • Sandbrook, Dominic: Never Had It So Good
  • Stead, Neville: Kingston-upon-Hull, Images of a Rich Transport Heritage
  • Street, Sean: A Remembered Land, Recollections of Country Life 1880-1914

LINGUISTICS

  • Burrow, John Anthony: A Book of Middle English
  • Oxford
    • Dictionary of Idioms
    • Dictionary of Quotations & Proverbs Vol. I
  • Parkinson, Judy: I Before E
  • Taggart, Caroline & Wines, J. A.: My Grammar & I

LOCOMOTION

  • Allan, Ian: Railway Liveries 1923-1947
  • Atterbury, Paul: Discovering Britain’s Lost Railways
  • Morrison, G. W. & Whiteley, J. S.: Profile of the Deltics
  • Jones, Edgar: The Penguin Guide to the Railways of Britain
  • Ross, David: The Illustrated History of British Steam Railways

ROYAL FAMILY

  • Burns, Michael: The Queen’s Flight
  • Fraser, Lady Antonia: The Warrior Queens: Boadicea’s Chariot
  • Glenconner, Anne, Baroness: Lady in Waiting
  • Green, Candida Lycett & Wales, Charles, Prince of: The Garden At Highgrove
  • Junor, Penny: The Duchess, Camilla Parker Bowles
  • Kent, Princess Michael of: Crowned in a Far Country
  • Langley, Philippa & Jones, Michael: The Search for Richard III, The King’s Grave
  • Lisle, Leanda de: Tudor, The Family Story
  • Low, Valentine: Courtiers, The Hidden Power Behind the Crown
  • Mayer, Catherine: Charles, The Heart of a King
  • Phillips, Charles: Kings & Queens of Great Britain
  • Plumb, Sir John Harold: The First Four Georges
  • Rhodes, Margaret: The Final Curtsey
  • Weir, Alison: Katherine Swynford

SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY & IDEAS

  • Attenborough, Sir David: Life on Earth
  • Darwin, Charles & Leakey, Richard: The Illustrated Origin of Species
  • Dawkins, Richard
    • The Extended Phenotype
    • The Greatest Show On Earth
  • Freeman, Betty Jo; Ornitz, Edward M. & Tanguay, Peter E.: Autism, Diagnosis, Current Research & Management
  • Garner, Alan: The Voice That Thunders
  • Harari, Yuval Noah: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow
  • Shennan, Stephen: Genes, Memes & Human History

SECOND WORLD WAR

Churchill manages to appear on this list twice as an author and twice as a subject.

  • Beevor, Sir Anthony
    • D-Day
    • Stalingrad
  • Bryant, Sir Arthur: Triumph in the West
  • Bryant, Sir Chris: The Glamour Boys
  • Cawthorne, Nigel: Fighting Them on the Beaches
  • Churchill, Sir Winston: The Second World War, Vol. I
  • Faulks, Sebastian: The Vintage Book of War Stories
  • Felton, Mark: Zero Night
  • Gillies, Midge: The Barbed-Wire University
  • Levine, Joshua: Dunkirk, The History Behind The Major Motion Picture
  • Lomax Eric: The Railway Man
  • Roberts of Belgravia, Andrew, Baron: The Storm of War
  • Trigg, Jonathan: D-Day Through German Eyes
  • Wilson, Kevin: Men of Air, The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command

TELEVISION

  • Jay, Sir Antony & Lynn, Jonathan: The Diaries of the Right Hon. James Hacker Vol. II (Yes, Prime Minister)
  • Lloyd, John & Mitchinson, John: The Second Book of General Ignorance (QI)
  • McCann, Graham: The Story of a Television Classic (Dad’s Army)
  • Patterson, Dan: Only Book You’ll Ever Need (Mock the Week)
  • Porter, Richard: And On That Bombshell (Top Gear)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Automobile Association:
    • 250 Tours of Britain
    • Book of British Villages
  • Lewis, Oliver: The Orwell Tour
  • Jordison, Sam & Kieran, Dan: Crap Towns Returns
  • Marshall, Enid Ann: General Principles of Scots Law
  • Which?: Book of Tax 1985/86
  • Wood, Michael: In Search of Shakespeare

*Unfortunately I left this one for some weeks in the boot of my car and upon eventually retrieving it I discovered the floor was damp. I can’t put it back on the shelf until the mold has been treated. (UPDATE 3rd February – I found another copy of Beningbrough Hall in a different charity shop for half the price at which I bought the first one.)
**These were purchased as a set for £15. Carrying them out of the shop was a bit tricky. I also acquired Volume 9, Sauron Defeated, as a gift in 2020. These may technically belong in the non-fiction section as the series constitutes more of a literary making-of documentary than a pure immersive story.

Notes from Nepal

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The Duke & Duchess of Edinburgh recently conducted a visit to Nepal to attend (among other events) the annual attestation parade for British Gurkhas. The tour doesn’t seem to have been covered much in the press and there are no long videos (just a couple of short reels) so most of what I can piece together is from the royal family’s own report and the photographs from the usual agencies.

As one should expect, the royal couple’s car can be seen flying the Duke’s banner of arms – the royal arms differenced by a label of three points Argent charged on the centre point with a Tudor rose Proper.

Despite her not coming on this tour, the Princess Royal’s banner (on whose label the centre point bears a heart and the outer points a cross Gules) can also be seen hanging behind a bagpiper’s shoulder. The Getty caption does not specify but based on the tartan I would guess the soldiers here pictured must be of the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, of whom Anne is Associated Colonel-in-Chief.

The Duke & Duchess arrived in Nepal separately and in this video she can be seen with a Land Rover Discovery from which the generic ermined-bordered banner is flown.

While on the topic of different variations of the royal arms, it might be worthwhile to return to matter I’ve covered before – the use of the British royal arms on communications from Buckingham Palace.

On the royal website itself these communications (variously categories as statements, messages or announcements) tend to be purely textual, with the only insignia being that built into the website’s background. In recent years the Palace has gotten into the habit of Tweeting these messages as images, with the arms painted faintly in the background. This can be a little strange when His Majesty is addressing other Realms, presumably in his capacities as monarch of those countries. I have collated a list of some examples in the past few years:

UPDATE (15th February)

See this concept discussed by Elijah Z Granet in relation to a statement about the anniversary of the Canadian flag.

It’s The Dunn Thing

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Today I noticed that BBC Four has started airing the documentary series The Architecture the Railways Built, presented by historian Tim Dunn, and put the whole first season on iPlayer. This series was originally made five years ago for Yesterday, a UKTV channel technically owned by BBC Studios but run more like the commercial stations. This series was already watchable on UKTV’s own catch-up website and repackaged on at least two different licensed YouTube channels, but the lack of advertisements and all-around superior functionality of the BBC’s service will make iPlayer my preferred platform. This makes for a rare case of televisual upcycling in a partnership where downcycling is the norm, the most obvious locomotion-related example being Michael Portillo’s many Great Railway Journeys programs.

Each episode of TATRB is forty-five minutes long and typically covers three locations, two in the United Kingdom and one abroad. No obvious connection is made between the three, so I’ve often been left feeling that it would be better if the three locations chosen were grouped by geographic region, architectural style or railway feature. Alternatively, they could be split up so that each location had a fifteen-minute episode to itself.

In addition to broadcast television, Dunn has made regular appearances in railway-related online channels, including several times presenting Sudrian pseudohistorical lectures hosted by the Talyllyn Railway.

Feeling a Little Blue

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For many years now I have been an infrequent reader of Murrey and Blue, a blog about medieval history written from a Ricardian perspective. Its themes and contents overlapped with my interests a fair bit, especially heraldry – the very name refers to the House of York’s livery colours. It combined a catty, snarky writing style with a great deal of detailed historical analysis and research.

The blog dates back to January 2014 and, unlike mine, has had many contributing authors over the decade. Late last month ViscountessW, one of the more prolific contributors, announced that following the death of the owner Stephen Lark and the looming, inevitable, expiration of the site’s WordPress plan, the blog has ceased operations. Happily a new incarnation of the blog is already in existence, but the fate of the eleven-year back-catalogue of old articles is not known.

I should say that while I enjoyed the content of Murrey and Blue, I’ve never been keen on it from a design perspective – the original theme used was an old one and a bit crude, but it was at least functional. At some point between March and May 2021 it was changed to something that looked a little more modern but which lacked a sense of structure and texture as well as being hard to navigate. The new website looks even worse in that regard, but I hope this is just its larval stage and a better theme will be chosen soon.