The private life of Harold Macmillan
...announced to the Commons that there had been ‘no impropriety whatsoever’ with Keeler, and Macmillan had not only pre-approved the statement, but also sat alongside Profumo throughout, even patting his...
Foreign Office Historians
Sir Edward Grey and the First World War: the unmaking of a Foreign Secretary
...had no sons but he did have close family involved, namely his brother Charlie who was wounded fighting in British East Africa and had his left arm amputated. He also...
What’s the Context? 22 October 1966: spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs
Posted by:
Gill Bennett, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
...DIOMID An officer in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6) who had been captured by North Korean soldiers in 1950, Blake returned from captivity to work for Soviet as...
They Think it’s all Diplomacy: North Korea, the Foreign Office and the 1966 World Cup
Posted by:
James Southern, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
‘In order to be a good footballer, you must run swiftly and pass the ball accurately’. Wise words indeed – especially when one considers that they were uttered not by Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger, but by Kim Il Sung, …
What’s the Context? 26 July 1956: Nasser announces the nationalisation of the Suez Canal
Posted by:
Gill Bennett, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
The UK and the US shared common strategic interests in the region, but their analyses and policies were not identical and there were important differences in their tactical and diplomatic approaches’. (Chilcot Report on the Iraq enquiry, vol. I, p. …
Hugh O’Beirne and the sinking of HMS Hampshire: a diplomat remembered
Posted by:
Dr Richard Smith, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians
The death of Lord Kitchener, who drowned when HMS Hampshire sank just off the Orkney’s north-west coast on 5 June 1916, came as a profound shock to the nation. The Secretary of State for War was the public face of …
What’s the Context? 9 May 1956: Eden orders an enquiry into the disappearance of Commander ‘Buster’ Crabb
Posted by:
Gill Bennett, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
...R G G (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Mystery of the missing frogman Sixty years ago today, on 9 May 1956 the Prime Minister, Sir...
Sir Edward Grey: a fitting tribute
Posted by:
Dr Richard Smith, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians
...today: Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond speaking at the unveiling of the restored Sir Edward Grey memorial For more on how the memorial came to be built see: http://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/fco896_gray_memorial_booklet_-_web_812e11dc3c95ff ...
What’s the context? 12 October 2015: The execution of Edith Cavell
Posted by:
Gill Bennett, Posted on:
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Categories:
First World War, Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
In the early hours of Tuesday, 12 October 1915, Edith Cavell, a British nurse who had been working in Belgium, was executed by the Germans after being found guilty of helping over 200 Allied servicemen escape to England. At her …
What’s the Context? 6 August 1945: an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima
Posted by:
Gill Bennett, Posted on:
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Categories:
Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series
...by Stalin and there was no sign that the Japanese leaders were ready to agree to surrender unconditionally. After the successful test at Alamogordo in New Mexico on 16 July...