Modern technology means that today’s politicians remain contactable, even when on holiday. Constant access to digital communications can be a mixed blessing but, in the event of a crisis, the...
...Company, August 1956 (Public Domain) The announcement sixty years ago today by President Gamal Abdel Nasser that he was taking the Suez Canal into Egyptian ownership provided the ‘inciting incident’,...
75 years ago today, on 15 February 1942, British forces surrendered the ‘impregnable fortress’ of Singapore to the Japanese army. Defeat had come swiftly after the landing of Japanese forces...
...1917, shortly after his arrival at No.10. It would prove to be a precursor to an administrative model that continues to function today. David Lloyd George, 1906, The National Archives,...
...of the room, about which there has been both speculation and mystery. There have been different theories about the source of the codebook used to decipher diplomatic traffic. Even today,...
This year marks the 800th anniversary of the granting of Magna Carta by King John. Today, the Great Charter is viewed as the foundation of many of our rights and...
100 years ago today saw the first German airship raids on Britain when two Zeppelins attacked the coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk. In this post, Professor...
Today's release of Prime Minister’s Office records and Cabinet Papers from 1985-1986 covers the mid-point of the Thatcher premiership. If this period is beyond your living memory, you might be...
...telephone and the typewriter were ubiquitous, pneumatic tubes carried messages around the building and telegrams were sent by often laborious analogue methods. The Tube Room, 1987 (FCO) Today’s diverse workforce...
...battle of Hastings contrast with the more national character of those in Britain. Returning to Reilly’s letter of 4th February, he informs his colleagues that “French children are taught today...