Perhaps there should be a rule that Historically Important Works of Art should be nice and short. Mozart knew this when he was writing dinky little tunes for tight-wearing Austrians with miniature attention spans. Alfred Hitchcock knew it too, famously quipping that no film should last longer than the capacity of a human bladder. Richard…
Category: Idiot Histories
Rubbish Rebellions!
Like many of my fellow social historians, I love a good rebellion. Who wouldn’t? Most of history is about the rich and the powerful screwing the rest of us. Rebellions are the moments when ordinary people get to fight back. And let’s be honest about this: all of us, if we found ourselves in a…
Orange is the New Jacobite
The Glorious Revolution, 1688. James II should have been one of Britain’s best kings. His brother Charles had brought stability after the Civil Wars. Christmas was back, soldiers had gone. Puritans had shut the hell up and were allowing everyone to play football again. A trade boom had left the Crown with more money than…
The Social Historian 