Author Archives: residentjudge

The Rest is History I’m really enjoying this series, featuring historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Until I listened to Episode 346 (really!) The Mystery of the Holy Grail the only thing that I knew about it was the Monty Python version. Holland and Sandbrook are obviously familiar with the Monty Python film too. Tom Holland said that he became angrier at this film than at ‘Life of Brian’, although after several viewings, he realized that the film was actually based on deep knowledge (Terry Jones has written books and presented television documentaries on medieval and ancient history.) They point out the links between the legend of the Holy Grail and T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland (can I confess that I’ve never read it?), and make several references to Jessie Weston’s 1920 book From Ritual to Romance which argued for its pagan and fertility elements. A ‘grail’ is actually a serving platter, but after 1180 it was transformed into something holy in Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval where Percival meets the Fisher King and a girl who comes in holding a (a,not the) grail. Robert de Boron introduced a connection with Joseph of Arimathea who owned the grail which had either been the cup used at the Last Supper or alternatively, the cup in which was collected Jesus’ blood when he was hanging on the cross. In other versions, the grail is a stone. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the grail has been seen as a mystery- either through Jung who saw it as the key to all the mythologies, the author Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code, and through Jessie Westron’s work. Tom Holland thinks that de Troyes dreamed the whole thing up, and that the story of the grail reflects 13th century Latin Christendom at its peak. When the Reformation rejected transubstantiation (i.e that the communion wine actually becomes blood), it’s as if we have the hardware of the holy grail, but not the software to know what it means. I found this all fascinating.

History Extra Big Questions of the Crimean War: into the Valley of Death This is Episode 2 of the History Extra series on the Crimean War, or as it was known at the time in Britain ‘The War with Russia’. The war actually began on the Danube in Romania, and spread to Anatolia, the Caucasus, Georgia, the extreme far-east of Russia and the Baltic. Britain and France had learned from Napoleon, and this was a maritime war, with the British never extending beyond one day’s march from the coastline. It was conducted at a time of technological change e.g. steamships rather than sail; rifles rather than muskets. The British horse-breeding program had led to horses capable of mounting the Charge of the Light Brigade. The advantage the Russians had was the willingness to endure huge loses- it is estimated that there were 800,000 Russian casualties. There is a roll-call of battles (i) across the Danube where the Turks attacked the Russians and won; (ii) the Battle of Sinope, a naval battle that the Russians won, and which brought the British and French into the war, immobilizing the Russian fleet. (iii) Orland Island in the Baltic- not widely reported because there were few British casualties (iv) Alma, in the Crimean peninsula, won by the Allies who should have followed up on their victory, but didn’t (v) Balaclava- and the Charge of the Light Brigade which was a stuff-up but wasn’t the defeat that Tennyson depicted. Rather than only 120 coming back, there were 120 who didn’t come back (vi) Inkerman – the Soldiers Battle (vii) Siege of Sebastopol- not technically a siege as such- but it was like the Western Front that was to follow some 60 years later. (viii) Malakoff- considered to be the last battle, but it wasn’t really. So why did it end? It ended, as wars usually do, by negotiations because Russia was bankrupted by British pressure in stopping exports.

Sydney Writers Festival Barry Cassidy & Friends State of the Nation The usual suspects: Amy Remeikis, Niki Savva and Laura Tingle discussing the Voice, the state of the Liberal Party, Scott Morrison etc. You probably know what they’re going to say anyway.

Reflecting History The Emperors of Rome podcast has taken a backward step to look at the fall of the Roman Republic. I’ve been meaning to read Mike Duncan’s book The Storm Before the Storm for ages, so this seemed a good place to stop and draw breath and look at why the Roman republic, which had been successful for centuries, chose one-man rule through an emperor. I found these podcast series which is less event-driven than both ‘Emperors of Rome’ and ‘The History of Rome’ podcasts and, as the name suggests, more reflective. I have no idea who is presenting it, though. Matt someone. He has a four-part series on the Fall of the Roman Republic, and this seemed a good time to listen to it. Episode 55: The Fall of the Roman Republic Part I-Features of the Republic looks at the strengths of the Roman Republic. First there was the ability of the Roman Republic to channel the ambitions of families into the military, maintaining control of the incentives that made personal honour through service a valuable currency. Then there was the Republic’s ability to compromise and evolve. Because the Romans feared one-man rule, there were 2 consuls, the Assembly (include the Tribunes) and the Senate. It was a balanced system, with specific responsibilities for each component. But this was going to change. Episode 56: The Fall of the Roman Republic Part II-The Long Defeat sees the three Punic Wars establishing Rome as the dominant force in the Mediterranean, but also beginning the process of decay in the Roman Republic. Rome was beaten at first, and especially once Hannibal took the fight to Rome’s home territory, the Italian city-states started backing off. But in 205BCE Scipio triumphed over Carthage, which was burnt to the ground in the Third Punic War. Once the wars ended, Rome now controlled huge amounts of territory in Spain, Greece and Africa, but it could not retreat or stand down. It didn’t want to rule directly, and preferred to work through client kings, but eventually it had to. The expansion of territory brought great wealth, forcing small farmers off the land, and contributing to the growth of a wealthy elite that could buy up slaves (goodbye small farmers!) and leverage their wealth into investments and syndicates. The gap between rich and poor kept expanding, making Rome ripe for a populist leader.

Now and Then With all the hype about Barbie, Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman look back at the history of dolls in Barbie, GI Joe and the Gang: Dolls Are Us. They start with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s corn cob doll Susan, and move on to Raggedy Ann, a happy servant girl doll produced in the 1930s as part of a book/song/doll marketing production. During the 1940s research was undertaken which demonstrated the link between marketed toys and how children identify themselves, which in turn fed into the intellectual and political climate that produced Brown v the Board of Education and desegregation. Barbie was invented in 1959 based on a European spoof doll – the sort of hyper-sexualized doll you might give a man in a Kris Kringle at an office party- and right from the start there was a tension between her form as a male fantasy and a feminist “girls can do anything” ethos. Barbie’s depiction in a range of professions followed societal trends, rather than drove them: it was decided to have a Doctor Barbie only when there was a certain number of female doctors in the medical system. Ken was released two years later. In 1964 G. I. Joe hit the market as an ‘action figure’ (not a doll), based on Ernie Pyle, the WWII war correspondent. Released during the early years of the Vietnam War, he was already a nostalgic figure. Over the years he morphed into a Special Ops, adventurer, Kung Fu figure- a more individualistic figure of masculinity. Interesting.

Emperors of Rome Episode XCII – The Beginning of the End of the Republic. The Romans themselves claimed to have 400 years of republicanism, up until 133 BCE although this date was nominated after the fact. So what happened in 133 BCE? 1. Attalus of Permagon left his empire to Rome. It was the leftovers of Alexander the Great’s empire, and based on modern day Turkey. At the time, the Romans had Spain, Greece and a bit of Africa, so this bequest gave acdess to Asia and its wealth. This only exacerbated the disparity in wealth which was already appearing in Roman society. 2. Tiberius Gracchus became tribune, and attempted land reform to address the problem of the landless poor flooding into Rome. However, his reforms were vetoed, so Tiberius removed the tribune who opposed it – a very unconstitutional act. The Senate had him murdered, which opened up the possibility of murdering your opponents. The following year the Italian allies (i.e. not Roman citizens as such) were building up to the Social War in the next century. Ten years after Tiberius Gracchus’ assassination his brother Gauis Gracchus tried to introduce the same package of reforms, and attempted to extend Roman citizenship rights to the whole of Italy. Guess what? He got assassinated too, and as with his brother, there were no repercussions. Episode XCIII – Powerful Personalities. As the senate clawed more power from the people, it was inevitable that a few would rise above others, and take over command and influence with an army. Marius, Sulla, and the civil war that followed would just be another log on the funeral pyre of the Roman republic. Marius seemed to come from no-where, a ‘new man’. Some say that he brought on the fall of the empire- he was on the side of the populares, and brought changes to the army. He was married to Julius Caesar’s aunt, and became consul in 104 BCE, elected against the wishes of the Senate, with the support of his troops -i.e. Rome’s first warlord. He opened up the army to men without property, making it possible to have a career within a professional army. He became consul 5 times in a row, which was not consistent with the constitution, and accrued more power than anyone else ever had before. By the end of the 90s BCE, Sulla was on the rise. He was from a very elite family. Sulla was seen as the Senate’s friend but after conflict between Marius and Sulla, Sulla brought his army to Rome, leading to civil war. There was a spate of murders as Sulla became dictator and increased the size of the Senate. Then all of a sudden, in 79 BCE Sulla suddenly resigned.

History Workshop Rethinking Place in British Labour History This program involved projects by three oral historians from the University of Glasgow, looking at ex-industrial workers in ‘traditional working class’ communities- those same ‘red wall’ seats that went from Labor to the Conservatives and have been characterized pro-Leave during Brexit, and who were characterized as being ‘red wall’ . This episode promised to challenge common assumptions about class and region, about schisms and solidarities. But the reality is that I could barely understand a word of these Glaswegian academics, and once they went to telephone interviews, that was even worse. It’s no longer COVID- surely podcasts can do better than interviews over telephone- or at least improve the bloody quality! I gave up.

History Extra Big Questions of the Crimean War: the buildup. So here we are in 2023, back fighting in the Crimea. The Crimean War took place between 1853 to 1856 when an alliance led by Britain and France challenged Russian expansion in the wake of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Why? Britain wanted to stop Russian expansion towards the Mediterranean, and feared that the collapse of the Ottoman Empire would cause war in Central Europe, while Louis Napoleon, as new Emperor wanted to increase France’s presence. It started in Palestine between Catholic and Russian Orthodox monks of all things, over the symbols in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Russian demands that the Ottomans protect the Orthodox interests. The war took a long time to get going, similar to the Cold War in that it was an ideological rather than a border war. The tipping point was the Russian occupation of Romania. There was a bit of a sliding doors moment, when Britain could have -but didn’t- send its navy to the Baltic, which might have averted the war. The episode features Professor Andrew Lambert.

Travels Through Time. Well, this one is a bit different. This time Peter Moore talks about his new book Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness in the form of a walking tour. His book is, in effect, a British history of the American Revolution, and his walking tour takes us to

Location One: The Old Cheshire Cheese (William Strahan)

Location Two: 17 Gough Square (Dr Johnson’s House)

Location Three: Near John Wilkes’s Statue on Fetter Lane

Printer William Strahan was Benjamin Franklin’s contact in London, and he sent him 18,000 pounds worth of books and pamphlets over the years, but they fell out over the American Revolution. Dr Johnson was fiercely opposed to the American patriots, but ironically, it was his term the ‘pursuit of happiness’ (particularly in Rasselas) that was taken up by the revolutions – even though Johnson saw happiness as important, but not guaranteed. Englishman John Wilkes was the Donald Trump of his times, followed obsessively by the Americans, and prosecuted for seditions against the Prime Minister Lord Bute in his North Briton journal. In the end, it was Thomas Paine who took Wilkes’ ideas to America.

Democracy Sausage I listen to this nearly every week, but I don’t very often note it because by the time I write this blogpost, the events are long past. But this episode A non-aligned movement features Dr Andrew Leigh, one of the few factionally-unaligned people in the Labor party, talking about the perils of a duopoly among factions. He isn’t so much arguing against factions, noting that they allow broader discussion within a party, but he does deplore the way that non-alignment is punished by withholding of cabinet positions etc.

Soul Search (ABC) Julian of Norwich. Ooops. I thought that Julian of Norwich was a man, but not so. In 1373, aged thirty and very ill, she experienced visions which she later wrote down in ‘Revelations of Divine Love’ the first book in English written by a woman. She became an anchoress at St Julian’s church at Norwich, which was at the time the second largest city in England. It was a global city, although the plague killed half of its population of 12,000 people (indeed Julian herself was a plague survivor). It was the time of the Peasant’s Revolt, two Popes, and the Bishop of Norwich was a military bishop. It was a time of anxiety about heresy, and from her cell Julian would have been able to hear people being burned at the stake. Being an anchoress was recognized as a life choice. In an anchoress’ cell, there were three windows: a hatch for food and removal of waste; a squint so that she could see the church, and a third window at street level with a curtain, where people could converse with her. The program features Professor Daniel Anlezark, McCaughey Professor of Early English Literature and Language at the University of Sydney; Dr Janina Ramirez Research Fellow in History of Art at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford and author of Julia of Norwich, a very brief history, and presenter of the documentary BBC The Search for the Lost Manuscript Julian of Norwich (on You Tube) and The Reverend Dr Sally Douglas, lecturer in biblical studies at Pilgrim Theological college in Melbourne, and author of Jesus Sophia: Returning to Woman Wisdom in the Bible, Practice, and Prayer.

The Real Story (BBC) We have been watching the riots in France at the moment, sparked by the point-blank shooting of a teenager at a traffic stop and the initial lying by police, with a mixture of horror and fascination. Fascination that the concept of the ‘mob’ which has been so historically important in French history still has power; and horror at the thought that such destruction of public infrastructure- especially schools- is occurring without apparent deterrence. Understanding the unrest in France features Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and commentator at the University Toulouse-Capitole in France; Professor Philippe Marlière, Professor of French and European Politics at University College London and Laetitia Strauch-Bonart, French writer and Editor at the right-leaning French news magazine L’Express. They are joined by Natalia Pouzyreff, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party and Inès Seddiki, founder of GHETT’UP, an organisation which works with young people in France’s suburbs. The right/left split is just as obvious in French politics as it is elsewhere in the world, with Strauch-Bonart repeating the ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ ideology of the right and Seddiki repeating the ‘it’s the system’ ideology of the left. There is a lot of discussion about ‘Frenchness’ and racism, and there are certainly no answers here.

Background Briefing (ABC). As far as I am concerned, if a private hospital or school takes public money, then they cannot insist on their ethos or rights of conscience to refuse public services. Full stop. I am so angry that The little-known religious code ruling many major public hospitals sees women refused legal terminations or reproductive surgery at the public hospital that covers their catchment. This episode includes an interview with Fiona Patten, who tried hard to get this changed. What a loss to politics her failure to get a seat was (I’m showing my political allegiances here).

History Extra How Did Medieval People Tell the Time? We tend to assume that medieval people couldn’t tell the time, but in fact mechanical and natural-based clocks co-existed. There were different concepts of time: linear time; religious time (the Middle Ages everyone thought that the world was about to end) and the ages/stages of man view of time. Features Gillian Adler and Paul Strohm the authors of Alle Thyng Hath Tyme: Time and Medieval Life (Reaktion, 2023).

Emperors of Rome Podcast Dr Rhiannon Evans is back! Here she pedals backwards to the 2nd century CD to present a mini-series on the Fall of the Roman Republic. Episode XCI – The Roman Constitution The Romans themselves dated their history back to 509BCE after throwing out the kings the previous year. The Athenians were doing much the same thing at the same time, but Athenian democracy was more direct and more radical. Before then, the legal system relied on precedent, and the Senate had authority but not power. There were two consuls, with a one year time limit, who could veto each other and could lead armies. Sulla put age limits of consulship, and as a result lost favour with particular families. There was not a lot of Government activity, beyond the corn dole and there wasn’t a great deal of government building. Only very wealthy, elite men were involved in government so it was an oligarchy- not monarchy, and not democracy. Voting was by college, assigned by property holdings, and it was weighted towards the oligarchy. It changed over time, with the rise and then diminution of the importance of the plebs. After the Succession of the Plebs in 495 BC, the Tribune of the Plebs had veto power, but it also skewed to vested interests over time. The role of dictator was temporary only (6 months). However, this system was beginning to face problems which would eventually lead to the fall of the Roman republic : armies became loyal to their own particular general, and land was bought up by the rich, leading to a large population of the landless poor.

The Documentary (BBC) Bangladesh’s Clothing Conundrum Most of us only really became cognizant of the growth of Bangladesh’s clothing industry with the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013 when 1100 of its 5000 workers died (5000 in one building!) Since then Bangladesh has tried to reinvent its image: it has brought in safer working conditions and is positioning itself as a sustainable green textile producer (e.g. changes in dyeing processes; water conservation). This has led to an increase in costs (estimated at about 15% i.e. 13 cents for a $3.00 t-shirt), but this isn’t really being handed on: instead it is at the expense of the 3.6 million workers directly employed in the clothing industry, 1/4 of whom are on the lowest wages.

Dan Snow’s History Hit The final episode of his Story of England series 5. Story of England: Modern Warfare opens not in England at all, but with the first day of the Somme, the bloodiest day in British military history. He reminds us of the tunnels under Dover Castle, excavated by Henry II and rebuilt after the Napoleonic Wars. The tunnels were the centre of operations for Dunkirk, which assembled with just 2 days notice, and post-war it was planned that the tunnels become the seat of government in the event of a nuclear attack. Wars are no longer a matter of mass mobilization (although Ukraine and Russia are putting the lie to that statement) but instead an issue of nuclear anxiety. A whole network of 1500 nuclear bunkers was built throughout England to house 3 government members each but it was closed down in 1991 with the end of the Cold War. The York Cold War Bunker was heritage listed by English Heritage, and is now open to the public. A rather depressing way to end what was a really good series.

History This Week The Tupperware Queen Who doesn’t have a piece of Tupperware in their cupboard? This podcast tells the story of Brownie Wise, a single mother from Michigan, who rose from selling Stanley cleaning products to one of the Vice Presidents of Tupperware. She was the woman who devised the idea of a party to sell the Wonderbowl, instead of stocking it on supermarket shelves, but her success fostered jealousy within the organization. When she held a frankly rather tacky Tupperware convention on her private island in Florida, a storm brought her undone and she has been expunged from the Tupperware corporate memory. Features Alison Clarke, design history professor at University of Applied Arts – Vienna and author of Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America; and Bob Kealing, author of Life of the Party: The Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built, and Lost, a Tupperware Party Empire.

Strong Songs. I admit it, I am a sucker for Reaction Videos, and since seeing the documentary on John Farnham ‘Finding the Voice’, I’ve been drawn to Reaction Videos on both ‘The Voice’ and his version of ‘Help’. (You can see some of them here The Vocalyst on ‘Help‘ and That Singer Reactions on ‘You’re the Voice’) This episode of Strong Songs is different from other ones because Kirk Hamilton is actually live with Annabel Crabbe and Leigh Sales in a Chat 10 Looks 3 episode recorded at the Enmore Theatre on 17 June 2023. He starts off giving an analysis of ‘You’re the Voice’ in his usual style, looking at the construction and performance of the song, but then it just becomes a Chat10 etc. love fest.

Emperors of Rome Episode LXXXVIII – Severan Stories II continues with Dr Caillan Davenport presenting three scenes from Septimius Severus’ life. Act I – If you build it they will come looks at Septimius’ building projects. There had been a big fire at the end of Commodus’ reign, which cleared the way for lots of building, but he also restored the Pantheon and put his name on it (something that Hadrian had not done) and he built the first triumphal arch since Augustus. Act II – The superfluous senators of Septimius Severus looks at how he got rid of inconvenient people. Act III – I beg of no man looks at the rise of Bulla Felix, a Robin-Hood like character who terrorized Italy. By this time, Septimius was in his sixties, and he wanted to go out on a high. Episode LXXXIX – A Man the World Could Not Hold sees him heading over to Britain in early 208 CE but why? To toughen up his son? To pacify all of Britain? Envoys were sent from Britain to sue for peace, but he wasn’t interested in peace. Instead he wanted to pacify the Barbarians, who were depicted as marsh dwellers, naked, eating magic beans. He left his younger son Getta behind in Rome, and in 209 Septimius and his older son Antoninus went on campaign and defeated the Caledonians. There was tension between father and son, and when he died at York in 211 CE, there was a suggestion that perhaps Antoninus had hurried his death along. Septimius was known as a hard taskmaster, a strategic military innovator and the most successful of the Severin emperors. Episode XC – Herodes Atticus features Dr Estelle Strazdins, (Research Fellow, Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens). Herodes was an Athenian orator who, at a time of Roman interest in 4th and 5th century BCE Greece, was tutor to Marcus Aurelius and Verus and was famous as an orator in his own right. Matt Smith rather disrespectfully describes oratory as a form of rap battle or improv, but we can’t really know as we don’t have any of his speeches. Quite apart from his oratory, he was a philanthropist who gave a lot of buildings to Athens (most famously, the Odeon) but he lost a lot of support when he stiffed Athenians of a payment of one mina per head that had been part of a bequest. He ended up being brought before Marcus Aurelius, and rather unwisely stormed out of the court hearing. Luckily for him, Marcus asked the people of Athens to forgive him, which they did and they all lived happily ever after.

Rear Vision (ABC) I’m embarrassed to admit that I always get mixed up between the real country of Moldova, and the spoof Molvania by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch. But Moldova is for real, and is likely to become more important given the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Moldova and Transnistria—the uncomfortable bedfellows on Ukraine’s border explains why. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west, and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. It had aligned itself with Romania, but was taken by USSR in World War II. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it held its first elections in 1990 and became independent in 1991. Since then, there has been internal tension between Russian-oriented political parties, Nationalists and pro-European parties. Meanwhile, there’s also Transnistria, a self-proclaimed independent region, a part of Moldova that lies along its border with Ukraine. Russian troops are being hosted there. When the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, there was a fear that Russia would create a land bridge through Ukraine to the pro-Russian Transnistria, but that hasn’t happened (yet).