“Let Us Sit Upon The Ground And Tell Sad Stories Of The Death Of Kings,”: Shakespeare’s Richard II And Wales

Shakespeare's History plays don't immediately conjur up images of Wales, but Wales still plays an important part in Shakespeare's epic cycle, being the place not only where the whole narrative turns, but where the bard also sets down what these plays are about.

Caernarfon Sausage | The Morfasson Family Cookbook

The “Great Caernarfon Gaol Revolt” of 1645 was probably the most exciting thing to happen in North Wales during the Civil War. Then again, it wasn’t that exciting as it consisted of three prisoners who killed a guardsman and escaped in the night, never to be seen of again. Quite frankly, if that counts as...

“The Slime And The Scandal” | A New Dawn Has Broken?

The footage of a large ocean liner, claimed to be unsinkable, colliding with an iceberg, could have been a parable for society. The decade had opened with a wave of optimism, a bold new future and a brave new world. The Berlin Wall had fallen. The Soviet Union had collapsed, the west was ‘victory’. and...

A History Of Lies

One of the most dangerous things a politician can do is to misuse history, to lie about the past to further their own agenda, to use history as a tool for manipulation and propaganda. It has happened too many times in the twentieth century (think about what the nazis did!) and whenever a politician mentions...

1997: A New Dawn Has Broken? | History Of My Lifetime

Alright... One MA degree done, and I've suddenly got my essay writing mojo back. Inevitably, the aforementioned means they're going be a little more... academic... than they once were. They won't be as frequent either. But what better way to start than by resuming the 'History Of My Lifetime' series, which I left off in...

The Last Stand At Nanhysglain

A couple of things to note before I get to the article- Firstly, I'm publishing these latest travel pieces a bit out of order. I didn't intend to publish this till the end of November at the earliest, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to get it out quickly. As...

1996: Dark Days | A History Of My Lifetime

During the course of their twenty eleven single, 1996, the Wombats make the claim that nineteen ninety six was a better time and that we ought to, somehow, bring it back. ‘We were cloning sheep in the nineteen nineties,’ they say. ‘We were building telescopes.’ In some ways they have a point. Technologically, culturally, in...

Looking For Nanhysglain

In June of 1283 Dafydd ap Gruffydd was captured by the invading army of Edward I. Thanks to a betrayal by Einion. Bishop of Bangor, he and his family had been discovered at a place called Nanhysglain, allegedly somewhere close to the rocky mountain of Bera Mawr, in the Carneddau region of Snowdonia. This scant...

1995: The Enemy Within | A History Of My Lifetime

Things were going from bad to worse for John Major. Though Labour’s lead in the polls had been slashed, it was still well in advance of the Conservative’s position. There was little hope that they could retain power at the next general election. The government majority, which had been at ten, was being eroded by...

Climate Change and The Historic Environment of North Wales

Climate change has, sadly, become an irrefutable fact. This world, our world, the only world we have, is threatened with a situation that we must do all in our power, both individually and as a society, to prevent. Climate change shall bring about calamity on a scale never before witnessed in human history. Life as...