This blog will not be limited to any particular place or period. It will reflect where I've been; and what I've read. So who am I? and what attracts me?
Firstly, I am not a professional historian. History has however played an important role in my academic life. For many years I have taught, at Universities such as Leicester, Warwick, Northampton, Wolverhampton and the Open University - in two disciplines - Law and Political Science. It is impossible to explain today's law and politics without reference to history. Parliament; the US Congress; Land Law; Constitutional Law - does not make sense, except as the result of events in history. I have also worked at the UK Parliament - and my favourite activity is taking groups around "the Palace" - so many of the current customs in Parliament owe their existence to "accidents of history" This blog will explore some of them.
I live in Milton Keynes - a "New City", first planned in the 1960s. Some people think we have no history here. In fact a friend told me that within a few weeks of moving here. It was like a red rag to a bull - in the last six years I have been devouring archaeological reports, and visiting some of that "non-existent" history - from the Roman Villa in Bancroft, to Bletchley Park (via an iron age settlement yards from (and a few feet below) my home. All this will be explored in the Blog.
I'm also a "history tourist" - and have taken the opportunity to get around England to visit; learn about, and take pictures of some of this country's wealth of history.
Those who know me well - are aware of my love of both France and the USA - and those two countries (and particularly Washington DC; the American civil war battlefields; Paris; the Loire Valley; Brittany and Normandy) will also feature in future posts.
On Friday, I will be posting about a place I usually pass through at great speed while making my way down to Westminster.
No comments:
Post a Comment