geoffrey monmouth
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Is The Great great?
The Great What? The Great is a series on Channel Four about Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Some people think it is a great travesty of history, whilst others enjoy it. Controversy seldom does a TV series any harm and many features of this one make for...
Marx, how can he help us study history?
Karl Marx is famous, but not as a historian Marx was an economist, wasn't he? Or you might think he was a politician. He certainly had a lot to say about economics and you can't separate that from politics. However, Marx was not actively involved in politics, as he...
Coronation Street by Geoffrey Chaucer?
Coronation Street is 60 years old Coronation Street has just been celebrating this milestone in its history. By TV standards it's been around a long time, but how does Chaucer get in on the act? When was he writing? From the middle to late fourteenth century. Did his...
Does the slave trade on screen shock you?
The slave trade has been in the news and on screen People are thinking about the slave trade a lot this year because of Black Lives Matter and the arguments about statues. There was also the film Twelve Years a Slave. I have seen a series Enslaved with Samuel L...
A historic election – World leaders respond
An election like no other Here's how I imagine some world leaders might react to the current US election, if they were being honest. If. (I have omitted their surnames to preserve their anonymity, a thing they all crave.) "It reminds me of my historic victory in...
How inclusive is Black History Month?
Inclusive? Of course it is! Inclusive education is the whole point of Black History Month, surely? The aim was always to redress the balance, because many people thought history was all about white people. As I said before, history often seemed to be very narrow, and...
Build Back Better – will we do it?
Build Back Better is the new slogan of this government Build Back Better sounds good. I hope we all can agree with it. The Prime Minister's speech offering us a better future sounded good too. The trouble is that gave such little detail that we don't know where we're...
Should schools teach Black History?
Black History Month is October Black History Month takes on a special significance this year, as we have heard so much about race in the UK and the USA. I hope a historical perspective will help us all. As I have said in previous posts, I want us to face the truth,...
I need a title for my new novel
A title for what? I need a title for a book I have been writing for some time. It is set against the background of the English Civil War. It seemed so relevant when I began it last year, when the big issue was Brexit. The divisions in society in 2019 reminded me of...
What do you think of troublemakers?
Troublemakers have always been around Troublemakers sometimes start civil wars. For some time, I have been writing a book set in the so-called English Civil War. I wrote about it in a previous post. When I started it, our divisions over Brexit were in danger of...
Did I hibernate over the Summer?
You can hibernate only in Winter! By 'hibernate' I meant 'aestivate' but most people wouldn't get it. What I mean is that since I published my collection of short stories, Geoffrey's Historical Shorts, you haven't heard much from me. I've published no new books,...
Can we not celebrate a victory?
What victory might we not want to celebrate? Not everyone wants to celebrate Victory in Japan, or VJ, Day. Many people have always thought less of the War in the East than of the War in Europe against the Nazis. This is partly because it was far away and because it...