Conservative History Journal

Each man's death diminishes me. John Donne's words echo in my mind as I think of the death, first heard of late last night, of Professor Ken Minogue (whoever called him Kenneth except as a joke?), a towering intellectual and writer, a man who thought deeply about our society, our basic ideas and our political structures, and expressed his ideas lucidly and entertainingly. He was also a friend of whom I was very fond and with whom...

Sir Harold Nicolson, diplomat, writer, diarist, politician and gardener, belonged to several parties but never the Conservative one. In fact, he thought of himself as something of a radical and was, though not in domestic matters. There, he and his Conservative supporting wife, Vita Sackville-West (poet, writer and gardener) inhabited an area of confluence between high Toryism and socialism. Also he was, briefly, a junior member of Churchill's...

Yesterday was the 110th anniversary of George Orwell's birth and History Today has published what TH considers to be rather a silly open letter to the great man by Professor Robert Colls who has written a book about him but seems to think that his own personality is far more interesting. However TH can fully agree with one point that Professor Colls makes: George Orwell, despite his loudly proclaimed preference for socialism, was in...

At one time Tory Historian used to go past Staple Inn every working day and sometimes twice a day, always assuming that it was Tudorbethan mock-up of an earlier structure. On Saturday, during a visit to the Geffrye Museum TH was disabused of this. Apparently Staple Inn, built in 1585 is one of the survivors of the Great Fire of London though it was damaged somewhat during the 1944 bombing of London and had to be restored. But it is mostly...

Yes, it is that day again. We celebrate the Battle of Waterloo. ...

On June 14 as the defences of Port Stanley faltered and Mount Tumbledown was captured, a ceasefire was declared in the Falklands. On the same day the commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Brigade General Mario Menéndez surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore. During the night, Major General Moore sent back the following signal: Major General Menendez surrendered to to me all the Argentine armed forces in East and West Falkland...

Guildhall Library will be holding an Open Day on Saturday, July 20 with a number of interesting talks listed, all of which are related to their collection. There is not one event on that list that I would not recommend or want to attend. Better start planning my visit n...

This is wonderful news for all historians: the Spectator has "scanned and digitised copies of the magazine from July 1828 to December 2008 can be browsed online using the beta Spectator Archive. Everything in the last five years can of course be found on spectator.co.uk". I have just tried looking up articles from the late sixties and the system works. The articles and letters in question appeared on my screen both as text and as scanned pages. Of course, the archive in the basement of the building in Old Queen Street is a...

The British Museum was established by an Act of Parliament on June 7, 1753. As a frequent visitor to that splendid place, Tory Historian can feel nothing but gratitude to the long-living Sir Hans Sloane (1660 - 1753) , physician, collector, naturalist and the man whose will led to the establishment to what must be the finest museum in the world. (TH is prepared to fight all comers on that subject.) Gratitude is also due to the Parliament...

Historical myths are hard to understand. Why is Jack the Ripper so fascinating? We have had far worse cases of serial murders since yet none to excite quite so much interest. Why is Watergate seen as the epitome of political corruption in the United States when there have been far worse developments in the last two or three years alone? Actually, we probably know the answer to that and it has something to do with the political make-up of...

When the TLS asked various people in 1977 to name the most under-rated writer of the twentieth century, two respondents, Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil named Barbara Pym, born 100 years today. This revived and enhanced the publishers' and the literary world's influence in her clever, witty and rather low-key writing, which reminds one a great deal of Jane Austen's. Barbara Pym wrote about women of the mid-twentieth century, who...

Coronation Day. On History Today's website the redoubtable Lord Wakehurst's short film about the day Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. You can also watch this one and many other videos of the Royal Family on the The Royal Chann...