Latest news with #warhistory
BBC News
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Car crushing and Spitfire displays at Capel Military Show
Helicopters, tanks and military vehicles are on display at the Capel Military Show in Dorking this Surrey event, which started on Friday and continues on Saturday and Sunday, is also showcasing battle re-enactments, car crushing and naval gun firing. The first Capel Military Show was in 2013. Chairman and founder of the event John Dale told BBC Radio Surrey that his passion was to make sure future generations do not forget what a "dreadful thing" war is. "We should not be at war with each other," he continued. "The events of World War Two - not just the battles, but also... [the] build up to war – is something everybody, particularly politicians nowadays, ought to look at... and make sure these things never happen again." A Hurricane and Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be displaying on Saturday and two Spitfires will display on Sunday. Food outlets, trade stands, a bar and a kids' zone are also available.
The Independent
26-06-2025
- The Independent
Greece's tiny Island of Outcasts charmed me – I'd be expelled there any day
The sea slaps at the sides of the multicoloured fishing boats as fishermen mend their nets on the dock and a young boy pulls platinum-scaled fish out of the water on a handline. Watching the scene from a suntrap table at a waterside café in Agia Marina, the capital of Leros, I can't understand how this Greek island could ever have been known as the 'Isle of Outcasts' or the 'Island of the Damned'. A quick skim of the history books reveals that Leros was the second most bombed Yet, aside from an immaculately kept war cemetery, a small military museum, and the remains of a couple of crumbling gun batteries and an acoustic military mirror on the west coast, there are no signs of the island's tumultuous past here today. Just a 90-minute ferry ride from busier, better-known Kos, Leros is one of the most laid-back Greek islands I've experienced. Hunkered around a ferry port barely larger than the average back garden, Agia Marina is a huddle of independent linen, ceramic and jewellery boutiques, private studio apartments and traditional tavernas and gyros eateries. There's a twin set of bakeries, too, where the specialities are Lerian cheese pies, made with feta, pastry and a dusting of cinnamon. Service in Agia Marina is uniformly and happily unhurried. One afternoon at Ta Kroupia grill, I lose two hours to a languorous lunch of baked feta – which comes to the table sizzling – fresh tzatziki, pillowy pitta bread and a couple of glasses of chilled white wine, as locals pick at plates of Leros's signature salted mackerel dish around me. There are some distinctive bars in the Lerian capital, too. In Diamanti Cafe, Singer sewing machine stands replace tables and a pet parrot called Coffii bombards bar staff with Greek obscenities. Meltimi, meanwhile, looks more antiques emporium than bar, thanks to its nautical décor. Agia Marina's statement sight is the Castle of Pandeli. Capping a clifftop, 150 metres above the town, its history burrows back to Byzantine times, when it was built on the site of an Athens-esque acropolis. It's possible to drive up to the summit, but I walk, climbing the 500-step switchback path that ascends from the village of Platanos, a short stroll from Agia Marina's waterfront. Wide-screen views over both the east and west coasts of the island open up at every turn. As well as the castle, Leros' other emblems are its windmills. Positioned in a pageant line on the hillside above the fishing village of Panteli, on Leros' east coast, these jam jar-shaped structures were used for grinding wheat and barley into flour in the 18th century, like those on better-known Mykonos. Today, they've been restored and repurposed. One now harbours a cocktail bar called Harris where an al fresco terrace peers out over Panteli harbour and the multi blue hue of the Aegean Sea beyond. The coast of Leros is brush-stroked with beaches. A 35-minute walk from Agia Marina, Alinda is the longest. The waters here make cut crystal look cloudy, and the smooth pebble sand is overlooked by traditional tavernas. At Argo taverna, I find a table in the shade of a tamarisk tree and eat a lunch of keftedes (Greek meatballs) to the soundtrack of softly breaking waves and joyful conversation. Despite being less than 30 square miles in size, Leros has both a brewery and a winery. Raven Brewing's pale ales are served in bars across the island. Isichi Ampelones winery, meanwhile, is open for tours and tastings in summer. Sequestered away in the brush-stubbled hills in the northeast of the island, it's an oasis of a place. Tastings take place on a vine-curtained terrace and are accompanied by Greek nibbles of olives and cheeses. A red wine made from mandilaria grapes, with a nose of fireside smoke and cocoa, is a highlight for me. I clunk away from my visit, lumbered with multiple bottles to take home. I round off my time on Leros with a visit to Lakki. As one of the largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, Lakki Bay caught the eye of Mussolini in the 1920s when Leros was under Italian rule. With his sights set on turning the area into the 'Corregidor of the Mediterranean' (or a key defensive point for controlling the eastern Med) the dictator commissioned his architects to build a new model town in the Italian rationalism/rationalist style. The afterimage of Mussolini's grand plans can still be seen today in Lakki's architecture, which is more faded South Beach Miami than Greek island.
The Guardian
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: Guy Martin has a great time exploding old bombs in Vietnam
9pm, Channel 4 'Xin chào! How we getting on boys? You all right?' Guy Martin has a great time bobbing around Hanoi – the starting point for his two-parter in Vietnam, to mark 50 years since the end of the war. He explores plenty of its communist history and explodes two leftover bombs, but there are also lighter times to be had at a pre-dawn public workout session for retirees and at a 'train street' where cafe-goers can touch a train passing through on the narrow track. Hollie Richardson 6.25pm, BBC One A stressed new father wants to take his kids out for a meal. But this is Morocco 100m years ago so drive-through is not an option. As this slick reboot of the immersive prehistoric series continues, Sobok the spinosaurus – a crocodile-snouted, sail-backed predator bigger than a T rex – strives to keep his hungry young family safe. Graeme Virtue 8.15pm, BBC One A new murder case in the upbeat comedy drama, and Timothy Spall is still having a ball as retired TV star John Chapel who teams up with super fan/detective Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth). A woman dies on a hike in Wales, and the only thing anyone knows about her is that she was 'new to the walking group, too thin by half and had stubborn eyes'. HR 9pm, ITV1 A conflicted Alison (Rose Ayling-Ellis) uncovers Liam's particularly personal betrayal (surely, he's off the Christmas card list now?), forcing her into a high-stakes race against time to stop the gang's jewellery heist. Meanwhile, Braden's ruthlessness knows no bounds, leaving Alison to face the devastating consequences. The Pink Panther it ain't. Ali Catterall 10pm, Channel 4 'Your friends, your trauma – you, you, you!' As the TV bleakfest nears its final episode, June (Elisabeth Moss) and Moira (Samira Wiley) embark on an audacious undercover mission ahead of the planned Mayday attack. But tensions erupt as they clash over who has had it worse in tyrannical Gilead. Hannah J Davies 10pm, BBC Two The BBC is making a big fuss of Pulp this week, with a full concert at 10.45pm after they've played a couple of new songs for Jools in Alexandra Palace. Also on the lineup: snazzy Swedish rockers the Hives making a comeback, and emerging Milton Keynes neo-soul singer Nectar Woode. HR Mountainhead, 9pm, Sky Atlantic In Jesse Armstrong's squirmingly funny satire, four tech moguls gather at a retreat called Mountainhead (a wry nod to Ayn Rand's paean to individualism The Fountainhead). When the launch of a deep-fake tool by Cory Michael Smith's billionaire Venis plunges the world into financial and social meltdown, he and his alpha male peers – Jeff (Ramy Youssef), Randall (Steve Carell) and their host Souper (Jason Schwartzman) – insouciantly ponder exploiting this 'moment of creative destruction' and taking over the world. As in Succession, Armstrong has a keen eye for the supercilious world of the super-rich, where people are expendable and petty grievances can be dressed up as utopianism. Simon Wardell Inside Out, 3.30pm, BBC One Pete Docter's relentlessly inventive animation spins a touching yarn out of the competing emotions that swirl around a child's brain. Joy (a chipper Amy Poehler) is the controlling voice in the head of 11-year-old Riley. But when the girl and her parents move to a big city, San Francisco, the other feelings – Anger, Fear, Disgust, but principally Phyllis Smith's Sadness – come into play. An error in the handling of core emotions sends Joy and Sadness on a desperate quest into the weirder recesses of Riley's mind to save their charge in a bitter, sweet tearjerker. SW The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, 9pm, Great! Action Tommy Lee Jones always appears most at home on screen with a stetson, a horse and a noble purpose. For this rare 2005 foray into directing, he gave himself a plum role as Texas ranch foreman Pete, who is determined to honour the last wishes of his friend and colleague, illegal immigrant Melquiades (Julio Cedillo), shot dead by trigger-happy border patrolman Mike (Barry Pepper). A modern western with a social conscience and a dose of mordant wit, it also has time for those genre staples of self-sufficiency, friendship and loyalty. SW Men's One-Day Cricket: England v West Indies, 10.30am, Sky Sports Cricket The second ODI from Cardiff, with Harry Brook captaining his first series. The last match is on Tuesday at 12.30pm.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Man's 15-year quest to uncover Sheffield Blitz history
A man has dedicated 15 years of his life to uncover what happened to his grandmother and other families during the Sheffield Blitz in Anderson decided to take on the project after the chance discovery of an unpublished memoir following Dorothy Glover's death at the age of 93 in Anderson, who runs a PR consultancy in the city, said his upcoming four-book set titled "Sheffield Blitz - The Definitive Collection" would reveal the untold war secrets families believed had gone to the Anderson said: "This isn't just history, it's a time machine into your family's hidden past and a record to ensure their stories are never forgotten." Dorothy Glover was in her 20s when bombs rained on the city on 12 and 15 December 1940, killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands Glover spoke very little of the war during her lifetime but left behind her memories in the form of a book, discovered after her death just before the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. To Mr Anderson's surprise, she did not write about the horrors of the war but much simpler aspects of life."It talks about the nights spent in a communal air raid shelter in the Fir Vale area," Mr Anderson, who is the chair of the Sheffield Blitz Memorial Trust, said."It was all the petty squabbles that used to kick off between the neighbours night after night."The discovery of her memoir sparked Mr Anderson's desire to find out more about what he described as a "big part of Sheffield's story". "This was something that totally reshaped [the city] but there was so little to mark it," he said."That really put me on a journey, I thought I'd love to do more to mark what actually happened."His research included interviews with hundreds of survivors, weeks spent in archives in both the UK and Germany, and collaboration with the Imperial War Museum. Mr Anderson said part of his collection focused on why Sheffield had one of the lowest evacuation rates in the country and why bombs were still falling four years after the Blitz. "I started this journey with one question: What really happened to my family during the Sheffield Blitz?", said Mr Anderson. "Like so many people, my grandparents lived through the bombings but never spoke about them. "I had to find the answers for myself - and for everyone else still wondering."To officially launch the collection, Mr Anderson will host a free event on 11 June at Sheffield Central the collection's discoveries is a set of original German bombing maps, smuggled out of Germany after the war, hundreds of rare photographs as well as a full lists of every civilian casualty in World War to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Times
08-05-2025
- Science
- Times
The art of command and control on the battlefields of Ukraine
The conditions of modern war, which could not be avoided, require not only constant scientific understanding of the processes taking place in the spheres of national security, military technologies, weapons and information systems, but also in-depth study, first of all, of the history of wars. Only by studying the development of defence technologies can it become possible to analyse the latest threats. It is these threats that become the determining factors for building a strategy for victory in the war. The spectrum of processes that need to be investigated is certainly wide. All components of this spectrum are crucial for understanding. There is a lot of talk and thought today about creating an army corps. For us, the military, this topic is primarily about management.
