Last TMA back

My last TMA for this course AA309 (unless you are an Open University student this will be a bit confusing) was marked and returned back to me today... and my best mark of the course so far! Almost an A in fact and as this was a 3000 word essay on Roman identity on a Level 3 course i am pretty chuffed. Onwards to the exam now in early October. Three hours in Birmingham University's Great Hall. At least i have something nice to look at while i am desperately trying to think what to write! BTW i am thinking of creating an OU blog.

Old Birmingham in photographs

A couple of photos from my collection of "old" Birmingham. Though not that old really, no older than the 1970s or 1980s (but of course to any teenager this means ancient history). As a fan of Brutalist architecture I prefer the old Bull Ring to the swish modern one, though i have to admit the shops in the new one are better!

Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project is a website dedicated to the preservation and history of cylinder recordings, the format of choice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before the disc took over. Most of the earliest recordings of human voice and performance are on this format, and over 7,000 are digitized and available on this website they say. So check out some Ragtime or Vaudeville!

The recordings can be listened to online or downloaded as mp3 or wav. The oldest recording dates from 1894 and is by Foh's 23rd Regiment Band of New York.

Final TMA

I just have one more assignment to do for my course before starting revision and the exam in early October. My assignment is to write a 3000 word essay on Roman identity, i did very well last night writing 948 words (a week of research has already taken place), this evening i felt ill after i returned home from work and slept for awhile but after the second "session" i'm up to 1341 words. Whether it makes sense is another matter but i have another week to finish it.

Welcome to historical research

Welcome to my blog dedicated to the study and research of history. Let me introduce myself first, i am a history undergraduate (Open University) and also a keen reader of military history, i have also recently begun to research my family tree.

All of these topics will be covered here.