A Flemish chef has been taken off the air in Belgium because on his TV programme he recreated the favourite food of a rather famous man, there being nothing wrong with that of course except that the man in question was Adolf Hitler. Descendants of Hitler's victims said the programme could humanise him. Well actually i think that is a good idea.
Hitler was born a normal person and it might be more useful to see him as a normal person than a monster to remind us that everyone has the possibility of turning into that monster. Anyway he liked pan-fried trout and squid apparently. So wasn't a vegetarian after all.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Starting my new course
I have started reading for my next Open University course, AA312 Total war and social change: Europe 1914-1955. The course doesn't start until next February but the course materials will probably arrive before Christmas and it doesn't hurt to start a little background reading now. On the Open Uni website forums some fellow students have posted a few suggested readings and the BCU library has some of the books.
Considering BCU doesn't have any history courses it has a surprisingly OK selection of history books in the library. Actually i tell a lie, they have just started a new course History and its Contemporary Application BA(Hons). So hopefully that will mean an even bigger selection of history books in the library in future. (Update : the course has been postponed for a year. Boo!)
Anyway i have just read Henig's "Versailles and after 1919-1933" (very easy to read actually, its only a short pamplet. Now i have started on Lieven's "Russia and the origins of the first world war", which wasn't a suggested read but looks relevant anyway.
Considering BCU doesn't have any history courses it has a surprisingly OK selection of history books in the library. Actually i tell a lie, they have just started a new course History and its Contemporary Application BA(Hons). So hopefully that will mean an even bigger selection of history books in the library in future. (Update : the course has been postponed for a year. Boo!)
Anyway i have just read Henig's "Versailles and after 1919-1933" (very easy to read actually, its only a short pamplet. Now i have started on Lieven's "Russia and the origins of the first world war", which wasn't a suggested read but looks relevant anyway.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The American connection
As i mentioned before my Great-Grandfather Stephen Morris was listed on someone's family tree on the Ancestry.com website. What is interesting is that Ancestry user was in the USA and looking at the full family tree it does seem i have some American relatives i never knew of before. Stephen's son Albert (hence my Nan's brother) had a daughter who married into the Read family from Staffordshire and their son is married to someone from the Hays family who hail from Alabama, USA so perhaps Mr Read (or his parents) emigrated to the USA. Unfortunately the website does not give details of living people (for identity security reasons no doubt) so i don't know the names of these fairly distant relatives.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
D9 50th Anniversary
History is not just walking around museums or trawling through dusty archives, history also includes the preservation of the once commonplace and mundane. Old buses are an interest of mine though mainly from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. One of my favourite places to visit in this vein is the Aston Manor Transport Museum which held an open day today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BMMO D9 bus.
So the theme of the day was Midland Red, personally i grew up in WMPTE territory so my Midland Red experience is not that wide, i remember taking the X99 a few times to Sutton Coldfield. That doesn't matter, it was great to see a wide selection of Midland Red and other operators' buses including at least 3 Routemasters. I travelled on one of these and later a D9 on some trips to the city centre and back. The great thing about this kind of history is that you can interact with it, relive it. You can't really do that with a Roman sword, well not legally anyway.
The full set of pictures are here. For more information about the D9 this webpage has a brief history.
So the theme of the day was Midland Red, personally i grew up in WMPTE territory so my Midland Red experience is not that wide, i remember taking the X99 a few times to Sutton Coldfield. That doesn't matter, it was great to see a wide selection of Midland Red and other operators' buses including at least 3 Routemasters. I travelled on one of these and later a D9 on some trips to the city centre and back. The great thing about this kind of history is that you can interact with it, relive it. You can't really do that with a Roman sword, well not legally anyway.
The full set of pictures are here. For more information about the D9 this webpage has a brief history.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The history of Birmingham Polytechnic / UCE / BCU
An older blog i used to run was dedicated to the history and memories of Birmingham Polytechnic / UCE / BCU which was where i studied Computer Studies & Software Engineering a long time ago. That blog has now gone but i kept some of the old material so why not reuse it on this new history orientated blog? The series will focus on the various buildings and schools of the institution but first an introduction.
The City of Birmingham Polytechnic was designated in 1971, by Mrs Thatcher no less who was the then Minister of Education, but was the second polytechnic of the city of Birmingham. A polytechnic institute was first formed in 1843 and lasted for 10 years. Charles Dickens was among the guest speakers at the polytechnic which at it's height boasted 500 members however support fell away and the polytechnic closed in 1853. The polytechnic was replaced by the Birmingham and Midland Institute which still exists to this day (indeed my OU tutorials are held there).
The City of Birmingham Polytechnic was formed in 1971 from a number of different colleges and institutions including the Birmingham School of Music, the Birmingham College of Art & Design and the North & South Birmingham Technical Colleges. The North Birmingham Technical College indeed formed the core campus of the polytechnic at Perry Barr which is still the centre of the university and indeed where i am typing this now!
Over the years more colleges joined the polytechnic including the Bournville College of Art however in 1992 the polytechnic like so many (if not all) in the UK became a university following the passing of the 1992 Further & Higher Education Act which allowed polytechnics to become universities if they should choose to. So by the time of the start of the 1992 academic year the institution was known as the University of Central England in Birmingham. I had just finished my HND and was about to start my degree so can claim to be an alumnus of both the polytechnic and university.
Architect model of the new campus for North Birmingham Technical College which later became Attwood and Baker building of City North Campus of the university.
More colleges joined the university including the Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing and Midwifery and the West Midlands School of Radiography. In 2005 the university changed it's brand name to UCE Birmingham because it was felt few people knew where UCE was and "Birmingham" needed a higher profile in the name but in 2007 the University went the whole hog and changed it's name again to Birmingham City University. I am an employee now of the institution (and have been since 2001) so have been here for all 3 major name changes.
So that is a basic introduction, in future parts of this series i will go into greater detail and also present a number of interesting photographs. In the meantime you could check out the wiki page for the polytechnic (which i wrote) and the university's own history page.
The City of Birmingham Polytechnic was designated in 1971, by Mrs Thatcher no less who was the then Minister of Education, but was the second polytechnic of the city of Birmingham. A polytechnic institute was first formed in 1843 and lasted for 10 years. Charles Dickens was among the guest speakers at the polytechnic which at it's height boasted 500 members however support fell away and the polytechnic closed in 1853. The polytechnic was replaced by the Birmingham and Midland Institute which still exists to this day (indeed my OU tutorials are held there).The City of Birmingham Polytechnic was formed in 1971 from a number of different colleges and institutions including the Birmingham School of Music, the Birmingham College of Art & Design and the North & South Birmingham Technical Colleges. The North Birmingham Technical College indeed formed the core campus of the polytechnic at Perry Barr which is still the centre of the university and indeed where i am typing this now!
Over the years more colleges joined the polytechnic including the Bournville College of Art however in 1992 the polytechnic like so many (if not all) in the UK became a university following the passing of the 1992 Further & Higher Education Act which allowed polytechnics to become universities if they should choose to. So by the time of the start of the 1992 academic year the institution was known as the University of Central England in Birmingham. I had just finished my HND and was about to start my degree so can claim to be an alumnus of both the polytechnic and university.
Architect model of the new campus for North Birmingham Technical College which later became Attwood and Baker building of City North Campus of the university.
More colleges joined the university including the Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing and Midwifery and the West Midlands School of Radiography. In 2005 the university changed it's brand name to UCE Birmingham because it was felt few people knew where UCE was and "Birmingham" needed a higher profile in the name but in 2007 the University went the whole hog and changed it's name again to Birmingham City University. I am an employee now of the institution (and have been since 2001) so have been here for all 3 major name changes.
So that is a basic introduction, in future parts of this series i will go into greater detail and also present a number of interesting photographs. In the meantime you could check out the wiki page for the polytechnic (which i wrote) and the university's own history page.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Family tree builder
As i am continuing to investigate my family tree (which very quickly became too large to write on 1 sheet of A4 - and i haven't even started with my Dad's family yet) i need to get some software to create and manage my family tree for me, i am trying out MyHeritage's Family Tree Builder which is free. There are some online tools too but i haven't tried them yet.
Getting to a dead end with the Genners for now i have started on the Morrises. Interestingly my Great-grandfather Stephen Morris is listed on Ancestry.co.uk as having died in 1920. Which is a bit odd as he looked after my Mum as a child, when my Nan was ill (and ironically enough was in a convalescing home a stones throw from where i now live) which either meant my Mum is a lot older than she claims or the site is wrong. My Mum has his burial card and he actually died in 1949, i can't quite see how the site has come up with this 1920 figure though he is in someone else's family tree they have set up on that site so maybe they just got it wrong?
Getting to a dead end with the Genners for now i have started on the Morrises. Interestingly my Great-grandfather Stephen Morris is listed on Ancestry.co.uk as having died in 1920. Which is a bit odd as he looked after my Mum as a child, when my Nan was ill (and ironically enough was in a convalescing home a stones throw from where i now live) which either meant my Mum is a lot older than she claims or the site is wrong. My Mum has his burial card and he actually died in 1949, i can't quite see how the site has come up with this 1920 figure though he is in someone else's family tree they have set up on that site so maybe they just got it wrong?
Friday, October 10, 2008
AA309... done!
On Tuesday i took the exam for my current OU course (AA309 Culture, identity and power in the Roman empire) in the Great Hall at Birmingham University. A lot more grand than Baker Hall at my workplace, Birmingham City University! The exam went OK, i was able to answer all the questions i needed to. Unfortunately the gaps in my revision co-incided with the questions more than i would have liked but i was able to remember a lot of information for the questions i was able to answer.
I don't like to speculate on how i was done (i feel that is bad luck) but i should have done OK. Passing the course will earn me a Diploma in Classical Studies (Open) and put me 2/3 of the way to a BA in History. Next year i will be doing AA312 Total war and social change: Europe 1914-1955, which is slightly different.
I don't like to speculate on how i was done (i feel that is bad luck) but i should have done OK. Passing the course will earn me a Diploma in Classical Studies (Open) and put me 2/3 of the way to a BA in History. Next year i will be doing AA312 Total war and social change: Europe 1914-1955, which is slightly different.
Long Acre photographs
These two photographs were taken by my Grandfather a long time ago. Unfortunately they are undated and unlabelled but are likely to be of Long Acre, Aston in the early 1960s or late 1950s. In the second photo you can see the power station that Star City was built upon. Its a very different area now of course, few if any of the buildings seen here still exist and of course the M6, A38(M) and Gravelly Hill Interchange are yet to come.
Beginning to research my family tree
My Dad started the genealogy thing a few years ago and i have always been meaning to join in the effort and try and get going with it. Unfortunately he died before i got the chance, anyway now my current OU course is over (exam result in December) i thought i would finally get started. Luckily my Nan's sister's son-in-law back in the 1970s hired a researcher to look into this already so i got a head start with some old census results and my great-great-great-great-aunt's baptism certificate (actually not 100% sure i put all the greats in there, my papers are at home) which is interesting as she was baptised in Jackatalla in India which nowadays looks like this.
My great-great-great-great grandfather Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment serving in India, i'm assuming this is the 84th Foot (York & Lancaster) Regiment which was in India at the time. A few years later my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary was, according to the 1861 census, living in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire married to a retired sargeant Thomas Butler. I'm assuming Richard died in India (divorce is a possibly but pretty unlikely i would have thought considering the time) and Mary re-married Thomas, perhaps in the same regiment. The regiment fought in the Sepoy rebellion and lost a lot of soldiers.
To go back any further i'll need to try and get Richard and Mary Genner's birth certificates though this could be problematical. Anyway a trip to the archives at the British Library must be planned for next year. Now to explore some other branches of my family tree.
My great-great-great-great grandfather Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment serving in India, i'm assuming this is the 84th Foot (York & Lancaster) Regiment which was in India at the time. A few years later my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary was, according to the 1861 census, living in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire married to a retired sargeant Thomas Butler. I'm assuming Richard died in India (divorce is a possibly but pretty unlikely i would have thought considering the time) and Mary re-married Thomas, perhaps in the same regiment. The regiment fought in the Sepoy rebellion and lost a lot of soldiers.
To go back any further i'll need to try and get Richard and Mary Genner's birth certificates though this could be problematical. Anyway a trip to the archives at the British Library must be planned for next year. Now to explore some other branches of my family tree.
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