AdvDip in Local History

Continuing my thoughts about what is next, i apparently can include Oxford University's Advanced Diploma in Local History via the Internet as part of my Open University degree. This could be an option to fill in the "missing" 60 points i still need at the end of this year (assuming i pass of course!)

This Oxford course looks interesting, it would not start until September 2010 so i would be delayed in getting my degree for a year and is a little more expensive than an OU degree but would gain me an Oxford qualification (Advanced Diploma) and of course would make me an alumnus of Oxford which i can use to impress the chicks.

Of course as i would be free for most of next year i could maybe learn Welsh...

Turning one's thoughts to next year

There is still a lot of work to do with my current course but the end is in sight. I am now considering what to do for my final module for the BA History. To be honest the choice is not that broad but Film & TV History looks interesting and gets me away from fascism and war which i am heartily bored with by now!

I've also started thinking about what to do after that, i want to get an MA in History but maybe not with the Open University. Leicester have an interesting MA in English Local History which is distance learning too, i shall be looking more deeply into that as time goes on.

Rare gramophone records found in stately home

Jim Pattison, a retired recording engineer, has discovered rare gramophone records dating back from the early 20th century in a stately home he was visiting. At Brodsworth Hall, in Yorkshire, records such as a 1908 recording of Goodbye to Sweet Awakenings, made by Caruso, Antonio Scotti, Geraldine Farrar and Gina Viafora and a 1905 recording of John Philip Sousa conducting Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 were found among 100 others.

Coast returns

Slightly late i know as the first part of the new series was shown on the 11th of July but Coast has returned to BBC2. It is a very good series which is well worth watching, for those who haven't seen it before, following along a portion of the British coastline and reporting on interesting aspects of local history (as well as some geography and nature). The first part included a feature on the Red Sands Sea Forts, an electric railway that ran along the sea shore (and hence underwater) and early film making in Brighton.

Cave record of Britain's pioneers

When humans returned to the British Isles after the ice sheets retreated the Cheddar Gorge was one of the first places they returned to. Radiocarbon testing on bones found in Gough's Cave shows people were there 14,700 years ago. The re-occupation closely follows the warming of the climate and man could have returned to the area just a couple of years after the climate warmed.

Watergate Hotel to be sold

Probably the most famous hotel in the world and (indirectly) responsible for any recent scandal to be suffixed with -gate, the Watergate Hotel is to be sold at auction. The hotel, in Washington DC USA, has been closed since 2007 after the previous owners ran out of money.

Of course the hotel rose to fame (or infamy) when it was where burglars in the pay of President Nixon stayed before they broke into the Democratic Party office at the adjoining Watergate Office Complex. The trail investigators followed eventually led to the White House and the fall of Nixon of course.

Update : the sale did not attract any bids.

World's oldest man dies

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man has died at the age of 113. He was one of the last surviving veterans of World War 1 and the last survivor from the founder members of the RAF. Now when someone dies at such a great age i am always fascinated by how much "history" they have seen in their lives. Henry was born in 1896 so:

• Despite being a founder member of the RAF was 7 before man actually first took to the air in an aeroplane
• Was 9 when my grandmother was born
• Was 22 when World War 1 ended
• Was nearly 40 when my parents were born
• Was nearly 50 when World War 2 ended
• Was 56 when Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne
• Topically was 73 when men first landed on the moon
• And was 75 when i was born!

Full steam ahead to the final TMA

I completed TMA05 this week, a source analysis essay examining and comparing two documents by Stalin and Hitler. I'm glad its over as i have totalitarian dictator fatigue. Now i have just one TMA left to complete for this year's course, its the big one though. TMA06/07 is a double assignment where we are left to study a subject on our own from a list of suggested topics. I have chosen resistance in WW2 and how effective it was against fascism.

I actually started the TMA in a way back in April when i read the first of two books on resistance in western Europe. Now i will likely re-read the four books i have bought on the subject (and i have a couple already in my military book collection), i started reading a book on the resistance in Italy in the latter part of the war after 1943.

I shall be looking at Italy and France for my essay. I did consider looking at three countries but that would mean i would not be able to go in as much depth. Of course with France i can include Vichy too so it is almost 2.5 countries to examine! The deadline is September 15th so i have plenty of time, i probably will not start writing until late August.