Cultural ‘coming together’ is a complex dance. When we meet ‘another’ the underlying cultural expectations and norms can set up our entire experience of this new entity before we speak or even know who they are. In much of ‘western’ culture, for possibly the...
Like the X-ray machine, the humble post-it note, and even the pacemaker, penicillin goes down in history as one of the most life-changing ‘accidental discoveries’ ever made. Alexander Fleming himself remembered it similarly: One sometimes finds, what one is not...
My recent article on this subject (link: https://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/blog/1917-runners-of-the-first-world-war/ ) gave a broad overview of the role of runners in the First World War. This piece is a biography of two of the real-life soldiers who performed...
NB: Contains NO Spoilers for the Film, 1917. Sam Mendes’ new World War I drama 1917 has proven a critical and commercial hit since its release last month, with a raft of awards nominations and places on best-of-2019 lists. Set amidst Operation Alberich and the German...
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (or Chanukah) is celebrated over eight days and nights, starting on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. This year, that falls on Sunday 22nd December. ‘Hanukkah’ is the Hebrew word for ‘dedication’. The festival was given this...
Why Macbeth Really Didn’t Help It’s fair to say that we’ve come a long way since Shakespeare’s time, understanding the true causes of crop failure, mental illness and adverse weather. Thanks, Science! 400 years ago, though, it seemed reasonable – and easy...
