Category: America
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News of the American Declaration of Independence Arrives in Britain
The News That Changed Everything — And How It Crossed an Ocean The popular story of the American Declaration of Independence goes like this: On 4 July, 1776, fifty six men met in Philadelphia and signed a document that became the Declaration of Independence, a document that dissolved the political…
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What Does Scottish Biographer James Boswell Have to Do with the American National Anthem?
This is a story about an Eighteenth century English drinking song and how it brought together a stern Scottish judge and an ancient Greek poet. By the end of this post, you’ll understand why they belong together, but let’s start with a tune you already know. The American national anthem…
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Loyalists: Five Important Americans Who Supported Colonial British Rule in 1776
The 4th of July 2026 is fast approaching. It’s a big anniversary – two and a half centuries since the American colonists declared independence from their mother country, Great Britain. It was a gigantic event for world history back then and we’re still feeling the effects today. Becoming independent is…
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8 Facts About American Independence We Never Learned
At primary school in Scotland in 1976 our teacher introduced us to the American Bicentennial: 200 years since the American Declaration of Independence. It’s only now, aged 60, that I’m correcting my pre-teen comprehension of that momentous event. Read this post, you’ll learn stuff you never knew.
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Genius Fan’s Four Big Anniversaries for 2026
The coming year, 2026, is a big year to celebrate things that happened in 1776. That is, it’s a big year for 250th anniversaries, and I’m going to highlight four big ones. If you read history then it’s likely you’ll know these – they’re the ones everyone talks about. Here…
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Sher’s Mighty Book about Books Leads the Way
There are a number of topics I want to write about in the Genius Fan blog, and while I was out dog walking this evening I thought to myself, ‘If I get run over and killed by a bus I’ll regret not having made the time to sketch and write…
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Suddenly I’m interested in the American Indians
Suddenly I’m interested in the Indians, the native Americans. How did that happen, when I’ve never been interested in them before? Why are we interested in anything? Why this topic and not that? I’m not at all interested in football or cars and I’m not particularly interested in technology or…