Tag: America
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Sleepy Prime Minister Lord North Lost the Colonies
Britain’s twelfth Prime Minister, Lord Frederick North, was a nice guy, but weak in the face of opposition, especially in relation to the King and strong personalities. His tactic? Pretend to sleep! He’s blamed for losing the American colonies, but who could have avoided it? Click to read. Go on!
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Prime Minister Grenville Sowed the Seed of American Independence
Grenville is remembered as the man who introduced the Stamp Act to the American colonies setting in train events that led to independence. He was from a hugely political family in Buckinghamshire, William Pitt was his brother-in-law and he prosecuted the ‘folk hero’ John Wilkes. Fascinating Prime Minister. Read on.
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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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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…
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Twelve Reasons Why Benjamin Franklin is Amazing
If someone was to ask me the best way to ‘get into’ the Eighteenth century, I would say: Learn about Benjamin Franklin. His life story is amazing and I shall now use the twelve commonest synonyms for the word ‘amazing’ to demonstrate. Observe… Franklin (1706-1790), an American born in Boston,…
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Bernard Bailyn’s Masterpiece about the British Who Emigrated Before Independence
Let me direct you to a book illustration that transports me back in time to the Eighteenth century in a way few others do. Go to Bernard Bailyn’s 1986 book “Voyagers to the West: Emigration from Britain to America on the Eve of the Revolution”.