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“... and shot their British officers; other mutinies quickly followed across the Bengal army camps of north and central India. Thanks in part to newly laid telegraph lines, the company was able to prevent mutiny from spreading in the Punjab and elsewhere; the Madras and Bombay armies also remained ‘loyal’. But it was not able to prevent the mutineers from ...”

“... the eight men who died defending Tel Hai against an Arab attack in 1920. (The most famous was Joseph Trumpeldor, whose last words are supposed to have been: ‘Never mind, it is good to die for our country.’) One of the ways the state dealt with the massive immigration from North Africa and the Middle East after the ...”

“... himself. Encouraged by the reception his map had received from the great and good, including Sir Joseph Banks, ubiquitous President of the Royal Society, Smith had taken expensive premises in London, while still keeping on his property near Bath. No doubt he expected fortune to follow his brief celebrity. In an attempt to relieve his debts he had already ...”

“... of an institutional view of history. I remember noticing even as a child that the abbeys of North Yorkshire were uncomfortably bare of all living matter, except for the grass around them, which was mowed as smooth as an operating table. Surgical cleanliness appeared to be the prerequisite for historic sites. Nor is the argument yet won. Almost 125 years ...”

“... various peoples who came to them. He heard about the most famous of these visitors, a man from the north-western extremity of the world: ‘Li Madou was sent by the rulers of Macau to spy on the imperial court, which has caused recent consideration being given to clearing Macau out. There is a temple in Macau, in which Li Madou was once a monk.’ Li Madou was ...”

“... Chancellery, inscribed: ‘To my beloved Führer in grateful tribute, from H. van Meegeren, Laren, North Holland, 1942.’ With remarkable sangfroid van Meegeren claimed that the inscription was itself a forgery – and he was, in some quarters, believed. The two principal motives that fakers give, according to the exhibition, are financial gain and a desire ...”

“... the anti-Heath factions. There was Edward Du Cann, who represented swashbuckling capitalism; Keith Joseph, who represented high-minded anti-statism; Geoffrey Howe, who represented disciplined proto-monetarism. But she saw them all off easily. In this she was greatly helped by their obvious lack of leadership qualities. Du Cann was cavalier and ...”

“... it.Chanan is an intellectual, and his ruminations on the meaning of his story are always sensible. Joseph Lanza despises intellectuals and has no more interest in being sensible than he has a talent for it. Elevator Music, subtitled ‘A Surreal History of Muzak Easy Listening and other Moodsong’, is a dotty book, a tireless and tiring panegyric to musical ...”

“... of a housekeeper from Orange County called Maria Bodine, who had been impregnated by her employer, Joseph Cook, a widower. The trial offers insights into the way a 19th-century abortionist went about her business. Cook started having sex with Bodine a month after she became his housekeeper; she found herself ‘in the family way’, she told the trial, a year ...”

“... done that after all. Instead she gave a tasty story about gun-running between the South and North of Ireland. By the afternoon a commander (Huntly) and a chief superintendent (Nevill) were up from London again to ask her about a bomb at Euston Station in September 1973. Oh, she said, she hadn’t planted that, but she had delivered the bombs for ...”

“... Perceptively, Professor Gilbert stresses that the background was not Wales tout court, but rural North Wales. Political leaders who are connected with a particular group are apt to dramatise their identification with it: they are too like actors to resist making the most of any fat part in which the celestial director has cast them. Flamboyantly as Disraeli ...”

“... the status for cemeteries that service African townships such as Alexandra and Soweto, to the north and south of the city. Cemeteries can, however, move up – and presumably down – the league table. Alexandra, which once had the unfortunate distinction of occupying the only ‘E’ slot ever allocated by the municipality, was recently upgraded to ...”

“... The intention was to find a practical means of honouring his work. I was taken to a tiny North London council flat, and there sitting in the middle of its cramped living-room, I encountered a very ancient and frail-looking man, striking mainly for the large and antique ear-trumpet which he applied when straining to catch remarks addressed to him. I ...”

“... to give it? We live in a culture where belief in the supernatural is strong and growing. In 1660 Joseph Glanvil (quoted by Taylor) could write: ‘The present-day world treats all such stories with laughter and derision and is firmly convinced that they should be scorned as a waste of time and old wives’ tales ...’ But in 1977 a poll of American ...”

“... President of the United States.’ His popularity in the country, especially among Labour people north of the Trent, held up remarkably throughout much political misfortune and extended into his retirement. This was something which metropolitan comment tended to ignore. Wilson was an incorrigibly provincial man with the common touch, and that, I ...”