One a Day Free – November 1st to December 1st

 

I fear November 2020 may be a gloomy month. So here is a list of my Kindle pieces, which will be free, one per day, during that month. You might know a bit more history by the end. In fact I have added an extra cluster round Remembrance time.

They are all free all the time if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. If you miss the one you wanted, or can’t wait, they mostly cost less than a cup of coffee.

 

Nov 1: “Hitler’s Rise to Power”: This shows how even in highly civilised countries we need to stay alert, and how democracy can go horribly wrong if we let it.

Nov 2: “Bonnie Dundee and the First Jacobite Rebellion”. This takes Walter Scott’s famous song and explains the history behind each verse, from “sour-featured Whigs” to “wild Duniewassals” .

Nov 3: “The Development of Democracy in Britain: 1850-1918”. The day of the US Elections seems a good day to read about democracy. There’s a lot more to it than votes.

Nov 4: “The ‘Glorious’ Whig Revolution 1670-1720, explained with the help of ‘The Vicar of Bray’ “. The 1688 Revolution was part of a longer development. Whigs? Tories? High and Low Church? It’s all here.

Nov 5: “The Unification of Italy”. When I started teaching nearly 50 years ago it was nice to be able to say “Your text book is all wrong. I will tell you what really happened”. History without myth.

Nov 6: “Getting to Know Edinburgh”. This is book-length, and takes you all round the city, into museums and art galleries, gardens and castles. Stuffed with history.

Nov 7: “The Curse of Donald Bane”. The method owes a lot to Rosemary Sutcliff. This play was written as an adventure story that accurately tells a lot of Scottish medieval history.

Nov 8: “The Causes and the Course of the First World War”. This is two lectures. The second lecture explains why Germany lost.

Nov 8: “Why did the Allies win the Second World War?” In less than 5,000 words, this covers land, air, sea, Intelligence – and many continents. A vast subject, but it helps to see it all at once.

Nov 9: “The Causes of the Second World War and Appeasement”. This is two lectures. There is a lot more to this than the nasty obsessions of Hitler.

Nov 10: “Scotland and the Causes of the First World War”. I was commissioned to write this in 2014 for the centenary. It has as much about the causes in general as about the Scottish experience.

Nov 11: “Scotland and the Causes of the First World War”

Nov 11: “The Causes and the Course of the First World War”

Nov 11: The Causes of the Second World War and Appeasement”

Nov 11: “Why did the Allies win the Second World War?”

Nov 12: “Bismarck and the Making of the German Empire”. This is one of the longer lectures; there is a lot to say. Note that Bismarck did not “unify” Germany.

Nov 13: “James IV: Scotland’s Renaissance King”. James ought to be far better known. So should David I, the subject of “The Curse of Donald Bane”. Now’s your chance.

Nov 14: “An Introduction to the Scottish Enlightenment”. What a remarkable moment in intellectual history! Adam Smith, James Hutton, Robert Burns, Joseph Black, and many others. What was going on?

Nov 15: “The Baker Street Irregulars”. Mostly this play is a bit of fun – a new Sherlock Holmes story, set in a Music Hall, so you can join in the songs. But there is also a consideration of poverty.

Nov 16: “Socialism and the Early Years of the British Labour Party”. Historians are not at all surprised by the divisions of the Labour Party; it was set up as a coalition of groups with different ideologies. There is also a separate section explaining the meaning of Socialism (before 1917)

Nov 17: “The Place-Names of Scotland: A First Introduction”. Here I explain how Scotland’s place names tell us about the people’s who have lived here over the millennia – Britons, Picts, Scots, Angles, Norse.

Nov 18: “Votes for Women!”. The politics that led to the vote being granted in 1918 is explained. Just as important is the social and cultural context, which transformed women’s lives and made the vote inevitable.

Nov 19: “The Great Liberal Social Reforms: 1906-1914”. Some of us thought the debate about free school meals, and government’s responsibility to the poor were over before the First World War. Here they are.

Nov 20: “The Congress of Vienna Reassessed”. European governments have been trying to sort out boundaries and settlements for Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. This puts the Vienna Congress in a long perspective.

Nov 21: “An Introduction to the Renaissance”. Another huge subject but unless you are an expert this may help get your ideas in order. Handy next time you visit Italy.

Nov 22: “The Jacobites”. Covers five risings over 50 years. The various sections include a time-line to give context, a bibliography, an itinerary and (I’m proud of this) a chat in a Stockbridge pub.

Nov 23: “Slavery and the Causes of the American Civil War”. Another piece that is two lectures. They are, of course, closely connected.

Nov 24: “The Protestant Reformation briefly explained”. Spot the wrong date – but this does not affect the explanation, which I am quite pleased with. Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII are all there.

Nov 25: “The Russian Revolution of 1917”. Again here are two lectures. One explains why the Tsar fell. The other explains why the Bolsheviks triumphed.

Nov 26: “Cockburn’s Edinburgh”. This play about Edinburgh in the time of the French Revolution and the Regency has inspired at least one pupil to go on and become an academic scholar of Scottish history. Closely based on Cockburn’s “Memorials”.

Nov 27: “The Cold War”. One lecture explains what it was about. A second explains how it ended. It concentrates mainly on Europe.

Nov 28: “Hitler’s Rise to Power”

Nov 29: “An Introduction to the Scottish Enlightenment”

Nov 30: “The ‘Glorious’ Whig Revolution, explained with the help of 'The Vicar of Bray’ “

Dec 1: “Three Wise Men”. A Christmas play with a difference. The three Magi as you have never seen them before – sometimes very funny, but also contains harsh truths.

 

Cambridge admissions interviews

 

I have seen one or two tweets in the last few days asking for advice for applicants for Cambridge. How should they prepare for interviews? For perhaps my last 20 years as a teacher I was in charge of this for our pupils, and here are some thoughts from that time.

1.       I didn’t teach clever tricks to get in. You get a place on merit – or not. Sometimes the admissions people make mistakes. For example, one of our rejected pupils went on to get the best First in Law at Edinburgh. Yes, Cambridge is a great place to live and study, but you will have an excellent university course wherever you end up.

2.       One great success: A Chinese pupil joined us as a senior and wanted my advice on applying for engineering. I said: Set aside one or two of your free periods each week to go to the school library and read the New Scientist articles on engineering. She was very focused, and she did. I had feedback from her interviewers on how much she had impressed; she got a place. (This started in September, of course.)

3.       On a similar note: A candidate for English arrived. Interviewer: “Are you from Scotland? Have you read “Trainspotting”? I’m having trouble with the Scots dialogue. Could you read some of it to me.” She had, and did, and they discussed it. She got an offer.

4.       I once went and stayed the night and met as many admissions tutors as I could in two days. (This included a medic, who saw me in a anatomy lab, surrounded by dismembered corpses and laughing students; an interesting experience for a history teacher.) They all emphasised the need for applicants to have a knowledge and interest in their subjects that went beyond what was in A-level syllabi. They also emphasised the extreme importance of candidates, especially for subjects that are not studied at school, knowing what the course they were applying for involved. Arch and Anth? Oriental Studies? What papers? What is compulsory and what optional? Find all this out in advance.

5.       I also discovered on this visit that there could be quite a variation college to college. For example, one Modern Linguist was very keen on discussing literature. Another said he never did; only precision of language.

6.       I recall two cases where candidates who failed to get in were so determined that they thought about the feedback and applied again next year (to a different college) with success. In one case, I recall, the unfavourable comment was that he stuck obstinately to his answer even when the interviewer provided facts which might have caused him to think again.

7.       I once asked an admissions tutor whether a clever and ambitious pupil of mine would be better getting all A* at AS level or starring in the school’s Shakespeare play. She replied: “Pass”. This reinforces the point that every college, every admissions person, is different.

8.       Finally: Cambridge deserves its reputation. You will be surrounded by very brainy fellow students and will be expected to reach very high standards in the short terms. It may not be for you. Also, as I said at the start, you will be able to have a great university career whether you get in or not.