Something like 3 million US citizens passed through the United Kingdom during the Second World War. The Cambridge American Cemetery commemorates almost 9,000 Americans who died while based here, or en route, in those years of conflict. They died at sea on convoys transporting essential supplies, troops and military equipment, across the Atlantic; they died […]
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East of England
15 September is Battle of Britain Day. It commemorates the legendary air battle that took place in Britain’s skies, mainly – though not exclusively – over southern England, during the long hot summer and early autumn of 1940. The conflict has achieved near mythical status in British history. With the fall of France in June,
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British Stuff Events
The sectioned remains of a World War Two vintage German submarine, or U-boat (from Unterseeboot – undersea boat), lie next to Woodside ferry terminal at Birkenhead, on the west bank of the River Mersey. In April 1945, Hitler’s Third Reich was dying. The Allied armies were inexorably closing in, like the jaws of a giant pair
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North West England
Orford Ness, a ten-mile long shingle spit on the Suffolk coast, is one of the most extraordinary places in Britain. Its environment, part natural, part man-made, provides a perfect, and in places rare, habitat for an enormous variety of flora and fauna. But, more than that, for the greater part of the 20th century it
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East of England
The final resting place of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is in a quiet corner of a peaceful English churchyard. It was his own decision to be buried in Bladon, just a long stone’s throw from Blenheim Palace, where he was born. He is buried with his wife, Clementine Ogilvy Spencer Churchill. Close to him
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South East
There are many secrets buried beneath London’s streets. Once classified, but no longer, is the underground complex beneath the Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS) near Whitehall, in Westminster: the Second World War Cabinet War Rooms. These will forever be associated with Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (1874-1965); thus, including a remarkable Churchill Museum,
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London
Christ Church Greyfriars is one of those places you stumble across in London without meaning to. That’s exactly what I did a few years ago, anyway, drifting in search of somewhere to eat a sandwich after a tedious business meeting. Close to the Stock Exchange, I found myself in a peaceful garden planted inside the
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London
The Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum is situated, with startling logic, twenty miles or more from the sea. It is a massive place and, if you haven’t already guessed, it tells the story of the Royal Navy in the air: oh, come on – you know what I mean… The museum opened in 1964
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South West
A recent visit to Portsmouth necessitated a walk along the seafront – really, it has to be done – and a visit to this enormous monument. The seafront was familiar from childhood and I remembered the memorial well; I might even have played within its semi-hallowed embrace and fidgetingly attended a remembrance service there. I
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South East
The tiny village of Arisaig, nestling on an inlet along the beautiful Morar peninsula, has a wonderful little museum. The Land, Sea and Islands Visitor Centre tells visitors all about the local flora and fauna in this relatively remote part of West Scotland. But it also includes a fascinating section on one of Britain’s clandestine
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East of England History London North West England Scotland South East
At the RAF Museum in Hendon, north London, there is a massive aircraft hanger entirely dedicated to bombers. Most of the aeroplanes on display in Bomber Hall are World War Two vintage, some are more recent – and some aren’t bombers at all (so we’ll omit those for the time being). It is an uncomfortable
The wealthy banker Lionel de Rothschild bought the Exbury Estate, in Hampshire, in 1919. In 1922, work began on creating what is now a 200 acre garden, internationally famous for its rhododendrons, azaleas, rare trees and shrubs.  Exbury Gardens are open to the public, nestle on the eastern edge of the Beaulieu River in the
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South East