I was saddened to hear of the death of the great Benoit Mandelbrot today.  Although this is a history blog, I am a scientist. My love of history comes from the same place as my love of science, both help us understand the way the world around us is.  I don’t think anybody in the

I am not going to make a habit of posting updates on what I am up to, but I thought a bit of explanation of what is going on might be of interest to my small but perfectly formed band of followers.  First off, I am writing new stuff for this blog faster than I

If you want to follow this series it starts with the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus.  The previous episode is about the most eccentric emperor of  Rome, Elagabalus. With the body of his cousin bobbing down the Tiber in disgrace, Alexander was instantly acclaimed the emperor and acquired the huge list of titles

  Eighteenth Century Britain was one of the main cauldrons in which the ideas of the Enlightenment were bubbling, and Gibbon was one of its leading figures.  The enlightened view of the world that was being pioneered then is still with us, shaping how we think to this very day.

Animal Farm was one of the earliest animations of a novel. Disney it isn’t.

I have been beavering away on this project and I have a couple more Gibbon’s lined up now.  I haven’t posted them yet because I want to catch up on the YouTube channel.  I now have a small but highly select group of followers, characterised by impeccable taste, keen judgment, surprising good looks and huge