Joseph Allen McCullough's Blog

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

Oxford has long been a tourist destination, especially for those travelling from overseas. Mainly people come for the architecture, to see the ‘dreaming spires’ and to walk in one of the oldest places of learning that is still in use. Many of the colleges feature spectacular gateways, gardens, and towers. Most are constructed out of impressively large blocks of sandy-coloured stone.

Recently, I got to tour one of the oldest and most famous of Oxford’s colleges, Christ Church, and discovered that there is a much more modern reason for visiting this tourist attraction. That reason is Harry Potter. Although the exterior shots of Hogwarts were shot up in Scotland, several of the interior scenes from the Harry Potter films came from Christ Church. The first of these is a magnificent stone staircase that runs up one way, then turns and runs back up on itself. In the little Christ Church tour guide there is a picture taken from one of the movies with Professor McGonagall standing at the top of it. I can’t say I remember the scene exactly, but I must admit the staircase did seem strangely familiar on first viewing.

Going up the staircase brings one to the feature attraction for the Harry Potter fan, the Great Hall. The Great Hall of Christ Church is also the Great Hall of Hogwarts, at least with some modification. Christ Church’s Hall has only two long tables running the length of the room, whereas Hogwarts has four, but there is no mistaking it. Where else does one see 50 foot dinning tables? It also features the raised dais at the end where all the teachers sat.

If you are a Harry Potter fan and you make it to Oxford, Christ Church is a must see.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

It’s an old story, about the honoured knight who fights against injustice for the betterment of his people, but then slips into corruption. Eventually, he betrays those he vowed to protect and becomes the monster he once fought against. I could, of course, be talking about Sir Lancelot, the most courageous and honoured of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. But Lancelot was overcome by his lust, and it undid him. He turned his back on his king and the people he had vowed to protect. Unfortunately, the person I was really thinking about isn’t fictional.

Robert Mugabe was once a knight, honoured so by the Queen for the good he had done for his country of Zimbabwe. But, somewhere along the way, Mugabe fell more in love with power than his people. He betrayed his country.

Two days ago, I posted an article about some of the British Orders of Knighthood. In the article I listed Robert Mugabe as a member of the Order of Bath. I admit that I did this somewhat facetiously. On that very same day, Robert Mugabe was stripped of his knighthood. It was only a ceremonial gesture, but it was the right one.

The world has enough tyrants and thugs. It’s especially bitter when one of the heroes crosses over and becomes one. But this is not an indication that failure is inevitable. Today, Britain is holding a celebration for another hero, Nelson Mandela, a man with a number of similarities to Robert Mugabe. There is one important difference, however. Mandela knew when to let go of power, and that is why history will remember him fondly.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

For my birthday this year, my wife got me something really cool: a Roman bone die. Not a reconstruction, or a copy, or anything like that, but an actual die used by the Romans, probably for gambling. It’s a little thing, about the size of small dice that often come in board games today. It is much smaller than a penny. The surface is dark brown, and the pips (the dots) are actually carved like little targets with a centre dot surrounded by a circle. Like all modern six-sided dice, the number of pips on opposite faces of the die add up to seven.

It is not very evenly carved, and I doubt any modern gambler would be enthusiastic about using it, but I suppose you had to go with what you could get back in the day. The Romans carved thousands of dice and lost many of them down drains where they are commonly dug up today.

Although the Romans were famous dice players, they were not the first. It is impossible to say for sure who carved the first dice. The ancient Greeks played with them as did the Ancient Egyptians. Possibly the oldest dice known to exist were found in the Egyptian Tombs at Ur. These were little pyramidal dice that were found as part of a board game and probably date to around 3,000 BC.

As for me, I’ll be wrapping up my die carefully and placing it within my portable writing desk for safe keeping. It is the first piece in my small, personal museum.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

Recently, I have become interested in writing boxes – wooden boxes that folded out into a writing slope and served as the lop-top computers of the Georgian and Victorian Periods. Nice examples of these boxes generally cost several hundred pounds, way out of my price range. But a couple of weeks ago, as I was wandering the tables at the local boot fair, I found a little battered example for £20 and snatched it up.

Although it is pretty beaten up, the box still had the full writing slope (often one half or the other is broken off) and thus could still actually be used. The biggest problem was that one of the hinges had snapped. After a little research, I discovered that the type of hinges generally employed on these boxes are no longer manufactured. So, I removed the old hinges (filling in the resultant holes with bits of basal wood painted to match) and installed some new little brass hinges. It now folds open perfectly, though it does have a bit of trouble closing. I also created a shallow little drawer on the inside to mock the secret draws that more expensive models contain. My box also has its original key, which is often missing these days. Of course, this is probably because it is stuck in the lock. It works perfectly, it just won’t come out.

My writing box is not a beautiful example, but it is fully functional, contains its original glass ink bottle and is now ready to serve as the home of my little artefact collection. Now all I need is some artefacts!

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

As I continue my long, page-flipping journey through Jon Latimer’s book about 1812, I have been struck again and again by the theme of arrogance. The War of 1812 was brought about more or less by arrogance. Despite Britain’s desperate situation fighting against Napoleon, it was only arrogance brought on by overwhelming naval power that made them think that they could stop American ships and seize sailors off them, and not face any consequences. In response, it was only a great degree of American arrogance that could have ever convinced them to go to war with Britain. At the outbreak of the war, America had a small army, with only a few aged veterans and Indian fighters to lead it.

When war was declared, both sides arrogantly believed that Britain would rule the waves, and that the US would be unstoppable on the land. In both cases, that arrogance led to disaster. The Americans sent a poorly led, poorly organized attack into Canada that was bloodily repulsed. On the seas, the British sent inferior ships and inferior sailors to fight the Americans and promptly lost several ship actions.

War is always a last resort and it has no room for arrogance. Arrogance blinds people to the true challenges and the true cost of an undertaking. We would do well to study these mistakes of our forefathers and do our best not to repeat them.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

I have always been a fan of history. In school it was my favourite subject. I was especially fond of American, British, and military history, and in college I took a two semester course on the history of American warfare. Thus, it is surprising that I could come through school and have so little knowledge about the War of 1812. I guess I knew what most educated Americans knew: the White House got burned, the National Anthem got written, and Andrew Jackson thrashed the British at the Battle of New Orleans. I had some vague notion that it all started because of a dispute about the British impressing American sailors.

Recently there has been a lot of talk in military history circles about the new book 1812: War with America by Jon Latimer. Although an expensive purchase, I just couldn’t resist when I saw it in Waterstones this week.

I’m only a few chapters in, but already most of what I thought I knew has had to be revised. Latimer argues that the main cause of the war was America making a play for Canada. On the other side, the British really didn’t want to have anything to do with fighting America. They were already fully committed to fighting Napoleon in Spain, and much of that army was being supplied from the US.

The first few chapters are very well written, and I am looking forward to continuing to fill this rather large hole in my knowledge of the history of my home country and my country-in-law.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

When Mark Urban’s book Rifles first came out a couple of years ago, I dismissed it as an attempt to cash in on the continuing success of the Richard Sharpe novels. Lately, I’ve taken an interest in the Napoleonic wars and thought I’d give the book another look.

Although definitely written for a popular audience, Mark Urban’s book is no hack-job. It is a serious attempt to tell the full story of the famous 95th Rifles as they fought under Wellington in Spain and France. Using a wealth of primary sources, Urban follows the rifles from battlefield to battlefield, telling about the contribution of these famous green-jacketed soldiers.

What really stands out in the book is not the stories of the battles themselves, which are only seen through the eyes of the rifles, but the grim and desperate gamble that most of these men made when they became soldiers. For the most part, the men of the 95th fought for no high ideals. They fought as a chance to make money and better their position in society. When especially dangerous missions came up, such as storming the walls at Badajoz, the officers of the 95th had to turn men away. It wasn’t just fighting spirit. These men were taking a horrible gamble that they would be one of the lucky survivors and thus gain promotion.

Although I enjoyed the book, I found it a long and somewhat difficult read. The high casualty rate in the regiment means there is a revolving cast of characters, and by the end, the reader is likely to be just as war weary as the soldiers.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

This weekend, my wife and I travelled down to London to spend a day at the zoo. (You can get 2 for 1 tickets to the zoo if you travel by train). Although London Zoo is far from the biggest zoo, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in variety. The zoo contains over 650 different species of animal, and includes an aquarium and a bug house as part of its attractions.

But the London Zoo is more than just a Georgian money maker. It is the headquarters of the Zoological Society of London. The zoo was founded in 1828 by Sir Stamford Raffles, a fascinating historical figure who is most famous for founding Singapore. The zoo was created as a place of scientific research, and today it continues that mission while working hard to fight against animal extinction.

We had a nice day down at the zoo. My wife liked the penguins. I enjoyed the collection of animals from the Hog family (Warthogs, Red River Hogs, and Bearded Pigs). I wholly suggest you spend a day there, and if you get a chance, learn a little of its history.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

In 1066, William the Conqueror led his army across the English Channel and seized the throne. At the battle of Hastings, William was in the thick of the fighting, leading his forces from the front, inspiring his troops to brave deeds. William’s descendants have ruled England since that day, and for the next several hundred years, Kings continued to lead the English Army from the front.

At some point, it was decided that the King was a little too valuable to risk on the front lines. But this was not the end of the connection between the royal family and the military. It now became popular (almost mandatory) for younger princes to join the military. Queen Victoria’s father (who was never King) was an officer who serviced in the Red River Campaign in Canada.

However, in recent years the military has become squeamish about putting any royals on the front lines. During the Falklands War, Prince Andrew (Prince Charles’ younger brother) was a helicopter pilot on an aircraft carrier on ththe front lines of the fighting. The military originally wanted to remove him from the front, but the Queen demanded he be allowed to serve. Now, it looks as though she had to do the same for her grandson, Prince Harry.

There has been a dramatic shift from the days when William led his army from the front. Now days, the royals have to demand to be allowed to fight.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

This past weekend, my wife and I went to our local boot fair (flea market) which is held every weekend in the car park (parking lot) of the local football (soccer) stadium. We bought a few cheap DVDs and a painting. The painting, which was actually a print carefully attached to an incredibly heavy wood backing, was called “The Bombardment of Algiers” by George Chambers. It depicts a group of British Warships bombarding a distant fortress.

Although I had never heard of the artist, or the incident, I guessed it was a scene from the Napoleonic Wars. A little research taught me that this was not the case. In fact, the incident depicted took place in 1816 (one year after Waterloo), when a combined fleet of British and Dutch ships launched an attack against the Barbary pirates in Algiers. After a long bombardment, Algiers surrendered. The British forced the pirates to pay restitution, to turn over all the Christian slaves they held, and to never again take Christians into slavery. This incident was the final major strike by a western power against the Barbary pirates.

It’s amazing what you can learn from the boot fair, and the painting looks pretty good above our kitchen table.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

One of the things I love about living in England is the country’s near obsession with all things miniature. Model making, model railroading, and wargaming are all big hobbies over here. When you drive down the motorway, it is not unusual to see a sign advertising a miniature village.

Over the last couple of weeks I have joined in the fun by constructing my own miniature Tudor barn. If you would like to see, I have temporarily replaced my topic overview photo with a picture of the barn.

Construction was simple enough, though it did require a bit of patients. I started by cutting out the four walls from 5mm white foam board. These were attached via glue and dress maker pins. I then glued match-sticks at carefully measured intervals all around it. One of the great things about constructing something from this era is that any minor mistakes or imperfections actually make it look more authentic. Once the frame was in place, I cut two pieces of heavy cardboard to serves as the roof, then cut a bit of cereal box into a million little squares and glued them on top to serve as roof tiles.

The hardest part of the project was the plaster. Using regular interior house plaster, I filled the area between all of the match-sticks, making sure it went into all the corners, but not making any attempt to smooth it out. Once this was all dry, I painted the timber frames black, and went over the roof tiles in a couple shades of grey to make them look like slate.

It took me about two weeks, putting in about half-an-hour a day, but I think the results are worth it. I’m currently making a little shed to go with it.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

Earlier this week I had a meeting at The National Army Museum in London. (Yes, some days I love my job). Although I only had about twenty minutes to look around, it was enough to form an overall impression, and enough to make me want to go back when I have more time.

Located in Chelsea, the Museum presents the history of the British soldier, supposedly from 1066 to present. In point of fact, it really focuses on the last three hundred years, but that still leaves plenty to cover.

The real highlight for me was the extensive and impressive collection of oil paintings that line the hallways, staircases, and museum gallery. I had seen many of the paintings before, reproduced in books, but there is nothing like seeing the original. Some of them are truly immense. My favorite was the famous painting of Isandlawana by Charles Edwin Fripp (1854-1906). There were also several really nice ones depicting the Sudan War.

One of the other main draws of the museum is its collection of uniforms. I was lucky enough to see an authentic uniform from a Napoleonic Highlander, which is very useful as I'm just about to paint a little group of Highlander miniatures for wargaming.

The entire museum is very attractively laid out, with a very good bookstore and a Costa coffee in which to rest and relax. The museum is not on the main tourist tract, but it is definitely worth a visit.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

Although coal had long been used as an important source of warmth in Britain, it was during the Industrial Revolution that the coal industry really took off. To those first industrialists, coal was like the oil of today. It was necessary to make the great steam engines run. It was the power of the revolution.

As the thirst for coal spread, it brought new jobs and opportunities to places in Britain that had previously had few prospects. Wales, often neglected and overlooked, became the centre of attention for British energy seekers, and coal mines appeared all over the map.

The first coal mines were deep, dark, dangerous places, where many people lost their lives. Early coal mining was considered one of the most dangerous occupations around, a fact that has never really changed. As the industrial revolution slowly turned into the modern world and alternative fuel sources were discovered, the importance of coal lessened. Coal mines began to shut down. During the Thatcher Government, a policy was put in place to close down all the deep coal mines in Wales. One group however, refused to go quietly.

At the Tower Colliery in Hirwaun, 23 miners pooled together their redundancy pay, and bought the mine outright. They continued to mine for another 13 years. This week, Tower Colliery has closed its doors, its supply of coal exhausted.

It was the last deep pit coal mine in Wales. Its closure marks the end of an era.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

I never knew much about Edmund Hillary before I married a mountain freak. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew he was the first man to climb Everest, but only as the answer to a trivia question. I knew nothing about the man.

That all changed when I married a woman who was interested in mountains, in their look, in their challenge, in their history. I soon realized that Hillary was the mountaineer. Along with Tenzing Norgay, Hillary had conquered the last of the earth's great challenges. He had stood on the top of the world.

But the more I learned of Edmund Hillary, the more I became impressed with the man. After Everest gave him fame and wealth, he turned around and used that fame and wealth to help Everest. First, he worked tirelessly to help the Sherpa people who lived in the shadow of the mountain. He helped build schools and medical clinics. Then, he used his position to demand that people clean up the mess that was beginning to pile up all over Everest.

On the day that Edmund Hillary died, my wife said she felt like she had lost a friend. I understand that. Just because we have never met a person, never actually spoke to them, does not mean they are not important in our lives. Edmund Hillary was important in a lot of people's lives. To some he was a hero because he climbed a mountain. To me, Edmund Hillary was a hero because he used what the world had given him to make a positive difference in a lot of people's lives.

Posted by Joseph Allen McCullough

In some far off future, when the history books are written, and another generation of British school children are reading about those who have gone before, I doubt that there will be much mention of the year 2007. That year, so newly finished, had no single defining event, no death of a monarch, no end to a major war. That does not mean the year was without interest, however. There were several events that will be remembered, especially by the people who were around to see them.

Probably the single biggest event in Britain this past year was the resignation of Tony Blair. After ten years leading the country, Blair stepped aside and turned over the country over to Gordon Brown. Although the main reason for his resignation was probably the war in Iraqi, it was certainly a combination of factors. I believe that it will not be long before the Brits look back with fondness on a man who was a strong leader and oversaw the country during a period most notable for its prosperity.

The other big story on the island in 2007 has to be the summer floods. Although flooding is always a danger when you build in river basins, no one predicted the level of destruction that came about when a number of rivers, including the Thames, burst their banks this summer. Several cities lost whole neighbourhoods to the risings waters. Thousands of peope were evacuated from cities all over the south west. Even here in Oxford, I was evacuated from my office, and one of the major roads into the city was shut down for weeks.

No, 2007 wasn't the most eventual year, but it was eventful enough!