Antony Beevor, the superlative historian who has given us so much to ponder
FOR many years, I have been a keen reader of the books of Sir Antony Beevor, initially reading his volumes on Stalingrad, then the Spanish Civil War, the Ardennes Offensive, the Fall of Berlin, the Spanish Civil War, et cetera.
His works have given the contemporary world many things on which to ponder. As a septuagenarian and former teacher, I have grave concerns that the teaching of history in the UK has been remiss for many years.
As a teenager educated at Fort Augustus Abbey School by the shores of Loch Ness under the Oxford & Cambridge Examination Board, our history lessons consisted mainly of The Tudors. (Dear God ... we were living in the Fort Augustus! General Wade’s roads, Culloden).
After my spell as a teacher, I entered the family business, based in St Mary’s Street, Edinburgh. While reading the late John Prebble’s work,
Mutiny: Highland Regiments In Revolt, and the shattered victims “dragging themselves up St Mary’s Wynd”, right outside my present office, on their way to the infirmary, I fired off a letter to the author, expressing my surprise that an English expat was my sole source of Scottish history.
Last week, I took my grandson to visit the Museum of Flight in East Lothian. To my amazement, in one hangar, side by side, stood a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, and a de Havilland Puss Moth. The former, with the help of
Luis Bolin, transported Franco to Ceuta, Morocco; the latter sent General Sanjurjo to his death. In a fit of enthusiasm, I thanked the young female attendant in charge, relating all this history. She then enquired, “Who was Franco?”
God help us all. I hope that Sir Antony can continue with his endeavours.
Iain Marin, Edinburgh.