So who did start the Korean War?
History, they say, is told by the victors. But what if there are no victors? What if the war never technically ended? Then, perhaps, each side feels free to tell its own version of history, a version...
View ArticleTyneham: a village frozen in time
'Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating...
View ArticleThe USS Pueblo at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum
An elderly man in naval uniform sits on a bench in the museum grounds. He is eighty years old and is employed by the museum as a guide, although his main duty is simply posing with tourists. To the...
View ArticleCommemorating the fallen: the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery in Pyongyang
On a hillside above Pyongyang, commanding a wonderful view of the city, stand row on row of granite blocks, each topped with a bust. The figures portrayed gaze out over the wooded slope of Mount...
View ArticleMeeting a survivor of S-21, Tuol Sleng
When the Khmer Rouge prison Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh, was liberated by the invading Vietnamese army in 1979, the guards killed all but a handful of prisoners to try to prevent them telling of the...
View ArticleCracking the code at Bletchley Park
The first computer my husband and I bought had a memory of around 500 MB. The second seemed a huge advancement at a whole gigabyte! Today I have 32 GB in my phone, i.e. 64 times as much, and 64 GB (128...
View ArticleJersey under occupation: the War Tunnels
In June 1940 France fell to the advancing Nazi army and was occupied. The British government decided that the Channel Islands, just off the Normandy coast, were of no strategic importance and would not...
View ArticlePostcards from a time of war
Browsing a flea market in East Berlin many years ago I came across an old postcard, with a pretty painting of forget-me-nots. Turning it over I found, to my surprise, that the message was in English....
View ArticleThe Killing Fields of Cambodia
This post contains images and descriptions that some may find disturbing. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are not a place that everyone would choose to visit, despite being firmly on the tourist trail...
View ArticleDreaming of reunification in North Korea
Travel is all about experiences. They may seem quite small at the time, like a chance but memorable encounter with a local person that changes your perspective on the world. Or they may seem huge,...
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