New Year firework disasters

Initial reports that fireworks had been involved in the fire in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana now seem to be wide of the mark. About forty people are thought to have been killed in the blaze in a bar.

But sadly, fireworks have been involved in a number of New Year accidents. On the first day of 2001, 350 young people had packed into three cafes in a building in the picturesque Dutch fishing village of Volendam, when sparklers set fire to ceiling decorations that had not been treated with flame retardants. 14 people died. 

One of the deadliest firework accidents ever happened in the run-up to the next New Year celebrations. The narrow streets of the Mesa Redonda shopping area in Peru's capital, Lima, were lined with wood and adobe buildings, and on 29 December 2001, hundreds had flocked there to buy fireworks for New Year.

Many traders were selling, and the ground was covered with gunpowder that had fallen from fireworks being unloaded. Witnesses said the blaze started as one trader was demonstrating his wares. It spread rapidly, destroying five blocks in a few minutes, and killing nearly 300 people. 

For more on firework accidents, see my book A History of Fireworks from their Origins to the Present Day. (Reaktion Books)

Japanese newspaper explores my 'Fireworks' history

I've just been interviewed about my book, A History of Fireworks from their Origins to the Present Day (Reaktion) by the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's leading newspapers. The article focuses on New Year celebrations.  https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASTDK54G1TDKUHBI006M.html

Promo for my history of fireworks talk

Looking forward to talking to members of Boundless.co.uk for civil servants past and present about my book 'A History of Fireworks from their Origins to the Present Day' (Reaktion Books) on Tuesday 11 November at 1900. You can find my promo for the event on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bemoreboundless/?locale=en_GB 

Fireworks: illuminating their mysterious history

Looking forward to talking online about my book A History of Fireworks. From their Origins to the Present Day (Reaktion Books) to the Boundless organisation for civil servants past and present on 11 November. 

I'm going to be talking about their mysterious origins in ancient China and the possibility that they were a by-product of the search for eternal life, how warfare played an important part in their development, how the pope became a major sponsor of displays in Europe, and how their first known appearance in Britain was at an event designed to put an end to the enmities of a 30 years civil war. 

Then there will be the story of how 5 November, Bonfire Night, became a focus for disorder and anti-government protests, how British fireworks conquered the world in Queen Victoria's time, and how they featured at the centre of one of Britain's most famous libel cases involving one of Britain's most celebrated artists.

I will reveal the technological breakthroughs that have transformed fireworks and displays, describe how they have inspired music and literature, reminisce over the rise and fall of famous British manufacturers, and examine the challenges fireworks now face from worries about the environment and the effect they have on animals.

Scroll down this web page to find out more https://www.boundless.co.uk/news-competitions/lifestyle/meet-the-online-storytellers

I-Spy Paris. Not the Arc de Triomphe

 I-Spy Paris. Not the Arc de Triomphe, but an arc de triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, by the Tuileries Gardens close to the Louvre. Erected in 1808 to celebrate Napoleon's victories in Italy. Its better known cousin at Place Charles de Gaulle was not finished until 1836. This arc has been undergoing restoration work and on the day I visited, it was still cordoned off.

Day Return to Oxford

49 years ago, in the glorious summer of 1976, I was lucky enough to persuade ATV, then the ITV company for the Midlands, to let me go back to my old Oxford college, New College, to make a film about how things had changed since I had left eight years before. The result was a programme called 'Day Return to Oxford' which can now be viewed online thanks to MACE, the Media Archive of Central London. This is the link https://www.macearchive.org/films/day-return-oxford

One of the big changes the film focuses on is the admission of women to what had been, in my day, exclusively male colleges, and one of the interviewees is the first female cox of Brasenose College's rowing eight. Then there is New College undergraduate (student) Miles Young, talking about his sadness at leaving Oxford and about how hard it was to find a good job. After a distinguished career in advertising, he would go on to become Warden (i.e. boss) of New College. There is also a veteran 'scout' (college servant) giving the lowdown on what is was like cleaning up after privileged young men, and the head of the careers service discussing the challenge of finding Oxford graduates the job of their dreams.

Other vexed questions tackled included: how much work did undergraduates do, and what was it like for young men and women to be in a university where the sex ratio was still about four men to every woman. But because the weather was so wonderful, the real star of the film was Oxford itself.

I-Spy Vienna. The Russian War Memorial

One of Stalin's priorities at the end of World War Two was to get Soviet war memorials erected sharpish in what would become Western European countries. One went up in 1945 just inside what became West Berlin by the Tiergarten just inside the Brandenburg Gate. 

The one in central Vienna also went up in 1945 within months of the end of the war. Locals refer to it rather unkindly as the 'Monument to the Unknown Looter'. The memorials gave the Russians a useful foothold in the West, with guards stationed by the one in Berlin, while Putin was a regular visitor to Vienna's. If he goes back now, he'll find the huge wall at the back has been painted in the colours of Ukraine.