On the day that England played their first match of Euro 2012, it seems apt to remember one of the many professional footballers who lost their lives in the Great War. Londoner Bob Whiting was a goalkeeper who joined the Footballers’ Battalion in 1914. He was killed in action in April 1917.
Monthly Archives: June 2012
House of Windsor: not German, honest!
Today is the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee weekend. Next month also sees the 95th anniversary of the royal House of Windsor – invented to avoid anti-German sentiment around the royal family’s name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
The value of a bank holiday
In 2012, Britain has gained a bank holiday with the late-Spring bank holiday postponed and extended this weekend for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1916 the same bank holiday was abandonded completely in an effort to keep up production and win the Great War. In the end, it was clear that people needed time off and the bank holidays were restored.
Great War London 