By James Aitchison He was known as the king with the funny name, a self-appointed Muslim ruler who survived 55 assassination attempts, a dictator who fled to The Ritz in London and died in obscurity in France. And while history…
By James Aitchison He was born a British prince. His father was Queen Victoria’s youngest, brightest son. He was educated at Eton. Lewis Carroll, a family friend, dubbed him a “perfect little prince”. Yet he was denounced in Britain as…
By: James Aitchison Two men, both Edgars, born in the same year — 1875 — would become the most prolific authors of the twentieth century, creating two fictional characters that have never ceased to capture the world’s imagination — King…
By James Aitchison Long before Ian Fleming, John Buchan, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler, Len Deighton and John le Carré, there was Erskine Childers. His book, The Riddle of the Sands, published in May 1903, is arguably the first spy novel…
By James Aitchison Langston Hughes, the Poet Laureate of African America, had a great ear for rhythms and stress, able to propel ideas and demands for racial justice through urgent jagged verse, a “jazz” poet who harnessed popular music such…
By Yoobin (Annika) Song The socialists of the 19th and 20th centuries launched a formidable challenge against industrial capitalism, employing art as a powerful tool for critical analysis and critique. In works such as “A Pyramid of Capitalist Society,” (fig….
By James Aitchison Few Westerners are revered in China. But one Canadian doctor remains a national hero to this day, honoured in school history books and by statues throughout the country. How his name, Bethune, was translated into Chinese indicates…
By James Aitchison For most of us, the British honours system is as baffling as it is somewhat incongruous. In today’s world, many of its heraldic institutions seem relics of past glory. Arguably, the most curious of these is an…
By: Matthew Yoon Throughout human history, many events that took place in certain periods led to today’s world. In The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the negative effects of those who pursued the American Dream through a…
(Featured Photo Credits: Roberto Rossellini, Rome Open City (1945)) By John Califano During the early stages of the “pandemic” and the ensuing global lockdowns, I spent serious time in my apartment unsure of exactly what the hell was going on….