Portraits

portraits

George Kennedy Young: Banker, Writer, Soldier, Spy

Over a remarkable and tempestuous career, George Kennedy Young rose to become Deputy Director of MI6 at the height of Britain’s Cold War. But his evermore extreme ideology prevente..

Rory Cormac December 14, 2020

portraits

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – Rocket Man

The Russian recluse, a scientific self-starter who left school at 14, developed pioneering theories of space travel that anticipated the great feats of the Space Race fifty years l..

Tim Marshall December 8, 2020

portraits

The many ways of seeing Saint Monica

Monica ­– mother to Augustine of Hippo, lionized by the Latin Church – is a women of many names and many more mysteries.

Gillian Clark December 2, 2020

portraits

Basil Liddell Hart and the Art of Peace

Having witnessed first-hand the mechanised onslaught of the Great War, Captain Basil Liddell Hart sought a philosophy of warfare based in the prudent use of technology, psychology..

Rob Johnson November 24, 2020

portraits

Anna Komnene – the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes

Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her le..

Peter Frankopan November 16, 2020

portraits

George McGhee – American father to Britain’s Suez Crisis

Debonair and open-faced diplomat George McGhee's shuttle diplomacy helped accelerate Britain's decline as a player in the Middle East.

James Barr November 11, 2020

portraits

Olympe de Gouges: the recalcitrant revolutionary

Olympe de Gouges - executed in the aftermath of 1789 for speaking her mind - has yet to be recognised properly by the modern Republic.

Donald Sassoon November 5, 2020

portraits

Nicias of Athens: the peace-loving general

Nicias of Athens sought compromise when those around him were begging for blood – carving his own tomb in the process.

Erica Benner October 27, 2020

portraits

Oswald Spengler – an intellectual life

Spengler's philosophy represented a startling synthesis of ideas - they have a pressing relevance today.

Harry Cluff October 2, 2020