Beyond the glass case

My MA course has its final seminar this week. Normally, we’d visit the Imperial War Museum as a group and I would walk students round, before we had the second half of the seminar in the café. This year, I have personal commitments which mean I’ll have to arrive at the Museum later than planned. But I thought I’d try to turn a problem into an advantage, by putting the emphasis more firmly than usual on the Museum itself, and by asking the students to interrogate the exhibits themselves. This also has the advantage of preventing me becoming a glorified guide. This is still the test version, so thank you to my students for being willing guinea pigs!
 

TCHM 007

Victors to Victims: Remembering the Two World Wars in Britain, 1950-2000.

Visit to Imperial War Museum, Friday 16^th December 2006

This seminar is based around the representation of the Home Front in the Second World War. It also aims to draw together the thematic threads of the course by making you think about the structural, cultural, financial and historical influences on the representation of Britain’s experience of total war.

Radio gaga

End-of-term-itis and family bereavement means the blog is suffering at the moment. But just to celebrate my moment of glory while it’s there – for the next week you can hear me and others talking about the memory of the First World War on the BBC Radio 4 programme Things We Forgot To Remember.

Immediate reactions from two friends number 1) a pedantic economist who pointed out that I said munitions of atomic proportions when what I probably meant was munitions the blast of which could be measured in the same way as an atomic explosion, not really really small weapons.

Immediate reactions from two friends number 2) ‘Came in just at the bit where you finished a sentence “…ideal of masculinity.” and Michael Portillo started telling the audience who you were “Dan Todman,…” Got a bit confused.’