Concerts, cricket kept our Diggers distracted
POETRY was just one of many pastimes favoured by Diggers in World War I.
Today In History
World’s first tank battle at Villers-Bretonneux
THE Germans were nothing if not persistent. They had failed to break through to Amiens in late March and early April 1918. So on the morning of April 24, a century ago today, they unleashed their secret weapon.
Chivalry’s oldest honour born on the dance floor
KING Arthur’s knights of the round table may be the stuff of legend, but Britain’s oldest knighthood is still among us.
Aussie soldier downed the Red Baron
AUSTRALIAN gunner Cedric Popkin is credited with shooting down Germany’s Red Baron flying ace, after 80 kills.
More Stories
Exploration of faith resulted in bigger than Ben-Hur success
THE 1959 film Ben-Hur was the benchmark for huge Hollywood productions. Costing $US15 million, it was the biggest-budget film ever made, and gave rise to the expression “bigger than Ben-Hur”. But Lew Wallace’s original book was an epic in its creation.
Wave Hill walk-off pivotal moment in bitter struggle
WHEN a head man called a strike at a Northern Territory cattle station 50 years ago it made history.
Wodehouse’s satire at odds with MI5 during war years
BRITISH comedy-of-errors author Pelham Grenville Wodehouse’s amusing reflections on life as a civilian prisoner in Nazi Germany branded him a traitor, facing arrest and trial if he returned to his homeland.
Boy with a passion for radio became unsung screen idol
AS we sit glued to our televisions this weekend we should spare a thought for one of the men who made it possible.
Honour for our Long Tan war heroes was long time coming
THE battle of Long Tan was an historic moment in Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but for the group of young soldiers who fought there struggled for recognition for years.
America’s immigration policy had plenty of stars and strikes
The Statue of Liberty has a plaque urging the world to send its tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to be free but conditions may apply
Strangers’ tears for drifters forgotten in life and death
HALF the victims had been forgotten even before they died in Australia’s worst building fire that left 30 homeless men dead when a hostel near Melbourne docks caught fire on August 13, 1966.
War spy was last man to be executed in Tower of London
CAPTURED German spy Josef Jakobs was the last person executed in the Tower of London. Convicted of espionage under the Treachery Act 1940, Jakobs was shot on August 15, 1941.
Women heeded call to serve in time of war
ONE night in June 1940 about 10,000 women attended a meeting at Sydney Town Hall. It led to the formation a year later of the Australian Women’s Army Service which paved the way for women to join the armed forces.
Babylon’s tablets made more census than today’s computers
THOUSANDS of years ago the only hackers of census data were the scribes employed to inscribe the clay tablets to record the information.
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