20 JUNE

THE AUTHOR Alisdare Hickson is a graduate of the London School of Economics, with an MSc in Economic History. He also holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Essex. After a period working as a researcher, he returned to his true passions of history, politics and photography. As an amateur photojournalist, he covered…

GENERAL ON HIS TROOPS ‘BURNING EVERY VILLAGE WITHIN REACH’ [ 20 August 1920 ] On 20 August 1920, Major General George A.J. Leslie, commanding the 17th Indian Division in Iraq, wrote to his wife Edith in India, informing her that Brigadier General H.A. Walker’s column, comprising two British and six Indian battalions was ‘slowly working…

IRAQ WEAPONS EXPERT JOHN KELLY FOUND DEAD AFTER “SEXED UP” DOSSIER LEAK. [ 18 July 2003 ] On this day in 2003, Dr. David Kelly, a 59 year old chemical weapons expert and former UN weapons inspector, was found dead in the woods, just one mile from his Oxfordshire home. Two days earlier he had…

BRITAIN STRIKES SECRET DEAL WITH AMERICA TO EXPEL THE INHABITANTS OF DIEGO GARCIA. On this day in 1966 a secret plan was agreed between Britain and the United States, by which Washington would cancel $14 million in military debts and in return London undertook to take “administrative measures” required for “resettling the inhabitants” of the…

MODERATE MINISTER PRAISES BRITISH REPRISALS AGAINST IRISH CIVILIANS. [ 31 October 1920 ] On this day in 1920  Austen Chamberlain, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer who was considered a dovish moderate on the issue of Ireland, wrote to his sister reminding her of the positive impact of brutal acts of British retribution against Irish civilians.  It…

DAY AND NIGHT CURFEW IMPOSED IN NICOSIA [ 13 June 1958 ] On 13 June 1958, during an insurgency against British rule in Cyprus which had also exacerbated tensions between the Greek and Turkish communities, Major General Douglas Kendrew decided to order a day and night curfew on the entire population of Nicosia ‘until further…