I'm currently working on putting some old articles online. You'll find a list of them here. There'll be a wide variety of subjects to read, including a brief history of aerial photography, the mystery of Atlantis and a brief appreciation of Doctor Who.
Paul Rance's booksmusicfilmstv.com Blog
A blog about everything, from Peace & Freedom's Paul Rance. Open the cage, the monster has been released...
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Top of the Pops Blog by Angelo
Brotherhood of Man may or may not have dedicated a song to him, but Angelo's Top of the Pops blog is a labour of love, and details repeated episodes on BBC4 of the popular TV chart show. Angelo must also have a strong stomach, as amidst the good stuff there's a lot of dross that would reduce lesser men to mush. The comments are interesting too.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Birds Photographed in Crowland by Paul Rance
A screenshot of some of the Crowland birds I've photographed. See bigger images of some of 'em here.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Some of the Illustrations from From Ecocide to Eden by Paul Rance
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Peace & Freedom Spring 2020 Climate Change, Nature Special Paperback
Peace & Freedom Spring 2020 - Paperback (also available in Kindle)
Climate change, nature special
Poetry by the likes of Nancy L. Dahl, Dorothy Koenigsberger, Francesca Heaney, Jane Foulger, Janine Booth, Cardinal Cox, Sylvia Maclagan, Vivien Foster, Wendy Webb, Phil Knight, Keith Murdoch and Paul Rance.
Click on the image to purchase from Amazon.co.uk
Thursday, May 07, 2020
Google Cricket Game Personal Bests
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
The Peace & Freedom Band - Alien Landscapes
Sunday, November 24, 2019
The Suburban Homeowner
A Symbol of Aspiration
In the West in the last century, especially for the aspirational working classes, having a home in the suburbs was a status symbol as much as a home. Inner city ghettoes in the 20th Century either crushed people, or provoked many to try and get out of them.
The suburban homeowner in the United States is traditionally seen as someone who is happy with their lot. They are often portrayed in movies as reaching a certain level in life, and then feeling no motivation to push themselves further.
The role of the suburban homeowner is, though, a symbol of aspiration. Suburbia is portrayed as an idyllic place where the only thing to concern the suburban homeowner is to try and attain the perfect lawn. Not true, of course, as no one gets through life without bad things happening.
The Perfect Family
Cheesy TV commercials of the 1950s and 1960s would portray the bliss of the American Dream. The perfect family trying out the local kitchen appliance or electrical goods would nearly always be a suburban one. The family would always seem to be squeaky clean, and the viewer could be forgiven for thinking that they had never done anything wrong in their whole life.
Whether the suburban homeowner began to believe the TV commercials and consider themselves superior to city dwellers, town dwellers, or people from rural areas is open to question. The TV commercials didn't do the suburbanites any favors, as they soon became perceived as rather shallow members of society, who were obsessed with status symbols.
There is a good and bad aspect to the perceived role of families living in the suburbs. Because of how untroubled a suburbanite's life appears to be, living in the suburbs seems inviting. But, becoming like a suburbanite is not.
A Sense of Community
Despite their perceived faults, the suburban homeowner is recognized as being a good neighbour. Another positive effect of living in the suburbs is that there is a feeling of community, and a certain amount of healthy competition. If everyone in the street has an immaculate garden, then there is pressure on all the individuals in the street to keep their standards up. Thus, anyone moving into a suburban street will be instantly aware of one major way of being accepted.
Wednesday, November 06, 2019
How Writing Frees the Mind
Kindle version of Made of the Write Stuff
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Sunday, June 09, 2019
Peace & Freedom Magazine Summer, 2019
UK links
Peace & Freedom Summer, 2019 - Paperback
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/107047584X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=peace+%26+freedom+summer&qid=1559725797&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Peace & Freedom Summer, 2019 - Kindle
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SHTR5HR/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=peace+%26+freedom&qid=1559590461&s=digital-text&sr=1-4
US links
Peace & Freedom Summer, 2019 - Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/107047584X/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=peace+%26+freedom+summer+paul+rance&qid=1559725874&s=gateway&sr=8-2
Peace & Freedom Summer, 2019 - Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SHTR5HR/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=PEACE+%26+FREEDOM&qid=1559590685&s=digital-text&sr=1-4
Monday, December 24, 2018
Ken Barrington, extract from Paul Rance's England's 50 Greatest Cricketers
Surrey
RHB, RLS
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Englands-Greatest-Cricketers-Paul-Rance/dp/1790334756/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543925262&sr=8-1&keywords=england%27s+50+greatest+cricketers
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MZZ3H1Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1548175093&sr=1-1&keywords=B07MZZ3H1Q
Another extract from England's 50 Greatest Cricketers - 3. Sydney Barnes
https://www.paulrance.com/50GreatestEnglandCricketersSydneyBarnes.html
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Being St. Francis - Chapter 11 - Emotional Involvement
Being sensitive is ALWAYS something to be proud of. But it has its obvious dangers. Bullies tend to home in on you if you are sensitive. Consequently, being sensitive doesn't mean that you shouldn't be scared of showing your teeth, or physically fighting back in self defence. That combination of sensitivity and combativeness is always a winning combination, whereas being too aggressive never appeals to anyone but similarly aggressive types.
Where sensitivity can lead to problems is when becoming emotionally involved in causes. Because there are always people out there who will harm other people, animals and nature without a second thought. For anyone who is sensitive, this type of vicious behaviour will typically be hard to fathom. Not even if they come out with the lame “I'm just doing my job” excuse. There is such a thing as having a social and moral conscience after all.
In March, 2018 I was getting increasingly depressed by environmental issues. Sudan, the last northern white rhino had died, and on the same day the destruction of healthy street trees was gathering pace again in Sheffield. Two days later I was watching a livestream of a beautiful tree being cut down. Then, as I was on Twitter, I saw that the tree was Duchess Lime. We followed each other, and communicated. Yeah, I know, it was a human behind the account... It's not every day you see a living thing you mutually follow on Twitter being killed live.
Two days earlier I had gone to bed thinking I was never going to be happy however long I live, because of the way humans continue to trash Earth. The killing of Duchess was unthinking, brutal humanity writ large. I went to bed, and cried my eyes out, and took a break from social media for a week. This is the danger of becoming emotionally involved with causes. But, apart from those who are emotionless, there will always be something that will compel us to throw our support behind something. Whether it's trying to save our local football club, or a beautiful tree. There is, though, the risk of what happens when all that time and effort seems futile, and hope becomes lost. That's when depression can kick in.
Also avoid the negative influences, the naysayers who will always tell you: “Why bother? You won't make any difference.” Obviously, some causes are doomed to failure from a very early stage, but it's still important not to give up completely. If a local library is, for instance, facing closure, and no one tries to stop that action, then that just emboldens other local authorities to maybe shut down a library in their area, as they will expect an easy ride.
Chapter 15 - The Kirby Misperton Effect
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-St-Francis-Paul-Rance/dp/1719498784/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529355015&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=paul+rance+being+st.+francis
Being St. Francis - Paperback - Amazon US
https://www.amazon.com/Being-St-Francis-Paul-Rance/dp/1719498784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529355235&sr=1-1&keywords=BEING+ST.+FRANCIS
Being St. Francis - Kindle - Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PBQNKJ4?ie=UTF8&camp=3194&creative=21330&creativeASIN=B07PBQNKJ4&linkCode=shr&tag=10cc-21&s=digital-text&qid=1551639138&sr=1-1&keywords=Being+st.+Francis
Being St. Francis - Kindle - Amazon US
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Peace & Freedom Magazine Andrew Bruce Tribute Issue
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peace-Freedom-Andrew-Bruce-Tribute/dp/198763666X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523371835&sr=8-1&keywords=ANDREW+BRUCE+PEACE+%26+FREEDOM
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Freedom-Andrew-Bruce-Tribute/dp/198763666X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523371931&sr=8-1&keywords=Peace+%26+Freedom+Andrew+Bruce+Tribute+Issue%3A+Dedicated+to+Peace+%26+Freedom+Press+co-founder+Andy+Bruce
Sunday, December 24, 2017
The Enduring Popularity Of Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
One of the Great Christmas Song Choruses
With one of the greatest choruses to any Christmas song, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is skillfully arranged. It has an instrumental segment of typical Christmas music, followed by the winning factor of a children's choir.
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday happily uses traditional Christmas elements, including Yuletide imagery, as well as the children's choir and sleigh bells. The tempo changes are clever, too. The song slows down towards the end, but then comes alive again, with sleigh bells and children singing before gently fading out. It's a nice touch, as the group allow the children to have the final word.
The Feelgood Factor
The song has a unabashed feelgood factor, that would get even Scrooge tapping his feet. There is no sob story about being alone at Christmas, but just a song that focuses on the positive aspects of Christmas, and a wish that every day could be like that. The combination of brass and bells help to give the song a strong, uplifting Christmas song sound. The saxophones are particularly prominent. There is also a magical, surreal element to some of the lyrics, notably about Santa travelling from the Milky Way.
Wizzard were one of the top groups in Britain in the first few years of the 1970s, and it could be argued that anything they released at Christmas would have been a hit. But that the song has endured for so long is a testament to the actual song itself. Unluckily for Roy Wood, Wizzard frontman, and composer and producer of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, another top glam rock group also had a Christmas hit that year. Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody reached number one, and has also become a Christmas staple.
Roy Wood famously sang I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday on BBC TV's cult chart show, Top of the Pops, dressed as a young and offbeat Father Christmas. Released at the height of glam rock, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is still one of the most popular Christmas songs in the UK. Like it or loathe it, it's virtually impossible to have a Christmas without hearing it!
Wednesday, December 06, 2017
England's 50 Greatest Footballers - Number 39, Cliff Bastin
England's 50 Greatest Footballers - Paperback
England's 50 Greatest Footballers - Kindle
Extract From Paul Rance's England's 50 Greatest Footballers - No. 47, Pompey Legend Jimmy Dickinson
https://footiearticles.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/extract-from-paul-rances-englands-50.html
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Radicalism In 19th Century Britain
Peterloo Massacre
19th Century England's first great radicals were the Luddites. In 1811, the Luddite riots affected major cities in Central and Northern England, as workers feared the financial impacts of the Industrial Revolution. Luddites destroyed machinery, which they feared would replace skilled manual labour. Riots led to executions and transportation for some of those involved, with the British Army used to quell the disturbances. The poet Lord Byron was a Luddite supporter and was an example of how some of the elite championed the cause of the working classes in the 1800s.
The 1830s were a turbulent time in Britain. 1830 saw another working class uprising, but this time disturbances began in the South and East of England before spreading to the Midlands and North. These were called the Swing Riots. Machinery was again targeted. With the advent of new machinery, wages for workers had actually decreased - because there was less need for manual labour. The years after the Napoleonic Wars had brought in a time of austerity and, combined with the effects of the Industrial Revolution, poverty was a fear of many.
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Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. Photo by Stephen McKay [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATolpuddle_martyrs_museum.jpg |
In Wales, the Rebecca Riots, which took place from 1839 to 1843, were displays of anger by farmers and agriculture workers at what they claimed to be unfair taxes. Often male protestors would dress up as women, being inspired by a reference to Rebekah in The Bible.
Chartism and Anti-Corn Law League
Chartism was a movement that flourished from 1839 to 1848, and it was the first British working class movement to make an impact on government. The Chartists wanted six points to be agreed to and five were. Most notable was that every man over the age of 21 was allowed to vote - regardless of wealth or status. Also, working class men were to be given the chance to become MPs. The Chartists had organised a General strike in 1842 and many Christians were Chartists, which began a growth in philanthropy. Another strong working class movement at this time was the Anti-Corn Law League, which was formed to protest against higher bread prices and the resultant poverty enforced on the working classes.
Communist Manifesto, Trade Unions and Fabian Society
Thursday, November 09, 2017
Why Philosophy Is Important
The importance of philosophy can be understood when we think about things such as ethics, and the fact that from Plato, Socrates and Aristotle right up to the present day, philosophers were impacting on society, and laying down their own theories, which formed a lot of the tenets on which civilization is judged and based.
With philosophy, we have something which are, often unproven, opinions, but they are opinions which often ring true in the human heart. That is why the names of so many philosophers resonate down the centuries. We can almost say that philosophers were the guardians of civilization.
Philosophy is reliable to the extent that logical explanations are sought to explain things, and in philosophy this can be anything from politics to religion to aesthetics, and, as mentioned earlier, ethics.
Human beings have a capacity to never stop looking for answers to questions - whether it be the physical problem solved by early man in discovering fire to keep warm, or with the more modern problems of politicians solving an argument without losing face, but without causing offence either. Continually overcoming problems, often with great ingenuity, throughout the centuries has been the reason the human race has evolved into the most powerful species on the planet. Philosophy may, on the face of it, seem to be of no importance in a practical world, but it is something which has made us think about so many things. Would mankind have been interested in going into space, but not for philosophers wondering for centuries why we were here and where we came from?
Because of philosophy, and it inspiring the urge in successive generations to find answers to many things - from the meaning of life to what defines civilization, we can say that philosophy is extremely important to society. Philosophy wondered about the workings of the universe and the human mind in ancient times, and, as a result, science was prodded into looking, sometimes unethically, for the answers to those questions.
The benefit philosophy has played in the history of mankind has been profound, and though, by itself, philosophy has not provided many answers, it has provided many questions that we have striven to have answered, and are still striving to have answered.