History Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

A Modern Memory Box

Monday 3 December 2012 / Antony Simpson / 2 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

A few years ago I wrote about Memories explaining that I keep a shoe box of trinkets (birthday cards, christmas cards, valentines cards, gig ticket stubs, letters, the odd photo, etc.) for every year that passes. These Memory Boxes ended up in the attic because there was so many of them and they were taking up to much space. Up in the attic I forgot about them, until recently when I went up into the attic for something else and I saw them. I realised I don’t look at them as often because of the number of boxes and number of items in the boxes, but then I had an idea…

I bought a scanner and painstakingly scanned every item onto my iMac. Then I set up a screen saver:

In the end I scanned in over nine hundred items, but it was worth the time and energy invested. Now every time my iMac goes into screen saver mode I see the wonderful letters, cards, ticket subs, etc. and my memory is triggered transporting me into the past – usually to a time filled with happiness and joy. My iMac has become my Modern Memory Box, which I hope to add to often.

Write soon,

Antony

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Book Review: Elizabeth by David Starkey

Sunday 18 November 2012 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

History has so many stories about struggles for power, betrayal, religion, love, lost love and none more so than in the story of Queen Elizabeth I. In Elizabeth Starkey looks at Elizabeth’s first twenty five years of her life starting before she was crowned. Following her from childhood, through her teen years and into early adulthood. Starkey describes himself almost falling in love with Elizabeth but being repelled by her at the same time. He makes clear in his introduction that he will follow up Elizabeth with another book continuing Elizabeth’s story as Queen of England.

Starkey stars off the book well, writing like he’s telling a story and this writing style captivated me. But later on in the book he gets far too academic, getting bogged down in the detail of events. Starkey even presents arguments for some conclusions he draws that are contrary to popular historians beliefs. Indeed Starkey even includes references, albeit subtly.

Now don’t get me wrong; I like to hear different opinions about historic events. A good debate even, but that’s not what I expected after reading the introductory chapter which describes historic events in terms of telling a story. I was looking forward to delving into Elizabeth’s story, but unfortunately the academia prevented this and was a great source of frustration.

Still I did learn more about events in her early years and how they effected her throughout adulthood; such as her relationship with her father and fathers whims when it came to his favour, the traumatic relationship between her & Thomas Seymour and the influence of Catherine Parr her step-mother.

If you are doing History as a subject at GCSE, A-Level or Degree and enjoy reading the academic style, you’ll like Elizabeth which is available to buy on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Growing Up Gay: My Story

Sunday 7 October 2012 / Antony Simpson / 4 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Inspired by Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay by Paul Vitagliano, I’ve decided to share my own story of growing up gay.

I’m about eight or nine in this photo, it’s Christmas and I’m striking a pose in my Power Rangers pyjamas proudly showing off my new cross puppet. I remember loving to entertain others, being full of confidence and having no inhibitions. I remember being sensitive, caring and sometimes in a world of my own. My mum describes me as a child by saying I was “such a joy to have.”

If you’d have shown me this photo as a teenager I’d have cringed with embarrassment. By my teen years I’d realised that I was different to others; I became very self-conscious of what my peers thought about me and was hiding my sexuality out of fear of what they’d think, say or do. I also became extremely self-critical of seemingly everything about myself.

Today, I look at this photo and aspire to be like that younger version of myself. I am so thankful that as a child my mum instilled me with confidence to be myself and always made me feel loved. I am still learning and developing as I experience life, but there are many goals I’ve been successful in achieving and the others I’m working towards.

If there are any gay youth who are experiencing what I did in my teens I would encourage them to stay true to who they are, only listen to the opinions of people who truly love you – they will love you for who you are, seek out support (Google: lgbt support) and come out when you’re ready.

I look at this photo and think: how did my family not know I was gay? The answer is that they did! I was born gay and I wouldn’t be any other way.

Published by: The Gay UK on Friday 8th August 2014.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Book Review: Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down by Jo Brand

Saturday 30 June 2012 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down is Jo Brand’s second autobiography following on from Look Back in Hunger. I really enjoyed Look Back in Hunger, so much so that I wrote a book review: Book Review: Look Back In Hunger by Jo Brand. I couldn’t wait to read Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down, so did it satisfy my expectations?

Brand starts with an author’s note stating that this book is more a collection of memoirs rather than a chronological writing of significant events in her life like Look Back in Hunger. The book is split into three distinct sections: Trying To Be Funny, Being Jo Brand and The Box.

Trying To Be Funny is about her comedy career but it felt really vague. I remembered how Brand wrote quite detailed accounts of her time as a Psychiatric Nurse in Look Back in Hunger, yet when writing about her more recent comedy career it lacked details.

Being Jo Brand is about her personal life. In this section Brand gives her opinions about what she likes; as well as writing about her labour political values, her family and friends and what it’s like “being clocked” – recognised by members of the public.

The Box is mainly about TV, Radio and Celebrities. Brand includes a chapter entitled “Writing This Effing Book” were she writes about the volume of words needed to complete this book. Reading this chapter made it click in my head, the word I wanted to describe how this book felt to me: strained. It felt as though Brand stretched out her autobiography to fit into a second book. I had high expectations for this book and unfortunately it didn’t quite meet them.

However the book does have funny and interesting chapters and is well worth a read, especially if you’ve read Look Back in Hunger, as it completes her story. Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down is available to buy on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony

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