It is thought to date to the 11th century, within a few years after the battle. It tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans.
According to Sylvette Lemagnen, conservator of the tapestry, in her 2005 book La Tapisserie de Bayeux:
The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque …. Its survival almost intact over nine centuries is little short of miraculous … Its exceptional length, the harmony and freshness of its colours, its exquisite workmanship, and the genius of its guiding spirit combine to make it endlessly fascinating.
The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with Latin tituli, embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William’s half-brother, and made in England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s.
In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy,
The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than woven, so that it is not technically a tapestry.
Nevertheless, it has always been referred to as a tapestry until recent years, when the name “Bayeux Embroidery” has gained ground among certain art historians. The tapestry can be seen as a perfect example of secular Norman art. Tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in Medieval western Europe, though at 0.5 by 68.38 metres (1.6 by 224.3 ft, and apparently incomplete) the Bayeux Tapestry is exceptionally large. Only the figures and decoration are embroidered, on a background left plain, which shows the subject very clearly and was necessary to cover large areas.
George Johnson (known within the family as Leonard) was the sixth and last child born to Mary Ellen (née Henfrey) and Charles Johnson. He was born in the village of Hameringham in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.
His mother died when he was three, leaving his father, a farm foreman, to bring up the family in somewhat poor conditions. The family lived in a tied cottage, his oldest sister Lena largely being responsible for his early upbringing.
He was active in sport, playing football, cricket and participating in athletics, winning several events. He passed his School Certificate, leaving school in December 1939.
Volunteering to join the Royal Air Force in 1940 as a navigator, he was instead selected for pilot training. However due to the difficulties in processing the vast numbers of recruits at the time he was posted to various establishments around England and it was not until June 1941 that he was finally sent to Florida to begin his pilot training.
As is common practice within the British armed forces Johnson’s surname led to him being nicknamed “Johnny”.
Motto: “Achieve your aim.” Badge: An ogress pierced by an arrow, point downwards. The badge is indicative of accurate aim. Authority: King George VI, January 1937.
Johnson did not make the required grade during his pilot training and as a consequence he opted to become an air gunner. In July 1942, Johnson was posted to No. 97 Squadron RAF at RAF Woodhall Spa where he was initially designated as a spare (reserve) gunner.
This however gave him the opportunity to fly with numerous crews in the squadron, his first operational sortie being a raid on Gdynia in Poland on 27 August 1942, forming part of the crew under the command of Squadron Leader Elmer Cotton. En-route to the target the aircraft suffered an engine failure forcing the pilot to abort the mission and return to Woodhall Spa.
The following night the crew were part of a successful raid on Nuremberg.
Johnson continued on squadron operations as an air gunner until the opportunity came along for him to train as a specialist bomb aimer. Undergoing a course at RAF Fulbeck in November 1942, he returned to No. 97 Squadron filling the vacancy for a bomb aimer with the crew of Joe McCarthy.
Initially Johnson showed reticence in operating with an American skipper, however having met with McCarthy he changed his mind.
Johnson’s first sortie as part of McCarthy’s crew was as part of a raid on Munich on 21 December 1942, conducted in bad weather. Attacked by night fighters on their way to and returning from the target, the Avro Lancaster lost all power on one engine and developed problems in another, forcing McCarthy to land at RAF Bottesford.
Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster B
Together with this crew Johnson conducted a further 18 missions with No. 97 Squadron, bringing him to the end of a full operational tour, followed by a leave, after which he spent six months working in a non-combat training role.
Operation Chastise
617 Squadron badge
Selected to be part of the specialist No. 617 Squadron RAF, Johnson arrived at RAF Scampton on 27 March 1943. It was at this time that he was due to marry; however, due to the requirements of the training for the upcoming raid all leave had been cancelled. Johnson appealed to his new Commanding Officer, Wing CommanderGuy Gibson, who eventually relented giving Johnson four days leave.
Guy Gibson, VC in 1944
McCarthy’s crew in Lancaster AJ-T (T-Tommy) were detailed to attack the Sorpe Dam, the structure of which differed considerably from the other main targets insofar as it being an earthen dam as opposed to the gravity construction of the Möhne and Eder dams, thus necessitating a completely different type of attack.
Like the rest of No. 617 Squadron, Johnson had practised dropping his bomb as the aircraft flew straight towards the target at low level. However on the afternoon prior to the raid when the five crews detailed to attack the Sorpe Dam received their briefing, they were told that they had to fly along the dam wall and drop their mine at its centre.
It would roll down the wall and explode when it reached the correct depth. The specialist bomb sight developed for the raid would also be of no use.
Due to various losses and technical issues en-route to the target, AJ-T was the first Lancaster to reach the Sorpe, and McCarthy soon realised how difficult the attack would be. Although there were no flak batteries, the attack would require the aircraft to be flown low across the nearby town of Langscheid, with its prominent church steeple, followed by the aircraft having to drop even lower so the bomb could be released. It was not until the tenth attempt that the crew were satisfied, with Johnson finally releasing the bomb.
For his part in the raid Johnson received the Distinguished Flying Medal. Along with other members of the squadron he received his medal in an investiture at Buckingham Palace.
Subsequent operations
Following the Dams Raid, Johnson was commissioned in November 1943. As an integral part of McCarthy’s crew Johnson participated in a further 19 missions during his time with No. 617 Squadron until April 1944. By this time his wife was pregnant resulting in McCarthy insisting Johnson stand down. Reluctantly this request was accepted,
Johnson was “screened” (classed as “tour expired” or, in effect, due for a rest from operational flying). He was subsequently posted to a Heavy Conversion Unit back at RAF Scampton where he became a bombing instructor until the end of hostilities.
Johnson was promoted to flight lieutenant on 7 September 1948. He continued in the RAF until 1962, retiring with the rank of squadron leader.
Post RAF
Following his career in the RAF Johnson became a teacher. He initially taught in primary schools subsequently becoming involved in adult education before he undertook a period in teaching psychiatric patients at Rampton Hospital.
On his retirement Johnson and his wife moved to Torquay where they both became active in local politics. A member of the Conservative Party, Johnson became a local councillor and went on to become the Chairman of the Constituency Party
Personal life
Johnson married Gwyneth Morgan in April 1943, having met her during a posting to Torquay in 1941. Together they had three children, the marriage lasting until Gwyneth’s death in August 2005.
For a short time following his wife’s death he decided to withdraw from public life. However, alongside Les Munro, he was at the forefront of the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Dams Raids in May 2013.
George ‘Johnny’ Johnson (left) with fellow Dambusters survivor John ‘Les’ Munro.
He now lives in Westbury on Trym, Bristol, and continues to give interviews on the various aspects of his active service and particularly concerning Operation Chastise. In 2015 he was awarded the Lord Mayor of Bristol‘s Medal.
Johnson’s autobiography, George “Johnny” Johnson, The Last British Dambuster was published in 2014.
The award followed shortly after an unsuccessful petition for Johnson to be knighted was initiated by Carol Vorderman, which garnered over 200,000 signatures within a few weeks.
The 237,000 signature petition was handed in to 10 Downing Street on 26 January 2017 by Vorderman and former RAF officer John Nichol.
The Bang Bang Club was a group of four conflict photographers active within the townships of South Africa between 1990 and 1994, during the transition from the apartheid system to democracy.
This period saw much black on black factional violence, particularly fighting between ANC and IFP supporters, after the lifting of the bans on both political parties. But groups like the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging were also involved in violence.
The name “The Bang Bang Club” was born out of an article published in the South African magazine Living. Originally named The Bang Bang Paparazzi, it was changed to “Club” because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work.
The name comes from the culture itself; township residents spoke to the photographers about the “bang-bang” in reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, “bang-bang” refers to the sound of gunfire and is a colloquialism used by conflict photographers.
On 18 April 1994, during a firefight between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress supporters in the Thokoza township, friendly fire killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich. An inquest into Oosterbroek’s death began in 1995.
The magistrate ruled that no party should be blamed for the death. In 1999, peacekeeper Brian Mkhize told Marinovich and Silva that he believed that the bullet that killed Oosterbroek had come from the National Peacekeeping Force.
In July 1994, Carter committed suicide.
On 23 October 2010, Silva stepped on a land mine while on patrol with U.S. soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan and lost both legs below the knee.
Ken Oosterbroek: World Press Photo 1993, 2nd prize stories, General News; Ilford Press Photographer of the Year in 1989 and 1994; nominated the South African Press Photographer of The Year three times.
Ken Oosterbroek, one of South Africa’s top news photographers, is held by fellow photographer Gary Bernard of the Johannesburg Star after his was killed by police gunfire in the Kathelong black township of Johannesburg 18 April 1994.
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João Silva won the South African Press Photographer of the Year Award in 1992; World Press Photo 2007, Honorable mention stories, Spot News.
Photojournalist João Silva lost his legs to a land mine in Afghanistan
A documentary entitled When Under Fire: Shoot Back! premiered at the Denver Film Festival in November 2014.
In popular culture
The Bang-Bang Club are referenced in the 1996 Manic Street Preachers song “Kevin Carter” that features the lyric “Bang-Bang Club, AK-47 Hour.” The album “Poets and Madmen” by Savatage is inspired by the life of Kevin Carter.
Reception
The work by the members of the Bang-Bang Club between 1990 and 1994 was well known in South Africa. The fight against apartheid on the way to democracy was becoming a bloodbath at this time and Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa wrote in the foreword of the book The Bang-bang Club: Snapshots From A Hidden War, 2000. The story of this fight needed to be told to the world, Tutu wrote:
We were greatly blessed to have some of the most gifted journalists and brilliant photographers. They helped to tell the story. They captured some riveting moments on film, such as a gruesome necklacing (Kevin Carter), and the barbaric turning on a helpless victim by a baying crowd from one or other side of the conflict (Greg Marinovich”
Tutu remarked that the work by the Bang-Bang club was affecting the life of the photographers too:
“And we know a little about the cost of being traumatized that drove some to suicide, that, yes, these people were human beings operating under the most demanding of conditions.”
The Bang-Bang Club in the words by Greg and João
Le Bang-Bang Club est un mythe, glisse João. Il n’a jamais existé. Ce ‘’était que quatre potes qui voulaient témoigner d’un moment de lHistoire… – “The Bang-Bang Club is a myth,” says João. It never existed. It was only four friends who wanted to witness a moment of history. …
Silva told Michel Peyrard this in an interview for Paris Match in 2013. Marinovitch and Silva expressed the same thing in other words in her book.
Greg Marinovich, the writer in the team of the book The Bang-bang Club: Snapshots From A Hidden War, wrote in the preface
“The name gives a mental image of a group of hard-living men who worked, played and hung out together pretty much all of the time.”
Let us set the record straight: there never was such a creature, there never was a club, and there never were just the four of us in some kind of silver halide cult – dozens of journalists covered the violence during the period from Nelson Mandela’s release from jail to the first fully democratic election
Greg Marinovich explained about the key members of the Bang-Bang Club and what bound these four men together:
We discovered that one of the strongest links among us was questions about the morality of what we do: when do you press the shutter release and when do you cease being a photographer?
See below for other Iconic Pictures & pictures that changed the world.
a. A supporter of union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland
b. A person who remains loyal to the established ruler or government, especially in the face of a revolt.
Growing up in and around the Shankill during the worst years of the Troubles it is hardly surprising to learn that I hated Republicans and all they stood for. But that doesn’t mean I hated Catholic’s or Irish people and would wish any harm on them – I don’t and I didn’t.
It means I have a different point of view and democracy is all about freedom of choice and my choice is to maintain the Union with the UK and embrace and celebrate my loyalist culture and traditions. It also means I have the right to take pride in the union with the rest of the UK and I wear my nationality like a badge of honor for all the world to see.
The other woman in my life
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I’m helping ( just a little ) an American student write a thesis on Conflict and Compromise for an annual competition , National History Day and he has chosen to write about the Troubles and the Northern Ireland Conflict and asked me for some input.
Which I’m happy to do so – but as a Proud protestant from the Shankill Road I’m always a little suspicious when people , especially Americans & Irish folk ask me about the Troubles & what my views on the the various paramilitary groups are.
Often they seem to think that I am guilty via association and make gross generalizations about my people and local community and I have also experienced much prejudice both in mainland UK and abroad directed at my culture and protestant heritage. Ignorance reigns supreme and I have been astounded by the sheer stupidity & lack of understanding most folk have regarding the complex events that lead to 30 years of sectarian madness on the streets of Belfast & throughout Northern Ireland and the slaughter of 1000’s of innocent people from both communities.
I have learnt from personal experience that many ” Irish Americans ” and other deluded folk have a romantic view of Republican terrorists and to put it frankly this really pisses me off. However I’ll save that rant for another post.
Once when I was in New York visiting an American friend I was invited to a family gathering and a group of about thirty of us went out for a meal. It was a pleasant enough evening until the talk turned to Northern Ireland and the “war” against British oppression being waged by the “boys” in other words the IRA.
Now a few of the folk were second & third generation American Irish and boy did they get a bee in their bonnets and I was left in no doubt were their loyalties lay.
Then to my utter amazement some fool called Sean starting saying it was all the fault of the PRODS (protestants )and they were solely responsible for the “war” and should all fuck of back to Scotland & mainland England and leave Ireland to the Irish. I was fecking furious and had a face of thunder.
Apart from my friend none of those gathered knew I was protestant and I could see my friend dying a death at the other end of the table , obviously mortified. I excused myself and went to the toilet , stopping at the bar for a quick drink to calm myself down. When I got back to the table….total silence and I assumed my friend had informed them of my protestant background.
The rest of the evening was awkward to say the lest and I ignored the sectarian bigot and other fools who had insulted my culture.
At the end of the evening the biggest fool Sean came up and tried to apologize and offered me his hand in friendship. I leaned over and informed him I thought he was a fecking dickhead and he should be ashamed of himself.He looked a bit startled and made his way out of the restaurant and I’m glad to say it was the last and thankfully only time I came across this bigoted bastard.
Questions about growing up in Loyalist west Belfast
Here are the questions I have been asked to address and please feel free to supply some feedback or your own views in the space at the bottom of the page.
How did the IRA affect your life in Northern Ireland?
How did the UDA (and other Protestant organizations) affect your life in Northern Ireland?
What religion were you raised under?
Did you receive discrimination due to your religion?
Did you and your family feel that you had a better Quality of Life than Catholic families?
Were you ever a victim of violence by the IRA?
Do you believe that the Northern Ireland Conflict was either side’s (Unionists or Nationalists) fault?
Do you believe that there is still a divide between Unionists or Nationalists in Northern Ireland today?
After reports and evidence came out, do you have a position on Bloody Sunday?
Emmeline Pankhurst (née Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote.
“she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back”.
She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women’s suffrage in Britain.
Born in Moss Side, Manchester to politically active parents, Pankhurst was introduced at the age of 14 to the women’s suffrage movement. On 18 December 1879, she married Richard Pankhurst, a barrister 24 years older than her, known for supporting women’s rights to vote; they had five children over the next ten years.
He supported her activities outside the home, and she founded and became involved with the Women’s Franchise League, which advocated suffrage for both married and unmarried women. When that organisation broke apart, she tried to join the left-leaning Independent Labour Party through her friendship with socialist Keir Hardie but was initially refused membership by the local branch on account of her gender.
While working as a Poor Law Guardian, she was shocked at the harsh conditions she encountered in Manchester’s workhouses.
The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firmfootball game, which led to 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries. It happened on 2 January 1971 in an exit stairway at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland.
During 1963, concerns were raised about the safety of the stairway adjacent to passageway 13 (colloquially known as Stairway 13), the exit closest to Copland Road subway station. It was documented that the stairs provided very little freedom of movement due to crowd pressure; many were lifted off their feet by the crowd and had no choice in which lane they were going to use, or at what pace.
On 16 September 1961 two people were killed in a crush on the stairway, and there were two other incidents – in 1967 and 1969. In 1967, eight spectators were injured when leaving the stadium. In 1969, 26 were injured in an accident on Stairway 13 during egress.
No steps were taken to consult a professional firm to discuss the potential dangers from crowds on Stairway 13 following these events. Subsequent to the 1961 accident, Rangers had by then spent a total of £150,000 on improvements to Ibrox, a very significant sum of money for the time (2.3 million pounds in 2017 money).
Events
The disaster occurred on Saturday, 2 January 1971, when 66 people were killed in a crush, as supporters tried to leave the stadium. The match was an Old Firm game (Rangers v Celtic) and was attended by more than 80,000 fans. In the 90th minute, Celtic took a 1–0 lead and some Rangers supporters started to leave the stadium.
However, in the final moments of the match, Colin Stein scored an equaliser for Rangers.
As thousands of spectators were leaving the ground by stairway 13, it appears that someone, possibly a child being carried on his father’s shoulders, fell, causing a massive chain-reaction pile-up of people.
The tragic loss included many children – five of them schoolmates from the town of Markinch in Fife. The youngest child to die was Nigel Patrick Pickup of Liverpool, age 9. Most of the deaths were caused by compressive asphyxia, with bodies being stacked up to six feet deep in the area. More than 200 other fans were injured.
Initially there was speculation that some fans left the ground slightly early when Celtic scored, but then turned back when they heard the crowd cheering when Stein scored the equaliser, colliding with fans leaving the ground when the match ended.
The official inquiry into the disaster indicated that there was no truth in this hypothesis, however, as all the spectators were heading in the same direction at the time of the collapse.
Consequences
John Greig statue in remembrance of the victims of the Ibrox disasters.
The disaster spurred the UK government to look into safety at sports grounds. In February 1971, Scottish judge Lord Wheatley was asked to conduct an inquiry.[10] His findings, published in May 1972, formed the basis for the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide), first published in 1973.
The 1971 disaster led to a huge redevelopment of the Ibrox ground, spearheaded by the then-manager Willie Waddell, who visited Borussia Dortmund‘s Westfalenstadion for inspiration. After three years’ reconstruction work – three quarters of the ground being replaced by modern all-seater stands – Ibrox was converted to a 44,000-capacity stadium by 1981. Further work in the 1990s increased the stadium capacity to 50,000, and Ibrox was subsequently awarded UEFA five-star status.
For some years after the 1971 disaster there was only a small plaque at the corner of the ground where it happened. However, in 1995 Rangers announced plans to commemorate the 66 fans killed in the 1971 disaster.
On 2 January 2001, the thirtieth anniversary of the tragedy, a larger monument was unveiled at the corner of the Bill Struth Main Stand and the Copland Road Stand. The monument contains blue plaques displaying the names of each person killed in all three incidents. A statue of John Greig, the Rangers captain at the time of the 1971 disaster, stands atop the monument.
Bill Struth
In 2011, the 40th anniversary of the disaster was commemorated before the Old Firm game on 2 January 2011 when a one-minute silence was observed before the game. Both teams wore black armbands as a sign of respect and were led out by John Greig and Billy McNeill – the respective club captains at the time of the disaster (although Billy McNeill had not played due to injury).
Damages claims
Sheriff James Irvine Smith, in his damages statement, ruled: “The said accident was due to the fault and negligence of the defenders, Rangers F.C.”.[1] Smith found Rangers F.C. guilty on four counts in the case of the death of Charles Dougan, a 31-year-old boilermaker from Clydebank who died, as did 56 others, from traumatic asphyxia.
After hearing of a series of accidents on Stairway Thirteen including September 1961 when there were 70 people injured and two deaths, September 1967 when 11 people were taken to hospital, and January 1969 when 29 people were injured, Sheriff Irvine Smith stated,
So far as the evidence is concerned, the Board never so much as considered that it ought to apply its mind to the question of safety on that particular stairway […] and would appear – I put it no higher – to have proceeded on the view that if the problem was ignored long enough it would eventually go away […] Indeed it goes further than this because certain of their actions can only be interpreted as a deliberate and apparently successful attempt to deceive others that they were doing something, when in fact they were doing nothing.
— Sheriff Irvine Smith, damages statement.
In the case of Charles Dougan and a further 60 cases brought by relatives of the dead, Rangers F.C. did not dispute the findings of Sheriff Irvine Smith and instead merely disputed the calculation of the damages as can be seen from the appeal judgement of the Sheriff Principal.
A more detailed report can be found on the evidence heard and the veracity of Rangers F.C. witnesses in a December 1974 edition of Foul – The Alternative Football Paper.
In his book, Irvine Smith states that 30, and nearly 40 years after his decision, he is viewed with disapproval by some Rangers-supporting friends, who accuse him of “disloyalty”
Rangers legend John Greig lays a wreath at the memorial marking the 1971 Ibrox Disaster
Outside Ibrox Stadium today a group gathered beneath the shadows of the looming stand in silence. Some within it carried wreaths and flowers, others gripped their scarves as prayers were read.
The year always starts the same way in Govan. With a quiet and simple act of remembrance, remembering the 66 fans who lost their lives in one of the most terrible tragedies in the history of British football.
Even though Ibrox Stadium has changed dramatically since January 2 1971, any football fan who has ever attended a Glasgow derby can imagine the events of that day, the closing moments of the game and the aftermath which led to 66 deaths and over 200 being injured in Stairwell 13.
Celtic, the away side, took the lead through Jimmy Johnstone in the 90th minute of the game, leaving Rangers with virtually no chance of scoring a leveller. Somehow they managed it, with Colin Stein levelling seconds later.
The Rangers’ ends, who had thought they were beaten, celebrated wildly and, when the final whistle sounded, began to file out many heading to the exit which was closest to Copland Road Subway.
This is simply the story of a boy trying to grow up, survive, thrive, have fun & discover himself against a backdrop of events that might best be described as ‘explosive’, captivating & shocking the world for thirty long years.
The West Memphis Three are three men who – while teenagers – were tried and convicted, in 1994, of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the children were killed as part of a Satanic ritual.
A number of documentaries have explored the case. Celebrities and musicians have held fundraisers in the belief that the three young men convicted of the crime are innocent.
In July 2007, new forensic evidence was presented in the case. A status report jointly issued by the state and the defense team stated: “Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it…
The award followed shortly after an unsuccessful petition for Johnson to be knighted was initiated by 
