THIS MONTH IN HISTORY Paul Letters and Noreen Mir (RTHK Radio 3)

A one-legged Chinese Admiral and triad vigilantes make the most out of the period during the Battle of Hong Kong when the Imperial Japanese Army held the mainland side of the water and the British/Indian/Canadian/Hong Kong forces retreated within their island 'fortress'.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast in December 2015 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →

Mao pokes his nose into Hungary in 1956 and concludes, "Eastern Europe just didn’t kill on a grand scale…We must kill."

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast on 2 November 2016 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →

Noreen and I visit Berlin in November 1940 where Stalin’s Foreign Minister, Molotov, is wooed by Ribbentrop and Hitler: they want the USSR, already in bed with Germany in the Molotov-Ribbentrop (or Nazi-Soviet) Pact to join the Axis Alliance and carve up most of the world.

Churchill, however, gatecrashes the party.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast on 19 November 2015 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →

Noreen and Paul delve into the reasons why China discarded their emperors and empresses for an unemployable medical doctor - and why he handed rule to an opportunist who makes Donald Trump look shy.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast on 11 October 2016 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →

Noreen and I examine the rhetoric of the first presidential debates, in 1960, compared with 2016 Trump v Clinton. We consider whether 'civility' was or is an important trait in US presidential candidates. (On air I mention an article I wrote on civility in global leaders.)

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast on 11 October 2016 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →

We focus on the Taiwan Strait Crises of the 1950s and how close the world came to nuclear war. We see how the tail wagged the dog as little Taiwan bent the US to its will in the 1950s. And, throughout the crisis, we will see how Mao’s provocations entice the USSR to help China’s nuclear development.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ Twitter feed and photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague (aChanceKill.com).

This episode was first broadcast on 14 January 2016 on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show, RTHK Radio 3. Click ‘Subscribe’ to receive future podcasts automatically (or see the This Month in History website). Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Podcast cover work by Gill Bertram.Continue reading →