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Mike Chapman

@mikethechapman.bsky.social
233 followers 452 following 42 posts

Former barrister, now occasional law tutor. Devote my spare time to researching obscure aspects of naval and military history, which hopefully may one day see the light of day!

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Reposted by Mike Chapman
Peter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
On the night of 5/6 November 1942, a vast Allied convoy passed undetected through the Strait of Gibraltar, carrying the assault forces for the Torch landings in N Africa. It was a major feat of military planning, but its success hinged on the diplomatic skills of our man in Madrid. 1/7
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Peter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Two weeks to publication of Peace Makers geni.us/PeaceMakers. This🧵is on the major achievement of the Foreign Office in finding the bandwidth in the middle of WWII to think strategically to shape the future peace. Credit to the Permanent Under Secretary Sir Alec Cadogan 1/6
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Peter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Three weeks to publication of geni.us/PeaceMakers. This week’s🧵is on the women of the Foreign Office in WWII. They were barred from joining the ‘administrative grade’: the senior staff/policymakers. Many hundreds joined the FO in support functions like typing. BUT 1/6
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Dr Emma Salisbury @salisbot.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
If you're wondering how the blockade is landing, this has been making its way around the naval nerds today
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Joshi Herrmann @joshih.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I have three court hearings to attend in three months. Two subjects of our reporting are suing us. Journalism is threatened by abusive legal threats aimed at silencing reporting. The Government needs to #StopSLAPPs. Please share and write to your MP. manchestermill.co.uk/three-courts...
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Reposted by Mike Chapman
Alan Owlport 🦉 🎃 @alanallport.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Russell Crowe’s Göring in Netflix’s #Nuremberg is genuinely impressive: vain, intelligent, manipulative, unrepentant. And the film gets the courtroom dynamic right: Jackson fumbling the cross-examination before Maxwell Fyfe stepped in to rescue the prosecution. So far, so good. 🧵
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Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
A joy of buying second hand books is finding an old bookmark. My quick research suggests Dazzle was staged in 1955 and as Retrospect was published in 1952 I can’t help wondering if the first owner gave up at p94? Layers of biblio-archaeology!
A photo of a bright yellow and red handout for the show Dazzle, resting on a copy of a hardback book Retrospect by Viscount SimonA copy of a bright red and yellow handout for the show Dazzle, resting on an open page 94 of the book Retrospect by Viscount Simon. The text of the page concerns great events leading to the Armageddon of 1914.
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Reposted by Mike Chapman
Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Plans to invade Greenland have just been cancelled after this
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Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Always exciting to find an SIS CX report out in the wild, especially when (a) I wasn’t looking for it and (b) for once we know that it’s flat out incorrect. (Unsurprisingly the source supports the false Japanese justification for the Mukden Incident).
An SIS CX report dated 19.9.1931 on the subject of the Sino-Japanese Collision at Mukden, reporting from “a reliable Japanese source”
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Reposted by Mike Chapman
Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Still the greatest list ever complied.
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Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Finished this last night. An outstanding read. Fascinating, stimulating but never imho controversialist. And the final page - I wasn’t expecting that. What a way to finish a Second World War book.
Front cover of the book Advance Britannia by Alan Allport. The cover depicts British soldiers wading ashore.
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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 24/12/2025
Just bumping the link for donations, if you can spare any moolah #DuvetKnowItsChristmas www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...
gofundme.com
Donate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri Marsden
Unbelievably, it's the 15th year of this thing. What is it? Improbably, the nig… Rhodri Marsden needs your support for Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025
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The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...
A light blue diagram depicting the sea, with the water's surface at the top, and just below it is an outline of the Mary Rose, with the depth (12m, 40ft or 6.7 fathoms). There is a line showing the seabed, which takes a rapid dive into the vertical...
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Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
It must be Pill-Box-ing Day!
A stone pillbox above a beach in Devon, England, with a cliff behind it
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Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 24/08/2024
Started the day exploring a WW2 Liberty ship, finished it taking a ride in a @waymo.bsky.social cab and I feel I've experienced modern transport development at warp speed.
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