Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Very interesting. When I visited the SS Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco and the volunteers heard I was from London they were eager to point out that the Thames still has its own Liberty ship. Albeit not as seaworthy as their one! 160
Reposted by Mike ChapmanPeter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 19/07/2026On 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 3419
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 02/07/2026The Patriot is a Vietnam War movie. A plucky group of farmers fight a brutal bunch of regular soldiers from a land far far away. Villages get burned. When you realise this it is indeed a great if much misunderstood film. 000
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026Financial Ombudsman Service currently scores 1.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot so unfortunately not a great back up for the disgraceful behaviour of insurance companies 010
Reposted by Mike ChapmanPeter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Two 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 3268
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 19/04/2026I seem to remember he describes the British position on Spion Kop as a false summit. It wasn’t. They were on the top of the hill but unfortunately when morning arrived there were other higher hills nearby occupied by the Boer artillery. 010
Reposted by Mike ChapmanPeter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Three 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 12413
Reposted by Mike ChapmanDr Emma Salisbury @salisbot.bsky.social · 14/04/2026If you're wondering how the blockade is landing, this has been making its way around the naval nerds today 281144277
Reposted by Mike ChapmanJoshi Herrmann @joshih.bsky.social · 15/04/2026I 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... 25539
Reposted by Mike ChapmanAlan Owlport 🦉 🎃 @alanallport.bsky.social · 12/04/2026Russell 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. 🧵 432348
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 03/03/2026A great general indeed, but definitely not living! 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Same. He has a good claim to be our greatest living general, but he’s always seemed modest about his role in the Falklands campaign 100
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Barry Foster was nailing Wingate right about the time Rossiter was in Reggie Perrin 010
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Whenever people wax lyrical about the early Blair years I think of Stephen Byers. 010
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 18/02/2026A 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! 010
Reposted by Mike ChapmanBen Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 09/02/2026Plans to invade Greenland have just been cancelled after this 15166182072
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Always 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). 010
Reposted by Mike ChapmanDan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 03/02/2026Still the greatest list ever complied. 1530160
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 31/01/2026An Ungentlemanly Act is an outstanding war film, definitely worthy of a WMT episode. The fighting scenes are well done, it’s tense, and Bob Peck is the sort of officer I’d throw myself onto a grenade for. (The DJ is played by Mike Grady, possibly better to known to some of us from Citizen Smith!) 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 31/01/2026Finished 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. 000
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 27/12/2025It must be the day after Pill-Box-ing Day! (Also a year and a day after the one above. Last year was South Devon, this year North Cornwall. Not quite the West Country equivalent of the Atlantic Wall) 000
Reposted by Mike ChapmanRhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 24/12/2025Just bumping the link for donations, if you can spare any moolah #DuvetKnowItsChristmas www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...gofundme.comDonate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri MarsdenUnbelievably, 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 210285
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 18/12/2025Bernard Fergusson’s The Watery Maze was the “semi-official” history of Combined Ops so he had access to both official papers and veterans. A lively read too. The Green Beret by Hilary St George Sanders is a great early (1949) take on the Commandos. 121
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 03/12/2025As well as Pegasus Bridge I’d recommend the Merville Battery museum nearby. They have a D-Day veteran C-47 which you can go inside. The story of the attack on the battery is pretty epic too. 130
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 23/10/2025She would definitely have @georgemonbiot.bsky.social on side if she did 020
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 26/06/2025But according to one pilot it was “very manoeuvrable. Very quick immediate aileron control.” He was talking about evading an Fw190 at low level! (Thomas Murray from his IWM oral history). 230
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Fascinating. Having spent some time looking at both the Shropshire Yeomanry and QOOH during this period I imagine this was quite a shift, what with the TF not being intended for overseas duties. (Unfortunately I have no suggestions for where your piece might go, sorry!) 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Well I’m intrigued. Who were the part-time soldiers? I’d have thought Territorials and Yeomanry were still in Britain. Was it local expats? 100
Reposted by Mike ChapmanThe Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 15/04/2025On 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... 216132405371
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I recently watched all 3 Dunkirk films - Dunkirk (2017), Dunkirk (John Mills in 1958) and Atonement - and unfortunately I think Nolan’s is the worst of the lot (though a decent watch tbf) 010
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 30/03/2025Cotton and the Electra feature in Keith Jeffery’s authorised history of SIS (MI6) 030
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025youtu.be/0artAOAZA8A?... She was raised in 1950 and towed to Trieste but eventually scrappedyoutu.beSalvaging Of HMS Breconshire (1950)YouTube video by British Pathé 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025She was one of the 4 fast Glen ships converted for Catherine, Churchill’s planned 1940 Baltic op. Her sisters Glenearn, Glengyle and Glenroy became the original LSI(L)s, survived the war and eventually returned to merchant service. Glenearn class some of the finest British merchant ships ever, imho! 100
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025I use a busy road blighted by roadworks. When TMCs put in traffic lights they are poorly timed (equal preference for quiet side roads) & don’t reflect traffic flows (busier in different directions at different times). On occasions they’ve been replaced by humans, who can and do respond in real time. 020
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Yes. All part of the IRA’s attempt to somehow damage the City as a financial district, which seemed as bizarre then as it does now. I was lucky enough to go into the Baltic Exchange in the 80s, a lovely building. Was so pleased to see they’d saved the window at least. 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Ah thank you, my memory playing tricks again! 100
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Also destroyed the Baltic Exchange, where the Gherkin is now. Happily they recovered the stained glass window which you can see in the National Maritime Museum. 110
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 20/02/2025Non Player Character. In a video game it's a character controlled by the game (rather than a human player) and therefore of lesser and subsidiary importance 030
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 19/02/2025Seconded for the HGM Plus there are several awesome flak towers 030
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 31/12/2024I really enjoy your posts, thank you for sharing. I may not "like" every one but they're always interesting! 230
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Smaller and slower too, so the fast Glens definitely had the advantage. Never heard about the Roselli loss, what an awful loss 020
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Ah, interesting. Very similar appearance, I guess fast cargo ships had a certain look. 130
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 25/09/2024Something about Belgian machine guns I think 🤔 120
Mike Chapman @mikethechapman.bsky.social · 15/09/2024Pretty much any parent who lives in a grammar school area knows how massively it skews not just secondary education outcomes but also things like house prices. Given logically most kids won't get in it's not surprising their parents view grammars as a bad thing 010