The Great British Seaside

An exhibition at the National Maritime Museum recently put on display more than one hundred photographs from photographers such as Simon George and Tony Ray-Jones. The photographs are from the sixties onwards, and they do a good job in capturing British people’s feelings, sentiments and moods regarding their sea sides. The exhibition has presented great shots of seas and people enjoying them, plus beautiful shots of British sea sides when it was pouring. In my outlook, the photographs showcases very special angles of British sea sides, such as the relationship it shares with the evolution of bathing suits over the course of many years and also the manner in which different people enjoy the British sea sides.

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Ancient Egypt

What is Ancient Egypt?

Ancient Egypt is the name given to an African civilization which used to exist a very long time ago in what is present-day Egypt. The civilization had existed for several centuries. Ancient Egypt had produced many pharaohs (meaning: rulers) such as Djoser, Khafre and Ramses I. Hallmarks of this era include the pyramids, some stunning temples and illustrious tombs of pharaohs. In my outlook, Ancient Egypt was a very remarkable civilization because it had demonstrated that an African civilization which used to exist many, many years ago could create marvelous architectures (for example: the pyramids) which can still be considered as some of the greatest in the world; this is in spite of the fact that, since then, building styles have evolved and advanced a lot.

The Man Booker Prize (2018) Shortlist Forecast

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What type of book should make the Man Booker Prize (2018) shortlist?

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize this year includes thirteen books: Washington Black, Warlight, The Long Take, Normal People, The Water Cure, Everything Under, From a Low and Quiet Sea, In Our Mad Furious City, The Overstory, Snap, The Mad City and Sabrina. The shortlist for the British book prize will be revealed on September 20, 2018 and in my outlook, the books which should make the shortlist are books which have an element of romance about them or are books which are pieces of fiction based during a particular time in the past; I think those books clearly outshine the others in this year’s selections for the longlist.

Consider Normal People by Sally Rooney, for example, which has a romantic story: the book is about two people who attend Trinity College Dublin (in Ireland); one used to be an admired figure in football at school, whilst the other was a person with an uncommunicative nature. However, at college, the situation turns around for the two: the boy becomes a reserved person, whilst the girl becomes sure of oneself in a new recreational setup and the romance which eventually occasionally transpires between the two is fractured but shocking; it is a romance which holds an entertaining value.

Also, consider Warlight by Michael Ondaatje which is based in 1945 -the year in which the Second World War ended. In the book, two children are looked after by a person called The Moth who the children think is a villain; The Moth has a bunch of friends who strangely want to teach and also keep the children safe from harm. The book fictionally puts the spotlight on people living in the British capital in 1945 and in doing so, mixes history with a great story; it is a piece of fiction which helps to nicely visualize what life had some possibilities to be like a very long time ago.

The Assassination Of A Great Leader

What does the assassination of a good leader signify?

Many figures in history such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Julius Caesar and Henry VI were sadly assassinated, in spite of the fact that they were great leaders. In my outlook, the assassination of a leader does significant damage to a country because when one is killed off then the nation loses both a major talent and a person who could have done good things for the state for a much longer period of time; if they had been alive then then the history of the country could have even been different from the one which succeeded the assassination.

I think the purpose of assassination of a good leader is probably jealousy, hatred and the desire to remove somebody good by force because their goodness has perhaps grown overtly intolerable. But an act of assassination cannot trump the contribution the leader made to a state. So, even if the leader is no longer there in the world and their death was so tragic, what the episode also signifies is that, no matter what, good always wins over the rotten.

Top 5 Continents To Travel To

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Which continent is the greatest to travel to?

I think it is not easy to choose the best continent to travel to because the changing face of the world means that continents always get better with time. So, what makes a top continent? In my outlook, the greatest continent in the world is one which constantly preserves its historic sites but also has great contemporary additions such as amusement parks and shopping malls; also important, is a big variety for historic sites and contemporary additions which can be found in the number of countries that comprise a continent – it means that going on a big (and wonderful) journey across a continent, from one great country to another, can be a possibility with a few continents. My picks:

1. Europe
2. Asia
3. North America
4. Australia
5. South America

Why Did The Vietnam War Occur?

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The Vietnam War was a local battle over political ideals

The Vietnam War was fought because of a conflict over political ideologies. Vietnam was kind of separated into two parts: one favored Communism and the other opposed it. It all began when Vietnam began to desire freedom from foreign control. Before the end of the Second World War, an alliance called Viet Minh was formed in the Asian nation to make it independent from foreign rule. So, after the alliance had fought off the French and also Japan from controlling Vietnam, the nation got divided into two parts with each part supporting a separate political ideology.

Meanwhile, the aggression that had occurred locally in Vietnam to remove foreign control had frightened the United States because it did not want to see Communism spread. The fear, in my outlook, was not an irrational one: the situation at the time appeared as if the ‘domino theory’ was going to be implemented if Vietnam fell under the influence of Communism because after the end of the Second World War, China had already totally become a Communist power. The ‘domino theory’ suggested that if one nation (in South East Asia) was influenced by Communism, then other nations would follow suit – this would happen similar to how tiles fall in a domino show after the first tile is pushed over.

So then the Vietnam War began in the mid-fifties which lasted approximately two decades. The war had made countries around the world separate and group together behind both camps, as a deadly conflict raged between the two parts of Vietnam.

Queen Elizabeth II

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Elizabeth II came to the throne after the death of her father King George VI, when she was only twenty-six years old. She is an example of a rare empress: Elizabeth has ruled for the longest period of time in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, is a female monarch and numerous states that she ruled over gained independence during her rule, such as Pakistan and South Africa.

When she was young, it was so that Elizabeth II never pursued an education outside of her house. But before she became the monarch, in spite of her young age, Elizabeth had remarkably demonstrated an active interest in World War II: she had put on pantomimes and also spoke to children moved out because of the war with the help of radio. Elizabeth got married when she was only twenty-one years of age to a cousin – Prince Philip Mountbatten, who was five years older than her. Philip was not a well-off Prince and he was a foreigner, so the relationship was quite far off from a fairy tale one but it has certainly been a relationship which has stood the test of time; the couple has four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

The Queen of Britain has been on journeys to many countries around the world, from Bahrain to Oman. As the Queen, she has had numerous Prime Ministers perform duties for her, such as Anthony Eden and Tony Blair. Elizabeth II is definitely one of the good monarchs among the United Kingdom’s long and illustrious history of royalty.