10 Common Misconceptions of the Names of Places in Singapore | Remember Singapore. Is Ang Mo Kio “ang mo kio” (tomato)? Or is Holland Village named after the Dutch community in Singapore? Are there any links between the new Chong Pang estate and the old Chong Pang Village? Let’s find out more… 1. Ang Mo Kio Tomatoes are called “ang mo kio” (Caucasian’s brinjal) in Hokkien, which probably led to the misconception that the name of Ang Mo Kio New Town was named after the fruit. A more likely explanation of the name Ang Mo Kio was the bridge purportedly built by the British Government Surveyor John Turnbull Thomson (1821–1884), where the locals referred it as the “Caucasian’s bridge”. But for the time being, the tomato sculptures near the Ang Mo Kio Town Centre shall stay on. 2. Holland Village has one of the most common misnomers in Singapore, mistakenly thought to be named after the Low Country of Europe. 3.
The pronunciation of the name Tampines may sound embarrassing to some, but it has really nothing to do with the male reproductive organ. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Why Study History? (1985) By William H. McNeill Why should anyone bother learning about things that happened far away and long ago? Who cares about Cleopatra, Charlemagne, Montezuma or Confucius? And why worry about George Washington, or how democratic government and industrial society arose?
Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory. Without individual memory, a person literally loses his or her identity, and would not know how to act in encounters with others. Often it is enough for experts to know about outsiders, if their advice is listened to. This value of historical knowledge obviously justifies teaching and learning about what happened in recent times, for the way things are descends from the way they were yesterday and the day before that. Memory is not something fixed and forever. . . . the changing perspectives of historical understanding are the very best introduction we can have to the practical problems of real life. Level I. William H. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) President John F. Kennedy was informed about the deployment of Soviet medium-range missiles on Cuba shortly after 8 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 16, 1962.
His first reaction on hearing the news from National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy was to accuse the Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev of a double-cross. “He can’t do this to me,” he sputtered. Thus began the celebrated “13 days” that brought the world closer than ever before — or since — to a nuclear war, a period now remembered in the West as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Khrushchev’s motivations in sending nuclear-tipped missiles to Cuba in the summer of 1962 have been the subject of great debate.
In memoirs written after his ouster as Soviet leader in 1964, Khrushchev claimed that he was primarily motivated by the desire to defend the Cuban revolution, and his ally Fidel Castro, from aggression by the United States. Fortunately for Kennedy, he knew that the Soviet missiles were not yet operational. World War One: How did 12 million letters a week reach soldiers? During World War One up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line. The wartime post was a remarkable operation, writes ex-postman and former Home Secretary Alan Johnson.
When a soldier on the Western Front wrote to a London newspaper in 1915 saying he was lonely and would appreciate receiving some mail the response was immediate. The newspaper published his name and regiment and within weeks he'd received 3,000 letters, 98 large parcels and three mailbags full of smaller packages. Had that soldier had the time to respond to every letter he could have done. Wherever he was fighting, his reply would have been delivered back to Britain within a day or two of posting.
How the General Post Office (GPO) maintained such an efficient postal service to soldiers and sailors during World War One is a story of remarkable ingenuity and amazing courage. The imperative was clear from the start. The GPO was already a huge operation before war broke out in 1914. World War One: 10 interpretations of who started WW1. Image copyright Alamy As nations gear up to mark 100 years since the start of World War One, academic argument still rages over which country was to blame for the conflict. Education Secretary for England Michael Gove's recent criticism of how the causes and consequences of the war are taught in schools has only stoked the debate further.
Here 10 leading historians give their opinion. Sir Max Hastings - military historian Germany No one nation deserves all responsibility for the outbreak of war, but Germany seems to me to deserve most. It alone had power to halt the descent to disaster at any time in July 1914 by withdrawing its "blank cheque" which offered support to Austria for its invasion of Serbia. I'm afraid I am unconvinced by the argument that Serbia was a rogue state which deserved its nemesis at Austria's hands. The question of whether Britain was obliged to join the European conflict which became inevitable by 1 August is almost a separate issue.
Serbia Image copyright Getty Images.