History

“Lisbon at present is the hub of the western universe, and it must be the most fascinating place in the world” – Irish Times, October 23, 1941. And an article in the National Geographic [...]

James Lovelock CH CBE FRS is leading an extraordinary life. On July 26, 2019 he reached the age of 100, and Novacene is his latest book. Lovelock was born into an impoverished family and, after [...]

Portugal had a century start on the other European empires in the east and, in a sense, the Portuguese eastern empire lasted much longer than those of its competitors, since Goa was Portuguese [...]

Hanno’s life in Rome and his influence on Italian culture Of all his rich gifts, it was Hanno the Elephant that most pleased Pope Leo X. On days when Hanno was paraded through the streets, crowds [...]

Earlier this year, I took my first trip to Italy where I visited the grand capital founded by the mythological brothers Romulus and Remus across the seven hills of Rome. Similarly, legend has it [...]

Once again, St Vincent’s Day (January 22) will inevitably, and sadly, pass us by almost unnoticed and, except in the Vila do Bispo municipality and the Sé in Lisbon, uncelebrated. There is, [...]

Part one of The Pope’s Elephant showed that immediately after his election in 1513, Pope Leo X determined to make Rome the centre of European culture. Amongst the first to seek an audience with [...]

Last month I went to a concert in the Teatro Mascarenhas Gregório in Silves and I felt compelled to find out more about this beautifully restored little theatre. The theatre was a gift to the [...]

This story is about the Indian elephant which was sent as a gift by the king of Portugal to the Pope in Rome. Hanno was one of four elephants sent by the Governor of Portuguese India between 1510 [...]

Charles Ralph Boxer led two lives, each in its own way quite remarkable. First, before WW2 in Hong Kong, he was an intelligence officer who was fluent in Japanese; second, without any academic [...]