Re-encountering the ‘Ballets Africains’ in the Museum of Man

Years ago, when doing research for my postgraduate dissertation at ANOM in Aix-en-Provence, I found an odd police report amongst documents relating to the 1956 Loi Cadre. In it, French security services recounted a surveillance report of a music and poetry performance by Keïta Fodéba in Paris in 1949. That discordant image of spies in the backseat of a recital was enough to have me … Continue reading Re-encountering the ‘Ballets Africains’ in the Museum of Man

How a Ladies’ College Played a Vital Role in Operation Overlord

On 16 August 1940, the Stuka raid on Tangmere was one of the most serious yet to have struck England. This surgical strike against the station destroyed 13 aircraft and resulted in the tragic death of 10 RAF servicemen and three civilians. On top of this, almost all of the pre-war hangars, the station workshops, stores and the water pumping station were destroyed, with widespread … Continue reading How a Ladies’ College Played a Vital Role in Operation Overlord