Historical Anniversaries for April 2011

10 years ago today (1st April 2001) Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in Belgrade for corruption, embezzlement and genocide 25 years ago today (7th April 1986) British home computer pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair sold his entire computer product range and the Sinclair brand name to Amstrad 20 years ago today (9th April 1991)…

Historical Anniversaries for March 2011

150 years ago today (4th March 1861) Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the USA 75 years ago today (7th March 1936) Adolf Hitler ordered his troops into the demilitarised zone of the Rhineland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact 20 years ago today (14th March 1991) The ‘Birmingham…

Are Revolutions Contagious?

Like a virus, revolt has spread rapidly over the last few weeks from Tunisia to Egypt, with additional riots and protests in nearby Jordan and Yemen and rumblings that Syria may be next. As alarming as the spread of uprisings might be, the recent chain of events echoes numerous periods of discontent that stretch back more than 200 years.

Keyword checker: A tool for developing essay skills

I’ve been getting fed up with my IB students not incuding all of the topic keywords / terms in their essays. So I’ve just finished writing this program which checks how many keywords have been included with the click of a button. I’ll be encouraging students to run their essays through this before handing them…

Historical Anniversaries for February 2011

40 years ago (2nd Feb. 1971) Idi Amin became President of Uganda. He had overthrown Milton Obote in a military coup the previous week. 100 years ago (6th Feb. 1911) Birth of Ronald Reagan, American actor and 40th President of the United States. 40 years ago (7th Feb. 1971) Women in Switzerland were finally given…