This week: disgusted by Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for Hollywood ‘reds’, actor and director John Huston turned his back on Tinseltown and made Ireland home. What happened next? Also this week: the queer experience of the Second World War, George Orwell’s lessons from the Soviet Union, a brief history of the timeline, and quickfire questions with Bettany Hughes.
Targeted as a ‘Red’ by Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, John Huston did not enjoy the Los Angeles premiere of his latest film, Moulin Rouge, in 1952. Supporters of Senator Joseph McCarthy – the chief anti-communist witch-hunter in Cold War America – paraded outside the theatre with placards decrying him a ‘communist’...
‘George Orwell and Russia’ by Masha Karp review The suggestion that Russia has become an Orwellian tyranny is an inadequate explanation as to why the country finds itself in its present situation.
On the Spot: Bettany Hughes ‘What historical topic have I changed my mind on? I thought the sacrifice of young women in the Bronze Age was a myth. It wasn’t.’
