William Whiston (1667 – 1752), holding his drawing of the solar system.

UK: I Once Ran a Half-Marathon over 1 Hr 40 Mins [13.25 Miles] in Hereford During the 1980s – and Neither of My Legs Were Broken! (8.8.2026)

I was born in Oxford (Hitler bombed my mother’s family out of working-class Lewisham in 1940) – and I love the history and “learning” associated with the place (I can walk around with a book about Marx on open display and no one bats an eyelid). I did attend Oxford – but I paid to do so – as I could not attain a place due to my own limitations when I was young. It just so happened that my intellectual abilities matured at the same time when I experienced a decade of wealth. Although Oxford does discriminate, I “paid” to access a “Philosophy of Mind” course – which I passed despite not fitting-in (I was in my late 30s at the time and was surrounded by BBC executives, Guardian Reporters, and UN employees – but my family was proud). However, I was told a story of a young woman who was born into a poor working-class family and brought-up on a housing estate.

A Betrayal of British Socialism – My Experience Interfacing with WWII UK Governmental Veteran and Historical Associations! (8.12.2021) 

An individual working-class person having to enter the military of a Bourgeois State requires a certain strength of character even before meeting any designated external enemy! The point often not understood is that the bourgeoisie is the eternal enemy of the proletariat but continuously uses the bodies of that proletariat to fight its wars! What is admirable about our working-class ancestors is that they generally exercised very good class consciousness when knowing where and how to ‘join-up’, survived the brutal discipline and the training, and then quite often survived actual combat!