This month we consider some big historical exits. On that theme, for our July 4th broadcast we make some comparisons ( – some more tenuous than others – ) between the run up to American independence from Great Britain and the United Kingdom’s recent severance from the European Union.

In the second half of the show, we look at July 1957 and why and how Mao ended his invitation to ‘let a hundred flowers bloom’. In February he began to invite criticism of communist policies, in July he showed his true intentions. And many a dictator – not to mention demagogic corporate managers – have used the same tactics ever since.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

The events of ‘May 35’, as they have to say online in mainland China, has echoed through Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’ and beyond. We get to know the key characters during the two months of protests, including the young female student who emerged to lead a revolution.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

We feature Mme Mao’s magic ailment cure, plus defense chief Lin Biao’s fear of drafts: it wasn’t simply Chairman Mao’s paranoia that fueled the Cultural Revolution.

In the second half, we examine the momentous Supreme Court decision to end segregation in US education, and we meet the California Governor who won both the Democrat AND Republican primaries in the same year.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

What have Fidel Castro, Taiwanese terrorists, a Kashmir Princess and HMS Amethyst got in common? Former US fighter pilot Bruce Gordon joins us to help explain all.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

We look at war between the two communist giants, the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union – a conflict which began in March 1969. And we’re going to be joined by a special guest who, as a US air force pilot, found himself too close for comfort to the Soviet fleet off China’s coast just as they prepared to strike China in 1969…

In 1969, Bruce Gordon was a US fighter pilot based in Osan, South Korea. One day Bruce was scrambled (in an F-106) against a Russian warplane. When the Soviet plane turned back toward Vladivostok, Bruce looked down and saw a Russian fleet of seven ships lying off the coast of North Korea. He buzzed the ships to see what was going on.  He watched what appeared to be a fishing boat pull away from the Russian ships at HIGH SPEED – he knew fishing boats didn’t travel at high speed…

Also, on a greener note, for St Patrick’s Day we pay due homage to the great Irish saint…who wasn’t Irish…and wasn’t called ‘Patrick’.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

Officially, the People’s Republic of China hated the USA, and the USA did not acknowledge the existence of communist China. Yet, culminating in February 1972, the two sides unexpectedly came together. This is the story of how and why.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

We look at the 1950s Taiwan Strait Crises and how close China and the US came to nuclear war. We see how the tail wagged the dog as little Taiwan bent the US to its will. And, throughout the crisis, we will see how Mao’s provocations eventually persuaded the USSR to aid China’s nuclear development.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

This month we meet the man who was probably the most important person in Hong Kong during the Battle – a one-legged Chinese Admiral.

We experience the Battle through the words of ordinary people who were there.

And we find out about who the Triads helped and who they conspired to massacre during the Battle of Hong Kong.

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cover work by Gill Bertram.

We visit Berlin in November 1940 where Stalin’s circumspect Foreign Minister, Molotov, is wooed by Ribbentrop and Hitler: they want the USSR to join the Axis Alliance.

In Spain, General Franco, who desires Gibraltar but not war, makes an impression on Hitler. Hitler later confides to Mussolini: “I prefer to have three or four of my own teeth pulled out than to speak to that man again!”

And we find out about the first ever television broadcast and the first passenger flights between Asia and the US (a seat cost $799US – that’s $14,000US in today’s money!).

Paul Letters is a historian, journalist, educator and novelist. See paulletters.com for more history, including a daily ‘On-This-Day-75-Years-Ago’ feed, with photographs. Plus the novel that combines: the real history of the Allies’ first strike against Nazi Germany; Paul’s granny’s escape (as a teenager) from 1939 Poland to 1940 Paris to wartime London; the ‘Double-Cross System’, the Special Operations Executive and assassination in Prague.

Each month on Noreen Mir’s 1-2-3 Show (RTHK Radio 3), Paul Letters examines events from this month in history. Recorded at Radio Television Hong Kong Studios, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong. 

Cover work by Gill Bertram.