Former West Norfolk farmer's historic lockdown project
Former West Norfolk farmer and roads campaigner, Tom Bliss, has spent time during two years of pandemic lockdown compiling a concise account of British history.
His work has now been published as an online resource assisted by an audio link for the visually impaired.
Annals Britannica – An Online Survey and Timeline of British History covers every period up to the outbreak of Covid 19 and consists of a general survey of the political, social and cultural life of each period accompanied by a fairly detailed timeline of events.
The author said: “It is now easier and cheaper for most people to access information online compared with seeking out and purchasing a printed book. Annals Britannica is probably the most easily accessible online general history of Britain.”
He said that his intention is to make the full depth and breadth of British history easily available to the general public via this single on-line historical resource.
It describes how Britain developed as a nation and became the centre of a world-wide empire, the ‘motherland’ of people who founded the United States of America and the Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Subjects such as slavery, Ireland, Brexit etc. are discussed, but there is seldom any attempt to form a judgement on those or other contentious matters.
“The intention is to provide readers (and listeners!) with a useful, informative and relatively objective portrayal of Britain, its people and their struggles, achievements and failures, without steering them towards any particular political or moral viewpoint,” he said.
Tom Bliss lives in retirement in Lincolnshire, having spent his working life at Clenchwarton farming and growing soft fruit and flower bulbs.
He was chairman of the five villages A17 Bypass Campaign which transformed the lives of villagers along the old road which was often gridlocked by traffic travelling to and from Norfolk.
Tom was also chairman of the national processed Strawberry Growers Association based at Wisbech NFU.
He has always had a keen interest in history and for many years has been concerned that most people’s information about our past is usually somewhat sporadic and limited to a few episodes such as the Viking raids, Henry VIII and his matrimonial problems or whether or not Richard III had a hump and murdered the princes in the Tower.
He spent two years during the Covid lockdowns composing his history of Britain.
Tom finally decided it was better to publish his work as an online resource rather than a printed book. He says that he makes no claims to academic training or intellectual excellence but hopes Annals Britannica might be accepted as a “reasonably fair and objective appraisal of the historical development of the British Isles, the history of their peoples and the part they have played in the wider world.”
His publication is available at www.blissworks.uk . The site has been designed and published by Jack McLean of Pinchbeck, Lincs and his company Drive By Websites.
