Peter Johnston

Upping this on the back of Kavita's article in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social over the weekend:
observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Bit strange they left the information on the yosegaki hinomaru so vague in that section, and didn't explain what it was or its cultural significance #AntiquesRoadshow #VJDay80

England won't be able to be this wasteful against the Black Ferns or the Bokke #RedRoses

IWM In Conversation: Kavita Puri | The Second Map Join journalist and broadcaster Kavita Puri and IWM's Director for Narrative and Content, Peter Johnston, as they discuss the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which is the focus of a new BBC documentary se...

On 9 September I'll be interviewing the brilliant Kavita Puri about her new BBC podcast, The Second Map. Come hear Kavita reflect on the SWW in SE Asia, remembering and forgetting, and how to find new stories and ways to look at these seismic events. Details here: www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-i...

I do enjoy a bit of cap badge iconography

When you gotta espionage all day but you missed breakfast

Yo ho for the robbers, the cops and the robbers. Yo ho! #AllanAhlberg

Much obliged! And for the repost too

A very exciting moment for me today when I spotted this in the wild, perching on the shelves of Waterstones on Gower Street

National two-minute silence to mark VJ Day 80 National two-minute silence will be held at 12 noon on 15 August 2025 to honour the 80th anniversary of VJ Day

The UK Government announcement of the #VJDay80 commemorations outlines the activity IWM is planning
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Air Marshal Harv Smyth appointed new Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Harv Smyth will succeed Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton in August 2025.

A new Chief for the RAF

Air Marshal Harv Smyth appointed new Chief of the Air Staff - GOV.UK share.google/kWbmpitUizhX...

The pleasure was all mine, Karl. Glad we could finally meet! Looking forward to the next time

Following the Second World War research group’s wonderful conference last month, we were able to see the IWM’s new #WWII galleries. They gave us lots to think about. The highlight had to be meeting @peterajohnston.bsky.social in IRL!

We're recruiting for a Curator in our Second World War team at IWM. Details here! #museumjobs

share.google/mj114pWBQfsG...

Bastille Day in 1945: Versailles, the city of the Sun King, swept up in republican jubilation '1945, A French Summer' (1/6). On Saturday, July 14, 1945, Versailles was celebrating as it had not done in years. But the carefree spirit of some clashed with the return of deportees and the restrict...

Interesting article that talks about the long shadow of war even after liberation and victory in Europe
www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-re...

Bayeux Tapestry to go on display at the British Museum in 2026 Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Macron agree a loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK

Big news that'll mean big queues of people waiting to see it. To be fair it's worth it

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Got it in 4. Writing a recent book on 1945 in this part of the world proved unexpectedly useful

Likewise there's not much written about the life of air stations (well at least on the RAF's stations). They're the place where culture and social structures mix and bring pilots and aircraft alongside ground crew, wider support networks and - probably most neglected of all - service families

Enjoyed a little team outing with colleagues today to the V&A East Storehouse. Love the simple interaction on collecting

How many of those were fought against the same opponent?

An interesting thread here on Korea and Australia. It chimes with research done in 2023 by IWM

Holding thumbs for you!

India's War: An IWM Collecting project Find out more about how IWM is looking to increase the representation of the Indian experience of the Second World War within the museum’s collections.

IWM has recently launched our India's War collecting project, aiming to improve our representation of the Indian experience of the Second World War within the museum’s collections. More details here:

www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

A then and now from Hamburg; IWM image BU 5284 showing a Sherman Firefly from 7th Armoured Div in position during the occupation of the city on 4 May, and the same view taken this week #SWW

Ich kenne den Typen!

I'd be very interested to read this!

"Exceptional circumstances" for a yard in Durham c. 2004-2010 included it being a night on a Tuesday-Sunday or going for a "swift one"

James Peters & John Litterick were in 2nd Btn Scots Guards in 1982. Here they are about to become the first veterans ever to take part in the archaeological survey of their own battlefield. Tumbledown, behind them is over a mile long and they fought along its length from left to right through a freezing and at time snowy night. After the battle both were part of a 4-man stretcher team hit by a mortar round. The man on the stretcher was killed, as was the man carrying it next to John, who was wounded in the leg.

OTD 1982 Battle of Tumbledown rages through night. Scots Guards fought Argentine troops at bayonet point along crest & flank of this dragon’s back of a mountain. In 2022 we returned with veterans for first archaeological survey. Read free Falklands War Mapping Project book: shorturl.at/s5LXw

‘A wonderful mystery to be solved’: search begins in Dorset for ‘the Mother of all tanks’ Lost for over a century, discovery of wartime letter has rekindled interest in unlocking the secret of the world’s first prototype tank

It'll be interesting if there is indeed something to be found. Unless it's a "Tigers under the square in Paderborn" or "Spitfires in Burma" type myth www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

On 18 June I'm going to be in Hamburg speaking at Helmut Schimdt Universität on Anglo-German encounters in the immediate aftermath of the end of the Second World War, in support of their exhibition "Liberated and Liberators? End of the War in Hamburg 1945"
www.ub.hsu-hh.de/johnston_bef...