Martinalia

Welcome to Martinalia. An academic career generates material which for one reason or another does not get into print. There are public lectures and keynote addresses. Some are never intended for publication. Others are commissioned for projects which never get off the ground. There is material prepared for teaching, which may be useful to colleagues and students involved in similar courses. Some projects seem worth sharing with interested readers even though they remain unfinished, lacking the final polish needed for conventional academic publication. Since 2014 I have used Martinalia to publish essays and research reports.

The term “Martinalia” was coined by my friend Jim Sturgis.

Winston Churchill : Wartime Traveller (revised, 2018)

This essay was written in the early 1990s as part of preparatory work for a project on Churchill. It is based largely on Martin Gilbert's magisterial biography and Churchill's own writings on the Second World War. It is included among Martinalia because the many studies of Churchill as a war leader do not seem to focus precisely upon the effect of his love of travel. Revised version October 2018.

John A Macdonald: Scotsman or Canadian?

This is the text delivered as the seventh in the series of Standard Life Lectures in Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, in October 2004.

Documentary Film in Canadian Studies

In my teaching of Canadian Studies courses at the University of Edinburgh , I made use of documentary film from the National Film Board of Canada. The following notes were prepared to assist students in using this form of study material. They were compiled in the 1990s, and the recommended reading has not been updated.

Background notes were prepared for three documentaries: "THE CHAMPIONS" (Parts 1 and 2 ), made in 1978, JOURNEY WITHOUT ARRIVAL (made in 1975) and FLORA: SCENES FROM A CONVENTION (made in 1976).

THE CHAMPIONS traced the rivalry between Pierre Trudeau and René Lévesque. JOURNEY WITHOUT ARRIVAL was an examination of the interpretation of Canada by Northrop Frye. FLORA: SCENES FROM A CONVENTION followed Flora MacDonald's bid to become leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976. These films were subsequently made available through the website of the National Film Board of Canada.