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The FV4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the UK from its introduction in 1967. It was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of WWII.

Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful 120mm rifled cannon. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback. The engine selected took the multi-fuel route and as introduced gave less than the planned output; improvements to the engine did not increase power to the desired value.

The Chieftain had a mantleless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to 10° in a hull-down position. To the left side of the turret was a large infra-red searchlight in an armoured housing. The suspension was of the Horstmann bogie type, with large side plates to protect the tracks and provide stand-off protection from hollow charge attack.

The main armament was the 120mm L11A5 rifled gun. This differed from most contemporary main tank armament as it used projectiles and charges which were loaded separately, as opposed to a single fixed round. The gun itself could fire a wide range of ammunition, but the most commonly loaded types were HESH or APDS.

Initially, Chieftain was equipped with a 12.7mm ranging machine gun mounted above the main gun, firing ranging shots out to 2,400m. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a laser rangefinder replaced it, allowing engagements at much longer ranges, and also linked to the fire-control system, allowing more rapid engagements and changes of target. The gun was fully stabilised with a fully computerised integrated control system. Secondary armament consisted of a coaxial L8A1 7.62mm machine gun, and another 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.

Like its European competitors, the Chieftain found a large export market in the Middle East, but was not adopted by any other NATO or Commonwealth countries. The Chieftains were continuously upgraded until the early 1990s when they were replaced by the Challenger series.

Chieftains were supplied to at least six countries, including Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. An agreement for sale of Chieftains to Israel was cancelled by the British Government in 1969. The largest foreign sale was to Iran, which took delivery of around 1,000 before the 1979 revolution. Further planned deliveries of the more capable 4030 series were cancelled at that point.

The tank's main combat experience was in Iranian hands during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980-88.

Seen in action in the display arena at the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.

The beautiful Sullivan Memorial – an outstanding work by Goscombe John - can be seen in Embankment Gardens. The mourning girl (an allegorical figure of Music) collapsing against the stele below the portrait of the playwright associates the sculptor firmly with the New Sculpture movement. He did in fact create a goodly selection of art nouveauish girls, though nothing else so ambitious as this, which might surprise those most familiar with his multitudes of fairly conventional outdoor statues of middle-aged men. He did another Sullivan memorial (a plaque with a portrait, an image of St John the Baptist, and a couple of putti) for St Paul’s.

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO (13 May 1842–22 November 1900) was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry, best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W S Gilbert, including such enduring works as HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.

Sullivan composed 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. The best known of his hymns and songs include "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".

When it was first seen in a Moscow parade in May 1965 the T-62 was regarded in the West as just another improved version of the T-54/55. As later evidence would reveal it was, in fact, virtually a new tank. Although not immediately obvious the hull is both longer and wider than the earlier models and the turret ring diameter greater, to enable it to mount a larger gun.

It carried slightly thicker armour than its predecessors but the Russians still gave a higher priority to mobility than protection and continued to rely on large numbers - T-62 production exceeded 20,000 vehicles. All tanks of this type were criticised on two counts; one was poor elevation/depression of the main gun, the other was limited ammunition stowage - about 40 rounds in each tank.

The armour protection is poor by modern standards and various attempts have been made to upgrade it. Indeed the world defence industry generally is continually devising improvements to these Russian tanks in the hope of generating more business since, with the numbers involved, they are likely to remain in service well into the 21st century.

The T-62 was designed by the Vagonka Bureau to replace the T-55, under the leadership of Leonid Kartsev. Three prototype tanks, known as the Obiekt 165, were built during 1958. These vehicles mounted the more powerful D54TS rifled 100mm gun in a larger turret than that of the T-55. The new gun used a fixed round 1.2m long that could not be handled easily in a tank turret.

Following trials the gun was redesigned to use a shorter round (1.1m long) of 115mm and was named the U5T or 2A20 115mm smooth bore tank gun. Kartsev adapted the Obiekt 165 to carry the U5T and a prototype of the new tank, called the Obiekt 166, was completed and tested in 1959.

Trials showed that even the shorter cartridge cases of the U5T gun were very difficult to handle within the confines of a tank turret. As a result the Obiekt 166 was modified to eject the spent cartridge case through a small hatch in the roof of the turret after the gun was fired.

Kartsev’s tank then fell foul of political infighting. The Main Armour Directorate of the Soviet Army was officially sponsoring a rival design from the Kharkov Bureau, the Obiekt 430, and tried to block the production of the Obiekt 166. (The Obiekt 430 eventually became the T-64.) However, following the introduction of the American M60A1 tank with its 105mm gun and thick turret armour that could not be penetrated by the T-54/T-55 or Obiekt 430, a decision was made to put the Obiekt 166 into production as the T-62.

T-62s were supplied to 23 countries, with 1,600 delivered to the Iraqi Army which used them in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War (when this example was captured) and in the unsuccessful 2003 defence against invasion.

About 160 T-62s were captured by Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war and put into service as the Tiran 6. Some Tiran 6 were modified to mount the US M68 105mm rifled gun and were called Tiran 67. T-62s were also used by the USSR in Afghanistan (1979-1988) and in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

A delicate little shell compared with those covering the main venues. This is the smallest, and southernmost of the shells that comprise the Sydney Opera House complex.

It is currently occupied by the restaurant Guillaume at Bennelong. For the New Year's Eve fireworks in 2011, the cost for the evening there was A$1,000 per person!

For those of you interested in the details about the Opera House, its history and construction, please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House.

Here we see three visitors and a mannequin in the galley of HMS Belfast. The visitors are looking at the huge steam cauldrons (known as coppers) in front of the mannequin. These cauldrons were one of the main ways of preparing hot food for the 800+ crew normally on board.

What's interesting is that although the scale of food preparation here is significantly bigger, there's not a lot of difference between this galley and ones I worked in during the 1970s and 1980s (and I suspect there's not a huge difference in more modern ones, even allowing for the arrival of microwave cookers and pre-prepared meals).