/library/oar/handle/123456789/24861 Fri, 26 Dec 2025 07:46:30 GMT 2025-12-26T07:46:30Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/25189 Title: HMS Olympus : a tale of tragedy and heroics Authors: Gambin, Timmy Abstract: This paper is based on the annual Andrew Vella Memorial Lecture delivered in December 2013. Through it I hope to do honour to his memory as well as to the memory of the young men who served on board the submarines that operated from Malta during World War II. What we have here is a tale of loss and discovery, tragedy and heroism - a tale that has remained relatively unknown - but one that certainly deserves to be told. It is not solely about a submarine but just as importantly, it is also about the brave young men that served on her. In fact, the vessel and her crew are inextricably linked for one cannot exist without the other. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/25189 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/25167 Title: The Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art : 1977-1980 Authors: Aquilina, Stefan Abstract: The Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art (MTADA) was Malta's first formal theatre and acting school. It was set up in 1977 through a Technical Cooperation Agreement between the British Council, the Ministry for Education, and the Manoel Theatre.The Academy was placed under the direction of Adrian Rendle, a theatre practitioner from England with considerable experience both as an amateur director at the Tower Theatre, an important amateur theatre group in London and as a professional theatre maker with the Theatre Royal Stratford Atte-Bow company and on the London West End. A former teacher at the Webber Douglas and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, amongst others, Rendle also delivered workshops in a number of former British colonies, including Zambia and Uganda. He was soon joined by Peter Cox, who was engaged as a Theatre-in-Education (TIE) Coordinator, aside from also serving as the Academy's Assistant Director. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/25167 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/25166 Title: The Ottomans in the Mediterranean in the later fifteenth century : the strategy of Mehmet II Authors: Fleet, Kate Abstract: Under the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (1444-1446, 1451-1481), the Ottoman empire greatly expanded its territories eastwards across Anatolia, north across the Black Sea and westwards across the Balkans. Part of this expansion was into the eastern Mediterranean, a zone dominated by the Italian city states of Venice and Genoa which had commercial interests and territorial holdings there. Two major calculations lay behind Mehmed's policy in the Mediterranean: strategic requirement and economic interest. From a strategic point of view, Mehmed needed to protect his territories, Ottoman commercial shipping and military transportation at sea as well as to secure his advance westwards. From an economic point of view, he wanted to control maritime trade routes and to take over commercial interests and economic assets. His strategy of conquest consisted of a combination of direct conquest, temporary tributary arrangements and more longterm alliances, and his success was due in particular to the cautious speed of conquest, the internal divisions of the region and his ability to manipulate and benefit from them. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/25166 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/25163 Title: Storja 2015 Editors: Frendo, Henry Abstract: Contents: Preface : on resuscitating a history journal by Henry Frendo – Editorial by the editorial board – Godfrey Wettinger – a tribute – The Siege of Malta, 1565, revisited by Victor Mallia-Milanes – The Ottomans in the Mediterranean in the late fifteenth century : the strategy of Mehmed II by Kate Fleet – ‘Melita obsidione liberatur’ : il grande assedio attraverso le cinquecentine by Federica Formiga – ‘Lectum coniugalem’ : what the bed said about a marriage in the sixteenth century (c. 1560-1580) by Iona Caruana – Gozo after the Siege of Malta : a study of the acts of notary Tomaso Gauchi, 1566-68 by Mariana Grech – The Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art : 1977-1980 by Stefan Aquilina – HMS Olympus : a tale of tragedy and heroics by Timothy Gambin – Select list of history related disserations, 2009-2013 compiled by Marilyn Mintoff – Select list of Melitensia publications, 2009-2014 comiled by Reuben Bertuello and Alexandra M. Camilleri – Notes on contributers. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/25163 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z