Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing
The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and the fact that whenever naval history makes the news, somebody is going to get it calamitously wrong. That’s how it’s been here in the UK for the last week or so, where we’ve had the Prime Minister himself intervening in an argument over whether a song […]
Wake Up and Smell the Armada!
It’s publication day! My latest novel, Armada’s Wake, is being published today by Canelo. This is the third book in the ‘Jack Stannard of the Navy Royal’ trilogy, set in the Tudor period, and completes the forty year saga. As the title suggests, the famous battle against Spain’s vast invasion force forms the centrepiece of the […]
The Return of Matthew Quinton
Exciting news for readers of my historical fiction series ‘The Journals of Matthew Quinton’ – three years after the publication of the last two titles, our hero will be returning for more swashbuckling adventures on the high seas during the reign of King Charles II! This announcement is very much a consequence of the recent […]
Mary Gladstone Discovers Something Better than Sex; or, ‘His Deadly Balls’
‘I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either.’ – Harold Pinter ‘Cricket is basically baseball on valium.’ – Robin Williams ‘Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.’ – George Bernard Shaw […]
The Drunken Hen Isn’t the Whopper
First and foremost, apologies for the lack of blogging of late, caused by a complete inability to think of things to blog about – presumably caused in turn by lockdown ennui. Actually, though, lockdown has proved to be quite productive for me: Books read – not really keeping count, but somewhere in the region of […]
Taking the Helm
I’m hugely honoured to have recently become acting chairman of the Society for Nautical Research. I feel very humble about taking this position and following in the footsteps of some very distinguished former incumbents, including my immediate predecessor, Admiral Sir Kenneth Eaton, who will be a very hard to act to follow. It’s obviously a […]
