The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Strictly Murder - Review Should you be in the mood for a taut, theatrical thriller then Strictly Murder at The Questors Theatre in Ealing should satisfy your appetite. Set on the cusp of the Second World War, the two-act play, located in a cottage in Provence, is...
The Forever War One cold spring day early in the writing of this book, I stood in the midst of the main shopping thoroughfare in Bracknell and asked 62 random passers-by whether they had heard of six battles from British history, and the wars in which they were...
When a Single British Colony Ruled over a Quarter of Humanity This spring, tensions between India and Pakistan reached their most perilous point in decades. With skirmishes erupting along their shared border and nuclear rhetoric flaring on both sides, the region...
Poet on a Volcano Many artists hope that they will be lasting figures in history. A few even boast that they will. But no boaster ever succeeded as well the Latin poet, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, who shouted out at the end of what he thought might be his last book ‘Non...
Let’s Get Those Jerries!’: Luftwaffe Airmen and British Captors On a hazy summer’s day in August 1940, a lone German bomber is hurtling uncontrollably towards the ground in the north-east of England; the aircraft whines in protest at the sharp hiding it has just taken...
The History behind the DCI Frank Merlin Books I write a series about a police detective called Frank Merlin working in World War Two London. The sixth in the series, Death Of An Officer, is being published later this month. I am often asked where I get my story ideas...
Historical Heroes: Prince Rupert of the Rhine Though this is an article about Rupert as a historical hero, I should, ironically, start by pointing out that he is also considered to be a historical villain! In his heyday enemy propaganda named him ‘Prince Robber’ or...
MACBETH (solo) - Review Paul Goodwin’s MACBETH (solo) distils Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy into an hour of taut, unrelenting theatre. Stripped of ensemble and spectacle, this one-man performance presents the rise and ruin of Macbeth as a stark analysis on ambition,...
Why You Won’t Find King Arthur in My New Dark Ages Trilogy As an undergraduate student, I studied the historical and literary sources for the legend of Arthur for my dissertation. It didn’t go well (slight understatement). I was then ‘punished’ for not doing well on...
A Life of Crime: A Piece by Paul Burke, the Editor of Aspects of Crime. I have been reading crime fiction since my grandmother introduced me to Sherlock Holmes when I was 12 years old. I soon got hooked on American hardboiled with its snappy dialogue, shady heroes and...
