The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Crime in Victorian London One of the settings for my new novel, The Jaggard Case, is Clerkenwell - the scene of the arrest of Oliver Twist for pickpocketing. Clerkenwell was famous not only for its jewellery and watchmaking industries, but also its criminality and...
Marcus Licinius Crassus was famous for a boast. No one should be considered rich, said the richest Roman of his time, unless he could finance an army from his own income. Twice he lived up to that boast, the first time against Spartacus gaining himself only...
How Decisive Was the Attack on Pearl Harbor? The Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii in 1941 achieved its initial goal of knocking out the US Pacific Fleet, but how decisive was it? Could the Pacific War have been ended before it even started? Japan’s objective behind...
Within the pages of my latest book, set in the gritty backdrop of 1860s Melbourne, The Case of the Wandering Corpse, a thrilling tale unfolds as my protagonists Findo Gask and Erroll Rait confront an elusive organization known as Die Broederskap (The Broederbond)....
Battle for the Island Kingdom Mention “1066” to any history buff and you will immediately bring to mind the “Year of Three Battles,” in which Vikings, Normans and Anglo-Saxons fought it out for mastery of England. The struggle ended, violently, with the climactic...
Yet another film on Napoleon and, inevitably it seems, yet more myths are added to the old. As Simon Schama nicely observed, Ridley Scott and his ilk are not content with ‘just making films about Napoleon so much as climbing into his saddle, beguiled by the siren song...
London is full of stories, and the River Thames is at the heart of some of its most interesting tales. We’re a seafaring nation, so it’s perhaps no surprise how many adventures started and ended here. My novel Bonny & Read, based on the real life pirates Anne...
It’s a safe bet to suppose that while you’ll know of The Four Feathers and its essential storyline – after all, it’s been adapted for film six times – you probably won’t be able to name its author. In fact you’re almost certainly more likely to know that the most...
Music, history and clowning around. What more could your ask for on a winter's night? Southwark Playhouse is currently hosting a production of Joan Littlewood's Oh What A Lovely War. The play is a romp through the First World War, full of satire and old songs - told...
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Japan’s decision to attack Pearl Harbor has gone down in history as a short-term victory with catastrophic long-term consequences. The Japanese leadership, already bogged down in an unwinnable war in China, were aware that they were...
