The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
At exactly 2.30 p.m. on 11 July 1897, a gigantic silk balloon could be seen rising into the Arctic sky above Spitsbergen. Inside the basket were three hardy adventurers, all Swedish, who were taking part in an extraordinary voyage. Salomon Andrée was the instigator of...
There is an oft told story of an elderly Garrick member surveying the Club’s notice board. On spotting the summer reciprocal hospitality list he saw that the Guards Club had joined the usual list of clubs whose members the Garrick welcomed over the holidays. “Oh,...
On 21st October 1805, William Holburne, one of Bath’s greatest benefactors, was an eleven-year old Midshipman on board HMS Orion, which was about to join battle with the French Fleet off Cape Trafalgar. As Holburne’s ship closed with the enemy battleship, Intrepide,...
What first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? I write about subjects and periods of history that interest me – and only those. To be specific, I am intrigued by the period post-Waterloo to the 1950s and, in particular, the ‘small wars of Empire’. On...
Marengo 's Hooves. In its long history, the Horse Guards building has been the venue for many historical events including, most recently, one on the afternoon of Saturday 24th September 2016. The backstory of this latest event starts on the night of 24th August, 1799,...
In my life today I have no servants living in my house. The work done by servants in previous centuries is now done by machines, or automation has rendered it unnecessary. For a historical fiction writer the presence of servants in the house is a massive opportunity...
Author's Note: This morning (Sat 9th January, 2021) on Radio 4 I heard ‘On this day in 1799 William Pitt introduced Income Tax for the first time, in order to fund the war against Napoleon.’ Fact: on 9 January 1799 this country was at war with the French Republic, and...
Richard ForemanRobert Tombs produced one of the finest history books of the last five years, in the form of The English and their History. I am suitably looking forward to his new book, This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe. It will no doubt be full of...
December, 1892 A hard overnight rain had frozen hard as iron on the roads and paths. This Christmas Eve, the whole of London seemed an ice rink. Detective Inspector George Bowman gazed through the window of the two-horse brougham he had hailed on Finchley Road. The...
Simon Sebag Montefiore 2020 has been a stellar year for brilliant books and given Covid, I don’t think I’ve read so many books. I recommend India in the Persianate Age by Richard M Eaton, a brilliant, gripping, refreshing and scholarly history of India from 1000AD to...
