The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
On 31st March 1875, Sergei Diaghilev was born into a wealthy Russian family. I salute the man who did so much to haul ballet into the 20th century. My historical novel, Dance of the Earth, spanning 1875 – 1921, is largely set in London. During this tumultuous era,...
The world might have found it hard to believe. After 22 years of marriage and having made her pregnant at least 12 times, Dickens, aged 46, built a wall in their bedroom to keep his wife, Catherine, out, forced her to visit his 18-year-old mistress to quell rumours,...
In Carausius and Allectus, John Pitts sets out to bring the world of Roman Britain to life through a narrative that is clearly grounded in a strong interest in the period. The novel draws on real historical figures and events, using them as a framework for a story...
John Pitts – welcome to Aspects of History. Your book, Carausius and Allectus, is set amid uprisings in late Roman Britain. Talk us through how the idea for a novel came about? During the first Covid lockdown in 2020 I discovered a family history chart belonging to my...
Why did you choose the SOE as a subject for a novel?The SOE occupies a special niche in Second World history. How could it not? The brilliance of its founders who conceived and wrestled into it into being, its personnel, the agents and exploits, both successful and...
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"It is with heavy heart that I tell you we have to cease fighting. Last night, I asked our adversary whether he was prepared, between soldiers, after the struggle and in honour, to seek a way to end hostilities." These were the words of France’s new prime minister,...
'Pug' Ismay was the personification of discretion and diplomacy. His book, The Memoirs of Lord Ismay, is testimony to this: no revelations are included, no confidences betrayed, no secrets exposed. There is hardly an unkind word about any of the people he met or...
Much as the vast majority of medieval royal marriages, Margaret of Anjou's marriage was one of pure political necessity over which she had no influence. She would in theory live her life at the mercy of the policies of her husband, at the often cruel demands of war...
Some historians have labelled it a ‘genocide’, whereas other have suggested that what King William I did in the north of England, in the winter of 1069/70, was not out of character with the standards of the time. But, whilst we should always try to avoid projecting...
