The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Catherine the Great & Potemkin One of history's great couples - and love affairs - the story of Catherine and Potemkin is one of power, passion and politics - of both amorous and military conquests. Can you remember what first attracted you to the project? I think...
Akash Kapur, Better to Have Gone is a fascinating story. What do you think draws certain people to these utopian communities, and why were they so popular in 1960s and '70s? I think it’s a combination of individual temperament and interest, on the one hand, and...
Peter the Great’s death in 1725 made Russia hold its breath. The greatest will to shape the world’s largest and wealthiest realm – a Tsar’s any decision was his entire Empire’s fate – had been extinguished, leaving an unimaginable vacuum of power. But the unthinkable...
A Levantine Lament I grew up an immigrant in England; speaking English in an English-speaking world. Mine was an education in uniform singularity. Yet the gift of English kept on giving. It won me places at good English schools, endowed me with a top-notch education...
Auroville, 1986 October of 1986 and a man lies dying in a hut at the edge of a canyon. His name is John Anthony Walker. He’s on a mattress on a cement floor, and by his side sits a woman wrapped in a shawl, a yellow cat in her lap, and she cries. Her name is Diane...
I have just published a study of the formative years of Oliver Cromwell’s career, up until the end of the Great Civil War in 1646 when he was established as the leading cavalry commander of the victorious Long Parliament, and as such one of its main agents in the...
Barney White-Spunner, what first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? Personal experience. I have been very lucky in that my military career has exposed me to events and places which I want to understand in greater depth. Being a soldier also gives you...
Five Books By My Bed Maybe holidaying at home will give me more time to read this summer. I do hope so. I have never found the Mediterranean combination of sun and sand to be very hard back friendly but hopefully this year the garden and coastal breezes of the West...
Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on Amazon Videos [dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" multiple_cpt="videos" use_taxonomy_terms="on" multiple_taxonomies="name_of_author" include_terms="85" order="ASC"...
Robin Hood and the Disinherited The story of Robin Hood as we know it today is usually set in the reigns of Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199) and King John (1199-1216). This tradition goes back no further than 1521 and the work of John Major, a Scottish theologian,...
