The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Helen Hackett, The Elizabethan Mind is the product of an enormous amount of research, comprising study of a variety of texts, from plays to printed prose works, to poems, and of course dramas. I’m curious as to whether you think the medium can tell us something about...
When they think of the Household Cavalry most envisage men wearing the uniform of the 1850s riding 17 hand black Irish draft horses along the Mall, but as no unit of the British Army is exclusively devoted to ceremonial duties, the Household Cavalry of two regiments,...
The Elizabethan Mind is a book I’ve awaited with excitement. Some years back, I was fortunate to hear Helen Hackett present her work on what would become this book at a symposium held in honour of my supervisor and friend, Alison Thorne. To my delight, the text not...
The Battle of Crécy is one of the most famous battles of both the Hundred Years War and the late Middle Ages. It made legends of many of its participants including Edward the Black Prince. It was a testament to the skill, daring and cunning of the English; to the...
Readers of Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army (NMA) will be familiar with the first edition of this book, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, published some 30 years ago. It earned the tag ‘definitive’ at the time and has remained a much valued reference ever...
‘… the sufferings of which were dreadful … when I awoke with that horror upon me …’ Charles Dickens had a cold. Man flu? One might wonder when reading the dramatic description of his anguish. But he was a novelist given to melodrama at times, and, considering the...
Summer Reads from Aspects of HistoryTimothy Ashby Author of Elizabethan Secret Agent: The Untold Story of William Ashby (1536-1593)At the top of my favourites list of recent historical books is Leanda de Lisle´s The White King. Although non-fiction, the book reads...
CVHF Highlights So Far Monday 20th June Power & Privilege: A Recent History Simon Kuper (author of Chums) & Richard Beard (Sad Little Men) discussed the corrosive impact of public schools and Oxford University on recent British political life. Their discussion...
Roger Field, many congratulations on the new title, Scimitar into Stanley. You’ve mentioned that as a member of HQ 5 Brigade on the journey down to the Falklands, you soon realised you needed to keep a diary. What was it about the Brigade Staff and leadership that...
Douglas Jackson, I’ve very much enjoyed reading The Wall – one of your very best books I would say. As one who has written about Britain in the fifth century, I appreciate the problems of trying to represent life in that shadowy period. How did you go about...
