The case of Dr Roderigo Lopez, the only physician to English royalty ever to be executed for high treason, is not particularly well known, though Dominic Green’s The Double Life of Dr Lopez has done much to fill this gap in our knowledge. The case, however, provides a...
Peter Tonkin
Episode 178
Peter Tonkin on Shadow of Poison
Peter Tonkin, can you first tell us about your latest Poley novel? Shadow of Poison follows Queen’s Intelligencer Robert Poley from the aftermath of his unmasking of the Babington Plot in 1586, through the next eight years as he works to counter other, secret schemes...
Stephen Mills on Natural Causes
Congratulations on the publication of your memoir, Natural Causes. What made you decide that now was the time to write a memoir about your experiences as a wildlife filmmaker and environmental activist? Thankyou Ella. I think my career coincided with a sort of Golden...
When Henry VIII Came to Dinner, by Paul Wreyford
We are in a modern suburban house occupied by a boy and his father. The boy is a teenager, with an enquiring mind and a predilection for bad jokes. The somewhat inept father is usually the butt of these and the banter adds to the humorous lightness of touch that...
Paul Wreyford on When Henry VIII Came to Dinner
Paul Wreyford, many congratulations on the book. Why did you choose these particular figures – Henry VIII, Napoleon, Shakespeare and Cleopatra to name but a few? I just went for some of the most famous people in history and from a wide range of eras. Everyone will...
Bellatrix, by Simon Turney
It follows on directly from the first, The Capsarius (which incidentally has one of the most gripping openings I have read recently). Equally enthralling, this follows legionary capsarius or doctor Titus Cervianus, with his tent-mates, his cohort and his legion, the...
Episode 88
The Trojan War with Peter Tonkin | RSS.com
Desperate Valour, by Timothy Ashby
Desperate Valour is the sequel to Timothy Ashby’s 5* bestseller Ranger, though it works perfectly well as a ‘stand alone’. It follows the adventure of Major Alexander Charteris (known as ‘Chart’), a mixed-race, English-educated son of an aristocrat and a West Indian...
Peter Tonkin on Shadow of Treason
Peter Tonkin, can you first tell us about your latest Poley novel - and who Poley is? Robert Poley (who appears on the historical record between 1568 and 1602) is one of the three men in the room with Christopher Marlowe on the evening of Wednesday, 30th May 1593 when...