Friday 12th February 2021 - St Valentine's Day is on the horizon, so today I gave my talk on St Valentine for the first time this year, and for the first time on Zoom. The group of 40 odd folks were a lively audience. I've spoken to this group before, but again this was the first t
Wednesday 10th February 2021 - Displaying guile, violence and astonishing ruthlessness, Hengist carved out a kingdom for himself – a lead followed by other warriors who together created England. Although he was such a pivotal figure in the founding of England, the facts about his lif
Friday 5th February 2021 - Nobody ever watched a Carry On film expecting accurate history. Which is just as well because you don't get much of it in this offering. But I am being far too serious in looking for historical parallels. This is a bawdy, slapstick farce of the first orde
Wednesday 3rd February 2021 - This is a great movie! Having now watched it, I can confirm that Laughton absolutely deserved his Oscar for his performance in this movie. The plot follows reasonably faithfully the life of Henry from 1536 to 1547.
Monday 1st February 2021 - Well, this is a cracking action adventure movie - though what it's got to do with the Santa Fe Trail is quite beyond me. They talk about it a couple of timees, but nobody ever actually goes to Santa Fe.
Sunday 31st January 2021 - Made in 1964 to depict the Battle of Rorke's Drift, fought in 1879 as part of the Zulu Wars in southern Africa, this is one of the greatest war films ever made.
Saturday 30th January 2021 -
Saturday 30th January 2021 - On 21 July 1940 the squadron performed a feat that made them world famous, though war time censorship meant that at the time the identity of the squadron concerned was not printed in the newspapers
Saturday 30th January 2021 - I remember watching this film with my dad many years ago. As I recall it, the film was set on a train on which the heroes were racing to escape the villains. I suppose that way back then the subtleties of the plot and certainly I would have missed the re
Wednesday 27th January 2021 - Today I gave my talk on the Kingdom of Sussex via Zoom to over 100 people from a U3A group in Sussex.
Monday 25th January 2021 -
Monday 25th January 2021 -
Sunday 24th January 2021 - One of the few highwaywomen on record also robbed on the heaths of north Surrey.
Friday 22nd January 2021 - I've just delivered my talk and presentation on "The Real King Arthur" to a U3A group of over 120 people via zoom. This is the first time I've done such a big group on zoom, and it worked surprisingly well. We took in Monty Python, Keira Knightly, Dark Ag
Tuesday 19th January 2021 - The 15 September 1940 again dawned bright and sunny, but this time the Luftwaffe were up early with decoys and feints. Then, around 10.40am, the radar picked up what was clearly a major formation gathering over Calais. At 11.15am No.253 and No.501 Squadro
Monday 18th January 2021 - Yesterday I gave my talk on "Women at War" for a Women's Institute Group. I always enjoy this talk as it breaks through so many stereotypes - about women, warfare, Greeks, South America, the Royal Navy and more.
Wednesday 13th January 2021 - An anecdote about RAF Typhoons in Sussex and Sir Arthur Coningham
Tuesday 12th January 2021 - My talk busting the stereotypes about women at war