History

Danube Blues, a musical about Vienna

Imagine it is 1913, and Freud, Trotsky, Hitler and Alma Mahler meet by accident one snowy night, and sawp places.

Jerusalem: England’s National Anthem

The story behind the words and music of a song which looks set to be the new anthem of England.

Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce

What really happened over the Christmas period on the Western Front and why and a look at the continuing mystery of what happened afterwards.

Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma

The bestselling tale of Alan Turing, code-breaker, computing pioneer, future prophet, and – in some ways – martyr for the modern world. Available also as a paperback.

Unheard, Unseen

The strange story of submarine E14 and the Dardanelles, the only submarine in the world where both commanding officers won the highest bravery award.

The secret of allotments

Why has the allotment movement become so trendy? Where did the ideas come from that people should have a patch of productive land?
It’s all in my short new e-book On the Eighth Day, God Created Allotments (Endeavour Press). You can download it onto PCs as well as Kindles.

Voyages of Discovery

The great age of discovery, from Columbus to Cook, from the point of view of those who were ‘discovered’.

Eminent Corporations

Mini-biographies of the iconic brands that we are so proud of in Britain, as Lytton Strachey might have seen them.

Toward the Setting Sun: Columbus, Cabot, Vespucci and the Race for America

Three friends and rivals who raced across the Atlantic.

Blondel’s Song: The capture, imprisonment and ransom of Richard the Lionheart

The extraordinary story of the capture, imprisonment and ransom of Richard the Lionheart – and the legend of Blondel.

Articles
Subjects range from Richard the Lionheart and Frederick Winslow Taylor to Hilaire Belloc.