Clik here to view.
Pepys Into the Past
Last Friday, I was round at the Pepyses’ place. You know the Pepyses? Husband’s a civil servant, bit of a lad, eye for the women, always blogging? Wife’s half-French and a bit scatty? That’s right,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Battlefield Bonkers
In last week’s post, I described my recent visit to Pepys House at Brampton, Cambridgeshire. Although I’d never been there before, this brought back some slightly surreal memories, principally because...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dai is Cast
All novelists have a secret fantasy. Actually, it’s not terribly secret. It’s the cast list. Yes, admit it, my fellow authors, you know what I’m talking about. That cast list. The one for the film of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Castles in the Air, Part 1
Castles kicked it all off for me – ‘all’ being the lifelong interest in history, leading ultimately to a career teaching it and a second career writing about it. A visit to Pembroke Castle when I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Castles in the Air, Part 2
Another installment of my personal ‘top twenty’ of castles that I’ve visited. Third and final part to come next week! Devin and the Danube Devin Castle, Slovakia - A few years ago, some friends who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Excuse Me, is This the Talk about Postmodern Naval Masculinity or the One...
My original plan for this week’s blog was to post Part 3 of my personal ‘top twenty’ castles. However, I spent the last three days of last week at the big ‘Navy and Nation’ conference at the National...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Castles in the Air, Part 3
The third and final instalment from my personal ‘top twenty’ castles… Corfe Castle, Dorset - Standing in a glorious location, on a hill adjacent to a picturesque village and a steam railway, Corfe...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sorry…
…in case anybody’s picked up a random couple of draft paragraphs from this blog and wondered what was going on – that’s what comes of hitting the ‘publish’ button inadvertently! Normal service will be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Launching the Dragon
You are in an oak-panelled library, or, perhaps, a fine old bookshop, full of musty antiquarian tomes. All around you is a hubbub of lively, erudite conversation. You’ve tried to play ‘spot the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dedicated to the One I … Umm…
OK, aspiring authors, here’s the thing they don’t tell you. You won’t learn this on the creative writing courses. You won’t hear this from your agent, or your publisher, or your e-book self-publishing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Disorderly Houses
…Or, The Very Long History of British Parliamentarians throwing their toys out of the pram over foreign policy. The government’s defeat over its proposed intervention in Syria had political...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Every Man Jack of Them
When we think of the great movies of the sailing navy, we think of the likes of Gregory Peck stiffening his upper lip to notable effect in Captain Horatio Hornblower; of Laurence Olivier’s Nelson...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Worthy Causes, Part 1
In an age of austerity, the list of worthy causes deserving both moral and financial support seems to get longer by the day. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll take a look at a few lesser known ones:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Worthy Causes, Part 2
The Scottish Houses in Veere (credit to scottishdiasporatapestry.org) Quite by chance, I came across the news that the ‘Scottish Houses’ museum in Veere, the Netherlands, is on a hit-list of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Worthy Causes, Part 3: Worthy Causes of the Crimean Kind
A first for Gentlemen and Tarpaulins this week, as I welcome my first ever guest blogger! I’m delighted that bestselling novelist Louise Berridge has provided this post about the Crimean War and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reclaiming the Past
Last Saturday, I attended the annual conference of Morol, the Institute of Welsh Maritime Historical Studies, in Cardiff’s glorious Pierhead building. This proved to be a stimulating and highly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Gun From the Warship ‘Anne’
I’m delighted to welcome this week’s guest blogger, Richard Endsor. Richard is acknowledged as the leading authority on the design and construction of later Stuart warships, and is the author of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Remembrance – but of what?
Another Remembrance Day: the last one before the four years of commemoration of the centenary of the First World War begin. Already, the announcements and the controversies are coming thick and fast....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Journalist’s Guide To Writing About The Royal Navy
Inspired by the consistently dreadful coverage of naval matters in the British media, as highlighted by such recent stories as ’300 admirals and captains for 19 warships’ (thank you, the Daily Fail)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Law of Unintended Consequences
So here’s the thing. Last week, I decided at the last minute to post a tongue-in-cheek little piece that I’d knocked up very quickly, without necessarily intending ever to share it with the wider...
View Article