Ice Houses
I’ve mentioned the work that’s been done on the beautiful Georgian villa of Marble Hill in Twickenham. Along the way, though, I’ve heard some very strange things from the ‘garden historians’ who advised English Heritage on restoration work. One of the strangest was...
Journal of the Covid years: a quiet anniversary
Here's the latest instalment of my beloved's covid diaries. We've both been pleasantly surprised at the positive comments we've had about them, but we won't be able to keep up the weekly posts much longer. As life opened up, there was more going on and keeping the...
The British Invasion of Buenos Aires, 1806
On 27 June 1806 Buenos Aires fell to the British. It's one of the least well-known campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars but the first of the James Burke books, Burke in the Land of Silver, centres on the run-up to this battle (not that there was really a battle) and its...
Journal of the covid years: our first social gathering
June 2020 and it's been over three months since we've seen our friends who we would usually see every week. With restrictions on outdoor gatherings lifting, we could finally meet up. We were excited. Sunday 22 June 2020 The event of the month - the summer solstice...
Could I present this blog post as interpretative dance? Should I even try?
An extra post today because I loved last night's performance of The Car Man so much and its run at the Albert Hall ends of Sunday and I want people to go and see it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This week I've been...
Shrewsbury (Photo essay)
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have seen that Tammy and I spent a couple of days in Shrewsbury last week. It’s somewhere that we have been meaning to visit for years and we have finally got round to it. Like so many people, I was attracted to the place by reading...
Journal of the Covid Years: good times at home, but concern for friends away
My beloved's journal continues, though how long we'll keep up these weekly posts is uncertain. It's a difficult time to catch the mood of. On the one hand, we are enjoying long country walks with our son and his new bubble but, on the other, friends trapped abroad and...
The siege of Cawnpore
Last week I outlined the historical background to the siege of Cawnpore, as described in the second of my John Williamson novels, Cawnpore. The siege ran from 6th to 25th June 1857, so last Monday was the 165th anniversary of its start. General Wheeler, the officer...
Journal of the Covid Years: Ups & Downs
Every Thursday I post an excerpt from my wife’s journal written two years earlier. Two years ago this week, there were signs of life returning to normal, but also intense nervousness amongst those who thought it was too soon. The Second Wave was just a vague...
India, 1857
This is the time of year when my thoughts turn to Cawnpore and the events of 1857. Although the British had been establishing themselves in India for some time before 1757, the battle of Plassey is often seen as a turning point, marking the beginning of British rule...