The invasion of Buenos Aires – June 1806
The trouble with anniversaries is that they come round every year. I've been threatening to spend less of my time writing blog posts so as we, yet again, mark the anniversary of the British invasion of Buenos Aires, I'm recycling one from last year. (I've edited it a...
A visit to Kew Palace
I visit quite a lot of historic sites around Britain but surprisingly few that relate directly to the periods that I write about. So my trip to Kew Palace this week was particularly enjoyable. I visited before, many years ago when it was rather a sad shadow of itself...
Indian Mutiny or War of Independence?
In an age when any conversations about empire and colonialism can be triggering, I’ve always been quite surprised that the John Williamson Papers don’t seem to have attracted a lot of political attacks. I’m surprised rather than pleased, because there is no doubt that...
Marble Hill House – What happened to the house after the last private owners left?
Last week I wrote about Marble Hill House, the beautiful Palladian villa built for Henrietta Howard in the first half of the 18th century. After her death, it passed to her nephew and then her great-niece before being rented out to a succession of tenants (including...
Marble Hill House
I've just realised that I've hardly ever written about Marble Hill House. I've written a lot about the park, but hardly anything about the house itself. This is a peculiar omission, especially as I’ve started doing some volunteer work over there so I'll be spending a...
Paperback Pricing
From 20 June, Amazon are increasing the print costs on their paperbacks. Inevitably this means their authors have to review what they are charging for the books. All my Burke books are currently £8.99 which I judged as being roughly the “going rate” for this sort of...
Wellington and the Coronation: then and now
On Sunday we dropped in for a quick visit to Apsley House on our way to dance at the Argentine Ambassador's Residence (as you do). Someone at English Heritage had said that we had to see the Duke's robes, which were on display there and which had been worn at...
Researching a ride across the Andes
What was the toughest research I’ve ever done for a book. I’m going to go for ‘Most likely to have you freeze to death in a snowstorm while sheltering in an unheated stone hut 3,000 metres up the Andes.’ It’s a good story and every so often I try to interest people in it and they completely blank me. Perhaps they think I’m making it up. But, anyway, here goes again.
The Illusions: Liz Hyder
When I read that The Illusions is a historical novel (it’s set at the end of the 19th century) that combines a story about stage magicians with supernatural elements about people playing with actual magic, I couldn't resist it. That's the central idea in my own...
Tyntesfield: made for photographing
Last week I spent an afternoon at Tyntesfield. It's a National Trust property near Bath. It was bought in 1844, by William Gibbs, a merchant who had made a vast fortune out of guano. The idea of using bird droppings for fertiliser was new at the time. It...