It’s not easy to walk around Manchester and picture the place as it might have looked in 1745 – but it’s not impossible either. And I’ve done this Manchester Jacobites walk now in a couple of different ways. The simple way is to stand in three different locations – the Victoria pedestrian bridge, the side of Marks & Spencer on the corner of … [Read more...] about Jacobites – Manchester Jacobites
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Sixth Century Britain – the New Novel
Here's the cover... And here's the synopsis... In the Westerlands of those isles once named Britannia by the Empire and its vanished Legions, the brother of Ambros Skyhound is killed in a kinfolk-feud, which will ignite a vicious civil war. There are warlords who follow the new ways of the Christ-followers – those, too, who still defend their … [Read more...] about Sixth Century Britain – the New Novel
Jacobites – Ten things we may owe to Georgian Britain
Georgian Britain, setting for The Jacobites' Apprentice. But what, exactly, did the Georgians ever do for us? Coffee houses Coffee houses had existed in Oxford and London since the middle of the 17th Century, but they really flourished in the Georgian era, spreading also to other provincial cities. The price of entrance was generally … [Read more...] about Jacobites – Ten things we may owe to Georgian Britain
Zulu War – Ten Things You May Not Know
The Kraals of Ulundi: A Novel of the Zulu War sparks some interesting issues... The 1964 Film Zulu and Apartheid The film was directed by American screenwriter Cy Endfield and produced by Stanley Baker and Endfield, with Joseph E. Levine as executive producer. The screenplay is by John Prebble and Endfield, based on an article by Prebble, … [Read more...] about Zulu War – Ten Things You May Not Know
Sixth Century Britain – Festivals and Celebrations
The Song-Sayer’s Lament is set around the year we would now describe as 540 AD, in Sixth Century Dark Age Britain, and I wanted to mark the passage of time for my characters in a way that might be credible for the period in question. Why? Because, in truth, we have no idea how Britons, in the century after the Romans left our shores, calculated … [Read more...] about Sixth Century Britain – Festivals and Celebrations