The background to A Betrayal of Heroes centres on the story of the Spanish Republican fighters who, despite Franco's victory in their civil war, carried on the battle against fascism and the Nazis. But that story begins with one of the greatest yet least-known episodes of the Second World War. Let's go back to the Allied defeat in the 1940 … [Read more...] about The Oath of Kufra
Spanish Civil War
Background to the Spanish Civil War, which I've written about over the past ten years or so, separate from those that relate more to Jack Telford.
The Blood-Stained Legacy of Northern Spain’s Civil War
While doing some further research about the War Routes of Northern Spain - Franco's propaganda strategy to bring in tourists while the conflict still raged - I came across an account of a Coventry school teacher (and Franco supporter), Miss Walker, "spreading the word" about the Nationalists' side of the story to a meeting of her local … [Read more...] about The Blood-Stained Legacy of Northern Spain’s Civil War
The Stanbrook Story
You’ll know the story already, I guess. Heroic. The tramp steamer Stanbrook. And its legendary Cardiff skipper, Archie Dickson. The tragic closing days of the Spanish Civil War. 28th March 1939 and a final desperate group of Republican refugees carried to Oran, North Africa. To comparative safety. Out of rebel General Franco’s … [Read more...] about The Stanbrook Story
Reynolds News and the Spanish Civil War
My three novels set during or in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War feature fictional journalist Jack Telford. But I needed a real-life newspaper for which he could report. And I chose the Sunday weekly Reynolds News. It had been founded as Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper in 1850 by radical journalist William MacArthur Reynolds. In … [Read more...] about Reynolds News and the Spanish Civil War
Amado Granell Mesado, the Spanish Republican who helped liberate Paris
Real-life Amado Granell plays a big part in A Betrayal of Heroes alongside our fictional Jack Telford – and readers have been asking for more about him. Well, here’s the full story… In Alicante lives a man called Miguel Ángel Pérez Oca. He’s 77 now. A famous science teacher, writer and illustrator of books on astronomy and other subjects. Author … [Read more...] about Amado Granell Mesado, the Spanish Republican who helped liberate Paris