Today is Lancashire Day when the people of Lancashire celebrate the anniversary of sending its first members to the Model Parliament of Edward I in 1295. On this day, we toast HM The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster. On such a day it is worth remembering an old hero of Lancashire, Charles Rumney Samson. Samson was one of the first four Royal Navy pilots and a pioneer of naval aviation. He was born in 1883, in a suburb of Manchester, so in his day, he was Lancashire born and br

I have asked this question in a previous blog. Why do screenwriters distort historical events so much? Over the weekend, I watched the film, Zulu. It is a brilliant film and one I have enjoyed many times, so much so that this time I felt inspired to read more of the actual history of the battle at Rorke's Drift. It came as a disappointment, therefore, to discover that one of the characters, Private Hook VC, was in fact a model soldier. In the film he was portrayed as a dr

One of the first acts by the Royal Navy during WW1was to have the German underwater telegraphic cables cut in the North Sea, thus denying them telegram communications with most of the world. It meant that they had to rely on high frequency radio transmissions to communicate with their embassies and overseas ships. Knowing this, the Admiralty engaged the help of Marconi and the Post Office to set up listening stations on the east coast of England to intercept the German sign

I am now about two thirds of the way through the first draft of my latest and fourth WW1 naval thriller, Where the Baltic Ice is Thin. I have decided to include in my tale an embellished version of the true account of German perfidy in the sinking of the submarine HMS E13 in the neutral waters of Denmark. E13, under the command or Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Layton, was despatched to the Baltic in August 1915 to assist the Russians intercept German shipments of iron ore fr

In June 1913, Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, persuaded the House of Commons that the Treasury should spend £2.2 million on a 51% stake in Persian oil fields in order to guarantee the supply of fuel oil to the Royal Navy. The House approved the bill within a day, the investment was duly made and a twenty-year contract negotiated. I suspect today’s Sea Lords are jealous of the influence their predecessors once held. In my second novel, Now the Darkness Gath

My new book will be launched in just under two weeks' time. It tells the tale of a young man's reluctant entry into Britain's embryonic Secret Service and his subsequent adventures. Charged with cowardice by his father, a naval war hero, he must overcome his fears to regain his father's love and respect. In the deserts and mountains of Persia in a battle for control of the Admiralty's oil fields, he uncovers a plot by the Germans to incite a holy war in the Near East and I

I have just sent the final proofs back to my publisher for the next novel in my series about the Miller family in WW1. It was odd to read it again in such a short time and so long after I finished the book. However, I am very pleased with it and even I was moved to tears a few times with a couple of emotionally charged scenes. The new plot is set in the early days of the formation of what became to be known as MI5 and MI6 (more accurately, the SIS) and later, the forerunner o

Naturally, I am extremely proud to have received twenty-two 5* reviews on Amazon UK for my first novel, The Custom of the Trade, as well as several in the US and even one in France. However, it is particularly pleasing to receive favourable comment from one’s peers and I am very flattered to have received three reviews from authors in different genres. This was from Loyd Uglow, in Texas and author of several books, including, Slow Train to Sonora, a spy story set on the Mexi