In June 1913, Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, persuaded the House of Commons that the Treasury should spend £2.2...

Today, on 31st May in 1916, 250 British and German ships met in what became known in the Battle of Jutland. The battle was to last until...

In my second novel, on WW1 naval intelligence, I made reference to the secret or invisible inks used by intelligence agents during and...

I open my first novel, The Custom of the Trade, with a tragic submarine accident, in September 1911. The inspiration for my story came...

I have been reminded that today is the 51st anniversary of HM opening officially the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane. Last week, the...

We have recently commemorated ANZAC Day. In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers participated in an expedition to capture the...

In submarines it is quite common not to shave when on patrol. This is a throw- back to the days when the Royal Navy operated...

In the late 1980s, I completed my Mandarin interpreter training in Hong Kong and the night before I was due to fly home, I was summoned...

Following the popularity of my post last week, I am bowing to demand by dredging up other tales from my memory banks about the more...

During my days in submarines, I and several others spent far too much time down near the Falkland Islands for our liking. This was in...

Who would have thought that a torpedo test ship would have such an impact on the conduct of the First World War? On 2 August 1914, the...

Yesterday, I was very privileged to visit the village of Elsfield in Oxfordshire, where the author John Buchan once lived and his ashes...

A namesake of mine was the German Intelligence Service's spymaster in Britain during the period leading up to the outbreak of WW1. W...

My third book, The Wings of the Wind, is with my publisher for scrutiny. Whilst I await my fate, I have begun work on my fourth novel,...

My third book, The Wings of the Wind, is with my publisher for scrutiny. Whilst I await my fate, I have begun work on my fourth novel,...

I am delighted to announce that I have just submitted my third novel to my publisher. Part of my For Those in Peril series, this story...

Mention the word 'Gallipoli' in the context of WW1 and most people think of a disaster on the beaches and the Allies' failure to force a...

Today in 1919, the Women's Royal Naval Service was disbanded, only to be reinstated in 1939. The WRNS was formed during WW1, in November...

Yesterday, HM the Queen marked the start of GCHQ's centenary celebrations. In 1919, the Royal Navy's Room 40, of which I write in my...

The current and all past heads of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) are and have been known as 'C', for "Chief", but the first...