by David West | Jan 25, 2026 | News
On the 25th of January, 1890, Nellie Bly completed her round-the-world journey in 72 days. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne was published in 1872, and Nellie was trying to emulate the hero, Phileas Fogg. I have posted about Sir Francis Drake’s...
by David West | Jan 24, 2026 | News
It can’t have escaped the attention of visitors to my website that I write historical fiction. Since discovering my ancestor, the Elizabethan spy, Sir Anthony Standen, I have become a bit of an amateur historian. My formal education in history ended after the third...
by David West | Jan 24, 2026 | News
I have posted about the Tudor period many times, not least anything concerning my ancestor, the Elizabethan spy Sir Anthony Standen. I have written about a few of his wives: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine of Aragon, and Catherine Parr, but I have not, until now,...
by David West | Jan 23, 2026 | News
On the 23rd of January, 1879, the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ended. It is depicted in the classic 1964 film Zulu, directed by Cy Endfield, and starring Michael Cane, Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobssen and many others. The Battle of Rorke’s Drift, fought on the...
by David West | Jan 22, 2026 | News
On the 22nd of January, 1941, Tobruk was captured from the Italians by British and Commonwealth forces during the Western Desert campaign of World War Two. Although Tobruk features on my father’s battle honours, that was the 1942 battle in which we retook it from the...
