by David West | Jul 18, 2025 | News
The 18th of July strikes me as bad day for Jews. It was on this day in 1925 that Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf, and it was the day in 1290 that King Edward I, or Edward Longshanks, issued his Edict of Expulsion, which banished all Jews from England. Edward...
by David West | Jul 17, 2025 | News
On the 17th of July, 1936, the Spanish armed forces rebelled against the recently elected left-wing Popular Front government, sparking the Spanish Civil War. Vendetta in Spain, by Dennis Wheatley, is one of my favourite books. It gives a good account of the start of...
by David West | Jul 16, 2025 | News
On the 16th of July, 1661, the Swedish bank Stockholm Banco issued Europes first banknotes. I had wondered when folding money might appear in my books, the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. My characters must tire of carrying all those ducats, pistoles and livres...
by David West | Jul 15, 2025 | News
On the 15th of July, 1849, Austria launched pilotless balloons against Venice during the First Italian War of Independence. This is the first recorded air raid. I have written about aerial warfare before, and about my pilot training, but I hadn’t known about this...
by David West | Jul 14, 2025 | News
The 14th of July is Bastille Day, celebrating the storming of the Bastille in 1789, and marking the outbreak of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a formidable fortress-prison located in Paris, originally constructed in the 14th century to defend the eastern...
