by David West | Aug 7, 2023 | News
You may think that I have selected a strange title for this post. Regular readers will know that I have been experimenting with artificial intelligence via Chat GBT. They also know that I often post about historical events that occurred on this day. On 7th August 1782...
by David West | Aug 5, 2023 | News
Point of view, and the reliability of narrators, are of great interest to writers. I’m just under halfway through reading “Power and reputation at the court of Louis XIII” by Sharon Kettering. This is research for the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures...
by David West | Aug 4, 2023 | News
A recent post was about Cambridge, so I thought I’d redress the balance and revisit Oxford. Simon de Montfort died on the 4th August 1265. When I collected my MA degree at a ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre, I had to swear several oaths in Latin. I recall that one...
by David West | Aug 2, 2023 | News
Francis Walsingham and I were born a few miles from each other. He was born near Chislehurst, and I went to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. He went to Cambridge and I went to Oxford. That’s where the similarity ends, except that he was the spymaster who...
by David West | Jul 31, 2023 | News
We are enjoying the new ITV spy drama, A Spy Among Friends. I recently read and reviewed the book, A Legacy of Spies, by John Le Carré. The author’s career with MI6 was ended by the treason of Kim Philby. I’d known about the Cambridge Four: Kim Philby, Donald MacLean,...
