by David West | Aug 13, 2025 | News
On the 13th of August, 1624, King Louis XIII appointed Cardinal Richelieu as his prime minister. I have written about Richelieu before, and he is a character in my work in progress, the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. Armand Jean du Plessis, better...
by David West | Aug 12, 2025 | News
On the 12th of August, 1865, Joseph Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery. Since I introduced a doctor as an important character in Called to Account, the fourth book of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, I have had to research the history of medicine. Joseph...
by David West | Aug 11, 2025 | News
On the 11th of August, 1942, the actress Hedy Lamarr and the composer George Antheil were granted a patent for a frequency hopping, spread-spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio...
by David West | Aug 10, 2025 | News
I’m currently reading John Le Carré’s George Smiley series, in order. Writers are readers too, and although there’s little similarity between Elizabethan and Cold War tradecraft, at a human level the spies are essentially the same. There isn’t much more I can do with...
by David West | Aug 10, 2025 | News
The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed on the 10th of August, 1583, by Queen Elizabeth I and the Dutch rebels fighting Spanish rule. Historical Context The treaty emerged amidst the backdrop of the Dutch Revolt, an uprising of the Seventeen Provinces against the Spanish...
