There were several historical events that tempted me today. The 6th of October marked  the premier of The Jazz Singer, the first talking picture in 1927. I was tempted by the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Instead I have opted for Eurydice, the earliest...

An attempted assassination of Paolo Sarpi, commissioned by Pope Paul V, was thwarted on the 5th of October, 1607. This was one of the inspirations for Fire and Earth, the second book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623) was a Venetian...

Wikipedia tells me that on the 4th of October, 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, thereby starting the Crimean War. It seems topical as it involves both Palestine and Russia. The war primarily pitted the Russian Empire against an alliance comprising the...

My pick for today’s historical event is the Siege of Leiden, which was a pivotal event in the Eighty Years' War. Sir Anthony Standen was an Elizabethan Spy and was spying for Sir Francis Walsingham in Flanders at the time. In The Spy who Sank the Armada, the first...

My choice of historical event of the day is quite unusual, and I confess that I had not heard of the Nottingham Cheese Riot until today. I usually look for something I can link to that I have previously posted, for SEO (search engine optimisation), but I can’t think...

On the 1st of October, 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated King Darius III’s army at the Battle of Gaugamela. I’ve posted previously about an earlier clash between Persia and Greece, the Battle of Marathon. Alexander the Great, born in 356 BC in Pella, the ancient...

I’m currently reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. I posted about A Legacy of Spies some time ago, and I finally decided that it was time to read all of John Le Carré’s Smiley series in order. So it seems appropriate that today’s post should be about the Berlin...

Wikipedia tells me that it was on the 28th of September,1928, that Alexander Fleming noticed a mould growing in his laboratory that was killing bacteria. Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist born on the 6th August 1881 in Lochfield, Ayrshire, Scotland,...

There were several historical events that tempted me today. The 6th of October marked  the premier of The Jazz Singer, the first talking picture in 1927. I was tempted by the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Instead I have opted for Eurydice, the earliest...

An attempted assassination of Paolo Sarpi, commissioned by Pope Paul V, was thwarted on the 5th of October, 1607. This was one of the inspirations for Fire and Earth, the second book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623) was a Venetian...

Wikipedia tells me that on the 4th of October, 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, thereby starting the Crimean War. It seems topical as it involves both Palestine and Russia. The war primarily pitted the Russian Empire against an alliance comprising the...

My pick for today’s historical event is the Siege of Leiden, which was a pivotal event in the Eighty Years' War. Sir Anthony Standen was an Elizabethan Spy and was spying for Sir Francis Walsingham in Flanders at the time. In The Spy who Sank the Armada, the first...

My choice of historical event of the day is quite unusual, and I confess that I had not heard of the Nottingham Cheese Riot until today. I usually look for something I can link to that I have previously posted, for SEO (search engine optimisation), but I can’t think...

On the 1st of October, 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated King Darius III’s army at the Battle of Gaugamela. I’ve posted previously about an earlier clash between Persia and Greece, the Battle of Marathon. Alexander the Great, born in 356 BC in Pella, the ancient...

I’m currently reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. I posted about A Legacy of Spies some time ago, and I finally decided that it was time to read all of John Le Carré’s Smiley series in order. So it seems appropriate that today’s post should be about the Berlin...

Wikipedia tells me that it was on the 28th of September,1928, that Alexander Fleming noticed a mould growing in his laboratory that was killing bacteria. Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist born on the 6th August 1881 in Lochfield, Ayrshire, Scotland,...