We take GPS for granted now, don’t we? I haven’t used a paper map in the car for, probably, decades? We have paper charts on our boat for planning purposes, but Admiralty charts are no longer available to purchase in paper form. It was on the 2nd of May, 2000, that...

The May edition of Red Herrings, the bulletin of the Crime Writers’ Association, has landed. I take particular encouragement from an article by Chris Nickson titled: CRIME SERIES IN BOOKS - WHY WRITE THEM? Chris explains that publishers love a series because after a...

On the 1st of May, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union whilst flying a Lockheed U2 spyplane during the Cold War. During the 1950s, the United States had limited reliable intelligence about Soviet military capabilities, particularly its...

On the 30th of April, 1859, Charle Dickens published the first edition of his literary magazine, All The Year Round, containing the first installment of A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was the most celebrated novelist of the Victorian age and remains...

I can’t believe I haven’t written about James Cook before now. He got a brief mention in my post on Antarctica. Well, here goes then. On the 29th of April, 1770, Captain James Cook arrived in a bay on Australia’s south east coast which he named Botany Bay. Cook was...

As a writer of historical fiction, the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, I am interested in both history and words. My pick for today’s historical event is the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem, on the 28th of April, 1192. The assassination was...

The Battle of Dunbar was fought on the 27th of April, 1296. It was one of the opening engagements of the First War of Scottish Independence and resulted in a decisive English victory. Though sometimes overshadowed by later battles such as Stirling Bridge and...

Marie de Medici was born on the 26th of April 1575. She is a character in two of the published books in my Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, The Spy who Sank the Armada and The Suggested Assassin. She is a central character in the fifth book in the series, Serpents...

On the 25th of April, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson published Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. I have written before about DNA, but not its discovery. The discovery of DNA as the molecule of heredity was not a...

We take GPS for granted now, don’t we? I haven’t used a paper map in the car for, probably, decades? We have paper charts on our boat for planning purposes, but Admiralty charts are no longer available to purchase in paper form. It was on the 2nd of May, 2000, that...

The May edition of Red Herrings, the bulletin of the Crime Writers’ Association, has landed. I take particular encouragement from an article by Chris Nickson titled: CRIME SERIES IN BOOKS - WHY WRITE THEM? Chris explains that publishers love a series because after a...

On the 1st of May, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union whilst flying a Lockheed U2 spyplane during the Cold War. During the 1950s, the United States had limited reliable intelligence about Soviet military capabilities, particularly its...

On the 30th of April, 1859, Charle Dickens published the first edition of his literary magazine, All The Year Round, containing the first installment of A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was the most celebrated novelist of the Victorian age and remains...

I can’t believe I haven’t written about James Cook before now. He got a brief mention in my post on Antarctica. Well, here goes then. On the 29th of April, 1770, Captain James Cook arrived in a bay on Australia’s south east coast which he named Botany Bay. Cook was...

As a writer of historical fiction, the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, I am interested in both history and words. My pick for today’s historical event is the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem, on the 28th of April, 1192. The assassination was...

The Battle of Dunbar was fought on the 27th of April, 1296. It was one of the opening engagements of the First War of Scottish Independence and resulted in a decisive English victory. Though sometimes overshadowed by later battles such as Stirling Bridge and...

Marie de Medici was born on the 26th of April 1575. She is a character in two of the published books in my Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, The Spy who Sank the Armada and The Suggested Assassin. She is a central character in the fifth book in the series, Serpents...

On the 25th of April, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson published Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. I have written before about DNA, but not its discovery. The discovery of DNA as the molecule of heredity was not a...