Military Intelligence and Tactics
Military intelligence and tactics are vital. I mentioned The Ship Inn in a recent post. It possesses the most magnificent stained glass window. The banner in the window says “Ye Shippes of Fowey Haven preparing to welcome ye Armada.” The Ship Inn also displays a...
Finn Barr and Fowey
I love exploring old buildings. Since I discovered that my 10th great-granduncle was Sir Anthony Standen, an Elizabethan spy, I try and imagine him in those spaces. Claire and I have moored our sailing boat in Fowey Harbour. Two old building caught my attention. The...
Fate
Fate pivots on such small things. For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost. Well for the want of a rope, the course of history might have been very different. I saw this sign in Plymouth yesterday. John Howland fell overboard from the Mayflower on passage to America....
Charles V of Spain
I married my darling Claire thirty-three years ago today. But what else happened on this day in history? Francis I of France signed a secret treaty with Pope Clement VII 492 years ago today, against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis was the King who met Henry VIII...
The Addled Parliament
On 7th June 1614 King James I dissolved the “Addled Parliament”. The Addled Parliament was so-called because it failed to achieve anything of significance during its short lifespan. It was called by the king to address the financial issues that were plaguing the...
The Daymark and Oxford Prime Ministers
I’m a writer of historical fiction now, author of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. But I’m also a sailor, and a retired civil engineer. Therefore I was thrilled to discover the Daymark on my walk this afternoon. It’s a really elegant structure. I did wonder if you...
History and Horses
I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but the inspiration for my posts often comes from events which took place on the day. The first event on the “on this day” website for 1st June is 4000 BC, domestication of horses. They do say it’s a hypothesis only. The people of the...
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon plays a small part in The Spy who Sank the Armada, my fictionalised biography of Sir Anthony Standen. Sir Anthony was a spy who was controlled, for a time, by Anthony Bacon, Francis’s elder brother. On the 31st May 1621 Francis Bacon, who was then Lord...
Knowing your onions and Shakespeare
I was gazing at the weeds in our onion bed this morning, when I wondered where the phrase “know you onions” comes from. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable came to the rescue. It dispensed with the references to C.T. Onions, author and editor of the Shorter Oxford...
Military Intelligence and Tactics
Military intelligence and tactics are vital. I mentioned The Ship Inn in a recent post. It possesses the most magnificent stained glass window. The banner in the window says “Ye Shippes of Fowey Haven preparing to welcome ye Armada.” The Ship Inn also displays a...
Finn Barr and Fowey
I love exploring old buildings. Since I discovered that my 10th great-granduncle was Sir Anthony Standen, an Elizabethan spy, I try and imagine him in those spaces. Claire and I have moored our sailing boat in Fowey Harbour. Two old building caught my attention. The...
Fate
Fate pivots on such small things. For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost. Well for the want of a rope, the course of history might have been very different. I saw this sign in Plymouth yesterday. John Howland fell overboard from the Mayflower on passage to America....
Charles V of Spain
I married my darling Claire thirty-three years ago today. But what else happened on this day in history? Francis I of France signed a secret treaty with Pope Clement VII 492 years ago today, against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis was the King who met Henry VIII...
The Addled Parliament
On 7th June 1614 King James I dissolved the “Addled Parliament”. The Addled Parliament was so-called because it failed to achieve anything of significance during its short lifespan. It was called by the king to address the financial issues that were plaguing the...
The Daymark and Oxford Prime Ministers
I’m a writer of historical fiction now, author of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. But I’m also a sailor, and a retired civil engineer. Therefore I was thrilled to discover the Daymark on my walk this afternoon. It’s a really elegant structure. I did wonder if you...
History and Horses
I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but the inspiration for my posts often comes from events which took place on the day. The first event on the “on this day” website for 1st June is 4000 BC, domestication of horses. They do say it’s a hypothesis only. The people of the...
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon plays a small part in The Spy who Sank the Armada, my fictionalised biography of Sir Anthony Standen. Sir Anthony was a spy who was controlled, for a time, by Anthony Bacon, Francis’s elder brother. On the 31st May 1621 Francis Bacon, who was then Lord...
Knowing your onions and Shakespeare
I was gazing at the weeds in our onion bed this morning, when I wondered where the phrase “know you onions” comes from. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable came to the rescue. It dispensed with the references to C.T. Onions, author and editor of the Shorter Oxford...