Good morning from Chester - meet Thomas Brassey - local lad who (it is said) built a third of the UK railways during his lifetime. (As well as large sections of rail around the world)
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Delighted to announce that I'll be at #BloodyBarnes in Feb 2027 alongside an INCREDIBLE line-up including Mick Herron, @valmcdermid, @JaniceHallett, @GylesB1 Brandreth, @MarkEllis15 & @VaseemKhanUK!
I know, something to crow about! bloodybarnes.com
I know, something to crow about! bloodybarnes.com
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Had a fantastic evening hosting the literary legend Sir Alexander @McCallSmith for dinner at the @spectator last night with a table of wonderful guests - here’s a snapshot … Thanks to @SpectatorEvents and everyone for coming and making it such a blast!
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Congratulations to @PaulWaters99 on publication of his new Irish-Indian cosy crime mystery — Death at the Elephant House! I was delighted to join the party at @GoldsboroBooks last night and get my hands on a copy
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An exceptional column on the need for the restoration of excellence in our society — from @CitySamuel - do take note
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Great to see Drabble and Harris on the shelves of @WaterstonesPicc - as you can see, I had to fight an eager buyer off here to secure the picture….
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Guess where I’m going today … can’t wait! And I’m more than happy to pay the tourist tax, too
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Thank you to @MattLewisAuthor and @NathenAmin for joining me on #TheRicardianPodcast to discuss the standing, reputation and alleged crimes of Richard III today, @R3_Society_USA @rsociety_iii @RichardIIICA
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…
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HUNTER CLASS from @BardosAlan is proving to be a highly inventive and fast-paced caper — one inspired by the real life Deering-do of Ian Fleming’s 30 Commando unit. Father’s Day coups have been invented for it. @SharpeBooks
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Now that’s a war memorial / in Launceston, ho outing those who died for King and Country in the Great War. Notice how they shoe-horned the Second World War in later… alas…. Unveiled by the future Edward VIII too….
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Hats off to the @EdenProject - 25 years young this year and my first visit … but what a place!
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When I see the word 'Claude', this is what I immediately think of. Anyone else in the same boat? I wonder if that's a problem...
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This is Ronald Hutton’s opener on Charles I in Oliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief. Very good….
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Just finished this Alexander Kent classic - 7 in Bolitho’s fictional biographical order but the first one published, in 1968. Might be controversial to fans but I think this js probably the best of them, too — right down to its title snipped from Garrick. If you’ve not, do…
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Here I am in full flow addressing the lovely audience at the East Bergholt WI last week -- what a blast and thanks again for the warm welcome! I was talking about #historicalfiction, Drabble & Harris, Frank Champion and me ....
@SharpeBooks
@SharpeBooks
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Tonight’s authorial roadshow brings me to the village of East Bergholt in #Essex to talk about my life in #historicalfiction with the WI branch! Can’t wait….
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Thanks to @BardosAlan for sending me his latest Daniel Nichols thriller to read… very much looking forward to getting stuck in! @SharpeBooks
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In 1899 the then Major Douglas Haig, writing from South Africa, expressed what many soliders since must have felt:
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My current bedtime reading . Vol. 1 of an authorised bio from 1935. Duff Cooper’s sentences are just👌 eg ‘Like Wellington before him, he was considered the dunce of the family, and like his contemporary Henry Wilson … Haig gave no precocious evidence of intellectual ability.’
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I appreciate that it’s not the most important thing but what is this look - black T-shirt and jacket … 1990s supply French teacher? Does he expect to dress the same as PM?
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For those of us with one foot in the past, it's interesting to see Beaufort Castle, built in around 1139, back at the centre of world affairs. If Only King Fulk of Jerusalem could see this...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_…
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Excited to be presenting a @SpectatorEvents masterclass on #CrimeFiction writing next month! Take a look:
events.spectator.co.uk/events/crime-w…
events.spectator.co.uk/events/crime-w…
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This was fun - @MarkEllis15, @alex_gerlis, @BardosAlan, Anne Mullins (Bloody Barnes crime festival), @TimJRSullivan, @fifilalebonbon and me, of course, Enjoying the #thrillerdinner this week. Thanks to everyone for coming!
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A stroll through Constable country is what Sundays were invented for… thank goodness for Flatford Mill
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A Labour MP in an area set to switch to Reform has just on the BBC to announce very deliberately that ‘it’s curtains for Keir’ - that’s sooner than I thought and in good time for the one o’clock news…. It begins….
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Quoting Mark Carney (‘we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition’) geopolitics expert @TinaFordham1 tells #Spears500live that the current state of global geo upheaval is ‘a break from the past and not a time when we can use forecasting to predict’. Buckle up …
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Excellent to be at the launch of STALIN’S APOSTLES by @Tonisenior this evening- great speech, and a lovely party!
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In the last few days my Frank Champion novel, CUT AND RUN, passed through the 50-threshold on reviews/ratings on #Amazon with a score of 4.4 – not too shabby! *Thank you* to everyone who's bought the book and left a comment! 🙏 #histfic
Amazon UK: amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CYQHFJVX
Amazon UK: amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CYQHFJVX
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In a world full of more important matters it’s still sad-making to hear repeated uses of ‘fire truck’ in @BBCr4today news bulletins this morning. Whither the fire engine? Somewhere in heaven little clay angels are expiring…
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I bought this in the school bookshop as a precocious nine-year-old in 1984. Finally read it a few years later. Goodness …
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Down below on page 2 of The Times today is the dog that’s still years from barking in British politics - but it will (in about 15). Gen X is facing a grim grey future….
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In a world aflame there is good news from Texas - space food has arrived …. (And yes, Matt Damon did it first)
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For #WorldBookDay2026
Here's the book that got me reading as a boy – and inspired me to become a writer – 'Richard Bolitho – Midshipman' from 1975 by Alexander Kent (real name Douglas Reeman). I went on to read the rest of the series... 🫡
Here's the book that got me reading as a boy – and inspired me to become a writer – 'Richard Bolitho – Midshipman' from 1975 by Alexander Kent (real name Douglas Reeman). I went on to read the rest of the series... 🫡
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The latest #episode of The Ricardian #podcast has landed! This time, we ask what's the greatest #book on Richard III? Oh, yes, #history meets #bookclub ! @R3_Society_USA @rsociety_iii
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6Fz9Oa…
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6Fz9Oa…
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…
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Look at this whopper - the Sheepen Cauldron - found outside Colchester and now in @ColMuseums - dating back to 1150 BC this is a huge party in a pot, used for Iron age festivals and feasts…. The only way is Essex meets Asterix.
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Interesting figures on UK film industry in the @FT today…. Lots of money rolling in from the streamers
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This is spot on from @TinaBrownLM from the latest @spectator on the Washington Post situation and its management by Jeff Bezos
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@TinaBrownLM hits the nail on the head here with her criticism on media bosses who apply data-led thinking to journalism - it’s not how it work. Here Brown is on the Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos:
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@TinaBrownLM hits the nail on the head in the @spectator on the error of media execs and bosses thinking they can rely on data to drive editorial choices and journalism. At best it’s a rear view mirror. Brown hits it here on the Washington Post and Bezos:
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This has made my day… meet Puffing Billy who dates back to around 1814 and is said to be the oldest surviving steam loco @sciencemuseum
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Thanks🙏 to everyone who's bought a copy of 🔥CUT AND RUN 🔥on #Kindle in the past day or so -- it's currently running at 14th place in #Amazon's historical #thrillers chart! #KindleDeals
#99p @SharpeBooks
#CrimeFiction #historicalfiction
#99p @SharpeBooks
#CrimeFiction #historicalfiction
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Excellent editorial in @thetimes this morning - on Trump, Chagos and Greenland — ought to be compulsory reading in Downing Street….
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Look what I found inside this edition of Churchill’s history of the Second World War (volume one) …. Any thoughts?
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Just unearthed this newspaper cutting from June 1958 … WSC visiting Blenheim Palace - found inside volume one of his history of WW2
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In case you missed in... the latest #RicardianPodcast features @MattLewisAuthor and Wendy Moorhen discussing the #princesinthetower and Maximilian I...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/max…
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/max…
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Denholm Elliot nailing the crushed look of a found hack spotting a contact he’s been avoiding in The Boys from Brazil
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By freezing the higher rate threshold for another two years to 2030 the chancellor will bring some 10m people into the 40p tax bracket - up from 1.7 million in 1990.
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A superb evening at the Beefsteak Club to celebrate the publication of Spies In History, edited by @_paullay — to which I was honoured to contribute an essay on the great John Buchan… do take a look
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It was a delight to meet Nigel Havers for the December edition of @TheFieldmag — do snap up your copy now…. @officialhavers
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