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After researching certain First World War pilots for several years I was approached to contribute towards an episode of BBC's Timewatch: Falling Aces (2009). Subsequently I took on a similar role for Channel 4's Fighting the Red Baron (2011). In 2012 I helped plan and research the BBC's series commemorating the sinking of the Titanic: Titanic with Len Goodman. Later on that year I also researched individual soldiers and contributed their stories to Channel 5's First World War archaeology series: WW1 Tunnels of Death - The Big Dig. The latter aired throughout Europe in 2013 and reached US screens in 2014. in 2015 I researched and appeared in a documentary to mark the centenary of the Lusitania disaster. I also worked on Channel 4's Secret Histories last year, on a documentary about the latter part of the Battle of the Somme for 2016. Since then I have appeared on numerous documentaries, including The Great War in Numbers, World War Weird and War Factories for Yesterday, and Ten Mistakes that sank the Titanic for Channel 5.
Shortly after The Big Dig I was approached to write a book and the result, Blood and Thunder: The Boys of Eton College and the First World War was published in April 2014. I have never been as interested in battles and strategy as I have been in the individuals that participated and their personal stories. If that seems simple, my answer would be that if I convinced one person to pick up their first book on the Great War, I'd be more satisfied than I would be selling a dozen copies to people who are already experts in the field.
I have since worked with fellow Chelsea fans to produce a book about our club's involvement in the Great War. "Over Land and Sea: Chelsea FC in the Great War" was released as a local history book in 2015. I didn't write it to champion Chelsea above any other club, more to examine football during the war. Chelsea did not contribute the most, or the least to the war effort, but are a good general example of how clubs reacted to the conflict, including the founding of the Footballer's Battalion on the doorstep of Stamford Bridge. Fans of Brighton, Luton, West Ham, to name a few, will also find players connected with their club included, but we especially wanted to talk about the fans who volunteered at matches and went off to fight.
In 2016 'Somme: 141 Days, 141 Lives' was releasedin June 2016 for the centenary. We hope that we have provided a new and unique insight into the battle. The book tells the story of the battle through the eyes of one man who died on each day. With some beautiful photography and a map showing where our chaps were laid to rest, I do hope we have also succeeded in producing something that is a keepsake for the 100th anniversary and something that can be taken to France as a battlefield guide of sorts.
My first novel, 'Black Winter,' following an officer through a rather unique experience of the war. Definitely not a ponderous tome about the futility of war. Crime fiction, the intention was for it to be fast paced and enjoyable, but for it to give an accurate portrayal of the war both on the Home Front (London) and in France. Much of it is based on letters and diaries that I have read over the years, but the story is completely made up. The second book in the series. "Red Dawn;" a prequel set in 1915, featured many of the same characters and was released in Summer 2019. Work has begun on the third instalment, "Blue Murder," centred around the French Mutinies in 1917.
In 2017, with the same team which produced 141 Days, a 3rd Ypres commemoration book entitled 'Passchendaele: 103 Days in Hell' was released. I also be contributed to a compilation book on Gallipoli, where I have wrote a chapter investigating the evacuation using new sources. The following year I published a biography of George V during the Great War, the first biography of His Majesty published using royal sources since 1983.
Current projects include The Elephant in the Room: George V, Edward VIII and the Crown; a book about the human experience of being a general in WW1, a D-Day related manuscript and a project pertaining to T.E. Lawrence.
When I finally get away from WW1 I spend my time at football matches (and blog about it as of 2016/17 from a Chelsea perspective at http://girlwholikesballs.weebly.com), singing and boring people with pictures of my cat on Facebook. He is disgustingly cute, in my defence.
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