Robert Mugabe: Synopsis In the 1950s my father suddenly announced that we were to leave our home in Lichfield in the English Midlands and go to live in Southern Rhodesia, where he was to take up the post of headmaster at a school for white children. For my mother, Jean...
Hitler’s Insanity: A Conspiracy of Silence
Hitler's Insanity: Synopsis Adolf Hitler was a paranoid schizophrenic, driven by command hallucinations which controlled his thoughts and deeds. But the question is, did any of his henchmen realise he was ‘mad’? English writer, Dr Samuel Johnson once said, ‘When a man knows he is to be hanged in a...
Jane Austen: Love is Like a Rose
Jane Austen: Synopsis If Jane Austen’s novels reflected her attitude to real life, as seems likely to be the case, then she evidently detested the pride and prejudice of those who considered themselves to be superior to others. And in her novels, she made it her business to ridicule such...
Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait
Agatha Christie: Synopsis Agatha Christie was, and is, the world’s most successful detective novelist. Yet, her own life was steeped in sadness: clues to the cause of which may be discovered in her writings. In Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait, Dr Andrew Norman delves deep into the crime writer’s past...
Mugabe: Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant
Mugabe: Synopsis Mugabe has been described as evil, a tyrant, and a monster. Yet, he is a person of academic distinction with a keen sense of humour. How can these seemingly opposed character traits exist in one and the same person? An explanation is offered. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a former...
The Story of George Loveless and the Tolpuddle Martyrs
The Story of George Loveless and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Synopsis Dorset folk and millions worldwide are familiar with the story of the six men from the village of Tolpuddle, the so-called ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’, who in the year 1834 were persecuted by the authorities and driven out of their native land...
Jane Austen: An Unrequited Love
Jane Austen: Synopsis Jane Austen, in her novels, writes of love and romance. But to what extent did they feature in her own life; and what were her own hopes and desires, and were they in any way fulfilled? Jane Austen is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in...
Father of the Blind: A Portrait of Sir Arthur Pearson
Father of the Blind: Synopsis As a child, living in Winchester in southern England I spent much time at the house of my great-grandmother. She lived nearby with her son-in-law Thomas Waldin, a widower.In this house, the name Sir Arthur Pearson was spoken of with reverence, as it was by...
Agatha Christie: The Pitkin Guide
Agatha Christie: Synopsis A beautifully illustrated guidebook for those seeking an introduction to the life of the great detective writer. Agatha Christie is the 'Queen of Crime'. As the best-selling novelist of all time, her stories have been loved by countless readers who have immersed themselves in her vivid characters,...
Enid Blyton and her Enchantment with Dorset
Enid Blyton and her Enchantment with Dorset Synopsis Many will recall in childhood, defying their parents by reading by torchlight at night-time under the bedclothes. I myself, recall doing this both at home and at boarding school, where all too often the object of my delight were Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous...