The Unwitting Synopsis In the house in Winchester in southern England where my great grandmother, Jane Benwell lived, religious texts such as ‘Thou God Seest Me’ festooned the walls. She sang lustily and played on her harmonium hymns, such as ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’; and no one was permitted to do...
Thomas Hardy: Christmas Carollings
Thomas Hardy: Synopsis Anyone fortunate enough to have heard the music of the Dorset folk group, ‘The Yetties’ would have been instantly transported into the world of Dorset poet and novelist, Thomas Hardy. For the Yetties made recordings of Hardys favourite music: using his own fiddle and other musical instruments...
Mugabe: Monarch Of Blood And Tears
Mugabe: Synopsis During my teenage years spent in Southern Rhodesia in the 1950s, Robert Mugabe was a relatively unknown teacher. I subsequently discovered from his former secretary, that as President of Zimbabwe (as the country became) and contrary to his what his image proclaims, he was capable of great kindness...
By Swords Divided: Corfe Castle in the Civil War
By Swords Divided: Synopsis Some idea of the atmosphere that pertained in Corfe Castle at the time of the English Civil War is conjured up, as I have witnessed personally, when members of the English Civil War Society come marching into town, with pikes, drums, muskets, and full regalia! During...
T.E. Lawrence: The Enigma Explained
T.E. Lawrence: Synopsis Soldier and writer, T. E. Lawrence, the famous ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ remains an enigma to this day. Particularly baffling, is why someone who became a legend in his own lifetime with his exploits in Arabia during the First World War, subsequently chose to join the lower ranks...
HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy
HMS Hood: Synopsis When the British battlecruiser HMS Hood , the so-called ‘Pride of the Royal Navy’, set sail for the North Atlantic in pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck, no one would have believed that the great ship would be sunk within a few minutes of the commencement of...
Lawrence of Arabia’s Clouds Hill
Lawrence of Arabia’s Synopsis Clouds Hill is a humble cottage in the heart of Dorset which once belonged to a woodman and, from 1923 was occupied by T. E. Lawrence. The cottage, which Lawrence described as ‘an earthly paradise’, is situated not far from his workplace, the army camp at...
Kindly Light: The Story of Blind Veterans UK
Kindly Light: Synopsis My grandfather, Thomas Waldin played an important part in my young life. I can see him now in my mind’s eye, at work in his general stores in Winchester in southern England, which was the converted garage of my great grandmother’s house. Here, he served his customers...
Bound for the East Indies
Bound for the Synopsis The former cliff quarries of Winspit and Seacombe on the Dorset coast are very dear to my heart, for this was our destination, on the very first outing that my wife, Rachel and I had embarked upon together. Here, lying against the cliffs like a buttress,...
Dunshay: Reflections on a Dorset Manor House
Dunshay: Synopsis Every old house has a story to tell, but that of Dunshay Manor in South Dorset is more fascinating than most. Rediscover the extraordinary people who inhabited a remote Dorsetshire manor house over the course of several centuries, including the wife of a mediaeval knight; two painters of...