It is no coincidence that many of Alistair MacLean's most successful novels were sea stories. In 1941, he was called up after volunteering for the Royal Navy and served as Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman, and Leading Torpedo Operator. For the majority of his service, he was on HMS Royalist, a modified Dido-class light cruiser, seeing action in the Arctic, and operations against the German battleship Tirpitz . The ship then deployed to the Mediterranean taking part in Operation Dragoon the inv...

On 4 September 1944, Allied forces and local resistance fighters captured the Belgian port of Antwerp, the largest harbour in Europe. Once opened to Allied shipping, the port would revolutionise the Allies’ delivery of supplies into mainland Europe, stores which were still having to make the long overland journey from Normandy and places such as Cherbourg. But to enable this to happen, the Scheldt Estuary and, more importantly, the island of Walcheren also needed to cleared of Hitler’s for...

In the extraordinary life of Mark Simmons, a tall 6'6" force of humor and compassion, an epic tale of laughter, inspiration and transformation unfolds. Hailing from Cherokee, Iowa, Mark has traversed the diverse realms of public school education and stand-up comedy. Mark's comedic prowess emerged as a beacon of laughter, illuminating the lives of countless individuals in his quest for stardom as an actor and stand-up comedian. Yet, it was his calling as an educator that truly set him on th...

This is the story of the British involvement with the island of Cyprus over a hundred years. Since World War I, Cyprus has played a key role in British defence strategy. After the withdrawal from Egypt the island became the British Middle East headquarters. Britain retains two sovereign bases on the island, and it has become a favourite with UK tourists. Much of the tale is oral history, told in the words of the people who served the British Crown on Cyprus, civil and military; many relate...

In March 1941, the Royal navy scored one of the greatest one-sided victories against the Italian Fleet the Regia Marina at Matapan. It brought to an end six months of remarkable success for the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. When France fell and Italy declared war on Britain, Admiral Dudley Pound had wanted to evacuate the Mediterranean altogether and concentrate on home defence. Churchill overruled him, regarding such a move as the death knell of the British Empire. His decision made th...

John Eppler thought himself to be the perfect spy. Born to German parents, he grew up in Egypt, adopted by a wealthy family and was educated in Europe. Fluent in German, English and Arabic, he made the Hadj to Mecca but was more at home in high society or travelling the desert on camelback with his adopted Bedouin tribe. After joining the German Secret Service in 1937, in 1942 he was sent across the desert to Cairo by Field Marshal Rommel. His guide was the explorer and Hu...

The Fresh Prince Architect: The Life and Legacy of Samm-Art Williams III is the untold story of a television titan whose pen shaped a generation.From the rural roots of Burgaw, North Carolina to the glimmering sound stages of Hollywood, Samm-Art Williams rose through the ranks as a playwright, screenwriter, producer, and visionary behind some of the most iconic Black stories to ever hit American screens. While millions remember The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,...

ELYESA BAZNA WAS THE HIGHEST-PAID SPY IN HISTORY.Working for the British ambassador in Ankara in 1943, Bazna photographed top-secret documents and sold them to the Nazis. So started his career as a 'walk-in', a freelance spy whose loyalties lay with the highest bidder. His codename was Cicero.But a beautiful woman was to end it all. Cicero was compromised by an American-controlled agent working at the German Embassy, who obtained his codena...

The elaborate Allied schemes to keep Spain and Portugal out of WWII—featuring the real-life spy work of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond.Historian Mark Simmons reveals the various Allied operations designed to keep the Iberian Peninsula out of WWII. It is a tale of widespread bribery of high ranking Spanish officials, the duplicity of Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, and an elaborate scheme developed by a Naval Intelligence commander who would later crea...

In 1953 Ian Fleming’s literary sensation James Bond emerged onto the world’s stage. Nearly seven decades later he has become a multi-billion-dollar film franchise, now equipped with all the gizmos of the modern world. Yet Fleming’s creation that battled his way through the fourteen Bond novels, from 1953-1966, was a maverick, a man out of place. Bond even admits it, wishing he was back in the real war...the Second World War. Indeed, the thread of the Second World War runs through all the B...

It has been nearly two centuries since the first publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore. Since my earliest memory of Christmas, like countless other folks, I have revisited the poem every year and have derived pleasure from each reading. It never gets old.When my wife encountered cancer in 1992, a certain reallocation of marital tasks became necessary. So for going on three decades, I've composed our annual Christmas letter to family and friends. In 2020, ...

MI5 agent Rob Nicolson is sent to Spain, he is an IRA target after his last mission. Just to sit in the sun, and get some R & R until it blows over. There is a small job he can do to pass the time. Look up Commander Styles, an ex-pat, an Old Firm agent, raising a stink. It is another 'easy job' that goes wrong as Rob arrives on the Costa del Sol to find Styles dead. Murdered; why and by whom? Rob soon feels he is being manipulated. The only person he can rely on , a young woman of Welsh/Sp...