Castles of Wales

Castles of Wales written by John Paul Davis and published by Pen & Sword

Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 264

In 1277, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd, met with Edward I of England in

Aberconwy to finalise a treaty that would change the fate of both nations. His hand

forced by Edward’s invasion earlier that year, Llywelyn’s acceptance of the terms

confirmed not only short-term peace but also that the rule of Wales would pass to

Edward on his death. To augment his rising dominance, the English king embarked

on a building project that saw the rise of some of the most recognisable fortresses

in Europe. Quite literally, an ‘Iron Ring’ of castles.

Even before the construction of Edward’s infamous ‘Iron Ring’, castles were by no means rare in Wales.Both before and simultaneous to William the Conqueror’s establishment of timber and stone fortresses in the south and borderlands, a process continued by many of his descendants, native structures also existed. Though often more palatial than protective, such constructions proved decisive to the ongoing wars and were often chosen as sites for future castles. Just as had been the case in England, the story of the castle crosses many centuries. Many began as Roman forts, whereas others date from more modern times. While many are now romantic ruins, others remain cherished family homes, if not hotels or museums.

By adopting an identical approach to that seen in Castles of England, the purpose of this book is to throw light on the stories behind them. For as long as there have been castles in Wales, there have been mysteries within their walls. Murders that remain unsolved, treasures unfound, prisoners left to rot in the darkest pits and valiant warriors whose heroic deeds have become a cherished part of the Welsh identity.

From blood-soaked heroes to long-lost legends, despotic pirates to wailing hags, Castles of Wales offers a fresh investigation into many of its fascinating fortresses. No country has more castles per square mile than Wales. Even today, there are more than 200 to be enjoyed. Inspired by such a rich tapestry of tales, this book provides an essential introduction to the nation many regard as ‘The Land of Castles’

I love books on castles for some reason, and I especially enjoyed the Castles of England, so I was really looking forward to this book Castles of Wales. As a good book on castles, it is full of vivid descriptions, histories and great long tales. Some of the tales I would be a little dubious of, but that’s what we love about old buildings and castles. But considering Wales has over 500 castles, it obviously couldn’t fit in everyone but certainly, it has all the popular and well-known ones. Living in my part of Wales, it certainly has all the popular castles but I must say I used to live near one castle and my boys used to spend all their time as kids playing in the castle but we’d never heard of the story attributed to that one. A really good book and an informative read.

English Rebels and Revolutionaries

English Rebels and Revolutionaries written by Stephen Basdeo and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 288

Throughout history brave Englishmen and women have never been afraid to rise up

against their unjust rulers and demand their rights. Barely a century has gone by

without England being witness to a major uprising against the government of the day,

often resulting in a fundamental change to the constitution. This book is a collection

of biographies, written by experts in their field, of the lives and deeds of famous

English freedom fighters, rebels, and democrats who have had a major impact on

history. Featured chapters include the history of Wat Tyler’s Rebellion, when an army

of 50,000 people marched to London in 1381 to demand an end to serfdom and the

hated poll tax. Alongside Wat Tyler in this pantheon of English revolutionaries is Jack

Cade who in 1450 led an angry mob to London to protest against government

corruption. There are three chapters on various aspects of the English Civil War,

during which the English executed their king. Other rebel heroes featured include

Thomas Paine, the great intellectual of the American and French Revolutions;

Mary Wollstonecraft, author of The Rights of Woman; Henry Hunt, who, as well as

the Chartists after him, campaigned for universal suffrage; William Morris, the

visionary designer and socialist thinker; and finally the Suffragettes and Suffragists

who fought for women’s voting rights.

English Rebels and Revolutionaries throughout English history, the book is a collection separated into chapters written by individual experts and historians. The book is split into three sections, the Medieval Era, the English Revolution and the 18th Century, highlighting a number of individuals and events that happened in those times. I must admit I preferred the 18th Century section most as I had studied that at university, but the other two sections were just as good. It’s a very informative book and also very comprehensive in detail and facts. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and really enjoy these types of book. Highly recommended.

Captured at Singapore

Captured at Singapore written by Jill Robertson & Jan Slimming and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 296

What would it be like to leave your loved ones behind knowing you may never see

them again? Then depart on a ship in the dead of night heading for an unknown

destination and find yourself in the heat of a battle which concludes in enemy

conditions so terrible that your survival in captivity is still under threat?

Cultivated from a small, faded, address book secretly written by a young soldier in the Royal Army Service Corps, Captured at Singapore, is a POW story of adventure, courage resilience and luck.

In 1940, Londoner Stanley Moore became Driver T/170638 and trained for desert warfare along with many others in the British Army’s 18th Division. Their mission, they thought, was to fight against Hitler and fascism in the Middle East. But in a change of plan and destination, he and his fellow servicemen became sacrificial lambs on a continent much further from home.

Using extensive research and personal documents, the authors’ account - via their father’s small, faded, diary and his 1990 tape recording - tells of Stan’s journey and arrival in Keppel Harbour under shellfire; the horrific 17 day battle to defend the island, the Japanese Admonition and the harrowing forced labour conditions after capitulation.

Only a small percentage of the 85,000 British troops returned after the war. Captivity and years of trauma ultimately stole years of the young soldiers’ lives, which they were later ordered to forget by the British Government. The aim of this work is to provide information for future generations to understand how ordinary men died under horrific conditions of war, and how the lucky survived.

From the basic of sources of information evidence, the authors Robertson and Slimming have discovered the small diary and an interview from their late father Stanley Moore. Stanley, a driver in the 18th Division served out in the Far East fighting the Japanese, although it should be said the 18th were rather under-prepared in many aspects. 

Robertson and Slimming present a book and a story of their father showing the worry, hardship and harsh conditions their father was forced to endure under an oppressive regime. All this from the rarest of information, their father's diary and an interview. But they have presented an excellent story which really does show the suffering of the fellow soldiers and others around them. A really well-written book and works very well to make an excellent account of having to be a Japanese prisoner of war.

The Pirate Captain Ned Low His Life & Mysterious Fate

The Pirate Captain Ned Low His Life & Mysterious Fate written by

Dr Nicky Nielson and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 224

Edward ‘Ned’ Low’s career in piracy began with a single gunshot. While working on

a logging ship in the Bay of Honduras the quick-tempered Ned was provoked by the

ship’s captain. He responded by grabbing a musket and inciting a mutiny. Then the

London-born sailor and a dozen of his crewmates held a council, stitched a black

flag and voted to make war against the whole world preying on ships from any nation,

flying any flag. Low’s name became synonymous with brutality and torture during the

1720s as he cut a swathe of destruction from the shores of Nova Scotia to the Azores,

the coast of Africa and throughout the Caribbean. Ned Low’s life was one of failed

redemption: a thief from childhood who briefly rose in the world after moving to America,

only to fall again lower and harder than before. He was feared even by his own crew,

and during his life on the wrong side of the law he became infamous for his extreme

violence, fatalistic behaviour, and became perhaps one of the best examples of why

pirates were classed in Admiralty Law as hostis humani generis: the common enemies

of all mankind.

This book follows the life of Captain Ned Low, a man from very humble beginnings, I must admit I had not heard of Captain Ned Low but thanks to Pen & Sword Books my knowledge of piracy has started to increase thanks to three books I’ve read recently on different pirates. This book is very interesting in that the author Dr Nicky Neilson has done a great job in mixing educated opinions and sources of information. We have a great story mixed in with great information and sources, of a man who seemed to attain the ability to be quite a prolific pirate. This has been a great book that I’ve fully enjoyed, here’s hoping for books about other pirates.

Yearbook of Astronomy 2023

Yearbook of Astronomy 2023 written by Brian Jones and published by

White Owl Books - £18.99 - Softcover - Pages 336

Maintaining its appealing style and presentation, the Yearbook of Astronomy 2023

contains comprehensive jargon-free monthly sky notes and an authoritative set of

sky charts to enable backyard astronomers and sky gazers everywhere to plan

their viewing of the year’s eclipses, comets, meteor showers and minor planets as

well as detailing the phases of the Moon and visibility and locations of the planets

throughout the year. To supplement all this is a variety of entertaining and informative

articles, a feature for which the Yearbook of Astronomy is known. Presenting the

reader with information on a wide range of topics, the articles for the 2023 edition

include, among others, The Incomparable Sir Patrick Moore; Shining a Light on

Jupiter’s Atmosphere; A Brief History of the End of the Universe; The Closing of

Historic Observatories; The Ability to Believe: Bizarre Worlds of Astronomical

Antireality; Optical SETI at Harvard; The Future of Spaceflight; and Male Family

Mentors for Women in Astronomy: Caroline and William Herschel.

This iconic publication made its first appearance way back in 1962, shortly after the dawning of the Space Age. Now into its seventh decade of production, the Yearbook continues to be essential reading for anyone lured and fascinated by the magic of astronomy and who has a desire to extend their knowledge of the Universe and the wonders it plays host to. The Yearbook of Astronomy is indeed an inspiration to amateur and professional astronomers alike, and warrants a place on the bookshelf of all stargazers and watchers of the Universe.

I must say from the beginning of this review, that I am not an expert on Astronomy so this is purely from an amateur viewpoint but someone who appreciates the awe and beauty of space. So I should start from the end of that comment, this book contains a number of beautiful pictures of various parts of space, informative maps, charts and diagrams. There is also a huge number of articles and information presented by quite a few astronomical experts and leaders, which also seem very interesting and intriguing. There is also a monthly guide for the amateur astronomy expert for both the northern and southern hemispheres. This is where the best thing about this book happens, it appeals to both the beginner and regular astronomer, it is so informative but not too technical. A really fantastic book for all those interested in Astronomy.

Hitler’s Spy Against Churchill

Hitler’s Spy Against Churchill written by Jan-Willem van den Braak

and published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 312

From the summer of 1940 until May 1941, nearly twenty German Abwehr agents were

dropped by boat or parachute into England during what was known as Operation Lena,

all in preparation for Hitler's planned invasion of England. The invasion itself would never

happen and in fact, after the war, one of the Abwehr commanders declared that the

operation was doomed to failure.

There is no doubt that the operation did indeed become a fiasco, with almost all of the officers being arrested within a very brief period of time. Some of the men were executed, while others became double agents and spied for Britain against Germany. Only one man managed to stay at large for five months before eventually committing suicide: Jan Willem Ter Braak. Amazingly, his background and objectives had always remained unclear, and none of the other Lena spies had ever even heard of him. Even after the opening of the secret service files in England and the Netherlands over 50 years later, Jan Willem Ter Braak remained a 'mystery man', as the military historian Ladislas Farago famously described him.

In this book, the author – his near-namesake – examines the short and tragic life of Jan Willem Ter Braak for the first time. Using in-depth research, he investigates the possibility that Ter Braak was sent to kill the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and discovers why his fate has remained largely unknown for so long.

This is quite an intriguing little book that has all the elements of an espionage thriller,

with a bit of light fiasco thrown into the mix. This book follows the story mainly of one

man, Jan Willem Ter Braak, although he was part of a group of people trained to act

as agents or spies in order to start an invasion of Britain during the war. Ter Braak

was a rather evasive or reclusive character who nobody really got to know well. So

here lies the mystery around a man who nobody really knew or what he got up to.

This book I found was quite gripping and was a really quick but enjoyable read, and

I had never heard of this story before either. A book I really enjoyed and would most

certainly recommend it.

Dickens and Travel

Dickens and Travel written by Lucinda Hawksley and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £22 - Hardback - Pages 280

From childhood, Charles Dickens was fascinated by tales from other countries and other cultures, and he longed to see the world. In Dickens and Travel, Lucinda Hawksley looks at the journeys made by the author – who is also her great great great grandfather.

Although Dickens is usually perceived as a London author, in the 1840s he whisked his family away to live in Italy for year, and spent several months in Switzerland. Some years later he took up residence in Paris and Boulogne (where he lived in secret with his lover). In addition to travelling widely in Europe, he also toured America twice, performed onstage in Canada and, before his untimely death, was planning a tour of Australia.

Dickens and Travel enters into the world of the Victorian traveller and looks at how Charles Dickens’s journeys influenced his writing and enriched his life.

I found this to be a cracking little book, and that is from someone who doesn’t really like reading fiction but I found this one a little different. Maybe because it was about the writer and his travels rather than fiction. Although I may have only read one Dickens book I have always fancied reading more of his work. Written by I think a distant relative, Hawksley brings the book together well and makes an interesting read. We read all about Dickens's travels all around the world from Britain to Europe to America, he must have come across some brilliant characters and traditions. These probably influenced quite a bit of his writing without us even knowing. Although Dickens predominantly wrote about London life, reading about his travels for me has added an extra dimension to him and maybe I should start reading the odd Dickens novel. Great book, great writing.