Category: Blog
Jutland, Naval Battles and the Ghost of Seapower
Date Posted: 31/05/2016
The British obsess about naval battles and always have done. Yes, we are an island nation; yes the sea matters; but that does not necessarily mean that it matters MORE than it does — or it did — to France or Germany: The French coastline is longer than ours; Germany was as .... Read More
The Silk Road Journal
Date Posted: 01/05/2016
5000 Miles. 13 Countries. Filming The Silk Road for BBC4 was one of the biggest challenges of my life. I had been to none of the countries I was to visit. What was I most excited about? China? All those millions of people, all those miles of desert; Tajikistan? All that .... Read More
10 Things you Didn’t Know About American Independence
Date Posted: 07/04/2016
My latest book The Struggle for Seapower: A Naval History of American Independence tells for the first time the full naval story of the most remarkable war of the Age of Sail and answers one of the most telling conundrums in military history: How did the British, with the .... Read More
The Silk Road Episode 3: Iran
Date Posted: 09/01/2016
So…on we go with filming the third and final episode of The Silk Road for BBC4. China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan all done and dusted, with the glory of the architecture of Soviet bus shelters still firmly imprinted on my mind. Now it’s the final leg – Iran, .... Read More
World War II Series for National Geographic
Date Posted: 11/12/2015
Well I’m about to start on a major new filming project – a big 6-part series on the Second World War. We start in Germany and then it’s France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Burma, Thailand, China and Japan….More details to follow nearer broadcast time… Read More
The Silk Road
Date Posted: 06/10/2015
So, I’ve been off on my travels again… This time I’m making a 3-part series for the BBC on The Silk Road. We will be travelling in a huge variety of ways and in a huge variety of styles, from Venice to Beijing – that’s 5000 miles across 13 .... Read More
Pirates! (And Meteorites) for BBC Radio 4
Date Posted: 18/03/2015
So…what is the most interesting history book that you inherited? And which book would you leave behind you? Here I answer the question for Radio4’s History Show, Making History. Read More
Steeple Flying [er…what?] for Radio 4
Date Posted: 26/02/2015
Listen here to an episode of Making History in which I tell the story of some crazy men who jumped off church towers for entertainment. You may not be surprised that it did not always end well. A bit like base jumping, a bit like tight-rope walking and in some senses a bit .... Read More
Steeple Flying for Radio4 [Er…what?]
Date Posted: 25/02/2015
Listen here to an episode of Making History in which I tell the story of some crazy men who jumped off church towers for entertainment. You may not be surprised that it did not always end well. A bit like base jumping, a bit like tight-rope walking and in some senses a bit .... Read More
U-Boats and Explosives for BBC WW1 Uncut
Date Posted: 27/07/2014
Here are two fab little films in which I try not to drown and then blow some stuff up, all in aid of understanding World War 1 a little better. Yikes. Read More