Category: Fighting Temeraire

BBC2 Turner Documentary

Date Posted: 26/04/2013

Tonight sees the premier of a great little documentary on JMW Turner which looks at his artistic response to the Industrial Revolution. I had the chance to talk about Turner’s painting of George Manby’s crazy life-saving invention, a wonderful example of .... Read More

Skyfall and the Fighting Temeraire!

Date Posted: 31/10/2012

So there I was, watching Skyfall, slightly disappointed that M didn’t do a Mobot when she first came on screen when, would you believe it, Bond meets the new Q in Room 34 of the National Gallery, in front of The Fighting Temeraire, the painting which is the subject of .... Read More

BBC2 Turner Documentary and George William Manby

Date Posted: 21/09/2012

I have just finished filming  for a new BBC2 documentary about Turner, and particularly about Turner’s interest in technology. We decided to focus in particular on this painting: Turner, who was USELESS at coming up with painting titles, called it ‘ Life-Boat and .... Read More

Bernard Cornwell, the Olympia and the Fighting Temeraire

Date Posted: 01/09/2012

It is not long now until the paperback of the Glorious First of June – the final installment of my Hearts of Oak Trilogy – reaches the shops and so there is no better time to go back and think about the book that began it all, The Fighting Temeraire. When Bernard .... Read More

BBC History, Tower of London Lecture

Date Posted: 09/03/2012

Come and share an evening at the Tower of London with myself and Saul David as we discuss whether the army or the navy contributed most to Britain’s rise to global pre-eminence. See here for more details and how to book tickets http://www.historyextra.com/towerlecture Read More

More Images from John Pitt’s Sketchbook

Date Posted: 20/09/2011

 John Pitt has kindly allowed me to post some more images from his unpublished sketchbook, made between 1801 and 1807. Some scenes are certainly made in the Caribbean while other locations are uncertain. The identity of the artist is also uncertain, though there is some .... Read More

Temeraire at Barbados 1801

Date Posted: 10/09/2011

John Pitt from Eastbourne has kindly got in touch with an excellent discovery. Whilst trying to trace a RN ancestor John came across a sketchbook which includes a number of fascinating images, including one of the Temeraire at anchor in Barbados, 1801. She is shown with a .... Read More

HMS Temeraire Trafalgar Ensign

Date Posted: 04/10/2010

British naval ensigns from the Age of Sail are very rare but every now and again one comes out of a cupboard where it has been rolled into a musty ball for decades, sometimes centuries. They are magnificent things principally because they are so enormous and are asuch .... Read More

Fighting Temeraire Paperback

Date Posted: 26/09/2010

Because the Fighting Temeraire is now out in paperback and selling like hotcakes I thought it would be worth running over some of the most important points. 1. The Temeraire in Turner’s painting was the second HMS Temeraire. The first was captured from the French at .... Read More