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John Pitt has kindly allowed me to post some more images from his unpublished sketchbook, made between 1801 and 1807.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