Blog
Our Grieving Queen’s First Christmas Without Prince Philip
The world's eyes will be on our Queen as she spends Christmas with her family at Sandringham. It’s easy to forget that the Queen is a also a grieving widow. Like any woman who has lost the husband she adored, a man who was her rock and she was married to for...
Who will be the Queen’s official biographer?
Having seen both Tracy Borman and Jane Ridley speak in Ely in the last week at Topping author events, it is a great honour to see my ebook nestled between theirs on Amazon’s Royalty biography and memoir chart. Even if just for a fleeting moment. I felt The Royal...
Wolferton Station, “Absolutely stunning in every way”, says former royal train driver
You don’t have to just take it from me how special the Royal Station at Wolferton is, and central to my book, The Royal Station Master's Daughters. Here are some of the glowing comments left by visitors who stepped onto its platform where royalty once trod and took a...
‘A heartwarming historical novel’ – Rosie Goodwin
I am thrilled and delighted beyond words to have received warm words of praise from Rosie Goodwin, the Queen of historical saga authors, for The Royal Station Master’s Daughters. She describes it as 'A heartwarming historical novel', and I cannot thank her enough. I...
Royal Commission into coastal erosion – more than 100 years ago!
I wonder if Greta realises that her demands for action on climate change is not being called for the first time. It was a conversation started more than one hundred years ago. At the time urgent recommendations were made to save our coastline from further erosion....
Royal reminiscences of playing with Prince John, the royal train and more…
Playing with Prince John, riding on the royal train, visiting Buckingham Palace and joining the King on a shoot, these are some of the fabulous royal reminiscences from Leslie Heath about his time at Wolferton with his grandfather Harry Saward, the Royal Station...
Using liquid paraffin for mayonnaise, a royal recipe reminiscence
The Marchioness of Cambridge had to be inventive during WW2 when she discovered she had no olive oil to whip up her mayonnaise needed to serve with her fine fresh salmon for lunch. I doubt any of us would have thought of the alternative she chose - liquid paraffin -...
Signing up Norfolk’s War Horses for WW1
I so love Michael Morpurgo's powerful War Horse story and was reminded of it when reading about the signing up of Norfolk's own War Horses in a booklet called Dereham in the Great War, A Diary by Terry Davy. The entry for Thursday, 6 August 1914 vividly describes the...
Prince Philip’s black truffle crop at Sandringham
Did you know that when he was well into his 98th year Prince Philip became the first person in Britain to cultivate a successful crop of black truffles - and it happened on the Sandringham estate? It's mentioned by Prince Philip's friend and biographer Gyles Brandreth...