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Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
Author Robert Harris has returned with the tale of the hunting of Colonels Edward Whalley and William Goffe as they flee the retribution of King Charles II.
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The Complete Hedge Hopping
For just about two years, I had the privilege of working with Alex Churchill, Zack White and the History Hack team making podcasts. During that time, I hosted 22 episodes of the Second World War aviation show Hedge Hopping. You can find them all here.
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The Pathfinders by Will Iredale
To see in the dark and to hit their target was the challenge Bomber Command faced in the Second World War. To see in the dark and stay hidden only complicated matters more. In Will Iredale latest book, The Pathfinders, he paints a vivid of the force set up to guide Bomber Command’s squadrons to…
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The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
The Strategic Bombing campaign of the Second World War is still one of the most controversial subjects of that conflict 80 years on. The destruction wrought upon hundreds of cities from Coventry to Tokyo brought the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, The Bomber Mafia, looks at the titular group…
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A Tale of Three Sisters
This is the tale of three sisters, Marnie, Betsy and Norma-Jean, my wonderful Mum and Aunts.
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Putting the Pilot Back in the Cockpit
we live in a listicle dominated world that becomes more binary by the day. Nuance now feels like a dirty word and when we look at things, we seem to rank them by default. When this comes to the equipment of the Second World War, the fetishisation of the machinery has begun to override the…
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Signed and Dedicated Rowland White Harrier 809 Giveaway
After many delays, Rowland White’s Harrier 809 is finally being released into the wild. To celebrate, I am giving away way two copies of this superb book which Rowland will be signing and dedicating to the winners. Full details and T&Cs are in this post.
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Two Tribes by Chris Beckett
In this time of heightened everything, how our disagreements will be viewed those who follow us is the last thing on the mind of those who hate-tweet their every thought. Will those in the future will undoubtedly look at us and wonder “what on earth was going on?” This is the premise of Chris Beckett’s…
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Devolution by Max Brooks
Growing up in Western Canada, Bigfoot stories are always about and as a child, you were happy you had the Rockies between Calgary and ‘them’. And then came Harry and the Hendersons to make everything ok. Max Brooks’ latest journey into the things of our nightmares, Devolution, is not Harry. In any way.
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Harrier 809 by Rowland White
The story of the Falklands War has quickly become a part of the British mythos. A hastily thrown together Task Force, with two small carriers and twenty even smaller fighters taking on the might of the Argentine Air Force and Navy. It was a close-run thing. In Rowland White’s latest book, Harrier 809, he returns…
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A Race With Love and Death by Richard Williams
Between the wars, motor racing came of age. From a pastime of the wealthy, national prestige came to the fore with the arrival of the Nazi backed Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz teams. The two teams would dominate Grand Prix racing before the return of war. For any driver with dreams of winning, these seats were…
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House of Glass by Hadley Freeman
A family’s stories and legends are always a tricky place to visit. What is unsaid often carries more weight than what is. When Hadley Freeman looked into the shoebox of memories left by her Grandmother, Sala, her journey would take her from Miami Beach to Chrzanów, Poland to Paris and to Auschwitz. What she has…
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The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott
At the height of Prohibition, a man walked up to his wife in a Cincinnati park. He pulled a pearl-handled gun and pulled the trigger. She would die soon after. The murder of Imogene Remus by her husband George became a sensation because Geroge Remus was possibly the most successful bootlegger in American history. In…
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The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot
I’m sure the pitch Robert D. Krzykowski, the writer-director of The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot, made for his debut feature hinged a lot on the title. The second half of the pitch, where Krzykowski turned the tables must have been the harder sell. But this film is very much about the…
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Arnhem: Ten Days in the Cauldron by Iain Ballantyne
In September 1944, 10,000 airborne soldiers were dropped 64 miles behind the German lines and were required to hold the vital bridges at Arnhem. What would happen would go down in legend. Iain Ballantyne crafts a breathless look at the men on the ground and the civilians who found the war entering every room in…
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The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
Robert Harris’ 13th novel takes us to the past via the future and asks us, “what is truth?” The Second Sleep is vintage Harris and poses difficult questions not only for his priest, Christopher Fairfax, but for us today.
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Normandy ’44 by James Holland
D-Day can tend to be remembered by the beaches, the bocage and the Tigers. In his new history of the Normandy campaign, James Holland looks at the myths of the campaign and reminds us that without the incredible logistics machine supporting the tip of the spear, the liberation would never have gotten very far inland…
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Freefall by Robert Radcliffe
Robert Radcliffe returns with the second part of his Airborne Trilogy, Freefall. Theo Trickey’s war takes his to North Africa and some of C Company, The Parachute Regiment’s fiercest battles. In Germany, Daniel Garland is experiencing the reality of total war on the civilian population and piecing more of Trickey’s life back together and his…
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The Colour of Time by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral
In Marina Amaral and Dan Jones’ The Colour of Time, we have two historians bringing the colour back to our history, one which we have become so used to seeing in monochrome. The subtle and powerful marriage of the images and text brings an excitement to each turn of the page that makes this a…
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The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
Kate Mascarenhas’ sumptuous debut novel finds a woman in a locked room who has been shot to death. Taking a fractured narrative, a cast of strong, very interesting women, Mascarenhas weaves a a tale that is as much about the woman in the room as it is the women working their way towards the answer…
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The Deadly Trade by Iain Ballantyne
The submarine is one of man’s greatest, and most deadly, inventions. In The Deadly Trade: The Complete History of Submarine Warfare from Archimedes to the Present, Iain Ballantyne takes us from the theory of the underwater warship, through Jules Vern to the U-Boot and today’s Intercontinental Ballistic Submarine. Where Ballantyne’s superior work excels is to…
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The Last Battle by Peter Hart
The final few months of The Great War have rarely got the focus of those that proceeded them. The final offensive that finally silenced the guns and ended the slaughter was one in great contrast to the static game of inches of the years before. In The Last Battle, histoian Peter Hart superbly manages to show…
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You Were Never Really Here
Lynne Ramsey returns with a brutal, difficult film that has a very genuine heart. Joaquin Phoenix is Joe. Joe recovers girls who have been trafficked. When Joe takes on a job to recover the daughter of a New York senator, things take a dark and violent turn. While not an easy watch, the heart Ramsay…
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Breakout at Stalingrad by Heinrich Gerlach
After 60 years languishing in the Russian State Military Archive, Heinrich Gerlach’s novel of his experiences in Stalingrad is finally published. Uncompromising and oppressive, Breakout at Stalingrad is a remarkable testament to the horror war and the affect on the men caught up in it.
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Phantom Thread
Paul Thomas Anderson returns with Daniel Day-Lewis (in what is possibly his final role) as Reynolds Woodcock. Reynolds is a dressmaker in 1950’s London whose latest muse, Alma (a sumptuous Vicky Krieps), gets deeper under his skin than he expects or believes is possible. Phantom Thread is an astonishing acheivement by all involved.
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NT Amadeus
Michael Longhurst’s production of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus returns to the National Theatre. With Lucian Msamati as Salieri, Adam Gillen as Mozart and an incredible Flreu de Bray as Cavalieri, it is an ambitious, barnstorming and utterly, utterly wonderful production.
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RSC Imperium Part 1 and 2
Robert Harris’ Cicero Trilogy is brought to the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Imperium Parts One and Two. In six plays, we see the rise and fall of Cicero and the last days of the Roman Republic. Robert McCabe is masterful as the Roman orator and the cast bring the fractious world to…
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Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rex wants to be a good dog. He lives for the moments when his master tells him he is a good dog. Rex’s master gives Rex things to do. Rex, because he is a good dog, does the tasks he is given. In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novel, we view a rapidly changing world from the viewpoint…
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Boney’s Review of 2017
2017 is almost done, but it hasn’t been all bad, right? In this post, I look back at the things I’ve loved and discovered in 2017. I look at Books, Films and Podcasts as these are the things that have taken up most of my free time. Hope you like it.
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi
A spoiler free review of our latest journey to A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Star Wars: The Last Jedi picks up where The Force Awakens left us. The Resistance is having to escape and Rey has found Luke Skywalker. Will the escape succeed? Will Luke train Rey? What are those Porg things? These and many other…
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The Earth Gazers by Christopher Potter
The race to go faster, further and higher has intoxicated man since before Icarus took to his wings. In the 20th Century, man didn’t just take to the air, but slipped it’s confines for space. A very select few (a total of 24 men) were able to gaze back and see our home in all…
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Chris Beckett’s America City Giveaway
America City by Chris Beckett, set on an environmentally challenged Earth a 100 years hence, is speculative fiction at the highest level and rather uncomfortable reading. To celebrate it’s release and that it has been chosen as Simon Mayo’s choice for the next Radio 2 Book Club, I am giving away a signed copy. Full…
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How to Build a Car by Adrian Newey
In motor Racing, Adrain Newey’s name ranks among the greats. He is not one for the cameras of a race weekend, but his autobiography is wonderfully engaging, funny and honest. From building Lotus kit cars with his dad through to 10 World Championships with three teams, Newey’s tale is fascinating. He takes us through the…
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Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
Nick Harkaway’s latest novel crosses thousands of years and yet never leaves the mind of the victim at the centre of his tale. With Gnomon, Harkaway looks at our world and the issues we face from oblique angles, in turn making us look at our own path from eyes we may not have considered or have…
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America City by Chris Beckett
America City, Chris Beckett’s first novel since leaving Eden, is a fantastic look at how the information we receive affects our decisions. We believe we are smart enough to know what is going on, but are we? In a wonderfully complex work of speculative fiction, Beckett’s ambitious America City crafts a world as deep as Eden and…
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Proper Adaptation: Hap and Leonard
Rarely does adaptation work well. Most of the time you hope for the best and accept OK. With Hap and Leonard though, Joe R Lansdale’s novels live and breathe on the small screen. This is a look at how that transfer works so well, from the eyes of a fan on a couch in leafy Surrey,…
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Munich by Robert Harris
September 1938. The world teeters on the brink of another war. Hitler is eyeing the Sudetenland and is hours away from mobilisation. In London, Chamberlain is doing everything to keep the piece. A summit is arranged in Munich and two men travel there with plans of their own in Robert Harris’ fantastic latest novel.
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A Chat With Clare Mulley
Clare Mulley’s latest book, The Women Who Flew For Hitler, is a fascinating look at two remarkable and complicated women, Melitta von Stauffenberg and Hanna Reitch. As test pilots for the Third Reich, they were at the forefront of aviation and tumultuous times. The book is an intimate and honest biography and Clare has kindly taken some…
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Thoughts on Bond 25
With the welcome announcement of Bond 25, I default into worry at where we stand with our current Bond run. Daniel Craig, should he return, deserves a great Bond send off. But the corner EON has painted themselves into post SPECTRE means the wicket is rather sticky.
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Court of Lions by Jane Johnson
An interwoven tale set 550 years apart, Jane Johnson’s novel tells the tales of Kate, a woman hiding from torment at home, and Blessing living in the final days of the Emirate of Granada who creates a torment of his own. Johnson has crafted a superior tale that grabs you from the off.
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Dunkirk
Heroic failure is something that Britain has always done well. With Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan has crafted an incredible film about an incredible event. With that as his setting, Nolan may have made his best movie yet.
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The Plots Against Hitler by Danny Orbach
The men and women who resisted Hitler have been cast as heroes and villains of both the left and right. The conspirators and their actions have been remembered in black and white, with the viewer choosing the colours with which to paint them. In Danny Orbach’s new history of the resistance, The Plots Against Hitler,…
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The Allure of The Louvre
Finally get around to getting to Paris, on my final day in the City of Lights, I ventured to The Louvre. Surrounded by incredible art and yet heart broken at how it was displayed, I found myself with an odd feeling to go with my old friend disapointment, a strong desire to return. If only…
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Baby Driver
For as long as he can remember, the great chase films were whirling around in Edgar Wright’s mind (as they do us all). Great films like Walter Hill’s The Driver, John Landis’ The Blues Brothers and Richard C. Sarafian’s incredible Vanishing Point to name but three. For twenty odd years, Wright has wanted to honour them…
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Vindolanda by Adrian Goldsworthy
Adrian Goldworthy’s novel Vindolanda take us to Britain before the Wall, were our hero Ferox, a Briton naturalised into Rome, finds himself in the far north. With depression stalking him, a crisis arises that requires him to put his skills back to work and uncover the misdeeds of his own and the scheming of those who…
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The Serpent Sword by Matthew Harffy
The Dark Ages in Britain are a fertile period to mine. The sources, few as they are, talk of kings and warlords, battles and death, and then arrive the men from the North. It is the period of Beowulf and Arthur, of a Britain living in the decay of the Roman withdrawal and the arrival…
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American War by Omar El Akkad
Speculative fiction is one that treads a fine line. Too far one way and it is dismissed as preachy or too far the other and it falls into the science fiction netherworld. When realising a world where global warming has changed the map of our world and America has again fractured North and South. With…
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A Love Letter to Hap and Leonard
A love letter to the finest TV Show on air at the moment, Hap and Leonard. No spoilers contained within, just an attempt to spread the joy of proper television and two towering performances from Michael Keneth Williams and James Purefoy.
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Unprecidented by Tiger Woods
Unprecedented is Tiger Woods looking back at at his first Master win, 20 years ago now. Tiger is a towering figure in modern golf. He literally changed the game. Looking back at the 1997 Masters at Augusta National though, Tiger provides a wonderful insight into what made those incredible four round unprecedented in the illustrious…
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Their Finest
Their Finest does that difficult thing of being funny about a period and reverential about it at the same time. And above it all is Gemma Arterton. Her performance is subtle, humorous, strong and committed. Their Finest is one of those increasingly rare occasions where a film happily sits across generations and manages to please all.
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David Baddiel My Family: Not The Sitcom
As George Bernard Shaw once famously wrote: “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” In the case of David Baddiel’s new show My Family: Not The Sitcom, he doesn’t so much make them out to dance, as line his parents up and conga them around the…
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Kohinoor by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand
A stunning biography of the Koh-i-noor diamond that has been coveted for millennia. Dalrymple and Anand cover the myths and history of the most famous rock in the work with a deft yet firm touch. Beautifully written, Kohinoor is a superb biography of one of the most divisive items in the world.
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The 24 Hour War
A look back on the epic battle between Ford and Ferrari in the late 1960’s at Le Mans. The 24 Hour War recounts the troubled birth of the legendary Ford GT40 and the lengths the Ford Motor Company went to to beat the world over the course of a day. While a solid racing documentary, the…
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Life Moves Pretty Fast by Hadley Freeman
Life Moves Pretty Fast is a race through why 80’s films were better, deeper and better (did I mention better?). Hadley Freeman’s look back at some of the standout films of the decade is a fabulous conversation on that era and why we’ve lost that heart in our films today.
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Airborne by Robert Radcliffe
I have loved Robert Radcliffe’s previous five novels, to the point I even read one of them as an eBook. Radcliffe’s new tale is his most ambitious yet. Airborne is the first of trilogy of novels telling the tale of a boy caught between countries, in search of a father and who finds two; John Frost,…
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The Pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carre
A year on from Adam Sisman’s exhaustive biography, John Le Carre takes up his own pen to tell the stories he wants too from his life. Entertainingly written and yet somewhat light on it’s feet, The Pigeon Tunnel manages to captivate as a good Le Carre does and tell you nothing that you don’t already know.…
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Daughter of Eden by Chris Beckett
The final chapter in Chris Beckett’s Eden trilogy is a fitting finale for our time on Eden. This is as spoiler free a review I can make it with out spoiling the whole thing. Suffice to say, it is a strong finish.
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Rogue One
Disney’s newest gamble is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a film set between the events of Episode III and in the weeks leading up to Episode IV. Dropping the film into the middle of the cannon is risky and needs a steady hand. It is a gamble that has paid off, correcting the overkill…
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Nothing Lasts Forever
What happens when Saturday Night Live’s star writer gets a shot at writing and directing his first feature? He casts an 18 year old unknown alongside Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd and unleashes the crazy. Nothing Lasts Forever is wonderful madness and I have to thank The Prince Charles and Zach Galligan for a great Sunday…
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1666 by Rebecca Rideal
1666: Plague, War and Hellfire is a wonderful narrative history of the fall and rise of London. Bringing a city that was riven with death to vivid life, Rebecca Rideal has crafted a fascinating tale of London in its darkest night before it’s glorious dawn.
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Revenger by Alistair Reynolds
A quick review of Alastair Reynolds latest novel Revenger. Taking a well trod path into the pirate/Firefly/salty-space-dog genre, Reynolds’ has crafted an entertaining, if not not wholly original, tale.
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The Last Laugh – LFF Review
Can you make a good joke about the Holocaust? Nazis, by all means. But the Holocaust itself? That is the premise of Ferne Pearlstein’s superb documentary on the subject. To broach such a subject, you need to have the roster to bring weight to the subject and my goodness, Pearlstein has gathered a who’s who…
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La La Land – LFF Review
I went to the cinema the other evening and I cried. Not a terribly rare occurrence, easily sentimentally manipulated movie-goer that I am. But this night, I saw something magical. Film is in itself is a magic trick. Twenty-four still images being shown to you a second that your brain interpenetrates as movement in the…
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Miss Stevens
Miss Stevens is a film that I didn’t think I’d see again. It is joyous, full of heart and populated with a believable, relatable cast of characters that subtlety draws you in, breaks your heart and then pops it back together again. The directorial debut of Julia Hart is plainly wonderful.
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Robert Harris Conclave Giveaway
Robert Harris’ new book Conclave is out now. Having visited the Henley Literary Festival and meeting up with Robert, amidst 300 others, I have a spare copy to give away. See the post for details and a recording of the conversation Robert Harris had with Paul Greengrass. Yes, THAT Paul Greengrass, who was a delight.
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The Magnificent Seven
The latest remake of The Magnificent Seven is out now. What ever you do, do not take a shot of mezcal for every western cliche you see, it’ll kill you. It is an enjoyable film but, with all these great pieces in place, it is a cliche ridden missed opportunity that could have been so much…
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Before The Fall by Noah Hawley
When a plane falls from the sky, it is a violent reassertion of gravity, of which, there is little escape. We hope that it is quick and the people on board know very little, but we rarely know much about the lives of those on board. When it is a small aircraft, those on board…
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Tickled
When you hear about a documentary about the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling, that response you just had, yep that one just then, was probably the same as mine. And yet, when you watch David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s film, you see that it is not a film about extreme sports or tickling for that…
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A Thousand Words: Sharon Tate by Terry O’Neill
In this new, reasonably regular, series, we’re going to look at some of the photographs that have affected me over the years. The old adage “A picture paints/is worth a thousand words” is going to be our dictum. Over the course of a thousand words, we’ll tell the story of the image, the photographer and…
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An Open Letter to Toto Wolff
Following the thrilling end to the Austrian Grand Prix where the Mercedes F1 drivers came together on the last lap, team boss Toto Wolff has threatened the use of Team Orders to reign in his two drivers, who are vying for the 2016 World Championship. This is my plea to Herr Wolff to hold off…
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The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
Never, well in ages anyways, have I been as transfixed and then as utterly pissed off with a book as I was with Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World. Being a completist, a week and change after throwing the damn thing into the dust beyond the bedside table, I picked it up and was saved by…
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Green on Blue by Elliot Ackerman
A wonderful, lyrical journey through a heartbreaking reality. Green on Blue is a novel that offers an insight into a world we do not often get to see. A world where war has no fixed sides and life’s rules are just as circular as the conflict that people caught in middle try so hard to create…
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Look Who’s Back
Look Who’s Back is a smart and incredibly timely satire. This is adaptation as it should be, taking a strong source and expanding on it, yet keeping the “soul” of the source material. Look Who’s Back really sends a shudder down your spine, while your laughing consistently all the way through. This film is an odd,…
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Into The Black by Rowland White
Rowland White’s fourth book tells the tale of the development of the first two Space Shuttles, Enterprise and Columbia. Following the crews that would glide Enterprise from the back of a 747 and then blast off atop the loudest rockets ever built, Into The Black is a fascinating tribute to Columbia.
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Conversations with My Chiropractor: Commuting With Books
Commuting is one of those modern evils that most of us have to endure each day. For me, my trip to the office involves two trains and a bus, basically the gamut of all the horrors of public transport in South and West London. To while away the anything from the hour to many hours…
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Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
Superheroes are funny old things. I remember when reading a comic would get you ridiculed in the playground and possibly duffed up a bit. Especially if it was one of those American comics, you usually could get away with 2000AD because, well, Dredd. But these days, thanks to the movies and the rise to power of…
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You Must Remember This
What started out as a critique of Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This has kind of morphed into a bit of a love letter to her podcast. Its a show that makes you look forward to Tuesdays.
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The Classics – The First of The Few
When my Grandparents came over for a mammoth visit after we had moved to England, I had an old Canadian TV and VCR to watch the tapes we’d brought with us. My Granma brought me a bunch of old movies, which is what she always did when we spent time together. She introduced me to…
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The Night Manager and Signed Copy Giveaway
Sunday sees the BBC’s take on John Le Carre’s The Night Manager. I love this book and to celebrate, I’m giving away a copy signed by the man himself, Le Carre, not the hotelier. Here I talk about the book and how you can win this via the old Twitter machine. A little note, this…
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I thought, when, many, many years ago, the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was announced that I, zombie aficionado that I am (a zombnado if you will) would be the target demographic for this adaptation. I had bought the book, twice. I’d enjoyed the book both times I’d read it, but as I looked…
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Walking The Black Dog
The wall was red. I remember that vividly. What I could not tell you was how long I’d been staring at it. I knew I hadn’t slept, my legs were hurting and there was a tightness in my chest. I remember asking myself, “Self, why are you staring at a wall?” It took a physical…
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The Periodic Table of Cocktails by Emma Stokes
Cocktails are a wonderful, delightful and subjective thing. The latest addition to the the ever increasing library of Cocktail tales is Emma “Gin Monkey” Stokes’ scientific look at drinking. The science may be beyond me, but the book and its take on the cocktail reference genre is an impressive, even if she does spoils some…