When researching a book I like to visit the sites where the action took place. Usually I take a number of photographs to remind me, when writing later, what the…
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According to popular legend, songwriter Fred Gilbert was walking along The Strand one day when he spotted a news vendor’s placard bearing the immortal phrase: THE MAN WHO BROKE THE…
In 1905 two men were imprisoned for selling shares in a bogus company – the improbably-named South and South-West Coast Steam Trawling and Fishing Syndicate. They had promised would-be investors…
On 7 September, 1891, Charles Wells placed an extraordinary advertisement in The Times, seeking financial backing for a return trip to Monte Carlo. (A few weeks previously, he had won…
For a novelist writing a work of fiction in a familiar setting and era, the amount of research needed may be minimal – or even non-existent. But for writers of…