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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Robin Quinn
Author of the "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" and "Hitler's Last Army".
He has produced numerous documentaries for BBC Radio 2 and is the Executive Producer for media production company, Play It By Ear.
Books
The incredible true story of Charles Deville Wells, gambler and fraudster extraordinaire.
”Brilliant - a terrific read.
Michael Aspel, OBETelevision host
”The best book I've read all year.
Nigel Jones, EditorDevonshire Magazine
”Excellent biography.
Helen BrownFinancial Times
Available in hardback and paperback from Amazon, Waterstones and all other good book sellers. Also available as an audiobook from Audible.
Blog
Once again, we’re going back in time exactly 125 years to catch up with the continuing story of Charles Deville Wells, “the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo”….
As a young man, Charles Deville Wells had practised as an engineer in France, and had invented an apparatus for regulating the speed of ships’ propellers. He sold the patent…
I was fascinated to watch the Channel 4 documentary yesterday, Titanic – The New Evidence. Too many documentaries seem intent on putting forward someone’s pet theory without backing it up…
A few weeks ago I ran a “mini-series” of blog posts, featuring some of Charles Wells’ partners in crime. The name of Henry Baker Vaughan came to mind at the…
That’s what Nigel Jones, book reviewer for Devonshire magazine, writes in the latest edition which is out now. The man who broke the bank, Charles Deville Wells, lived at an…
The BBC Two drama, Close to the Enemy tells the story of a German scientist just after WW2 who is brought to Britain to help with the development of the…
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…
Having arrived back in Monte Carlo a few days earlier [see recent blog posts], Charles Deville Wells had gone on to win yet another fortune at the gaming tables. …
On this day in 1891, Charles Wells was on a winning streak again at the Monte Carlo Casino. But his past as a fraudster was already threatening to catch up…