David Worsfold's Blog
October 6, 2023
Operation Aerial: online talk
I'll be giving on online talk on Operation Aerial on Friday 13 October at 7pm, hosted by my publisher Sabrestorm Publishing.
You can book onto the talk via Eventbritehttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/operat...
You can book onto the talk via Eventbritehttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/operat...
Published on October 06, 2023 06:21
August 28, 2023
Operation Aerial: paperback edition on its way
Publisher Sabrestorm has confirmed that the paperback edition of Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of Deliverance is due for publication on 29 September.
It is already available for pre-order on Amazon so if you missed out on the hardback last year get your order in now.
It is already available for pre-order on Amazon so if you missed out on the hardback last year get your order in now.
Published on August 28, 2023 07:08
November 3, 2022
Busy week of talks on Operation Aerial
Next week is almost wall-to-wall talks on my book 'Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of Deliverance".
On Monday it is the World Ship Society's Mid Essex Branch which meets at the community centre in Ingatestone at 7.30pm. This is open to the public so do come along if you are in the area.
Then on Tuesday it is off to the Channel Islands where the book has been very well received.
Tuesday evening will see me at the St Helier Yacht Club from 7pm where the famous Little Ships of Jersey that rescued the demolition crew from St Malo came from.
On Wednesday lunchtime at 1pm I will be at the leading historical society on the island, the Societe Jersiaise, to explore wider aspects of the island's part in the war in June 1940.
Finally, Thursday morning will see me at Waterstones in St Helier with a short talk and then book signing.
On Monday it is the World Ship Society's Mid Essex Branch which meets at the community centre in Ingatestone at 7.30pm. This is open to the public so do come along if you are in the area.
Then on Tuesday it is off to the Channel Islands where the book has been very well received.
Tuesday evening will see me at the St Helier Yacht Club from 7pm where the famous Little Ships of Jersey that rescued the demolition crew from St Malo came from.
On Wednesday lunchtime at 1pm I will be at the leading historical society on the island, the Societe Jersiaise, to explore wider aspects of the island's part in the war in June 1940.
Finally, Thursday morning will see me at Waterstones in St Helier with a short talk and then book signing.
Published on November 03, 2022 07:51
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Tags:
1940, battle-of-france, dunkirk, jersey, operation-aerial, ww2
October 15, 2022
Great feedback on Operation Aerial
Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of DeliveranceMy new book 'Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of Deliverance' has certainly captured a lot of interest.
I have had an enormous amount of positive feedback on it, including from someone who was able to identify her father on the cover photograph and provide more information about the ship and who was on it than the Imperial War Museum provided.
The request for talks keep coming in and in a few weeks I am off the Jersey to give two talks and a book signing in two days - to the Societe Jersaise, St Helier Yacht Club and at Waterstones.
I have already spoken to the Little Ship Club, our local Chicken and Frog bookshop in Brentwood and the local branch of the World Ship Society. I also recorded a programme with the excellent WW2TV which can be found on YouTube.
Do let me know what you think of the book if you have read it - and post a review. If you would like a talk do get in touch.
I have had an enormous amount of positive feedback on it, including from someone who was able to identify her father on the cover photograph and provide more information about the ship and who was on it than the Imperial War Museum provided.
The request for talks keep coming in and in a few weeks I am off the Jersey to give two talks and a book signing in two days - to the Societe Jersaise, St Helier Yacht Club and at Waterstones.
I have already spoken to the Little Ship Club, our local Chicken and Frog bookshop in Brentwood and the local branch of the World Ship Society. I also recorded a programme with the excellent WW2TV which can be found on YouTube.
Do let me know what you think of the book if you have read it - and post a review. If you would like a talk do get in touch.
Published on October 15, 2022 00:37
June 14, 2022
Operation Aerial book hits the bookshelves
I am delighted to say that my book on the post-Dunkirk evacuations from France in June 1940 - Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of Deliverance is now available from all good bookshops and online.
http://www.sabrestorm.com/news/operat...
http://www.sabrestorm.com/news/operat...
Published on June 14, 2022 00:47
February 11, 2022
Operation Aerial book back on course
After a series of Covid-related delays I am delighted to be able to announce that my book on Operation Aerial and the post-Dunkirk evacuations from France in June 1940 is back on course.
It will be published in the first half of this year and as soon as I have a firm publication date I will post it on Goodreads.
Can I thank everyone who has enquired about its progress for the patience.
In the meantime, the recent Channel 5 documentary on the Secret History of WW2 features me talking about some of the stories that will feature in the book.
https://www.channel5.com/show/secret-...
It will be published in the first half of this year and as soon as I have a firm publication date I will post it on Goodreads.
Can I thank everyone who has enquired about its progress for the patience.
In the meantime, the recent Channel 5 documentary on the Secret History of WW2 features me talking about some of the stories that will feature in the book.
https://www.channel5.com/show/secret-...
Published on February 11, 2022 01:00
September 23, 2016
Research Breakthroughs – Precious Moments
Every author delving into historical subjects knows how frustrating - but eventually rewarding - research can be. Those moments when you make a breakthrough are precious.
Researching and writing a biography of someone whose long, adventurous life covered over 20 countries across four continents is a major challenge. Thomas Kelly’s family knew many - but by no means all - of the highlights but there were many gaps, not least around his role with the Indian Medical Service in the First World War.
The starting point was the family’s knowledge of this period of his life which provided a basic but rather incomplete outline. The real story was far richer and more engaging and discovering that provided one of the really big breakthroughs of almost two years research.
The family knew he served as a doctor in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) where the British were fighting the Turks and that he commanded a hospital in Nasariyah. He returned to India after the war with the Distinguished Service Order, several Mentions in Despatches and a wife. He met a nurse at the hospital in Nasariyah in 1917 and married her as the war drew to a close the following year. That was more or less it. Filling in the gaps was going to be an interesting challenge but one that had to be faced if the Kelly story was ever going to make it as a book.
The starting point was the Indian Army Lists in the British Library. These revealed that he didn’t just serve in Mesopotamia but also in Egypt and Aden, only arriving in Mesopotamia in early 1916 in the wake of the disastrous conclusion to the siege of Kut. They also offered the crucial information that before taking command of the 83rd Combined Stationary Hospital in Nasariyah he commanded the 105th Indian Field Ambulance.
Armed with this information my next port of call was the National Archives in Kew searching for references to the units he served with. One box of War Diaries and related files listed the 105th IFA. I opened it not with any great sense of anticipation because other references had turned out to be rather thin and disappointing but at the bottom of this box was a reasonably thick buff folder marked 105th IFA.
This looked more promising but I was’t sure what to expect as I opened it because very few War Diaries from medical units, especially from that there of war, seem to have survived.
Inside was a covering sheet saying it was the War Diary for the 105th IFA so I carefully turned that over and saw some almost indecipherable handwriting which I instantly recognised from a collection of letters Kelly wrote to his sister from Tibet a decade previously. These were the War Diaries Kelly kept during WW1, almost complete from the day his unit was mobilised in Peshawar in 1914 to the day he returned to Bombay to get married. It was a true eureka moment but one that I couldn’t share too loudly in the hushed reading room of the National Archives.
Researching and writing a biography of someone whose long, adventurous life covered over 20 countries across four continents is a major challenge. Thomas Kelly’s family knew many - but by no means all - of the highlights but there were many gaps, not least around his role with the Indian Medical Service in the First World War.
The starting point was the family’s knowledge of this period of his life which provided a basic but rather incomplete outline. The real story was far richer and more engaging and discovering that provided one of the really big breakthroughs of almost two years research.
The family knew he served as a doctor in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) where the British were fighting the Turks and that he commanded a hospital in Nasariyah. He returned to India after the war with the Distinguished Service Order, several Mentions in Despatches and a wife. He met a nurse at the hospital in Nasariyah in 1917 and married her as the war drew to a close the following year. That was more or less it. Filling in the gaps was going to be an interesting challenge but one that had to be faced if the Kelly story was ever going to make it as a book.
The starting point was the Indian Army Lists in the British Library. These revealed that he didn’t just serve in Mesopotamia but also in Egypt and Aden, only arriving in Mesopotamia in early 1916 in the wake of the disastrous conclusion to the siege of Kut. They also offered the crucial information that before taking command of the 83rd Combined Stationary Hospital in Nasariyah he commanded the 105th Indian Field Ambulance.
Armed with this information my next port of call was the National Archives in Kew searching for references to the units he served with. One box of War Diaries and related files listed the 105th IFA. I opened it not with any great sense of anticipation because other references had turned out to be rather thin and disappointing but at the bottom of this box was a reasonably thick buff folder marked 105th IFA.
This looked more promising but I was’t sure what to expect as I opened it because very few War Diaries from medical units, especially from that there of war, seem to have survived.
Inside was a covering sheet saying it was the War Diary for the 105th IFA so I carefully turned that over and saw some almost indecipherable handwriting which I instantly recognised from a collection of letters Kelly wrote to his sister from Tibet a decade previously. These were the War Diaries Kelly kept during WW1, almost complete from the day his unit was mobilised in Peshawar in 1914 to the day he returned to Bombay to get married. It was a true eureka moment but one that I couldn’t share too loudly in the hushed reading room of the National Archives.
Published on September 23, 2016 06:51
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Tags:
biography, british-library, india, military-medicine, national-archives, war-diaries, ww1, ww2