Simon B. Jones's Blog: Slings and arrows, page 10
August 31, 2012
Good Advice
Hey check out my blog’s new home. This is much better. I came across blogspot through reading the blogs of others. I always give a tweet-out to the ones I like.
My writing is already richer for having sampled just a smattering of the vast repository of literary advice which is available out there in the bloggosphere. By the time I have finished my first attempt at a novel I shall owe a considerable debt to those who have had some success in writing and are now passing on their hardwon nuggets of knowledge to us mortals still struggling to get out of the mire of mediocrity. Sometimes the tips I pick up are so obvious that I feel like an utter muppet for not having applied them already. Some are more subtle.
To give just one example I read that one should try to write not just from the point of view of the character’s thoughts but from their imagination, to get deeper into their psyche. When I applied this to my current project Fall of Empires, I ended up giving one of my principle characters; The Emperor Heraclius, visions of angels at critical moments in the plot, taking his sense of religious mission to a higher plane altogether. This fits in quite well with his eventual unhingement under the stresses of his office.
I’ve just finished reading Cyril Mango’s (what a splendid name) Byzantium – Empire of the New Rome, which gives great insight into the Byzantine mindset. Angels were believed in quite literally and envisaged as forming a kind of celestial civil service, modelled on the Imperial Court. Even heaven has its bureaucracy!
http://pinterest.com/justice4love/mysteria-dei/
August 30, 2012
Taking Liberties
Ah history. How to treat it when writing fiction? Should one stick slavishly to the facts of who, what, where and when, or treat it as an artist treats their palette; mixing and merging to create something entirely new? It has not taken me long to subscribe to the latter point of view, as the demands of plot have trumped all else. I have found myself mixing and matching aspects of historical events from the right period to create new situations in which all the elements remain probable but bear no resemblance to the actual course of events. However clever I think I might have been in doing this I know I must now abandon all claims to be writing anything but a complete work of fiction, which should have no pretentions to be anything else. So be it.
A few people have emitted the online equivalent of small grunts of pleasure whilst reading my humble efforts on Wattpad this week. That will have to sustain me I suppose as I continue with the largely lonely vigil of attempting to raise my online profile, punctuated by the occasional friendly exchange over the fence with fellow denizens of the web also plugging away trying to get noticed.
It has been a good week in the twittersphere as I have continued to embrace twitter as a repository of interesting things to share and am hopeful of garnering 100 followers by the end of the week. I only had 10 at the start of the week so this is good going I reckon.
40 more people have bought The Battles are the Best Bits on Kindle which I am pleased with as it had all but fallen off the radar during the Olympic slump and now a free promo beckons for this weekend. If it goes half as well as last time I will be delighted.
All in all, all’s well. How’s everybody else? Hello….The Battles are the Best Bits
A few people have emitted the online equivalent of small grunts of pleasure whilst reading my humble efforts on Wattpad this week. That will have to sustain me I suppose as I continue with the largely lonely vigil of attempting to raise my online profile, punctuated by the occasional friendly exchange over the fence with fellow denizens of the web also plugging away trying to get noticed.
It has been a good week in the twittersphere as I have continued to embrace twitter as a repository of interesting things to share and am hopeful of garnering 100 followers by the end of the week. I only had 10 at the start of the week so this is good going I reckon.
40 more people have bought The Battles are the Best Bits on Kindle which I am pleased with as it had all but fallen off the radar during the Olympic slump and now a free promo beckons for this weekend. If it goes half as well as last time I will be delighted.
All in all, all’s well. How’s everybody else? Hello….The Battles are the Best Bits
August 26, 2012
Trying to be interesting
Well this week I decided to put the first ten chapters of my novel on line and see what happened. It’s being read but the silence is deafening. Is this good or bad? Hopefully no news is good news. I was delighted when one kind person did take the time to write a review of The Battles are the Best Bits and was extremely complimentary. I cannot complain if I don’t get much feedback. After all, I had never felt the need to post feedback on the internet about anything before, but now I am on the receiving end I understand how important it is when you are putting something out into the world to get some sort of response other than numbers sold or numbers read, as this tells you nothing.
I read some good advice at the start of the week about using social networking as a writer which I have been trying to put into practice. In a nutshell it advised the shy and awkward new writer taking their first uncertain steps into the online jungle not to feel that they had to constantly come up with clever things to say in order to bombard their followers with prompts to look at their work. This is how I approached things at first and I have since seen more blatant examples of this approach in action and it annoys me too. Instead the blog advised the new networker to get out into the world, see what other people are doing and writing, engage with it and share it.
Taking this approach suddenly made the whole exercise more enjoyable and fulfilling, instead of the chore it had been. That has been my lesson this week: If I am interested in interesting things, people hopefully will be more interested in me. If on the other hand I simply bore on about myself, I will turn people off.
With all this in mind I fired up my twitter this morning ready to go in search of tweetable morsels but was taken aback when I learned of the death of Neil Armstrong. What a sad thought that the first man on the moon is no longer among us. How strange it will be, in my lifetime, when no-one is alive who was part of that incredible era of ground-breaking exploration.
It was also a noteworthy moment in that this was the first time that I had learned of a major development in the world via twitter, rather than TV news or the newspaper. I expect that will become a more frequent occurrence for me.
They have yet to invent the waterproof tablet PC however so I’m off now to have a bath and read an old fashioned book with pages just to keep it real. SBJ
The Battles are the Best Bits
I read some good advice at the start of the week about using social networking as a writer which I have been trying to put into practice. In a nutshell it advised the shy and awkward new writer taking their first uncertain steps into the online jungle not to feel that they had to constantly come up with clever things to say in order to bombard their followers with prompts to look at their work. This is how I approached things at first and I have since seen more blatant examples of this approach in action and it annoys me too. Instead the blog advised the new networker to get out into the world, see what other people are doing and writing, engage with it and share it.
Taking this approach suddenly made the whole exercise more enjoyable and fulfilling, instead of the chore it had been. That has been my lesson this week: If I am interested in interesting things, people hopefully will be more interested in me. If on the other hand I simply bore on about myself, I will turn people off.
With all this in mind I fired up my twitter this morning ready to go in search of tweetable morsels but was taken aback when I learned of the death of Neil Armstrong. What a sad thought that the first man on the moon is no longer among us. How strange it will be, in my lifetime, when no-one is alive who was part of that incredible era of ground-breaking exploration.
It was also a noteworthy moment in that this was the first time that I had learned of a major development in the world via twitter, rather than TV news or the newspaper. I expect that will become a more frequent occurrence for me.
They have yet to invent the waterproof tablet PC however so I’m off now to have a bath and read an old fashioned book with pages just to keep it real. SBJ
The Battles are the Best Bits
August 20, 2012
Postcard from the North
I’ve just returned from my week off in the North East of England from where my dear wife hails. Here is my postcard from the north:
Dear readers. Having a lovely time up north. Weather for the most part has been great. Staying at Rockcliffe Hall Hotel near Darlington. We gorged ourselves like kings on the fabulous fare and wallowed like Roman emperors in the waters of the spa. The hall was constructed in 1863 by Arthur Backhouse; a quaker and wealthy banker. I thought quakers were supposed to espouse the simple life but there you go! The hall was also used as a command headquarters during the Second World War.
On days out we got up to a few interesting things. We visited The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. What an amazing place! A vast monument to Victorian philanthropy; the magnificent edifice of the museum towers above the Teeside countryside. It was constructed in 1869 by John and Josephine Bowes; local landowners who were largely snubbed by the establishment due to John’s well publicised illegitimacy and Josephine’s background as an actress. Having devoted their lives to collecting precious works of art and objects of historical interest, the Bowes ploughed their fortune into bequeathing their collection to the public and creating their museum. My favourite exhibits were a fine pair of Cannalettos.
Also interesting was the Poison Garden at Alnwick. It was remarkable to see the number of poisonous plants which can be found in the average garden; including mine. I have some killers in my flower beds. Interesting facts gleaned from this trip were that Belladonna takes its name from its use to dilate the pupils of Venetian courtesans in order to make them appear more beautiful; at the cost of the ruin of their eyesight. Cuckoo Pint; used as a starching agent in Elizabethan times when ruffs were the fashion was highly toxic to the unfortunate servants tasked with the laundry. Most interestingly the use of hellebore root, which was employed as a purgative in ancient times, by an ancestor of Hippocrates to poison the water supply of a besieged city may have inspired the hippocratic oath.
Anyway wish you were here! SBJ
Dear readers. Having a lovely time up north. Weather for the most part has been great. Staying at Rockcliffe Hall Hotel near Darlington. We gorged ourselves like kings on the fabulous fare and wallowed like Roman emperors in the waters of the spa. The hall was constructed in 1863 by Arthur Backhouse; a quaker and wealthy banker. I thought quakers were supposed to espouse the simple life but there you go! The hall was also used as a command headquarters during the Second World War.
On days out we got up to a few interesting things. We visited The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. What an amazing place! A vast monument to Victorian philanthropy; the magnificent edifice of the museum towers above the Teeside countryside. It was constructed in 1869 by John and Josephine Bowes; local landowners who were largely snubbed by the establishment due to John’s well publicised illegitimacy and Josephine’s background as an actress. Having devoted their lives to collecting precious works of art and objects of historical interest, the Bowes ploughed their fortune into bequeathing their collection to the public and creating their museum. My favourite exhibits were a fine pair of Cannalettos.
Also interesting was the Poison Garden at Alnwick. It was remarkable to see the number of poisonous plants which can be found in the average garden; including mine. I have some killers in my flower beds. Interesting facts gleaned from this trip were that Belladonna takes its name from its use to dilate the pupils of Venetian courtesans in order to make them appear more beautiful; at the cost of the ruin of their eyesight. Cuckoo Pint; used as a starching agent in Elizabethan times when ruffs were the fashion was highly toxic to the unfortunate servants tasked with the laundry. Most interestingly the use of hellebore root, which was employed as a purgative in ancient times, by an ancestor of Hippocrates to poison the water supply of a besieged city may have inspired the hippocratic oath.
Anyway wish you were here! SBJ
August 11, 2012
Free at last
Greetings readers. Well I don’t know why I didn’t try this years ago. I am loving the liberating feel of being creative and having a new project. After spending a year editing, finally sitting down with a blank page and writing something new was like putting my foot down on the open road after being stuck in heavy traffic and feeling the wind in my hair.
Writing a book the second time around is going to be a totally different experience from the lonely vigil of doing my first one, which I slaved over for five years on my own and nobody saw it until the end. This time I am going to be bold and put it out there in instalments whilst writing it. I hope I am able to deal with any criticism maturely and don’t curl up and cry in a corner the moment someone takes a dislike to it.
The first thing that struck me as I started writing and introducing my characters was the extent to which I was relying on my own experiences. This was unexpected given that my life experience bears little resemblance to that of a Seventh Century Byzantine merchant’s son, as my main character happens to be. But I soon realised that when it comes to how people feel in given situations I am a human being just like my characters and I happen to be the human being that I know best. I know how I feel when I’m scared, or in love, or trying to impress someone I’ve just met for the first time. So when I’m writing I find that I am engaging my own emotional memories and tapping into them but doing so in an entirely subconscious way which is very interesting. Sometimes I have finished writing a scene and found myself feeling emotionally drained, as if I’ve been attacked by the brain bug from Starship Troopers! Is this normal?
The Battles are the Best Bits
Writing a book the second time around is going to be a totally different experience from the lonely vigil of doing my first one, which I slaved over for five years on my own and nobody saw it until the end. This time I am going to be bold and put it out there in instalments whilst writing it. I hope I am able to deal with any criticism maturely and don’t curl up and cry in a corner the moment someone takes a dislike to it.
The first thing that struck me as I started writing and introducing my characters was the extent to which I was relying on my own experiences. This was unexpected given that my life experience bears little resemblance to that of a Seventh Century Byzantine merchant’s son, as my main character happens to be. But I soon realised that when it comes to how people feel in given situations I am a human being just like my characters and I happen to be the human being that I know best. I know how I feel when I’m scared, or in love, or trying to impress someone I’ve just met for the first time. So when I’m writing I find that I am engaging my own emotional memories and tapping into them but doing so in an entirely subconscious way which is very interesting. Sometimes I have finished writing a scene and found myself feeling emotionally drained, as if I’ve been attacked by the brain bug from Starship Troopers! Is this normal?
The Battles are the Best Bits
August 8, 2012
After the gold rush
Well the Olympics have been marvellous its true. Some days it seems we Brits have been winning so many medals it’s a wonder Johnny Foreigner bothers turning up. As much as I have enjoyed the games however, they do not seem to have done much for my book sales. I did celebrate my 100th book sold at the weekend, on top of the 550 that went on the free promo, so don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy. Nevertheless as people have been turning on their TV’s to watch the games rather than hitting the internet in search of something to read, interest in the poor old book has taken a nose dive. Hopefully another free promo post-Olympics will get it back to where it was.
In the meantime I have been turning my attention to my new project; Fall of Empires. This will be an entirely new departure as I attempt to write fiction for the first time. I had the idea for the novel a couple of years ago when I was still writing The Battles are the Best Bits, but I did not think I would ever write it. I didn’t think that I could write a novel. Presenting facts eloquently and wittily is one thing. Bringing characters to life and making them real and likeable, making people engage with them and give a damn whether they live or die; that calls for someone far more gifted than I.
The idea to have a go nevertheless came to me recently. Trying to get a self-published factual book noticed out there in a world full of entertaining fiction with Fifty Shades of Grey (originally a self-published book incidently) busy out-selling Harry Potter and most people seemingly more interested in being titivated than educated, is a tough job.
There are nevertheless thousands of people, nay hundreds of thousands of people who are prepared to look beyond the slap and tickle of the best seller chart and take the time to read the humble efforts of amateur scribblers who have put their work out on the internet for others to enjoy. And God bless every one of them. Looking at the reader stats for some of these online novels was a truly jaw-dropping, eye opening moment of realisation of the power of the internet. Here was a massive potential pool of readers whose attention I just might be able to catch with a cheeky little historical novel. Having grabbed these flittering on-line butterflies with the venus-fly-trap of my novel, I could then hopefully divert their attention to my publised book. Now I know I am not the next Bernard Cornwall but I think I can manage to create something that can hold its own against more modest competition. I can at least string a sentence together which is a very good start.
It is a plan of evil genius. All I need to do now is write a novel. Simples.
The Battles are the Best Bits
In the meantime I have been turning my attention to my new project; Fall of Empires. This will be an entirely new departure as I attempt to write fiction for the first time. I had the idea for the novel a couple of years ago when I was still writing The Battles are the Best Bits, but I did not think I would ever write it. I didn’t think that I could write a novel. Presenting facts eloquently and wittily is one thing. Bringing characters to life and making them real and likeable, making people engage with them and give a damn whether they live or die; that calls for someone far more gifted than I.
The idea to have a go nevertheless came to me recently. Trying to get a self-published factual book noticed out there in a world full of entertaining fiction with Fifty Shades of Grey (originally a self-published book incidently) busy out-selling Harry Potter and most people seemingly more interested in being titivated than educated, is a tough job.
There are nevertheless thousands of people, nay hundreds of thousands of people who are prepared to look beyond the slap and tickle of the best seller chart and take the time to read the humble efforts of amateur scribblers who have put their work out on the internet for others to enjoy. And God bless every one of them. Looking at the reader stats for some of these online novels was a truly jaw-dropping, eye opening moment of realisation of the power of the internet. Here was a massive potential pool of readers whose attention I just might be able to catch with a cheeky little historical novel. Having grabbed these flittering on-line butterflies with the venus-fly-trap of my novel, I could then hopefully divert their attention to my publised book. Now I know I am not the next Bernard Cornwall but I think I can manage to create something that can hold its own against more modest competition. I can at least string a sentence together which is a very good start.
It is a plan of evil genius. All I need to do now is write a novel. Simples.
The Battles are the Best Bits
August 1, 2012
Planet Authonomy
This morning in between writing the latest chapter of my novel Fall of Empires and enjoying Jeremy Irons' superb performance in The Borgias I have been paying a visit to authonomy.com. This is one of the sites which I am using to promote The Battles are the Best Bits and if you are not familiar with it, it is run by the mainstream publisher Harper Collins as a platform for independant writers to showcase their work, obtain peer reviews and compete to get onto the hallowed ground of the editor's desk. This is a place which only a handful of the several thousand worthy efforts jostling for attention on the site will ever reach. As a non-fiction book I hold out no hopes that my effort will get anywhere near it. Given that most of the denizens of authonomy are there with the single minded purpose of achieving the holy grail of a Harper Collins review, it is not an obvious place to get sales either. Nevertheless the positive comments and encouragement from fellow members have made it a worthwhile exercise.
At times on authonomy you can smell the desperation in the air as those with books tantalisingly close to the top of the charts abandon all pride, reserve and shame in order to garner precious votes; mobbing every newcomer to the site with the persistance of competing geegaw salesmen in a tourist hotspot.
There is endless mutual backscratching, vote swapping and other shenannigans, but amidst all that are thousands of books to explore. It is a great place with something for everybody.
I like to trawl for undiscovered gems in the lower reaches of the authonomy jungle, in the hope of finding something new and interesting that I can give a boost to with a rating or a comment or maybe even the ultimate accolade of a shelving. You never know what you'll find next.
So if you are not familiar with authonomy check it out today and see what you discover. You can start on my page naturally! http://www.authonomy.com/books/45557/...
At times on authonomy you can smell the desperation in the air as those with books tantalisingly close to the top of the charts abandon all pride, reserve and shame in order to garner precious votes; mobbing every newcomer to the site with the persistance of competing geegaw salesmen in a tourist hotspot.
There is endless mutual backscratching, vote swapping and other shenannigans, but amidst all that are thousands of books to explore. It is a great place with something for everybody.
I like to trawl for undiscovered gems in the lower reaches of the authonomy jungle, in the hope of finding something new and interesting that I can give a boost to with a rating or a comment or maybe even the ultimate accolade of a shelving. You never know what you'll find next.
So if you are not familiar with authonomy check it out today and see what you discover. You can start on my page naturally! http://www.authonomy.com/books/45557/...
July 30, 2012
Giving it Away
Hello readers. Sorry I have not blogged for a day or two.
I have been enjoying the sight of my book racking up readers in the hundreds on it's first two days of free promo. I was thrilled with the uptake and my ego soared as it rocketed all the way to the top of the Kindle ancient history chart.
At one point my little book was sitting in between the works of Edward Gibbon and Samuel Pepys; two of the most famous publications in the English language.
This was an utterly surreal moment. I imagined the two great men sharing a flaggon of ale in the Herodotus Arms; a tavern for dead historians in the afterlife.
Gibbon:'Who the devil is this blackguard Simon Jones? I've never heard of him!'
Pepys:'Some amateur scribbler on that new-fangled internet they have down there Edward. Don't worry, his fame will be fleeting, like a comet blazing across the firmament, whilst ours will last forever. Drink up. Let's see if Plutarch fancies a game of skittles.'
Indeed my fame was fleeting and I am already tumbling back to earth. It is remarkably easy to storm the charts with a free book. It will be another thing entirely to get back up there without all that extra publicity. Nevertheless sales have picked up and its all going well. Perhaps one day they'll let me sit in the corner in the dead historians' tavern.The Battles are the Best Bits
I have been enjoying the sight of my book racking up readers in the hundreds on it's first two days of free promo. I was thrilled with the uptake and my ego soared as it rocketed all the way to the top of the Kindle ancient history chart.
At one point my little book was sitting in between the works of Edward Gibbon and Samuel Pepys; two of the most famous publications in the English language.
This was an utterly surreal moment. I imagined the two great men sharing a flaggon of ale in the Herodotus Arms; a tavern for dead historians in the afterlife.
Gibbon:'Who the devil is this blackguard Simon Jones? I've never heard of him!'
Pepys:'Some amateur scribbler on that new-fangled internet they have down there Edward. Don't worry, his fame will be fleeting, like a comet blazing across the firmament, whilst ours will last forever. Drink up. Let's see if Plutarch fancies a game of skittles.'
Indeed my fame was fleeting and I am already tumbling back to earth. It is remarkably easy to storm the charts with a free book. It will be another thing entirely to get back up there without all that extra publicity. Nevertheless sales have picked up and its all going well. Perhaps one day they'll let me sit in the corner in the dead historians' tavern.The Battles are the Best Bits
July 28, 2012
I got satisfaction
This week has brought a great sense of fulfilment. I have seen my book, my creation, make its way out into the world in increasing numbers. There were many times when I was writing it, when I wondered if anyone would ever read the thing. I did not doubt that it was worthy of publication and once I reached a certain point in writing it I knew I had acheived sufficient momentum to see it through and had made my mind up to publish it no matter what.
All that said, you cannot make people buy the thing. So when I started getting a sale here and a sale there, I was genuinely thrilled. It was a heartwarming thought that someone somewhere, was sitting in a cafe with an ipad, reading the words that I had written. That really, was all I ever wanted. I have not fantasized about giving up the day job to be able to write full time, or signing books in Waterstones. My ambitions were more modest. I wanted to finish the book, be happy with what I had written, hold a copy of my book in my hand and know that somewhere people were reading it and hopefully enjoying it. I've achieved that and I will need to remind myself if I become disappointed in future with how well the book does, that anything else on top of my original aims is a bonus. I have always found my ability to find satisfaction in what I have got to be one of my strengths. The only thing that really matters is the pleasure I got from writing it.
And if you believe that self-righteous twaddle Dear Reader you'll believe anything. SBJ
The Battles are the Best Bits
All that said, you cannot make people buy the thing. So when I started getting a sale here and a sale there, I was genuinely thrilled. It was a heartwarming thought that someone somewhere, was sitting in a cafe with an ipad, reading the words that I had written. That really, was all I ever wanted. I have not fantasized about giving up the day job to be able to write full time, or signing books in Waterstones. My ambitions were more modest. I wanted to finish the book, be happy with what I had written, hold a copy of my book in my hand and know that somewhere people were reading it and hopefully enjoying it. I've achieved that and I will need to remind myself if I become disappointed in future with how well the book does, that anything else on top of my original aims is a bonus. I have always found my ability to find satisfaction in what I have got to be one of my strengths. The only thing that really matters is the pleasure I got from writing it.
And if you believe that self-righteous twaddle Dear Reader you'll believe anything. SBJ
The Battles are the Best Bits
July 27, 2012
Olympic musings
Right I am going to jump on the bandwagon here as the Olympic opening ceremony is upon us. As I was taking my morning swim; terrifying the old ladies in the pool with my enthusisatic front-crawl, like a killer whale unleashed in a duck pond,I was wondering what the Ancient Greeks would have made of all the razzamataz surrounding the event.
The Ancient Olympics differed massively from the modern in that it was predominantly a religious festival so would they, I wondered, feel that the modern version with all its corporate sponsorship, had somehow tarnished their creation.
As I mowed down another blue rinser who had crossed my path, I concluded that opinion would probably be divided. I suspected that by and large the cosmopolitan Athenians would enjoy all the theatre and spectacle. The Spartans perhaps would be more critical of the cult of personalities and the endless commercialisation of the event.
As I flopped in the hot tub I thought about one great Athenian who would be right at home in the modern games. Alcibiades, himself an Olympic victor, would have lapped up all the attention. He was a man who basked in the limelight of public adulation. He was certainly a man who liked to think big as his countrymen learned to their cost following the ruinous invasion of Sicily that he talked them into. He was also not averse to cocking a snook at the religious niceties of the day. His mocking of the sacred Elusian mysteries is well attested. So if anyone would be able to forgive the abandonment of the Gods of Olympus in favour of an event where sport itself(or some cynics might say money) is the god, I think it would be him. Enjoy the show. SBJ
btw Today's quiz is of course on the Ancient Olympics. Check it out on the quiz page!
The Ancient Olympics differed massively from the modern in that it was predominantly a religious festival so would they, I wondered, feel that the modern version with all its corporate sponsorship, had somehow tarnished their creation.
As I mowed down another blue rinser who had crossed my path, I concluded that opinion would probably be divided. I suspected that by and large the cosmopolitan Athenians would enjoy all the theatre and spectacle. The Spartans perhaps would be more critical of the cult of personalities and the endless commercialisation of the event.
As I flopped in the hot tub I thought about one great Athenian who would be right at home in the modern games. Alcibiades, himself an Olympic victor, would have lapped up all the attention. He was a man who basked in the limelight of public adulation. He was certainly a man who liked to think big as his countrymen learned to their cost following the ruinous invasion of Sicily that he talked them into. He was also not averse to cocking a snook at the religious niceties of the day. His mocking of the sacred Elusian mysteries is well attested. So if anyone would be able to forgive the abandonment of the Gods of Olympus in favour of an event where sport itself(or some cynics might say money) is the god, I think it would be him. Enjoy the show. SBJ
btw Today's quiz is of course on the Ancient Olympics. Check it out on the quiz page!
Slings and arrows
Nuggets of history from the author of 'The Battles are the Best Bits'.
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