This moving poem is by my friend Nimmou Nilakantan. We got to know each other at the school gates back in the mid 1980s when we were both young mums. Our sons met in the classroom as wee boys and were soon best buddies. Nimmou, her husband Nila and their two lads were in...
Launch of One Week in April One Year On
One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820 was launched on 2nd April 2020. All sorts of live events were planned for the bicentenary of the Rising, (also known as the Radical War). One which went ahead was the inaugural Paisley Book Festival. I treasure my lanyard as a reminder of live events...
Inverness Outlanders LIVE
Very pleased to have been asked by the lovely and dedicated Inverness Outlanders to speak about some of the women I wrote about in Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 at an online event. The third Inverness Outlanders LIVE online show happens this coming Tuesday, 23rd February at 7pm on...
The Battle of Falkirk Muir
The Battle of Falkirk Muir, also known as the second Battle of Falkirk, was fought on 17th January 1746 and was a victory for the Jacobite army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart over their Hanoverian adversaries of the British army. The battle was fought in a tempest of rain and wind, as illustrated in...
Merry Christmas 2020
Very pleased to have published two books this year, one non-fiction and one novel. Thrilled that the Scotsman newspaper included One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820 in their supplement Scottish Books of 2020. Currently writing the third novel in the Storm over Scotland series. Many thanks to all readers...
The Great Fire of Edinburgh of 1824
The Great Fire of Edinburgh of 1824 broke out on 15th November of that year and raged over the next four days and nights. It’s thought to have been started by a candle someone forgot to blow out when they left their business premises late in the afternoon. Thirteen people died, hundreds had to...
“I die a martyr to the cause of truth and Justice” – The Execution of Baird & Hardie
Two hundred years ago this month, on 8th September 1820, two men were hanged and then beheaded in Broad Street, Stirling. They were John Baird, aged 38, and Andrew Hardie, aged 28. Found guilty of treason at what can only be called a show trial, their crime had been their involvement in the Scottish...
Scotland’s Radical Martyrs – James ‘Purlie’ Wilson
‘Did ye ever see sic a crowd, Tammas?’ James Wilson, a weaver from Strathaven, a man who had harmed nobody, was put to death on Glasgow Green on Wednesday 30 August 1820 for his short-lived participation in the Scottish Radical Rising of that year. As the Glasgow Herald reported, it was a fine...
At Last – A Date for my Diary! (Not to mention my poor, neglected year planner.)
Events must be like buses. You wait ages for one and then two come along at the same time. Date for the second event is to be confirmed but the first one takes place online on Saturday 8th August at 7pm. Hosted by The Sassenach Stitcher, @sassenachstitch, details and tickets for the Covid Ceilidh...
When the Lights Come on Again is re-issued with a brand new cover!
Eighty years ago this month, on 10th June 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, declaring war on Britain and France. Italian men living and working in Britain were promptly interned as ‘enemy aliens’. As Churchill said when told most of them would be innocent of any fascist loyalties, “Collar the...