As part of Ness Book Fest 2024, I’ll be speaking at Inverness Library on Saturday 28th September at 11 am. I’ll be talking about three of my non-fiction books: Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45, Bare-arsed Banditti: The Men of the ’45 and One Week in April: The Scottish Radicals of 1820....
Where: Online/YouTube When: Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 1.30 pm. Video available to watch any time after that. Just click here: There will be cake. Well, virtual Victoria sponge anyway. Hope you can join me! ...
I’ll be giving a talk and (hopefully!) signing some books at Highland Folk Museum’s upcoming Outlander Day. I’ll be sharing some stories from the medical history of the ’45, specifically the tale of the Scottish Jacobite doctor who became an American hero. Saturday 10th June at 12 noon. ...
The Festival! The Fringe! Street theatre! The Edinburgh Military tattoo and the massed pipes and drums! Glorious sunshine one day, a Biblical downpour the next! It was much the same 200 years ago when King George IV paid an official visit to Edinburgh. In August 1822 the entertainment, the bagpipes and the street theatre...
On Thursday 16th June at 7pm, I’ll be in conversation with Dr Arran Johnston at the Battle of Prestonpans Jacobite Museum. This has its home in Prestonpans Town Hall. Arran and I will be talking about my Jacobite books and lots more. Booking is essential. You can buy tickets here. ...
Last year I realized that this year, 2022, would be the 25th anniversary of the first publication of Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45. I approached the publisher, Penguin Random House, and suggested a special edition to mark this milestone. I’m delighted to say that the new edition will be available from...
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...
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...
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...
I’m beyond excited that the latest instalment of the life and adventures of Captain Robert Catto and Miss Christian Rankeillor is now available as an audiobook, evocatively read by the multi-talented Mr Steven Worsley. Steve is very much in demand as a narrator. He has read many novels, including by tartan noir authors such as Stuart...