Author Archives: adkins

World Book Day paperback

The paperback of our book Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History is published today in the UK by Abacus – on World Book Day! That’s a very fitting date, especially as the book tells the story of the Great Siege of Gibraltar from 1779 to 1783, an incredible story within world history and the most lethal battle of the American Revolution (the American War of Independence). The paperback is also published to coincide with the 240th anniversary of the start of the Great Siege. It is available in all good bookshops, and the ISBN is 9780349142395. You can find out more information here.

The official launch of the paperback will be at an event at Gibraltar House in London on 1st April. See details here.

Bridge over the River Lune

Lune Aqueduct

On a recent trip to the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, we made a point of visiting the wonderful Lune Aqueduct. The main road bridge over the River Lune is on the north side of Lancaster, and a short walk further north alongside the river brings you to Rennie’s Bridge, better known as the Lune Aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river.

The Lune Aqueduct over the River Lune

The Lune Aqueduct is a fine example of Georgian architecture, largely in its original form and Continue reading →

Gibraltar literary festival 2018

The annual Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival took place from 15th to 18th November, and this was the second time we had been invited. This time we gave two talks, one on ‘Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History’ and the other on the Battle of Trafalgar. Both talks were held at the Convent in Main Street, which is the official residence of the Governor and not normally open to the public. We were very pleased that both talks were well attended, with lively Q&A discussions and book sales afterwards. You can see a video compilation of days 1 and 2 here, and we appear from 0.15 to 0.23.

The Gibunco Group, specialising in marine services, is one of the key sponsors of the festival, and we loved the design of two posters, reflecting the pages of a book, but with an Age of Sail theme.

We were also the guests of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, Continue reading →

Early Flight

The first attempts at manned hot-air balloon flights took place not long after the ending of the Great Siege of Gibraltar. The Montgolfier brothers (Joseph Michel and Jacques Étienne), established a tradition that persisted with the first spaceflights – sending up animals in the initial experimental flights. In September 1783, a cock, duck and sheep were attached to a hot-air balloon and launched from the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. The animals travelled 2 miles in 8 minutes before landing safely. After that, the way was open for larger balloons carrying people, and the age of flight began. All kinds of enthusiasts started to experiment with both hydrogen and hot-air balloons, and ascents became popular spectacles.

First female balloonists

In June 1784 Madame Thible was the first woman to fly in a balloon, taking off from Lyons in France. A year later (and still less than two years after the first flight by animals), Mrs Letitia Ann Sage became the first woman in Britain to ascend in a balloon.

Letitia Sage, George Biggin and Vincenzo Lunardi
(waving his hat)in the balloon before the ascent in June 1785

 

The original plan had been for Vincenzo Lunardi, George Biggin and Mrs Sage to make the balloon flight on 29 June 1785, but in the event Continue reading →

The Gibraltar Stone

Woodbury Common

We recently visited Woodbury Common in east Devon, a huge area of common land that comprises much heathland and is part of the Pebblebed Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), as well as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). To the south, it is bordered by the seaside towns of Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. We will be giving a talk on ‘Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History’ at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, so we thought that it was a real coincidence to discover a Gibraltar Stone on Woodbury Common.

Roy Adkins standing by the Gibraltar Stone at Woodbury Common, holding the US edition of ‘Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History’

Continue reading →

Printing and Publishing

From hand to steam

Before the mid-15th century, everything was written by hand, including multiple copies of the same work, which meant plenty of opportunities for scribal errors. Then the invention of printing revolutionised book production, because it was quicker, easier and cheaper to produce multiple copies with exactly the same text. Even though printing presses continued to develop, with more efficient designs, they were still powered by hand until the introduction of steam-powered presses in the early 19th century. This revolution increased the number and availability of books and allowed their cost to decrease.

Manually operated printing presses continued in use for specific tasks, but by the late 19th century steam power was dominant. Printers often combined printing services with selling books and stationery, and in an advertisement of 1865, Nall’s Steam Printing Works at Norwich in Norfolk offered ‘Printing by steam power with speed & economy’. The same company also sold books and stationery and ran a subscription library.

Nall’s Steam Printing Works, Norwich

Printing processes

For printing a book by steam, each page was made up with individual metal letters (called ‘type’) Continue reading →

Oranges and Treasure

Hermione treasure ship

During the Seven Years’ War of 1756 to 1763, Philemon Pownoll commanded the Royal Navy sloop Favourite, while his friend Herbert Sawyer was in charge of the frigate Active. Cruising near Cape St Vincent (the south-western tip of Portugal) in May 1762, they spotted, chased and captured the Spanish vessel Hermione, bound from Lima in South America to Cadiz.

Captain Pownoll advert at The Sharpham Trust’s open day

The Hermione was brought into Gibraltar and then given a naval escort to England, where the cargo and ship were valued at Continue reading →

London’s Great Beer Flood

London, October 1814 – a time of peace. Britain was no longer at war with France, though the war with the United States of America continued. Nobody realised that in early 1815 Europe would be engulfed by turmoil when Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba, which would culminate in the Battle of Waterloo.

Porter popularity

The Horseshoe Brewery, which was named after the public house next door, lay between Tottenham Court Road, Bainbridge Street, New Street and Great Russell Street. This was almost the unmarked boundary between the upmarket West End of London and the notorious slums of St Giles.

The slum tenements of St Giles, London

This brewery was known for its porter, which had grown out of the custom of Londoners drinking a mix of two or three weak and strong beers. In the 1720s one brewer had produced a blend of three beers that was dark brown, almost black, in colour. This strong beer was so popular with market porters that Continue reading →

Reading Matters

For many years, we created newsletters that were emailed to subscribers and were also posted on Our Newsletters website page, fifty-three in all. They contained our latest news, as well as features on anything that appealed to us. We were able to stray well beyond the confines of our published books, or perhaps expand on something in those books, and we were also able to include photographs and other illustrations.

Regrettably, we have now stopped producing newsletters, because of the imposition by the European Union of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which places an onerous burden on small businesses.

From now on, keep an eye instead on the different pages of our website, and take a look at this blog. We will continue to add any news in our Latest News page of the website, and any forthcoming talks or interviews will be listed on the Events page.

If you enjoy these newsletters and blog, then you will probably also enjoy our books!
If you are now at a loss for something to read, we would (of course) suggest that you try any of our books that you haven’t read. Here’s a cut-out-and-keep summary, though Continue reading →

Welcome to Patterns of the Past

Welcome to our blog, ‘Patterns of the Past’. We are historians and archaeologists, and on this blog you can read short features about all sorts of fascinating topics. We write them in the same way as our books, but instead of keeping to a particular theme, we wander wherever we wish, adding pictures here and there. You can choose what to read by going to ARCHIVES or CATEGORIES on the right. Feel free to share with other people.