by Mark Simmons | Nov 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
The problems of Palestine, long before it became the modern State of Israel, had begun decades before 1920 when Britain was granted a mandate over the country after World War I. Ratified by the League of Nations in 1922 which terminated in 1948. In those... by Mark Simmons | Nov 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
We produced new paperback editions of The Serpent and the Cross, Shadows Washed in Blood, Room 39: And the Cornish Legacy, and From the Foam of the Sea. Three of them also as e-books, we did have some glitches with this but overcame them. The covers were... by Mark Simmons | Oct 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
I Knew John Mussell, although we never met, for over twenty years since my first article appeared in Medal News in 2002 and I went on to write dozens more. He was always a ‘gent’ and great to work with. I would like to express my condolences to his Wife... by Mark Simmons | Sep 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
And D-Day Betrayed? Were the D-Day landings ‘Operation Neptune’ betrayed? The popular view is they were not. Rather more it is felt through the British ‘Double-Cross System’, through their double agents fed the Germans a huge amount of miss-information which they... by Mark Simmons | Sep 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
Two English officers see the American Civil War Henry Charles Fletcher of the Scots Fusilier Guards (now Scots Guards) in November 1862, in just a few weeks travelling largely by rail, covered an immense distance through the Southern States. It was... by Mark Simmons | Aug 28, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Mark Simmons | Jul 31, 2023 | Uncategorized
Coming Soon my New Book Memories and Echoes: A Brits Journey into the American Civil War. For over thirty years my wife Margaret and I have been travelling to the USA. During that time we explored the background of the Civil War visiting all the major sites and... by Mark Simmons | Jun 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Gavin Lyall Gavin Lyall was born in Birmingham in 1932. He completed National Service 1951-1953 as a pilot officer in the RAF flying Gloster Meteors, after that he went to Cambridge and graduated in 1956 with honours in English. He went on to write for several... by Mark Simmons | Jun 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
James Bond Where did 007’s name come from? According to C.H. Forster of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, on hearing from Ian Fleming toward the end of World War II that he was writing a book, he asked how he would choose the characters names. Fleming, he says,... by Mark Simmons | May 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Meeting at Hendaye The small far south westerly French town of Hendaye is the last stop on the Franco-Spanish railway line from Paris-Madrid before the border. Its palm tree lined waterfront lapped by Atlantic rollers to the west and to the east tower the mountains of... by Mark Simmons | May 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
Out of the trip came my book: The Serpent & the Cross. The great Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) road race was held twenty four times 1927-1957 with a gap during World War II. The race continues today as an historic classic car event. https://1000miglia.it... by Mark Simmons | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Mark Simmons | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
Is the character of James Bond 007 based on anybody? Many people have been put forward as models. We can be fairly certain what Ian Fleming felt he looked like because he tells us. In Casino Royale his doomed girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, says to Rene Mathis of the French... by Mark Simmons | Apr 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
‘Thoughts in a DB III.’ In the novel Goldfinger we are told Bond is given the choice of cars ‘from the pool.’ An Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4, we are told either of the cars were suitable. Bond opts for the DB III; because it has more gadgets and is ‘battleship grey’... by Mark Simmons | Apr 21, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Spy stories of Desmond Bagley Lee Child kindly wrote the foreword to my book Alistair MacLean’s War in which he said how he had ‘…loved the patient way MacLean set up a story and sucked me in, slowly with great self confidence.’ So much so he was one of main... by Mark Simmons | Apr 14, 2023 | Uncategorized
The 007 continuation novels It was on the 12 August 1964 that Ian Fleming died of a massive haemorrhage at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Three days later he was buried in the cemetery of the Parish Church of St. James, Sevenhampton, near Highworth in Wiltshire.... by Mark Simmons | Apr 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
New Editions From the Foam of the Sea my first novel published in 2007 and not available for several years is now out in a new edition published by Amazon with their Kdp service https://kdp.amazon.com . Something I have been meaning to do for a long time and proved to... by Mark Simmons | Mar 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
The name Charles Causley may not immediately spring to mind when considering war poets. Yet of his 270poems fifty were set during or around his war service. Even many of the others were imbued with the dark shadow of war. There is no doubt he was haunted by the... by Mark Simmons | Mar 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Mark Simmons | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. Yet a cover can make a significant difference. Which was the case with my forth book The Battle of Matapan 1941which was published in 2011. The cover was based on the painting of maritime artist Dennis Andrews. Known as...