Just Finished Reading: How Churchill Waged War – The Most Challenging Decisions of the Second World War by Allen Packwood (FP: 2018) [264pp] 

You really can’t discuss (or arguably understand) the Second World War without reference to Winston Churchill. Although he wasn’t British Prime Minister at its outbreak, indeed he was still very much in the political wilderness at that point, it wasn’t long before he assumed that position on the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. But what made him such an effective leader and how did he cope (and indeed keep his job) when things went badly wrong? 

This honestly fascinating analysis of Churchill’s strategic and political thinking during WW2 not only increased my appreciation of the man himself but really enhanced my understanding of the North Africa campaign in particular. Previously I had looked on the fighting there in a simple one-dimensional fashion – it was to protect the Suez Canal and the MUCH shorter route to India and the rest of the British Empire. This is indeed true – but barely tells half of the story. Of course, the loss of Egypt and the Canal would have been devastating and maybe could have knocked Britain out of the war (or at the very least lengthened the conflict significantly) but its simple retention would have merely enabled the existing status quo. The significance of the North African campaign was far larger than that. Firstly, it would show the Russians that Britain was still in the fight and was drawing away troops from the Russian Front. This, hopefully, would bolster Russian resistance and prevent them from making a separate peace with Germany. Continuing the fighting in the North African desert also showed the Americans that we were not beaten and that it was worth their time and expense to keep sending us weapons and other goods to continue a (potentially) winnable war – despite what Roosevelt’s ambassador to Britain was feeding him. The ongoing conflict in Africa also (probably) had an effect on both Spain and Turkey preventing them from joining the Axis Powers (although I don’t think that Spain seriously contemplated this so soon after their Civil War). Finally, despite the victory in the Battle of Britain (as well as the ongoing slog in the Battle of the Atlantic) the British Army had yet to develop the fighting skills to beat the Germans in particular (the Italian Army was CRUSHED in the early North Africa battles) at their own game. Once the right General was in place and the right weapons in his arsenal the Afrika Corps was sent packing, and the strategic initiative started to swing in favour of the Allies. The rest, as they say, is History. 

As the author is the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre it should come as no surprise that this is a deeply researched work. Covering the initial decision to assume the role as Prime Minister, to the type of Government he created on the assumption of that role (being both PM and the first Minister of Defence), to the competing demands of fighting in France and then coping with her defeat, his approach to both the USSR and the USA as allies or potential allies, to coping with (and politically surviving) the Fall of Singapore (something I MUST read far more about) to, finally, Churchill’s decision to fight the 1945 General Election on his war record – and LOSE! I learnt a LOT from this book, and it has become one of the best Churchill books I’ve read so far. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to understand British warfighting policy in WW2 and those who want a deeper insight into how Winston thought and fought. 

Happy Birthday: James Myers Thompson (September 27, 1906 – April 7, 1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter, known for his hardboiled crime fiction.

Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications, published from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice—notably by Anthony Boucher in The New York Times—he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow. In the late 1980s, several of his novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.

His best-regarded works include The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided crime genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and the quasi-surrealistic inner narratives of the last thoughts of his dying or dead characters. A number of Thompson's books were adapted as popular films, including The Getaway and The Grifters.

The writer Ronald Verlin Cassill has suggested that of all crime fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor Horace McCoy ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave 'lets' inherent in the foregoing: He let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."

Thompson was called a "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters in 1990, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.

Just Finished Reading: The Sea Witch by Stephen Coonts (FP: 2012) [253pp] 

This was a collection of three short novellas by an author I used to read a lot of pre-Blog. The first story was the titled ‘Sea Witch’ (1999) which revolved around an American ‘jinx’ fighter-bomber pilot early in the Pacific War being assigned to be co-pilot in a PBY Catalina (one of my all-time favourite aircraft) after the original and well-respected co-pilot had been killed. There followed the usual trying to fit in trope and it was obvious from the start that the ‘jinx’ would end up saving the day. This he did – but not in the way I’d expected. An above average story overall. 

Next up was ‘The 17th Day’ (2003) which told the tale of an American pilot in the Royal Flying Corps on the Western Front. The pilot's pre-occupation was, as you might expect, survival especially as it's his 17th day in service which is the average life-expectancy of a fighter pilot in that theatre. The question is: will he make it through the day. Despite being a well-constructed story, it didn’t have a lot of tension (can you really imagine the main character dying part way through and the officers in his squadron shrugging their shoulders and saying “Well, them’s the odds.....”. The flying scenes were well handled although, depending on how my memory is, I did think he stole a real incident for his fictional lead to add a bit of addition danger/threat. Still, it was reasonably entertaining. 

By FAR the worst story was the last - ‘Al-Jihad’ (2001). This was a frankly ridiculous story of a retired marine sniper being hired to assist a navy brat whose parents had been killed by Libyan terrorists by blowing up the airline they’d been travelling on. The plot, if you can call it that, was incredibly muddled and barely made sense. Even I could see ten other (and better) ways of eliminating the targets and that’s without getting into the area of extra-judicial killing. The conclusion was a nonsensical cherry-on-top and honestly made me laugh out loud at the stupidity of it all. I can only imagine that the author’s publisher asked him for a quick terrorist related story, and he passed on the task to his teenage son, then made a minimal effort of ‘clean it up’ and put his stamp on it. Terrible. 

This had been (as so often is the case) sitting in a pile of books for YEARS and I decided to finally ‘get around’ to it now. I might have tossed it if the story order had been reversed but that didn’t happen. Reasonable overall but not recommended even for the hard-core thriller reader. I’m SURE that there’s MUCH better stuff out there! 

"This is the age of the totalitarian state, which does not and probably cannot allow the individual any freedom whatever. When one mentions totalitarianism one thinks immediately of Germany. Russia, Italy, but I think one must face the risk that this phenomenon is going to be world-wide."

Winston Churchill, 1941.

Limited parking I'm guessing.....

"Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth."

George Orwell.

Just Finished Reading: Churchill’s Cold War – How the Iron Curtain Speech Shaped the Post War World by Phillip White (FP: 2012) [232pp] 

It came as quite the surprise. After steering Britain to victory in the European war, Churchill and his Conservative Party fully expected to win the snap election in 1945. It had been 10 years since the last election and the decision to go to the polls early was a calculated one. Churchill was still basking in the glow of a war won and was keen to finish the job (not least the still on-going war in Asia). But it was not to be. Not only were the Conservatives beaten, but the election returned the Labour Party in a landslide. Churchill’s wife, Clementine, tried to soften the blow by calling it a ‘blessing in disguise’. After some weeks rest in Italy Churchill had begun to agree with her – but he was far from done. Fading away into a well-earned retirement was not the way Winston wanted to end his astounding career. Plus, he had work to do. After the defeat of Germany, a new (or maybe old) dangerous adversary had emerged onto the world stage: The Soviet Union. As yet, preoccupied as they were with the last stages of the War, few it seemed recognised the dangers ahead. But when Winston spoke, most especially with the memory of his ignored warnings of Hitler’s Germany still very much present, people around the world listened. But how to get the word out to the widest possible and most influential people. Although an icon, Winston was now a private citizen.  

Meanwhile across the Atlantic in the American Midwest the President of Westminster College in Fulton Missouri was looking for a signature speaker to restart his establishments credentials after the war. A friend, almost off-handedly, suggested Churchill. Intrigued by the idea but convinced that he was shooting at the Moon he made enquiries and called on friends across the nation to help. Help came in the form of an endorsement from another President – Harry S Truman. After a series of meetings and cross-correspondence between notables, an invitation was finally sent to the great man himself. Churchill, naturally, received countless invitations to speak and, just as naturally, rejected most of them. This one was different. Not only did it contain a hand-written note from Truman, but it almost seemed like Fate itself. Here was the opportunity to give the speech of a lifetime and at a forum that would, no doubt, attract the word’s press. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up. He accepted and the rest, as they say, is historic. 

I knew OF the famous speech given in Fulton in 1946 but had no real idea of the background to it nor the effort it took to make it happen. On seeing this book in my Indie Bookshop some time ago I jumped at the chance to find out. You would think that the details of setting up such an event would be mundane and boring. The author shows that they were nothing of the sort – from arraigning accommodation, lists of who to invite, extra phone lines and much more for the press, as well as simply having enough food for the thousands of people expected to be in-town just to see the spectacle – the stress levels of all involved must have been epic. Switching alternately between Britain and the US (along with context of global events especially in Eastern Europe and Greece) the author highlighted the speech [which got its own chapter] for its importance as a turning point in the relationship between the West and the Soviets. Indeed, the knock-on effects of Churchill’s warning arguably including the implementation of the Marshall Plan to revitalise Europe and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).  

This was a (largely) laser focused look at a niche event that had a profound and lasting effect on modern geopolitics. Well written with lots of interesting details this is a valuable examination of the power of Churchill oratory skills. Recommended to anyone interested in the man himself or in the beginning of the Cold War. More to come.  

Happy Birthday: George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). He also helped create the Wild Cards anthology series and contributed worldbuilding for the video game Elden Ring (2022).

In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin "the American Tolkien", and in 2011, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He is a longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he helped fund Meow Wolf and owns the Jean Cocteau Cinema. The city commemorates March 29 as George R. R. Martin Day.

Martin began selling science fiction short stories professionally in 1970, at age 21. His first sale was "The Hero", sold to Galaxy magazine and published in its February 1971 issue; other sales soon followed. His first story to be nominated for the Hugo Award and Nebula Awards was "With Morning Comes Mistfall", published in 1973 in Analog magazine. In 1975 his story "...for a single yesterday" about a post-apocalyptic timetripper was selected for inclusion in Epoch, a science fiction anthology edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg. His first novel, Dying of the Light, was completed in 1976 right before he moved to Dubuque and published in 1977. That same year the enormous success of Star Wars had a huge impact on the publishing industry and science fiction, and he sold the novel for the same amount he would make in three years of teaching.

In 1991, Martin briefly returned to writing novels. He had grown frustrated that his TV pilots and screenplays were not getting made and that TV-related production limitations like budgets and episode lengths were forcing him to cut characters and trim battle scenes. This pushed Martin back towards writing books, where he did not have to worry about compromising his imagination. Admiring the works of J. R. R. Tolkien in his childhood, he wanted to write an epic fantasy, though he did not have any specific ideas.

His epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, was inspired by the Wars of the Roses, The Accursed Kings and Ivanhoe. Though Martin originally conceptualized it as being three volumes, it is currently slated to comprise seven. The first, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996, followed by A Clash of Kings in 1998 and A Storm of Swords in 2000. In November 2005, A Feast for Crows, the fourth novel in this series, became The New York Times No. 1 Bestseller. The fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, was published July 12, 2011, and became an international bestseller, including achieving a No. 1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List and many others; it remained on the New York Times list for 88 weeks.

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

George Orwell.

Just Finished Reading: By Tank into Normandy by Stuart Hills (FP: 2002) [244pp] 

War, especially combat, is a young person's game and the author of this fascinating account is no exception. Just 20 years old when he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he was given command of not only a Sherman tank but a troupe of 3! Even more astounding (from my perspective) was his first ever mission – to land on Gold beach on 6th June 1944: D-Day! It was, in many ways, quite the baptism... 

Second Lieutenant Stuart Hills of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry had been assigned a DD (Dual Drive) tank – one of Hobart's ‘funnies’ that was expected to ‘swim’ ashore to assist the first men on the beach. So, as dawn was starting on 6th June the landing ramp of the LTC his crew was on lowered and, about 600-700 yards from the beach he ordered is tank forward into the channel. Almost immediately water started pouring in. The pumps helped but it was soon apparent that the tank wasn’t going to make it. Just minutes into his first deployment he ordered the tank abandoned and watched as it slipped under the waves and sank. Everyone got out – the Sherman had a crew of 5 – but they had lost everything. Picked up by another landing craft they spent D-Day watching other people storm the beach from a distance. Only on the 7th (with the beach still under fire) did they land and make their way to their unit in order to pick up a brand-new tank. Welcome to France! 

[Side note: 32 DD tanks were deployed to support Omaha beach but started over 6 THOUSAND yards out. Because of a strong tide and still very choppy seas from a passing storm only 5 made it to shore.]  

The author goes on to relate his varied experiences from that day until the German surrender in May 1945. Fighting through the highly dangerous French ‘bocage’ country, through the Low Countries and finally into Germany itself finishing, just after his 21st birthday(!), in Hanover. Several instances along his journey in particular jumped out at me – apart from his tank sinking! Although thankfully rare, there were several early encounters with early model Tiger tanks. On one occasion the Tiger was hit multiple times by several Sherman’s without a single penetration. Only a lucky shot that caused white-hot splinters to enter through a vision port and start a small fire inside the tank caused the crew to bail out. In another encounter the author was in the lead tank stuck at the edge of a minefield awaiting engineer support. The Tiger opened fire and destroyed the last tank out of 12. Stuck, the other tanks fired smoke shells to obscure the Tigers vision and the author called up Close Air Support (CAS). Moments later 4 Typhoon ground attack planes arrived. When the smoke and dust had settled the Tiger was on its side – minus a turret. Finally, and most tense I felt, was when the authors tank was hit and disabled while fighting in a small town. The driver and front machine gunner were killed instantly but the other 3 crew were trapped because they were constantly being ‘pinged’ by a German machine-gun. The problem was that the building the tank was next to was on fire. If they stayed in the tank, they’d be slowly roasted alive but if they tried to leave, they’d be shot by the machine-gun. Luckily another tank had seen their tracer fire and dropped a High-explosive shell on the machine-gun nest allowing the crew to evacuate! 

Except in the closing weeks of the European war (when the author was in charge of a Recon Unit), most of his tenure was supporting infantry units – both British and American – in their advances across enemy territory. As the tanks supported the ‘poor bloody infantry’ the infantry themselves helped protect the tanks against the new and deadly threat of hand-held anti-tank weapons, especially the highly dangerous Panzerfaust. ‘Buttoned down’ inside a tank the crew's vision was greatly restricted so, without anyone outside the tank looking out for them, it was comparatively ‘easy’ (if incredibly brave) to pop-up 20 feet away and fire your weapon often hitting and disabling the tank it was aimed at. The author's tank was hit twice in this way. Once (luckily) causing no damage and once causing the crew to bail out.  

As you can probably tell this was a totally immersive and gripping read. I’m not surprised at all that it was the winner of the ‘Distinguished Book Award’ from the Society for Military History for Best Military Memoir in 2003. It also comes as no surprise that the author was awarded the Military Cross. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in WW2 and most especially for anyone interested in tank warfare.

RIP: Charles Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, producer and director. He received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary César in 2019. He was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.

Redford started his career in television acting in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone before making his Broadway debut playing a newlywed husband in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963). Redford made his film debut in War Hunt (1962) before reaching finding leading man stardom acting in films such as Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), and The Sting (1973), the later of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Redford's stardom continued with roles in films such as The Way We Were (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President's Men (1976), The Electric Horseman (1979), Brubaker (1980), The Natural (1984), and Out of Africa (1985). He later acted in Sneakers (1992), All Is Lost (2013), Truth (2015), Our Souls at Night (2017), and The Old Man & the Gun (2018). Redford portrayed Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the later of which served as Redford's final on-screen appearance.

Redford made his directorial film debut with the family drama Ordinary People (1980), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. He went on to direct 8 feature films including the drama The Milagro Beanfield War (1984), the period drama A River Runs Through It (1992), the historical drama Quiz Show (1994), the neo-western The Horse Whisperer (1998), and the sports fantasy The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). Redford co-founded the Sundance Resort and Film Institute in 1981. He was also known for his extensive work as a political activist where he was a champion of environmentalism, Native American and indigenous people's rights, and LGBT rights.

[One of my ALL TIME favourite actors who starred in some of my ALL TIME favourite movies.]

Just Finished Reading: The Killing Ground by Elleston Trevor (FP: 1956) [266pp] 

5th June 1944. Even as the landing craft waited for the bombardment to start some aboard still thought that the invasion was about to be called off. The sea was still rough from the recent passing storm and the sound of vomiting from the tank crews (to say nothing of the smell) was everywhere. Then, at the appointed time, all hell was let loose on the Atlantic Wall. The order was given as the landing crafts engines fired up – Man your tanks!  

Arriving on the beach not long after the ‘funnies’ had done their work of mine clearing and much else besides, the tank troop was immediately called to assist the infantry in suppression of accurate fire coming from the surviving machine-gun emplacements. Battle had begun and the Mk IV and Mk V Cromwell’s would be in the thick of things until the beach was secure and they could begin to move inland to their day's objectives.  

Yet again, this book has been on my shelves for DECADES unread. After reading another of his novels recently – based around and RAF station during the Battle of Britain (the author was a Flight Engineer during the war) – I thought it was high time to see how he managed armoured warfare. The answer: very well indeed. One of the things that I noticed immediately (as with his RAF novel) was the realism of the dialogue. Having spoken to a number of serving military over the years the conversations, both in combat and in the more peaceful pauses just sounded REAL which added to the immersion I felt reading this often-gripping book. As I’ve said on multiple occasions I do like good characterisation and people who you can relate to and root for in a novel. There’s nothing worse, I feel, than a book, even a well-written book, where you either don’t care about the characters or even actively dislike them. That was not the case here. There is, naturally, a downside to this. Especially in a war novel there’s going to be cases of death and injury to characters you like. Random death is definitely a thing! So, my advice is not to get TOO attached to anyone in this book. There's certainly quite the range of characters here: some are barely holding it together after years of fighting, some are just doing a job and doing it well, others are determined to disappear on the next home leave and never look back and some will find that combat will be the making of them once they move beyond the influence of their father... 

Taking place between the D-Day landings themselves and the Battle of the Falaise pocket, this is an excellent insight, albeit fictionalised, into armoured combat of the period. In many senses being behind a few inches of armour whilst being shot at is the place to be – except that as a valuable and dangerous asset on the field that tank is going to be a significant target to take out and the Axis have the fabled Flak-88 that can one-shot you! It's difficult to imagine the tension (and the smell to be honest!) inside that armoured hide. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in WW2 military fiction if you can source a copy. 

Happy birthday: Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. All five of her albums have reached the top 20 on the Billboard 200 since 1996, and as of 2021, she has sold over 15 million records worldwide. Apple has received numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a Billboard Music Video Award. Three of her albums appear on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

The youngest daughter of the actor Brandon Maggart, Apple was born in New York City and was raised alternating between her mother's home in New York and her father's in Los Angeles. She studied piano as a child and began writing songs when she was eight years old. Her debut album, Tidal (1996), comprises songs written during her teens, and won Best Female Rock Performance at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards for its single "Criminal". Her second album, produced by Jon Brion, When the Pawn... (1999), was met with critical acclaim, and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

For her third album, Extraordinary Machine (2005), Apple again collaborated with Brion and began recording the album in 2002. Apple, however, was reportedly unhappy with the production and opted not to release the record, leading fans to protest Epic Records, erroneously believing that the label was withholding its release. The album was eventually re-produced without Brion and released in October 2005. The album was certified gold, and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, she released her fourth studio album, The Idler Wheel..., which received critical praise and was followed by a tour of the United States, also receiving a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. Apple's fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020), won two Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Performance for the lead single "Shameika."

[I *think* I first came across Fiona Apple on holiday playing in a store (on CD!!).. One of the first things I did when I got back was to buy her entire back catalogue. I think she's AMAZING.]

Just Finished Reading: The Custard Heart by Dorothy Parker (FP: 1944) [50pp] 

This was a short collection of three stories from the original publication The Portable Dorothy Parker. I’d heard of her before, but this was the first time I'd read anything by her. The first story – The Custard Heart itself – concerned an obviously upper middle-class Mrs Lanier (presumably custard hearted!) who struggled with the reality of the Jazz Age, including poverty and any kind of emotional trauma. The main job of everyone around her was to protect her from that reality which, with various degrees of success, they managed to do. I did find it moderately amusing. 

The second, much longer, story was Big Blonde which centred on said ‘big blonde’ Hazel Morse who looked for love and found it. Unfortunately, the love didn’t last and, as much fun as she was to be with, she had to find other ways of getting by in a rough world. This involved a series of partners passing through town and an ever-increasing quantity of alcohol. 

Lastly, there was the very short (FIVE page) story You Were Perfectly Fine where a young man suffering from a hangover and only the faintest of memories of the night before is constantly reassured by his girlfriend that his behaviour the night before wasn’t ALL that bad. Again, this was moderately amusing and was, indeed, something I could quite relate too from my university years. 

Overall, this was a reasonable read. I can see why the author was viewed as witty and as a critic of the darker side of the Jazz Age. Despite appreciating her style and rather good character development, I’m not totally sure that I’ll be looking out to read more by her. I checked recently for any longer form novels, but Parker seems to have written mainly short stories and poetry. Still, this was worth a read and served its purpose of introducing me to new authors.